*
 
 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY 
 
 8BUECTKD VBOM 
 
 THE SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 
 
 TALMAGE, BEECHER, MOODY, SPURGEON, 
 GUTHRIE AND PARKER. 
 
 REV. CHARLES C. ALBERT SON, 
 
 WITH AN INTEODUOT10N BY 
 
 HENRY B. RIDGAWAY. D. D. 
 
 COPYRIGHT 1888. 
 BY 
 
 BHODES & MCCLURE PUBLISHING COMPANY, 
 
 CHICAGO. 
 
 1896.
 
 Tn Ha HEHF Mniher. 
 
 WHO 
 
 WITH THE 
 
 GENTLENESS OF 
 
 AFFECTION AND THE 
 
 PATIENCE OF LOVE, INSTILL- 
 
 ED INTO MY MIND A REGARD FOR 
 
 TRUTH AND BEAUTY IN WORD AND ACT, 
 
 THIS LITTLE VOLUME 18 DEDICATED BY ONE WHO 
 
 HAS BEEN STRENGTHENED IN FAITH, EN- 
 
 RICHED IN THE GRACE OF GOD, AND 
 
 ADVANCED IN THE KNOWLEDGE 
 
 OF A BLESSED CHRIST, 
 
 BY THE WORDS 
 
 CONTAINED 
 
 HERJC- 
 
 m. 
 
 in
 
 The age in which we live demands both variety and 
 brevity in much that we read. People wish to compass 
 many subjects in the shortest time. This disposition arises 
 largely, no doubt, from the necessities and opportunities 
 of our civilization. The improved appliances of business, 
 the increased facilities for travel, and the wonderful rapid- 
 ity with which we gather information, render it indispens- 
 able that there be periodicals, and at least some books 
 which present the freshest and best thoughts in convenient 
 and concise form. 
 
 The pages of "GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY," show 
 it to be a book of this kind. The author has skillfully se- 
 lected from some of the greatest preachers, among the dead 
 and living, many of their choicest sayings. Some of these 
 sayings are the result of the most careful elaboration in 
 the study, others are the sudden flashes of inspiration in 
 moments of high excitement; but whether coming to their 
 originators suddenly or slowly, they have back of them 
 the power of experience and culture. Thus, the reader 
 of this volume, if seated in the quiet of his house, or 
 rushing over the country at lightning speed, can commune 
 with the best thoughts of Guthrie, Beecher, Spurgeon, 
 Parker, Talmage and Moody, and feel something of the 
 glow which these men have imparted to the audiences 
 
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 Bmgrephical Sketches, 
 
 T. DE WITT TALMAGE, D.D. 
 
 The subject of this sketch was born in New Jersey in 1832. He was 
 the youngest of a family of twelve children. His parents were persons 
 of pure Christian character, the fruits of whose judicious training were 
 manifest in the conversion of DeWitt when eighteen years of age. He 
 received his literary training in the University of New York, and after- 
 ward graduated from the theological school at New Brunswick, N. J. 
 The first three years of his ministerial career were spent in Belleville, 
 N. J., from whence he was called to Syracuse, N. Y. After laboring 
 here three years, he went to Philadelphia, where he remained seven 
 years, during which time he earned a high place among the preachers 
 of that city. His congregations were large, and his church rapidly in- 
 creased in membership until it became widely known as the popular 
 church of the city. Many large and important congregations were now 
 extending calls to him. He accepted a call from the Central Presbyte- 
 rian Church of Brooklyn, then in a state of decline, in preference to 
 others, because he saw in Brooklyn an opportunity to build up a free 
 church. 
 
 At the end of a year and a half the old edifice could no longer accom- 
 modate the congregations, and a tabernacle was built, and dedicated in 
 September, 1870. This building which originally was designed to seat 
 3,000 persons, was enlarged a few months later. Just before the hour 
 of service, December 22, 1872, the tabernacle was burned. In a few 
 minutes, several churches were offered to the congregation for oc-
 
 lose the rein* of prudeno*. The temperament which God gave a man 
 most be considered in judging him; and, considering that of Mr. 
 Beecher, also the multitude of things that he has said, and is forever say- 
 ing, it ia a proof that he possesses a remarkable share of discretion that 
 he has said so/fir imprudent things as he has said." 
 
 Mr. Beecher was the most out-and-out American preacher our times 
 have produced. His congregation, the Plymouth Church, was not only 
 a sincerely religious organization, but a deeply patriotic one as well. It 
 will go down in history as such. In the pulpit of that church national 
 battles were fought, and national victories won. 
 
 The preacher's life and character have become so well-known, and, 
 since his death. March 18, 1887, so many rich eulogies have been pro- 
 nounced upon him that his is a name which needs no encomium. The 
 world knows him. The world reveres his name.
 
 CHARLES H. SPURGEON. 
 
 Charles H. Spurgeon was born at Kelvedon, in Essex, June 19, 1834. 
 He came of a clerical ancestry, his father and grandfather both being 
 ministers. He received his early education at Colchester, and also spent 
 a year in the Agricultural College at Maidstone, where he obtained some 
 knowledge of the sciences. He then engaged as usher in a school at 
 Newmarket, after which he moved to Cambridge and served in a similar 
 capacity in a day school, all the while employing his leisure in improv- 
 ing his own mind. He began, while at Newmarket, to make Sunday- 
 school addresses, and it is said that he did it in a manner to attract older 
 persons. At Cambridge he continued the custom, and also began to give 
 Sunday-school sermons in surrounding villages. A small Baptist church 
 at Waterbeach extended the young preacher a call, to be its pastor. He 
 accepted the invitation, and during a short ministry the church was 
 doubled. In January, 1854, when Mr. Spurgeon was but twenty years 
 old, he was invited to accept the pastorate of New Park Street Chapel in 
 London. He immediately began a career of Christian endeavor in that 
 city which surpasses the record of almost any modern apostle we could 
 name. Coming to the busy city fresh from quiet fields of study, observ- 
 ation and thought, with a vigor and power of expression, startling in 
 their novelty, he at once arrested the attention of the people. Throngs 
 came out to hear him. The church must be enlarged, and in order to 
 accommodate the eager multitudes, he preached many sermons in the 
 open air to fifteen thousand persons, and often in Exeter Hall to more 
 than that number. Beginning his public career thus early in life, public 
 interest in him has not for a moment waned. He is a preacher of the 
 Gospel in its simplicity, and an orator of wonderful power. His pulpit 
 work is supplemented by vast philanthropic and charitable enterprises, 
 asylums, orphanages and schools. His published works are many, among 
 which are "John Ploughman's Talks," "John Ploughman's Pictures, " 
 "Commenting and Commentaries," ''Gleanings among the Sheaves," be-
 
 aide ten volumes of sermons. Perhaps the best known and most highly 
 valued literary work of Mr. Spurgeon is his "Treasury of David," an ex- 
 haustive and helpful treatise on the Psalms. 
 
 Mr. Spurgeon's career has been phenomenal from his youthful entrance 
 into the ministry until to-day. The work he has done for the Master in 
 bringing souls to know Christ, and in strengthening believers in the faith 
 will never be fully known until eternity.
 
 DWIGHT L. MOODY. 
 
 Dwight L. Moody, whose name shall be immortal in history as the 
 Evangelist of the Nineteenth Century, was born at Northfield, Mass., 
 February 5, 1837. His early home was a large frame-house a little dis- 
 tance from the town. His father, by farming a few acres, and working 
 at his trade, which was that of a stone-mason was enabled to earn a 
 comfortable living for his family, in which there were seven children, 
 of whom Dwight was the youngest. Financial losses from an unfortu- 
 nate business enterprise, were followed by the sudden death of the 
 father, when Dwight was but four years old. A month later a twin boy 
 and girl were born. But Mrs. Moody bore with a brave heart the weight 
 of the family cares which were enough to crush an ordinary woman, 
 and steadfastly refused to part from any of her children. 
 
 From this early training of poverty and self-denial, Dwight grew up 
 a sturdy, healthy, self-reliant boy. He was so full of animal spirits, and 
 liked fun so much more than study, that his record in school was poor. 
 Yet he was in no sense stupid. He was observant, watchful, and sus- 
 ceptible to lessons learned from real life or nature. 
 
 At the age of seventeen, he set off from Northfield with a little money, 
 to seek his fortune in Boston. After considerable search for employ- 
 ment, his uncle, Samuel S. Holton, a shoe merchant agreed to hire him 
 at a small salary. He soon became an attendant at the Congregational 
 Church. Through the direct personal effort of his teacher in the Sun- 
 day-school he was converted, and gave himself to the service of God. 
 At the age of twenty, Mr. Moody left Boston for Chicago, in order that 
 he might have a more extended field of opportunity for working in the 
 Master's cause. He found it. As teacher in Sunday-school, as Btreet- 
 solicitor for scholars, as mission-worker among sailors, visitor to prisons 
 %od hospitals, his work was constant and self-denying. A little later he 
 nired a vacant room in a degraded portion of the city, and, gathering
 
 aronnd him crowds of abandoned men and women, and unfortunate 
 children, he preached the gospel to them and saved many souls. A large 
 room became necessary, and within a year the average attendance at 
 hi* Sunday-school was 650. 
 
 About the year 1860, Mr. Moody resolved to give himself up to the 
 
 labor of saving souls, and to devote his entire time to the work of an 
 
 .ngelist. A little later, he was made city missionary of the Young 
 
 Men's Christian Association, and immediately began to make longer tours 
 
 over the city assisting destitute families, and praying with many. 
 
 In 1861, the outbreak of the civil war extended the sphere of his ac- 
 tivities. He became active in the organisation of a system of visitation 
 and prayer-meetings among the troops gathered in Camp Douglas, near 
 the city of Chicago. After the fall of Donelson, in February, 1862, he 
 was sent to bear the consolations of religion to wounded and dying vol- 
 unteers. Many of his most vivid and impressive illustrations are drawn 
 from incidents in his experience on the battle-field. 
 
 '2 he was married to Miss Emma C. Revell. His wife was an ac- 
 tive worker in missions, and hence in thorough harmony with his self- 
 denying life. To them have been born two children, Emma and Willie. 
 53 a large house of worship was erected for his Sunday-school 
 and congregation. This edifice was burned in the great fire of 1871. 
 Moody then went East, holding revival services in Brooklyn, Phila- 
 Wphia, and elsewhere, receiving contributions to rebuild his church. 
 >was thus enabled to build a wooden Tabernacle on the old site, of 
 oth size. One thousand children were present on the Sunday 
 w finished. Finding the demand for Evangelistic labor in 
 l urgent, he began to visit other cities and churches and hold 
 eligious services. In nearly all the large cities of the Union, he 
 1 ooefully. In 1871, he met Mr. Ira D. Sankey the sweet 
 1 -oon united him to himself as a co-worker in the ripened har- 
 Togetherthey labored in America, England, Ireland, Scot- 
 oth at home and abroad created such a revival of religious in- 
 'this century has not seen before 
 
 dent of the word, uneducated except in the art of saving 
 
 * earnest, untiring in activity, Dwight L. Moody haa done 
 
 * to bnn, the world to know Hin, "whom to know is life etexnal."
 
 THOMAS GUTHKIE, D. D. 
 
 Thomas Guthrie was born at Brechin, in Forfarshire, July 12, 1803. 
 His father was a merchant and a banker, and the family was one of 
 great respectability and antiquity. Thomas Guthrie was a lineal descen- 
 dant of the well-known Dr. William Guthrie, author of ''Trial of a Sav- 
 ing Interest in Christ," and who was a cousin of James Guthrie the mar- 
 tyr. Thomas was one of a family of several boys. Alexander, an elder 
 brother, was a medical practitioner of considerable reputation. Charles, 
 another brother, was a soldier in the Indian army, became a captain, and 
 was killed in the first Burmese war. Until he was eleven years of age 
 Thomas pursued his studies in his native town, but at that early period, 
 as was the custom of the time, he was sent to the University of Edin- 
 burg. Having decided to enter the University, he passed through the 
 Divinity Hall, and while yet very young, he was licensed as a preacher 
 by the Presbytery of Brechin. It is by no means certain through whose 
 influence he was led to choose the ministry as his profession, but it is 
 very probable that his mother, who was, like Susannah Wesley," both a 
 godly and a clever woman," disposed his youthful mind to it. 
 
 Though a licensed preacher, he was only a probationer, and for several 
 years, for various reasons, he did not become pastor of a settled congre- 
 gation. During this period he engaged in secular pursuits, assisted his 
 father in the bank, and afterward paid some attention to the study of 
 medicine. 
 
 In 1830, the parish of Arbirlot became vacant, and after considerable 
 delay, Dr. Guthrie was settled as the minister. His talent as a preacher 
 now began to appear. He set out with a firm purpose to make himself 
 understood, and to gain and keep the attention of the people. This he 
 did by giving especial attention to the illustrations in every sermon. His 
 ministrations roused the people of that city into a vividness of religious 
 thought and a zeal for spiritual advancement. But the fame of the
 
 preacher had spread, and in 1837, Dr. Gnthrie was elected to fill the v- 
 cancj in the Church of the Old Greyfriars, Edinburg. Though a difficult 
 port of duty, he took rank as a pulpit orator of singular vigor and vivac- 
 ity. It was not long before the church was crowded with hearers, many 
 of them persons of high position and renown. But Dr. Guthrie had not 
 occupied his church long before events occurred that led to a reform in 
 the church over all Scotland. Up to this tame he had been a firm be- 
 r in the Established Church as the church of all classes, rich and 
 poor. So he was much annoyed by the actions of the Town Council in- 
 creasing the seat rents, which meant exclusion of the poor. Continued 
 nd embarrassing interruptions on the part of the State, in which the 
 State interfered with the freedom and impaired the spirituality of the 
 church, disregarding the rights of the people, led him, in the ultimate 
 sruption which occurred, to cast his lot with the Free Church move- 
 With his congregation, he left St. John's Church, and found tem- 
 rary accommodation in the Wesleyan Chapel in Nicolson Square. In 
 w years a new church was built for his congregation, close to the old 
 which he entered on a new era in his ministry, and was more 
 popular and successful than ever. 
 
 T. Guthrie was a great orator; but he was something more. His 
 
 was fruitful in conversions, philanthropy, and reform 
 
 ong his last utterances were these: "Affection is very sweet; and 
 
 one from whatever quarter it comes-whether from a Highland 
 
 a peeress-just as to a thirsty man cold water is equally grate- 
 
 aspring on the hillside as from a richly ornamented fountain." 
 
 nu* of the Queen's inquiry a. to his condition, he said, <Itis
 
 JOSEPH PARKER, D. D. 
 
 In 1830, in Northumberland, England, Joseph Parker was born. It is 
 a fact -worth recording that the county where he had his birth has pro- 
 duced "such a lawyer as Lord Eldon, such an engineer as George Steph- 
 enson, and such a preacher as Thomas Bihney. " 
 
 Dr. Parker regards his training for the ministry as having begun at 
 seven years of age. It might have begun much earlier than this, if it is 
 true, as one has said that "to reform a man you must begin with his 
 grandmother. " 
 
 After a thorough training in the ancient languages and mathematics, 
 he studied logic and philosophy in University College, London. For a 
 short time he was the assistant of Dr. John Cambell, of the Whitefield 
 Tabernacle, after which he settled at Banbury for five years, where he 
 built a new chapel, only to leave it to succeed Dr. Robert Halley in Man- 
 chester, where he labored until 1869, when he was called to the Church 
 in the Poultry, London. 
 
 He now began to become well-known to the public as preacher and 
 author. By a Thursday morning series of discourses, he increased his 
 congregation from the ranks of those who could not hear him on Sun- 
 day. He built the "City Temple, " a large structure at one end of Hoi- 
 born viaduct, in the heart of the business portion of the metropolis. 
 Here a large congregation gathers to listen to his ministrations, among 
 which are many Americans. One cause of this is that Dr. Parker's pub- 
 lished works are widely known on this side of the ocean; another is in 
 the profound impression he produced by his magnificent address in 
 Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church during the meeting of the Evange- 
 
 al Alliance in New York in 1873. 
 
 His recent visit to America, to eulogize his friend Henry Ward Beecher, 
 has increased our interest in him. His sermons, his lectures, notably the 
 one on Gladstone, his addresses, but most of all the presence of the man
 
 have engaged the attention of the intelligent public. The writer has seen 
 him, heard him. His is the eloquence of mighty thought. He is a 
 Id and eager in his sacred work, an orator in 
 iven'a name and strength. His friendly critics suggest that he should 
 hare been an actor; he is one. There is no broader sphere for legitimate 
 oratorical action than the pulpit In the modern church we have had 
 no man who has done more in authorship to expound and interpret the 
 hidden truth of Scripture than Joseph Parker. His ''People's Bible" is a 
 ce Homo," ''Ecce Deus," "Ad Clerum" 
 iosthood of Christ" are masterpieces. Among those of our 
 century, wh.-s,- lines have adorned the Christian Ministry, whose tongues 
 have proclaimed the truth as it is in Christ, and whose pens have illus- 
 aid made clear many of the "mysteries of the Book," the sub- 
 ject of this sketch is among the foremost.
 
 LIBERTY ENLJGHTNING THE WORLD.
 
 ACCESS TO GOD. 
 
 Christ the Only Means .............. 
 
 -t the Road ..................... 
 
 -: the Key ...................... 
 
 -t the Conqueror .......... ..... 
 
 None but Christ ................. 23 
 
 ACTIVITY. 
 A Means of Grace ................... 
 
 An Aid to Courage .................. 
 
 A Law of God ...................... 
 
 Activity Betokens Life .......... 27 
 
 ADOPTION. 
 
 God's Fatherhood Not Compre- 
 hended ......................... 
 
 God's Plan for Man's Happiness ____ 
 
 The Wanderer Received .......... 30 
 
 God Invites Us ...................... 
 
 The Price of Christ's Departure... 32 
 
 AFFLICTION. 
 Cements Hearts .................... 
 
 A Deliverc-r ........................ 
 
 Does not entirely Crush the Heart. 
 :e Exempt ...... ............. 
 
 Afflictions God's Mercies ...... .. 
 
 ATONEMENT. 
 God's Greatest Work ............... 
 
 V tonement Complete .......... 
 
 of of Divine Tenderness ..... 
 
 WeDoNot Appreciate It ........... 
 
 The Gospel Message ......... 39,40 
 
 BIBLE. 
 
 ............... 
 
 "" 
 
 It* Precious Value ............. ... 
 
 mg Book ............... 
 
 lUSnfficif: ......... 45 
 
 THK BLOOD OF JESUS. 
 HI* Blood Makes All Men Brothers 
 The Ot.jc-rt t,f Our Faith. .......... 
 
 The Only Gopel-That of His 
 .............. 
 
 Our Ranftom ................. 
 
 The Blood of a King... 
 
 BROTHERLY LOVE. 
 
 Prompted by Compassion 60 
 
 Sham Love 50 
 
 An Example of Love 61 
 
 Brotherly Love Means Love to all . 52 
 
 Beauty of Love 52 
 
 Love What It Is 63 
 
 CHARITY. 
 
 A Plea for Greater Liberality 64 
 
 Opportunities for Exercising Char- 
 ity , 54 
 
 Resells of Charity in Missions.. 55 
 
 The Right Motive 55 
 
 True Charity 58 
 
 CHEERFULNESS. 
 
 Cheerfulness in Contentment 57 
 
 Cheerfulness Good for Health 57 
 
 Living in an Atmosphere of Cheer- 
 fulness. 58 
 
 The Christian's Privilege 68 
 
 Cheerfulness Helpful to Others 59 
 
 CHILDREN. 
 
 Children Gone 60 
 
 How to Treat Them 60 
 
 Patience With Children 61 
 
 Brave Children 61 
 
 Proper Subjects for Baptism 62 
 
 A Children's Heaven 63 
 
 CHRIST. 
 
 No Name Like His 64 
 
 His Compassion 65 
 
 The Glorious Conqueror 65 
 
 Worthy to Receive Praise 66 
 
 His Crown 67 
 
 The Interpreter of Life 67 69 
 
 CONFESSION. 
 
 Unconscious Self-Confession 69 
 
 Confession Assures Pardon 69 
 
 Coming to the King as a Beggar 70 
 
 A Condition of Blessing 70 
 
 Confession of Paul, David and Ezra 71 
 CONSCIENCE. 
 
 An Apartment of the Soul It 
 
 Conscience May Become Hardened 73 
 
 16
 
 TOPICAL INDEX. 
 
 17 
 
 Conscience Universally Sin-Strick- 
 en 73 
 
 Conscience Keeps a Record 74 
 
 CONSOLATION. 
 
 Comfort in View of Reward 75 
 
 Words for Weeping Mothers 76 
 
 Weep Not as Those That Have No 
 
 Hope 77 
 
 Comfort as of a Mother's 7 8 
 
 Like Sunshine Thro' Cloud 78 79 
 
 CONVERSION. 
 
 Restitution 80 
 
 Date of Conversion 81 
 
 Revival Conversions 81 
 
 Feeling Not An Index of Conver- 
 sion ' 82 
 
 Conversion a Simple Doctrine. . . .82 83 
 COURAGE. 
 
 The Christian a Soldier 84 
 
 Grace for Courage 85 
 
 Courage on Behalf of Principle 85 
 
 Memory an Aid to Courage 85 
 
 God UsesBold Men 86 
 
 Right Against Might 86 87 
 
 CREATION. 
 
 .Creation in a Circle 88 
 
 Culture the Complement of Crea- 
 tion 88 
 
 God Is Creation 89 
 
 Skill Is Nature 89 90 
 
 THE CROSS. 
 Christ With Us Means the Cross 
 
 ForUs 91 
 
 Spes Unica 91 
 
 Jesus Bore the Cross For Us 92 
 
 Our Salvation Wrought Upon the 
 
 Cross 92 
 
 The Three Crosses 93 
 
 The Cure for Trouble 93 94 
 
 CROSS BEARING. 
 
 A Heavy Cross 95 
 
 Battle Scars for Christ 95 
 
 Christ Our Example In Cross- 
 Bearing 96 
 
 Small Crosses 96 
 
 After the Cross the Crown 97 
 
 DEATH. 
 
 A Child's Death 98 
 
 Death and Migration 98 
 
 Death an Unmasking 99 
 
 Death Robbed of His Terror 99 
 
 Comfort in Desolate Homes 100 
 
 After Death, What? 100 101 
 
 DECISION. 
 
 Be Decisive 102 
 
 Example of Decision 102 
 
 Immediate Decision 103 
 
 Importance of Decision 103 
 
 An Earnest Exhortation 104 
 
 DIVINITY OF CHRIST. 
 
 Christ All and In All 105 
 
 He Was Divine 105 
 
 His Divinity Manifest in is His . 
 
 Love 106 
 
 The Exalted One 107 
 
 Christ on Trial lu7 108 
 
 DUTY. 
 
 Duty vs. Love 109 
 
 Examples of Love Compared with 
 
 Duty 109 
 
 Commonplace Duty no 
 
 Duty the Pendulum of a Clock Ill 
 
 The Christian's Duty ill 
 
 EARNESTNESS. 
 
 Importance of Earnestness 112 
 
 Rewarded According to Earnest- 
 ness 112 
 
 Earnestness in Preaching 113 
 
 The Need of Earnestness 113 
 
 Example of Earnestness 114 115 
 
 EDUCATION. 
 
 Education Alone Not Enough 116 
 
 Bible a Means of Education 116 
 
 Education in Crime 117 
 
 Education Increases Responsibility 117 
 Education a Fruit of Past Investi- 
 gation , us 
 
 Education Fosters Manhood 11 
 
 Christianity an Education 118 119 
 
 ETERNITY. 
 
 Building for Eternity 120 
 
 Eternity Beyond Comparison 120 
 
 Eternal Life and Eternity Parallel 121 
 Eternity will Reveal to Sinners 
 
 theh Folly..... 121 
 
 Tides of Eternity Are Rising 122 
 
 FAITH. 
 
 The Only Door 123 
 
 Faith Triumphant 123 
 
 An Example of Faith 124
 
 LI 
 
 TOPICAL INDEX. 
 
 aith m 
 
 land the New !- 
 
 Head-Faith 
 
 FORGIVENESS. 
 Christianity Teaches Forgiveness.. 127 
 
 An Bxaraple of Forgiveness 1:2* 
 
 Forgiveness and Memory I- 8 
 
 Hedge Hog Forgiveness l- s 
 
 Christ's Forgiveness 1'- 
 
 WhoUto Begin 129 
 
 FRIENDSHIP. 
 
 Jesus the Best Friend 130 
 
 -hip and Faults 130 
 
 Buffering Friendship 131 
 
 Friends Must Agree 131 
 
 Friendship Peculiar to Man 132 
 
 GOD. 
 
 God Is Love 133 
 
 His Name Eternal 134 
 
 Wrong Conception of God 134 
 
 Nature 135 
 
 God a Parent 135 
 
 A Challenge to Atheists 136 
 
 THE GOSPEL. 
 
 The Gospel Eternal 137 
 
 Meant for All 138 
 
 i>c Univer- 
 sal 138 
 
 *pel a Delusion 13'J 
 
 The Gospel at Home 139 HO 
 
 <HUCE. 
 
 Law and Grace 141 
 
 Grace of God an Arch 141 
 
 Grace Does Not Change Men from 
 
 Nature 142 
 
 Early Training 142 
 
 < >n a Throne of Grace 142 
 
 Payson on Grace 143 
 
 UK A 
 
 A Place of Love 144 
 
 n for Sorrowful Hearts 14." 
 
 veetestMusic 14." 
 
 - Timid Saints 14: 
 
 The Christian's Home I4f 
 
 Heaven Worth Striving For u" 
 
 Help* on t !; \V :i y 14 
 
 HOLI 
 
 A Holy Mat. 14 
 
 Holineas By the Blood 
 
 A Beautiful Character 149 
 
 Acquired by Communion with 
 
 Christ 149 
 
 Holiness and Humility 150 
 
 HOLY SPIRIT. 
 
 The Spirit a Dove 151 
 
 Necessary to Conversion 151 
 
 The Office of the Spirit. 152 
 
 A Reprover of Sin 152 
 
 The Spirit's Power 158 
 
 HOME. 
 
 What It Means 154 
 
 Hotel vs. Home 155 
 
 Going Home I 55 
 
 Making a Home Happy 156 
 
 HOPE. 
 
 Hopeless Souls 157 
 
 The Star of Hope 157 
 
 A Chamber of the Soul 158 
 
 No Word For Hope. 158 
 
 Necessity of Hopefulness 159 
 
 HUMILITY. 
 
 The Child of Knowledge 160 
 
 God's Alphabet 160 
 
 The Strength of Piety 161 
 
 Sons of Humanity 161 
 
 Joy a Fruit of Humility 162 
 
 INFIDELITY. 
 
 The Most Alarming Infidelity 163 
 
 Have Infidels Something Better 163 
 
 Infidelity a Sin 164 
 
 Infidels Ignorant of the Bible 164 
 
 Infidelity Defeated 165 
 
 A Word to Mr. Ingersoll 166 167 
 
 INTEMPERANCE. 
 
 Drowning Care 168 
 
 A Drunkard Saved 168 
 
 Two Children 109 
 
 Intemperance Among Women 170 
 
 A Warning 170 171 
 
 JUDGMENT. 
 The Crowning Day of Reckoning... 17K 
 
 Our Record 173 
 
 An Awful Fact 173 
 
 Harshness In Judgment 174 
 
 The Sinner's Doom 174 
 
 Day of Settlement Forgotten... 174 175 
 LIFE. 
 
 Act in the Living Present 176 
 
 Launch Out.,. .. 177
 
 TOPICAL INDEX. 
 
 19 
 
 Wrecks 177 
 
 Burden-Bearing 178 
 
 What Is My Life? 178 179 
 
 LITTLE THINGS. 
 
 Little Sins and Big Sins 180 
 
 Danger of Little Sins 181 
 
 Possibility of Small Beginnings 181 
 
 This Principle in Soul Winning 182 
 
 Small Deficiencies Obstacles to 
 
 Grace 182 183 
 
 LOVE. 
 
 Lore Life a Flower Seed 184 
 
 Need of Love 184 
 
 Power of Love 185 
 
 Give My Love to Jesus 185 
 
 Soul- Winning by Love 186 
 
 Love Strong as Death 186 187 
 
 MAN. 
 
 Demand for Good Men 188 
 
 The Best Monument 188 
 
 Worth of Man 189 
 
 Man's Exalted Nature 189 
 
 A Name of Power 190 
 
 The Primeval Man 190 191 192 
 
 MARRIAGE. 
 
 Joyata Wedding 193 
 
 Unhappy Marriages 194 
 
 Unequally Yoked Together 194 
 
 A Tender Tie 195 
 
 MISSIONS. 
 
 Our Field the World 196 
 
 An Earnest Plea. 197 
 
 Unto Every Creature l'J7 
 
 Universal Fraternity. ... 198 
 
 The Missionary Outlook. 199200 
 
 MOTHER. 
 
 A Sacred Name 201 
 
 A Suggestive Name 202 
 
 Mother's Comfort 202 
 
 Mother's Forgiveness 203 204 
 
 OLD AGE. 
 
 Vice in Old Age 205 
 
 Growing Old Unconsciously 206 
 
 Sad Old Age 206 
 
 Rejoicing In Old Age 207 208 
 
 PATIENCE. 
 
 Impatience Rebuked 209 
 
 APatient God 210 
 
 More Patience... .. 210 
 
 The Teaching of the Leaves 210 
 
 Patience in Small Efforts 211 
 
 Patience in Retreat 211 212 
 
 POOR. 
 
 Nearthe Skies 213 
 
 Plea for Kindness to the Poor 213 
 
 Mercy for the Poor 214 
 
 Poverty and Happiness 214 
 
 Danger of Great Riches 215 
 
 The Poor in Heaven 215 216 
 
 POWER. 
 
 Powerless and Useless 217 
 
 Power of Deep Piety 218 
 
 The Test of Godliness 218 
 
 Getting Nearer God 218 
 
 Annointing with Power 219 
 
 PRAYER, 
 
 Consistency in Prayer 220 
 
 The Wealth of Prayer 220 
 
 The Bell-Rope of Heaven 221 
 
 An Example of Faith in Prayer.... 221 
 
 Prayer Omnipotent 222 
 
 A Pulpit Prayer in City Temple, 
 
 London ; 228 
 
 Ignorant Prayer Answered in Love 224 
 PREACHING. 
 
 Earnestness in Preaching 225 
 
 Preaching the Gospel 226 
 
 They Make Others Feel Who Feel 
 
 Themselves. 227 
 
 Illustrative Preaching 227 
 
 Learning How to Preach 228 
 
 Experimental Preaching 228 
 
 Apostolic Idea of Preaching 229 
 
 Dishonoring the Bible 230 
 
 Practical Preaching 231 
 
 PROCRASTINATION. 
 
 Shame, Pride or Fear 232 
 
 Danger of Delay 232 
 
 A Sad Example of Procrastination. 233 
 
 Temporal vs. Eternal Interests 234 
 
 Preparation for a Long Journey. ... 235 
 
 Losing the Throne 235 236 
 
 PUNISHMENT. 
 
 Proportioned to Sin 237 
 
 The Wages of Sin 238 
 
 A Warning. 239 
 
 "Sowing the Tares" 240 
 
 "Like the Chaff" .. 340 
 
 Good Advice 241 242
 
 TOPICAL INDEX. 
 
 RESURRECTION. 
 Death a Sleep Resurrection a 
 
 Waking 243 
 
 The Master of the Grave 244 
 
 A Joyful Doctrine 245 
 
 A Wronif View of Death 245 
 
 A Matchless Change 246 
 
 REST. 
 
 Desire for Rest 247 
 
 The Christian's Life Not One of 
 
 Rest 248 
 
 Danger of Restful Ease 249 
 
 Idleness Not Rest 250 
 
 REWARD. 
 Reward for Unappreciated Labor... 251 
 
 The Light Will Soon Break 252 
 
 Th Christian's Reward 252 
 
 The Brightest Honors of Heaven.. 253 
 Reward of Goodness Sometimes 
 
 Immediate 253 
 
 Heaven a Place of Reward 254 
 
 RICHES. 
 Adversity a Blessing Sometimes. . . 255 
 
 Danger of Riches 256 
 
 "A Poor Rich Man" 256 
 
 Sham Generosity 257 
 
 Avoid Anxiety for Riches 257 258 
 
 SABBATH. 
 
 The Lord's Day in Paris 269 
 
 The Meanness of Sabbath Breakers 259 
 
 Hills of Llfrhtand Joy 260 
 
 Wednesday Night Lecture 260 
 
 Sabbath Views of Heaven 261 
 
 SELF-DENIAL. 
 
 Religion Retires Self-Denial 2M 
 
 Our Example of Self-Denial ...... ar,i 
 
 Self-Denylng Lives \\\ 26 
 
 Self-indulgence Sinful \\\\\ 2 64 
 
 SIN. 
 Little Blnj 
 
 Sin Is Cruel 346 
 
 The Power of a Single Sin J66 
 
 Sins Accumulate 266 
 
 Salvation from Sin 267 
 
 A Disease of the Heart 268 
 
 The Effects of Sin 268 269 
 
 THE CHURCH. 
 
 Present Foes to Fight 270 
 
 Why Condemn It? 270 
 
 Do Not Magnify Trifles 271 
 
 Something Wrong 271 272 
 
 THE SOUL IMMORTAL. 
 
 The Immortality of Influence 273 
 
 Stars Symbols of Immortality 274 
 
 The Grain of Wheat 275 
 
 Immortality Common to Christian 
 
 and Heathen Minds 276 
 
 The Christian Out of Death's 
 
 Reach 276 277 
 
 TONGUE, 
 
 Whispers 278 
 
 Unkind Words Like Needles 279 
 
 "TheySay" 20 
 
 A Deadly Sin ....' 280 181 
 
 WOMAN. 
 
 Women Among Heathen 282 
 
 Women on the Battlefield 282 
 
 A Lost Woman 283 
 
 Heroism of Christian Woman 284 
 
 Christ and Woman 284 285 
 
 YOUTH. 
 
 Influence of Young Christians 286 
 
 Negligence of the Church 287 
 
 Patience With Youth 287 
 
 Insidious Temptations 287 
 
 Deceitful Nature of Sin 288 
 
 Advice to Young Christians 288 
 
 Influence of a Mother on Youth 289 
 
 Dr. Talmage's Great Sermon on 
 "Home" ...290to29
 
 OEMS 
 
 OF- 
 
 TRUTH AND BEAUTY 
 
 KROIvI 
 
 TALMAGE, BEECHER, SPURGEON, MOODY, 
 GUTHRIE AND PARKER. 
 
 ACCESS TO GOD. 
 
 "For through Him we both have access by tne Spirit unt* the 
 Father" Eph. in. 18. 
 
 "Thou art the way: to thee alone 
 From sin and death we flee; 
 And he who would the Father seek, 
 Must seek Him, Lord, by thee." 
 
 GEORGE DOANI. 
 
 CHRIST THE ONLY MEANS. 
 
 Ten thousand times the gate of Heaven has swung back 
 and forth, but it never swings back and forth save as Christ 
 opened it, and you will go in through Him or not at all. 
 Christ wants you there. How do I know it ? Suppose a 
 man lost a diamond, and he looked for it eight or ten days, 
 would you not conclude, from the fact that he looked for it 
 so long, that he wanted the diamond ? And when I find 
 Christ seeking for your soul, seeking for it ever since it has 
 been a soul, seeking for it by day and by night, seeking 
 
 21
 
 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 for it through heat and through cold, seeking for it with 
 tears in His eyes, and blood on His brow, and scourges on 
 His back, and a world of agony in His heart, I know that 
 it H because He wants to find you. Oh, He has prepared 
 a irlttriuu- H'-aven for you ! It is already waiting for you, 
 not merely a throne, but steps by which to mount it. Not 
 only a harp, but a tune to play on it. Not only a bannered 
 procession, but a victory which it is to celebrate. God 
 wants no vacant chairs at that banquet. He does not want 
 those who stand around Him in glory to wonder why you 
 have not been solicited. He does not want the Book of 
 Life to thunder shut till your name is in it. TALMAGE. 
 
 CHRIST THE ROAD. 
 
 "I am the way." As a road is that along which men go 
 to their daily avocations. God chooses it to represent Him- 
 self in this universal use, this underlying support of all 
 things Who would dare say this of God but God '{ Some 
 beasts carry their young, and some birds carry their young, 
 and mothers carry their children; but who but God would 
 J, -i am the road; press me with your feet." This is 
 the highway cast up; and on it the ransomed of the Lord 
 shall return and come to Zion, with songs and everlasting 
 joy upon their heads. BEECHER. 
 
 CHRIST THE KEY. 
 
 There are many locks in my house and all with different 
 it I have one master key which opens them all. So 
 > Lord has many treasuries and secrets all shut up from 
 nul nundswith locks which they cannot open; but he 
 w, ' 
 
 , fellowship with' Jesus possesses the master 
 >ch will admit him to all the blessings of the cove
 
 ACCESS TO GOD. 23 
 
 nant; yea, to the very heart of God. Through the Well 
 Beloved we have access to God, to Heaven, to every secret 
 of the Lord. SPURGEON. 
 
 CHRIST OUR CONQUEROR. 
 
 It is said of Julian, the great apostate, that when he was 
 trying to stamp out Christianity in the days of Reme's 
 prosperity, before it received Christianity, when he was 
 trying to drive those Christians away, he received a mortal 
 wound, and as he pulled the spear out of his side, he took 
 a handful of the blood that gushed forth from the wound, 
 and as he threw it toward Heaven he reeled and staggered, 
 crying out, "There, Galilean! Thou hast conquered." 
 We are conquered, overcome by the blood of the Lamb. 
 The only way to Heaven is by the word of His testimony 
 and His blood. Every man that goes up, goes by way of 
 the blood of Christ. MOODY. 
 
 NONE BUT CHRIST. 
 
 Till we are reconciled to God, and, born again through 
 His Spirit, have become new creatures in Christ Jesus, 
 we are His enemies. Our works do not spring from 
 love for Him, and therefore cannot have any value in His 
 eyes. And how imperfect are even the best works of the 
 saints ! There is foulness enough in the purest heart, and 
 in respect of their motives, manner, and object, sin enough 
 in our best actions those whereby we do most good, and 
 earn most commendation, to condemn us. To speak of us 
 not in our worst, but in our best state, not of the sins we 
 commit, but of the services we render, our wine has its 
 water, our silver has its dross. And so, abandoning every 
 hope of acceptance with a holy God through our own merit, 
 let us cling to Christ, as a drowning man to the plank that,
 
 iM GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 embraced in his arms, floats him to shore; the language of 
 <;ur faith an echo of His who breathed out His life with 
 tiir-c words on His lips, "None but Christ! none but 
 Ch rist. " GUTHRIE. 

 
 ACTIVITY. 
 
 "Whatsoever thy hanjl findeth to do, do it with thy might; for 
 there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in tht 
 grave, whither thou goest" Eccles. ix. jo. 
 
 Hark the voice of Jesus calling, 
 
 "Who will go and work to-day ? 
 Fields are white and harvests waiting, 
 
 Who will bear the sheaves away ? " 
 Loud and long the master calleth, 
 
 Rich reward He offers free ; 
 Who will answer, gladly sajing, 
 
 "Here am I, send me, send me ?" 
 
 DANIEL MARCH. 
 
 A MEANS OF GRACE. 
 
 Religion has been brought into the sphere of ordinary 
 and practical things, and made to consist in the right order- 
 ing of disposition and conduct in the usual duties of life. 
 
 The great duties of life as they are ordinarily distributed, 
 both in the household and out of it, are indispensable to 
 the development of the whole nature of man, and of the 
 prime virtues; and they are the instruments, or, to employ 
 the language of ancient times, the "means of grace," in 
 life. The church, the lecture room, the prayer and con- 
 ference meeting, the communion of saints, were once spoken 
 of as "means of grace." They are means of grace when 
 they produce grace; but it would seem, in the very use of 
 them, as if they were meant to exclude common life, com- 
 mon duties, common occupations; whereas, in the divine 
 economy, everything which pertains to the well-being of 
 the individual, and the prosperity of the household, and the 
 welfare of the community in which men live, tends to that 
 
 25
 
 26 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 am: force which results in civilization. Everything 
 
 which 1'ivupirs thought, and ripens into enterprise, and 
 ripens enterprise into success and fruitful achievement, is 
 part and parcel of the divine scheme. 
 
 Therefore the man who bends ove^ his bench may be as 
 
 really worshiping God, fulfilling the will of God, and doing 
 
 rvice as he who reads from the Psalms or the Gos- 
 
 p.-l-. lie who is rightly performing the duties of life is 
 
 worshiping, if worship means rendering acceptable service 
 
 , Ml. 
 
 One who gives the full activity of his nature to the things 
 which concern him in the sphere where God has planted 
 him, has his mind in that condition which it will ever be 
 in communion with God. Activity in business gives that 
 vitality, that wholesome, fresh condition of mind, which is 
 tin- very prime ingredient of fervency of spirit; and this 
 fervency, this life which is produced by force, is to a very 
 lame extent the source of our strength; the source of our 
 d moral judgment; the source of all those virtues which 
 arc to be developed in us. BEECHER. 
 
 AN AID TO COURAGE. 
 
 Courage maintains itself by its ardent action, as some 
 binl> rest on the wing. There is an energy about agility 
 that will often give a man a fortitude which otherwise he 
 iniirht not \\-\\ possessed. Wecan picture the gallant regi- 
 m.-nt at Balaclava riding into the valley of death at a dash- 
 niir L'ullnp. but we could scarcely imagine their marching 
 dmvly up t. the guns, coolly calculating the deadly odds 
 of the adventure. 
 
 There is much in our obeying as our Lord did, "straight- 
 
 way. 
 
 When the Lord gives his servants grace to follow out 
 eir convictions as soon as they feel them, then they act
 
 ACTIVITY. 27 
 
 courageously. First thoughts are best in the service of 
 God, they are like Gideon's men that lapped. Second 
 thoughts come up timorously and limpingly, and incite us 
 to make provision for the flesh, like those men whom 
 Gideon discarded because they went down on their knees 
 to drink, taking things too leisurely to be fit for the Lord s 
 battles. SPURGEON. 
 
 A LAW OF GOD. 
 
 No one who has read the Scripture will say that it does 
 not teach us to work. Every Bible student loves to work. 
 The Word of God inspires us to work. Paul said the love 
 of Christ constrained him. Jeremiah said the Word of 
 God burned in his bones. He fed upon it and it was sweet 
 to his taste. If a man gets his heart full of the Word of 
 God, he is not then interested just in one little corner of 
 the vineyard, but he will take a wide field of labor and in- 
 terest. 
 
 The first words that fell from the lips of Christ on earth, 
 so far as we have them on record, were, "Wist ye not that 
 I must be about my Father's business?" You will find 
 that during His ministry, He toiled early and late in the 
 work. After we are saved we cannot help going to work. 
 It' a man tells me he has been saved of Christ, and yet has 
 no desire to work for God, I know it is a spurious conver- 
 sion; it is not a true salvation; it has not the ring of Heaven 
 in it. MOODY. 
 
 ACTIVITY BETOKENS LIFE. 
 
 There may be the appearance of life, but certainly not 
 its presence, where there is no activity; as they rightly 
 concluded, who, sailing in Arctic seas, fell in with a ship 
 for long years imprisoned in the ice, and looked in its cabin 
 on a strange, appalling, wierd-like scene. Fifty years had
 
 28 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 conn- and none since living voice or step had sounded there, 
 yet there were all the crew. They .lay in couches on the 
 tl.x.r. each attired in the dress and presenting the form and 
 ll.-sh of life; while their captain sat by the cabin table, pen 
 in hand, and the log spread out before him. The specta- 
 tors of so strange a sight, with mingled feelings of doubt 
 and terror, shouted; but no response came back. Nor crew 
 nor captain stirred. All were dead, and had been corpses 
 for half a century the frosts that killed preserving them. 
 Life-like as he looked who bent over the table with a pen in 
 hi> fingers and paper before him, in which, the last sur- 
 vivor, he had recorded their sufferings, he also was dead; 
 as they knew on seeing him sit unmoved by their shouts; 
 his eyes retaining their glassy stare, and his form its fixed 
 and frozen posture. The activity that thus marks all other 
 kinds of life, is characteristic of the Christian's. Some- 
 times distinguished by heroic daring, and prodigal of noble 
 Is, at all times, it is a life of doing. GUTHRIE. 
 
 "You will get out of this world just so much as, under 
 God, you earn by your own hand and brain. Horatius 
 was told that he might have so much land as he could plow 
 around in one day with a yoke of oxen, and I have noticed 
 that men get nothing in this world, that is worth possess- 
 ing, of a financial, moral, or spiritual nature, save as they 
 r-t it by their own hard work. It is just so much as, from 
 th<> morning to the evening of your life, you can plow 
 arouiK 1 by your own continuous and hard-sweating activity. " 
 TALMAOE.
 
 ADOPTION. 
 
 ''For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, 
 but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, 
 Father.'" Rom. viii. ij. 
 
 "I once was an outcast stranger on earth, 
 
 A sinner by choice, and an alien by birth ; 
 But I've been adopted, my name's written down, 
 
 An heir to a mansion, a robe and a crown." 
 
 HATTIE E. BTTELL. 
 
 GOD'S FATHERHOOD NOT COMPREHENDED. 
 
 "A young child does not know his father's strength. 
 "\Ve are weak creatures, and cannot conceive fully of the 
 perfections of God ; we know not what the power of God 
 can do for us. It would be the height of absurdity for the 
 child to think and speak of his father as if he were a child 
 too, and could do no more than the boy's playmates. Yet 
 this is the common error of the children of God. We do 
 not rai-e our thoughts to a God-like level. We think our 
 own thoughts of God, and straightway we doubt. Oh that 
 we rose to God's thoughts, and tried to conceive how He 
 looks upon matters ! Surely He taketh up the isles as a 
 very little thing, and the mountains He weighs in scales. 
 
 If our troubles were set in the light of God's power, and 
 love, and faithfulness, and wisdom, they would become to 
 us small burdens; why should we not so regard them ? 
 Why must we reckon as children ? Why not compute our 
 load by our Father's measurement, and then see how easily 
 it will be carried ? Estimating divine strength by human 
 standards is one of the childish things which we must put 
 away. 
 
 29
 
 30 
 
 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 MTRGF.ON. __ 
 
 GOD'S PLAN FOR MAN'S HAPPINESS. 
 
 in* ill-porportioned theology that teaches the doctrine, 
 at the only motive in redemption was a regard to God 
 v. It receives no countenance from the Bible. Doe 
 STood "pity us, as a father pitieth his children I 
 Tm"ht to address him by the endearing appellation c 
 Father, oh, what affection, love, and loving-kindness are 
 expressed in that tender term! And if, on seeing some 
 eurthlv father, whom a child's scream has reached an 
 roused, rush up the blazing stairs, or leap into the boiling 
 fl.,,l. it were wrong, it were cruel, it were a shame, t< 
 suspect him <f lu-inir destitute of affection-of being moved 
 to this not.le art by no other motive than a regard to his 
 own honor, and by no other voice than the calm commanu 
 of duty-how much more wrong were it to harbor such 
 -picions of "our Father who is in heaven." GUTHRIE. 
 
 THE WANDERER RECEIVED. 
 
 Perhaps there is no subject in the Bible that takes hold 
 of me with as great force as this subject of the wandering 
 rhild. It enters deeply into my own life; it comes right 
 home into our own family. The first thing I remember 
 was the death of my father, I remember nothing about the 
 .ral, but his death has made a lasting impression upon 
 me. After my mother's subsequent sickness, my eldest 
 ther to whom mother looked up to comfort her in her 
 loneliness, and in her great affliction, became a wanderer; 
 he left home. I need not tell you how that mother 
 mourned for her boy, how she waited day by day and 
 month by month for his return. I need not say how night
 
 ADOPTION. 31 
 
 after night she watched, and wept, and prayed. Many a 
 time we were told to go to the post-office to see if a letter 
 had liot come from him, but we had to bring back the 
 sorrowful words, "Xo letter yet, mother." Many a time 
 as I walked up to the house, I have heard my mother pray, 
 "O God, bring back my boy." Many a time did she lift 
 her heart up to God in prayer for her boy. When the 
 wintry gale would blow around the house, and the gale 
 would rage without, her dear face would wear a terribly 
 anxious look, and she would utter in piteous tones, "Oh, 
 my dear boy; perhaps he is on the ocean this fearful night. 
 O God, preserve him!" We would sit around the fireside 
 of an evening and ask her to tell us about our father, and 
 she would talk for hours about him; but if the mention of 
 my eldest brother should chance to come in, then all would 
 be hushed; she never spoke of him but with tears. Many 
 a time did she try to conceal them, but all was in vain, and 
 when Thanksgiving day came, a chair was set for him. 
 Our friends and neighbors gave him up, but mother had 
 faith that she would see him again. One day in the middle 
 of summer, a stranger was seen approaching the house. 
 He came up on the east piazza and looked upon my mother 
 through the window. The man had a long beard, and 
 when mother first saw him, she did not start or rise, but 
 when she saw the great tears trickling down his cheeks, 
 she cried, ''Its my boy, my dear, dear boy," and sprang 
 to the window. But there the boy stood, and said, 
 "Mother, I will never cross the treshhold until you say you 
 forgive me." Do you think he had to stay there long? 
 No, no, her arms were soon around him, and she wept 
 upon his shoulder as did the father of the prodigal son 
 when he returned home. I heard of it when in a distant 
 city, and what a thrill of joy shot through me! But what 
 joy on earth can equal the joy in heaven when a wandering
 
 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 child cornea home : The matchless parable of the Prodigal 
 rdcd ,olely to show us the love and compassion of 
 win. wait- to receive into the relation of sonship efery 
 wandering soul. MOODY. 
 
 GOD INVITES US. 
 
 You know how rapidly the snow-flakes can accumulate 
 on a winter's day, and you know how soon they aggregate 
 on tin- top of the Alps; and then, in certain conditions of 
 the weather, that great block of snow which is made up. of 
 little >no\v Hakes shoves off an avalanche on the villages 
 U'neath. destroying them. So the sins of your life cold, 
 
 -inL r transgressions accumulating, accumulating, heap 
 inir up wrath against the day of wrathf at last, if unre- 
 pented of. will be an avalanche of darkness rolling down 
 upon your soul. They seein more like a cloud, black, 
 thunder ehurged. and flash with all the lightning of an 
 in<-en-ed God. and then hover and swing about us until in 
 the sufloration we gasp for mercy, and hope that a gale 
 fiom heaven will blow away the cloud. God is willing to 
 lift that cloud. He says he is long suffering and patient. 
 He is the God of great pity. He is willing to blot out all 
 your trunsirre^sions. He is willing to take you in the arms 
 of Hi- eonipa ion. Oh, here is the letter! It is a letter 
 from your Father, offended and outraged. It is a letter 
 to you- the -traying child. He says ''Come back, come 
 baek! Though your sins were as scarlet, they shall be as 
 
 w; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as 
 wool." Pardon for all! Free pardon! Everlasting pardon! 
 Adoption! Son-hip! Oh, child, come home to Father, 
 
 IT Father, home, your home/' TALMAGE. 
 
 THK I'KICE OF CHRIST'S DEPARTURE. 
 
 Christ said that it was expedient that he should go away.
 
 ADOPTION. 33 
 
 Decause if he did not go the Comforter would not 
 come. The Spirit; the Holy Spirit; the one who 
 stands over against those subtle elements in the 
 human soul whiph we call the spiritual instinct or 
 sentiment this Holy Spirit comes to take the place 
 of Christ, and crown us sons in the kingdom of 
 God. This is infinitely better than that Christ had 
 continued on the earth in his physical form. O 
 throne of Grace where He sits regnant who is 
 my Brother! O Jesus, crowned, not for thine 
 own glory, but with power of love for our. strug- 
 gling spirits, Thou art my Christ my Brother my 
 Father's Son! BEECHER.
 
 AFFLICTION. 
 
 .. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh 
 ntjorusa far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, ."- 
 // Cor. iv. 17. 
 
 Go then, earthly fame and treasure! 
 
 Come, disaster, scorn and pain ! 
 In Thy service, pain is pleasure; 
 With Thy favor loss is gain. 
 
 " Man may trouble and distress me, 
 
 'Twill but drive me to Thy breast; 
 Life with trials hard may press me, 
 
 Heaven will bring me sweeter rest." 
 
 HENRY P. LYT. 
 
 AFFLICTION CEMENTS HEARTS. 
 
 Afflictions make friendships. There was an Englishman 
 in ( hica-" the winter before the fire, who was much im- 
 pn '1 with the rapid growth of the city. He went back 
 to Manchester where he told the people about the city 
 only forty years old, with all its fine buildings, its col- 
 leges, its churches. He thought it was a most wonderful 
 citv. But no one seemed to take any interest in Chicago. 
 But." ln> >a\>, "one day the news came flashing over 
 the wire- that Chicago was burning. Then they suddenly 
 ;ime interested about Chicago. Every man I had told 
 about Chicago became interested, and couldn't hear too 
 much. The news came flashing under the sea that half 
 tln> city was burnt. There were men who couldn't help 
 hut wrt-p." At last the news came that 100,000 people 
 were homeless, and were in danger of starvation, unless 
 immediate help was sent. Then these men came forward 
 
 34
 
 APFLICTION. 35 
 
 and gave their thousands. It was the calamity that visited 
 Chicago that brought out the love and pity of those men. 
 MOODY. 
 
 A DELIVERER. 
 
 Is it dark with thee, my friend? It has been quite as 
 dark with myself, and yet I have seen light descending on 
 the rugged hills and making those hills as steps up to 
 heaven. Art thou afraid of the coming days, lest they 
 bring with them edged weapons, pain, grief, loss, friend- 
 liness, and desolation ? Put thy hand into the palm 
 wounded for thee, the palm of the one Infinite Savior. 
 He knows all He is the treasurer of the future the great 
 dragon is tamed by the anger of His eye and they who 
 trust Him with all their love, shall be set amidst the safety, 
 the peace, and the glory of His eternal Zion. PARKER. 
 
 AFFLICTIONS DO NOT ENTIRELY CRUSH THE HEART. 
 
 " I have seen the characters of the writing remain on 
 paper that the flames had turned into a film of buoyant 
 coal; I have seen the thread that had passed through 
 the fire retain, in the cold gray ashes, the twist it had got 
 in spinning; I have found every shivered splinter of the 
 flint as hard as the unbroken stone; and, let trials come, in 
 providence, sharp as the fire, and ponderous as the crush- 
 ing hammer, unless God send with these something else 
 than these, bruised, broken, bleeding as the heart may be, 
 it remains the same." GUTHRIE. 
 
 NO LIFE EXEMPT. 
 
 Trouble is an apothecary that mixes a great many 
 draughts, bitter and sour, and nauseous, and you must 
 drink some one of them. Trouble puts up a great many 
 packs, and you must carry some of them. There is no
 
 36 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 sandal so thick and well adjusted bul some thorn will 
 ki- through it. There is no sound so sweet, but the 
 
 undertaker's screw-driver grates through it. In this 
 
 ft >lmttle of the heart some of the threads must break. 
 
 \V- pluck some of our best comforts from the very 
 
 midst of our trials. I have noticed that some of the 
 
 sweetest berries grow on the sharpest thorns. 
 Afflictions are loathsome things, but they are necessary. 
 
 They are leeches that draw out the inflammation of the 
 
 soul. TALMAGE. 
 
 AFFICTIONS GOD'S MERCIES. 
 
 God washes the eyes by tears until they can behold the 
 otherwise invisible land where tears shall come no more. 
 O, Love ! O, Affliction ! Ye are the guides that show us 
 the way through the great airy space where our loved ones 
 walked ; and as hounds easily follow the scent before the 
 dew be risen, so God teaches us, while our sorrow is tear- 
 wet to follow on and find our dear ones in Heaven. 
 BKECHEB.
 
 ATONEMENT. 
 
 " He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised 
 for our iniquities. The chastisment of our peace was upon Him; 
 and with His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have 
 gone astray ; we have turned every one to his own way ; and 
 the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all." Isaiah Liii. 5. 
 
 "Hail to the Lord's anointed, 
 
 Great David's greater Son ! 
 Hail in the time appointed, 
 
 His reign on earth begun ! 
 He comes to break oppression, 
 
 To set the captive free ; 
 To take away transgression, 
 
 And rule in equity. 
 
 JAMES MONTGOMEKY. 
 
 GOD'S GREATEST WORK. 
 
 Of all God's works, redemption through His Son's 
 atonement is the greatest; it is His "strange" work. That 
 cross on Calvary, which mercy raised for you, cost more 
 love, and labor, and wisdom, and skill, than all yon starry 
 universe. With the earth its emerald floor, its roof the 
 sapphire firmamen*-, the sun and stars its pendant lamps, 
 its incense a thousand fragrant odors, its music of many 
 sounds and instruments, the song of groves, the murmur 
 of the streams, the voice of winged winds, the pealing 
 thunder, and the everlasting roar of ocean, nature's is 
 a glorious temple ! Yet that is a nobler temple, which, 
 with blood-redeemed saints for its living stones, and God 
 and the Lamb for its uncreated lights, stands aloft on 
 the Rock of Ages the admiration of angels, and the 
 glory of the universe. GUTHRIE. 
 
 87
 
 3> GEMS OF 77 UTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 THE ATONEMENT COMPLETE. 
 
 Two relationships made Jesus' atonement successful. 
 He was human, and therefore on our side. He was 
 Divine, and therefore on God's side. A righteous decree 
 had gone forth, that because of their sins, a race must 
 die. Jesus said, "That shall not be. I am God. I 
 belong to God. I belong to the race. I will take these 
 two relationships into the negotiation. I will redeem 
 mankind, though it cost my life." "O, stop!" cried 
 all the hosts of heaven. "Your blood will redden the 
 door-steps of the world. You will only be sacrificed." 
 "No,'' says Christ, "I will not stop. I know all the 
 torment ; I know all the bleeding ; I know the death 
 that is to come ; but I willingly throw myself across 
 the sharp edges of this undertaking. Stand back, men, 
 angels, and devils, I come to the rescue. God must be 
 reconciled. The decree must be revoked. Here I drop 
 into the tortures and massacre. If I perish, I perish." 
 
 Wonder of wonders! Jesus, with the tears of human 
 sorrow in one hand, and the key of eternal domination 
 in the other, appears to put away our sin by the sacri- 
 fice of Himself. TALMAGE. 
 
 A PROOF OF DIVINE TENDERNESS. 
 
 God showed His love for us in that He died for us 
 while we were yet enemies. He showed His love for 
 us in that He suffered for our sake. God bears us as 
 sick babes are borne in the arms of nurses through all 
 the years of our life. And when at last we come to 
 the gate of heaven, we are none of us to enter into the 
 land of the blest because we can say, "Behold I am 
 accordant, symmetric, perfected ! " None of us are to go 
 into the heavenly land by reason of the many good deeds 
 we have performed. Every one of us, entering in, will
 
 ATONEMENT. 39 
 
 say, "I am borne by the motherhood and fatherhood of 
 God, who has taken pity on me in my distress ; and I am 
 what I am by the wonderous love and care of God. Open, 
 ye gates, that I may see Him who loved me, and died for 
 me ! Open, ye long ranks between me and my God, that 
 I may behold that love and salvation which has by its vir- 
 tue and power, drawn men upward, as the sun draws flow- 
 ers from the soil. I shall go into heaven as one redeemed 
 by the love of God, the atonement of Christ, and the min- 
 istrations of the Holy Spirit. BEECHEB. 
 
 WE DO NOT APPRECIATE IT. 
 
 If a prince, passing by an execution, should take the 
 malefactor's chains, and sufler in his stead, the deed would 
 ring through all history, and be quoted as an amazing in- 
 stance of heroic pity ; and well deserved would be all the 
 words of praise and sonnets of admiration which would 
 record and eulogize it. Yet, our Lord Jesus did this, and 
 infinitely more for those who were not merely malefactors 
 but enemies to His own throne and person. This is a won- 
 der of wonders ! But it meets with smalt praise. The 
 most of men around us have heard of it, and treated it as 
 of little import; as an idle tale; as a pious legend ; as a 
 venerable fable ; as an unpractical my th. Even those who 
 know, believe, and admire, are cold in their emotions with 
 regard to the story of the atonement. Herein is love 
 which ought to set our hearts on fire, and yet we scarcely 
 maintain a smoldering spark of enthusiasm. Lord Jesus, 
 be more real to our apprehensions, and more completely 
 the master of our affections. SPURGEON. 
 
 THE GOSPEL MESSAGE. 
 
 I was in a city in Europe, and a young minister came
 
 40 
 
 to me and said, "Moody, what makes the difference be- 
 tween your preaching and mine? Either you are right, 
 and I am wrong, or you are wrong, and I am right." 
 Said I, "I don't know what the difference is, for you 
 have heard me, and I have never heard you preach. What 
 is the difference?" Said he, "You make a great deal of 
 the death of Christ, and I don't make anything out of 
 it. I don't think it has anything to do with it. I 
 preach the life." Said I, "What do you do with this: 
 ' He hath borne our sins in His own body on the tree? " 
 Said he, 4> I never preached that." Said I, "What do 
 you do with this : l He was wounded for our transgres- 
 sions ; He was bruised for our iniquities, and with His 
 stripes we are healed?" Said he, "I never preached 
 that.'' "Well," said I again, "What do you do with this: 
 ' Without the shedding of blood there is no remission ?' ' 
 Said he, "I never preached that." I asked him, "What 
 do you preach ?" "Well," he says, "I preach a moral 
 essay." Said I, "My friend, if you take the atoning 
 blood out of the Bible, it is all a myth to me." Said he, 
 "I think the whole thing is a sham." "Then," said I, 
 " I advise you to get out of the ministry very quick. I 
 would not preach a sham. If the Bible is untrue, let 
 us stop preaching, and come out at once like men, and 
 tight against it ; but if these things are true, and Jesus 
 Christ left heaven and came into this world to shed His 
 blood and thereby sr.ve sinners, then let us lay hold of it 
 and preach it in season and out of season." In the semin- 
 ary at Princeton, last year, when the students were ready 
 t<> graduate, the old man, their instructor stood up before 
 tin-in. :nul said, "Young men, make much of the blood. 
 Ymmg men, make mueli of the blood!" And I have 
 I'-arned this, that a minUer who makes much of the blood, 
 <>f th- atonement, of substitution, and holds Christ up us
 
 ATONEMENT. 41 
 
 the sinner's only hope, God blesses his preaching. And 
 
 if the Apostles did not preach that, what did they 
 preach ? MOODY.
 
 THE BIBLE. 
 
 " Thy word is truth,'" John xvii. //. "The word *f our 
 God shall stand forever" Isaiah xl. 8. 
 
 "Within this ample volume lies 
 
 The mystery of mysteries. 
 Happiest they of human race, 
 
 To whom their God has given Grace 
 To read, to fear, to hope, to pray, 
 
 To lift the latch, to force the way; 
 And better had they ne'er been born. 
 
 That read to doubt, or read to scorn." 
 
 SIR WALTER SCOTT. 
 
 WORTHY OF STUDY. 
 
 I know that young doctors, young lawyers, young ac- 
 countants, young machanics, young merchants, have but 
 little time for general reading. If so, then spend more of 
 that time at the fountain of divine truth from which nearly 
 all the books have been dipped that are worth anything. I 
 will undertake to say that every great book, that has been 
 published since the first printing press was lifted, has di- 
 rectly or indirectly derived much of its power from the 
 sacred oracles. Goethe, the admired of all skeptics, had the 
 wall of his home at Wiemar covered with religious maps 
 and picture. Milton's "Paradise Lost" is part of the Bible 
 in 1)1 sink verse. Tasso's "Jerusalem Delivered" is bor- 
 rowed from the Bible. Spencer's writings are imitations 
 of the parables. John Banyan saw in a dream only what 
 t. John had seen before in Apocalyptic vision. Macaulay 
 crowns his most gigantic sentences with Scripture quota- 
 tions. Through Addison's "Spectator" there glances in 
 
 42
 
 THE BIBLE. 43 
 
 and out the stream that broke from beneath the throne of 
 God, clear as crystal. Walter Scott's characters are Bible 
 men and women under different names. Meg Merrihes, 
 the witch of Endor. Shakespeare's Lady Macbeth was 
 Jezebel. Hobbes stole from this u Castle of Truth" the 
 weapons with which he afterward assaulted it. Lord 
 Byron caught the ruggedness and majesty of his style from 
 the prophicies. The writings of Pope are saturated with 
 Isaiah, and he finds his most successful theme in the Mes- 
 siah. The poets Thompson and Johnson, dipped their 
 pens in the style of the inspired orientals. Thomas Carlyle 
 is only a splendid distortion of Ezekiel; and wandering 
 through the lanes and parks of this imperial domain of 
 Bible truth, I find all the great American, English, Ger- 
 man, Spanish, Italian poets, painters, orators, and rhetori- 
 cians. Now if this be so, and the young man has but little 
 time to read, why not go to the great fountain of all truth 
 and inspiration, from which these other books dip their 
 life. TALMAGE. 
 
 LIKE HIDDEN GOLD. 
 
 The truths of the Bible are like gold in the soil. Whole 
 generations walk over it, and know not what treasures are 
 hidden beneath. So centuries of men pass over the Scrip- 
 tures, and know not what riches lie under the feet of their 
 interpretation. Sometimes when they discover them, they 
 call them new truths. One might as well call gold, newly 
 dug, new gold. 
 
 The Bible, without a spiritual life to interpret it, is like 
 a trellis on which no vine grows bare, angular and in the 
 way. The Bible with a spiritual life, is like a trellis covered 
 with a luxuriant vine beautiful, odorous, and heavy with 
 purple clusters shining through the leaves. BEECHER.
 
 44 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 A PEOPLE'S BOOK. 
 
 More Bible is what is needed. The Bible must be taken 
 out of the hands of the priest, and put into the hands of the 
 pie. I will not have it that the Bible is a mystery in 
 the s -use of being accessible only by experts; it is the 
 people's book in the sense that the air is the people's air, 
 an 1 the firmament is the people's firmament. Of course 
 tin- scientific man has his own view of the sky, and his own 
 w.iy of examining the air, yet the poorest dunce may look 
 up into the solemn heights, and the meanest drudge drink 
 in the living air. Many people could make more of the 
 sky itself than of a learned lecture upon it, and a mountain 
 breeze could be appreciated when a chemical analysis 
 would be misunderstood. It is so with the Bible. Let the 
 people themselves read "Moses and the prophets," not 
 send for a priest to read for them, but sit down to the 
 sacred task and spell out the infinite thoughts. PARKER 
 
 ITS PRECIOUS VALUE. 
 
 There is gold in the rocks which fringe the Pass of the 
 Splugen, gold even in the stones which mend the roads, 
 but there is too little of it to be worth extracting. Alas, 
 lio\v like too many books and sermons! Not so the Scrip- 
 ture; they are much fine gold; their very dust is precious. 
 
 Let no one turn away from the Bible because it is not a 
 book of learning and wisdom. It is, would ye know 
 astronomy: It is here; it tells you of the Sun of Right- 
 u-ness and the Star of Bethlehem. Would you know 
 Botany ? It is here; it tells you of the plant of renown 
 the -Lily of the Valley," and the "Rose of Sharon." Would 
 you know geology and mineralogy? You shall learn it 
 here; for you may read of the Rock of Ages, and the 
 W hite Stone with the name graven thereon, which no man
 
 THE BIBLE. 45 
 
 knoweth save he that receiveth it. Would ye study his- 
 tory ? Here is the most ancient of all the records of the 
 history of the human race. Whate'er your science is, come 
 and bend over this book, your science is here. SPUR- 
 GEON. 
 
 AN INTERESTING BOOK. 
 
 We want to bear in mind that the Bible is not a dry un- 
 interesting book, as a great many skeptics try to make 
 out. They say, "We want something new; we have out- 
 grown that." Why, the word of God is the only new 
 book in the world. All that the newspapers can do is to 
 tell of things as they have taken place, but the Bible tells 
 of things that will take place. We do not consider the 
 Bible enough as a whole. We just take up a word here 
 and a word there, a verse here and a verse there, a chap- 
 ter here and a chapter there, and not in a systematic way. 
 We therefore know very little about the Bible. I will 
 guarantee that the majority of Christians in America only 
 read the Bible at family worship; and you will notice too, 
 that they have to put a book mark in to tell where they 
 left off the day before. Ask them an hour after, what they 
 have read, and they have forgotten all about it. Of course 
 we cannot get much knowledge of the Bible in that way. 
 When I was a boy I worked on a farm and I hoed corn so 
 poorly that when I left off, I had to take a stick and mark 
 the place, so I could tell the next morning where I had 
 stopped the night before. If I didn't I would likely as not 
 hoe the same row over again. 
 
 In order to understand the Bible we will have to study 
 it carefully. MOODY. 
 
 ITS SUFFICIENCY. 
 
 Within the two boards of the poor man's Bible is a
 
 46 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 greater wealth of happiness, of honor, of pleasure, of true 
 pt ace. than Australia hides in the gold of all her mines. 
 That, for example, could not buy the pardon of any of the 
 thousand criminals of a country, which, weary of their 
 crimes, once cast on her distant shores; but here is what 
 sat i>lics a justice stricter than man's and procures the for- 
 giveness of sins of which the stoutest heart may tremble to 
 think. GUTHRIE.
 
 THE BLOOD OF JESUS. 
 
 " If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fel- 
 lowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ Jfis 
 Son clean set h us from all sin. 1 ' I John I: f. 
 
 " Hail, thou once despised Jesus! 
 
 Hail, thou Galilean King! 
 Thou didst suffer to release us, 
 
 Thou didst free salvation bring. 
 Hail, thou agonizing Savior, 
 
 Bearer of our sin and shame ! 
 By Thy merits we find favor; 
 
 Life is given through Thy name." 
 
 JOHN BAKEWELL. 
 
 HIS BLOOD MAKES ALL MEN BROTHERS. 
 
 The blood of Jesus Christ makes all nations akin. 
 Then look not for your relations in your own house or 
 in your own sphere. Christ's blood is stronger for re- 
 lationship than blood of father or mother. Look above 
 you. All there are yours. Go down to the bottom of so- 
 ciety. All below you are judgment-day, brothers ; God's 
 eternity is on them and you alike. BEECHER. 
 
 The blood of the atoning God is the life fluid of His 
 church. Spilt on Calvary, it has nourished into richness 
 the tree on which a Savior suffered, and no longer is it 
 bare and naked, but a foilage-laden forest of shelter-grow- 
 ing branches. CHARLES B. MANLY. 
 
 THE OBJECT OF OUR FAITH. 
 
 Is thy faith tixed on the precious blood? Then thou 
 art in the covenant. Canst thou read thy name in the 
 
 47
 
 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 bloudv characters of a Savior's atonement, who says to 
 all "Come unto me?" Then shalt thou read it one day 
 in th<- golden letters of the Father's election. He that be- 
 lifveth is elected. The blood is the symbol, the token, 
 the earnest, the surety, the seal of the covenant of grace 
 to thee. By this blood, sin is cancelled ; by Jesus' agon- 
 ies justice is satisfied ; by His death, the law is honored ; 
 and !>y that blood in all its mediatorial efficacy, and in all 
 its cleansing power, Christ fulfills all that He stipulated to 
 do on the behalf of His people towards God. SPURGEON. 
 
 THE ONLY GOSPEL THAT OF HIS BLOOD. 
 
 Be assured that any religion which makes light of the 
 blood is of its father, the devil. No matter how eloquent 
 a man is, if he preaches against the blood he is doing the 
 devil's work. Do not listen to him. Do not believe him. 
 If an angel from heaven should preach any other gospel, I 
 would not believe it. " Christ's blood shed for the par- 
 don of our sins," that is the gospel that Paul preached, 
 and Peter preached, and that God has always honored in 
 the salvation of men's souls. MOODY. 
 
 OUR RANSOM. 
 
 To save us from sin, and from that hell where they seek 
 for death but cannot find it, and only find after unnum- 
 bered ages that their torments are beginning. Jesus inter- 
 l>ed. saying, " I will save them suspend the sentence 
 I eome to do thy will, O, my God, deliver from going 
 down to the pit, I have found a ransom have patience 
 with them and I will pay thee all ! " He paid it. Making 
 atonement for sin " He was wounded for our transgres- 
 sions ; he was bruised for our iniquities ; the chastisement 
 )f our peace was upon Him ; and with his stripes we are 
 The debt was paid on Calvary to the uttermost
 
 THE BLOOD OF JESUS. 49 
 
 farthing ; and now God only awakens our convictions and 
 alarms our consciences, reckoning with us, that He may 
 bring sinners to acknowledge their guilt, and so prepare 
 them to receive His mercy. GUTHRIE. 
 
 THE BLOOD OF A KING. 
 
 A king dying ! You remember when the last Czar of 
 Russia was in his fatal sickness, that bulletins were every 
 hour dispatched from the palace, saying, "The king is 
 better," or ' The king is worse," or " The king is deleri- 
 ous," or " The king rested easier through the night," or 
 " The king is dying," or " The king is dead." The bells 
 tolled it, the flag signaled it, the telegraphs flashed it. Tell 
 it now to all the earth and to all the heavens Jesus, our 
 King, is sick with His last sickness. Let couriers carry 
 the swift dispatch. His pains are worse. He is breath- 
 ing a last groan ; through His body quivers the last 
 anguish ; the King is dying ; THE KING is DEAD ! Ye 
 who come round about the cross, look what is beneath. It 
 is royal blood. TALMAGE.
 
 BROTHERLY LOVE. 
 
 11 Let brotherly love continue" Heb. xiii. I. 
 
 "There are lonely hearts to cherish, 
 
 While the days are going by ; 
 There are weary souls who perish, 
 While the days are going by. 
 If a smile we can renew, 
 As our journey we persue 
 O the good we all may do, 
 While the days are going by." 
 
 PROMPTED BY COMPASSION. 
 
 The story goes that Henry the Eighth wandering one 
 night in the streets of London in disguise, was met at the 
 bridgefoot by some of the watch, and not giving a good 
 account of himself was carried off to the Poultry Compter, 
 and shut up for the night without fire or candle. On his 
 liberation, he made a grant of thirty chaldrons of coals and 
 a quantity of bread for the solace of night prisoners in the 
 Compter. Experience brings brotherly love. Those who 
 htve felt sharp afflictions, terrible convictions, racking 
 doubts and violent temptations, will be jealous in helping 
 those of a similar condition. It were well if the great 
 Head of the church would put unsympathetic Christians 
 into the Compter of trouble for a season until they can 
 weep with those that weep. SPURGEON. 
 
 SHAM LOVE. 
 
 There is a good deal of what we might call sham love. 
 People profess to love you very much, when you find it is 
 all on the surface. It is not heart love. Very often you 
 are in a person's house, and the servant comes in and says 
 
 50
 
 BR O THERL Y LOVE. 51 
 
 such a person is in the front room, and she says, " Oh, 
 dear. I am so sorry he has come, I can't bear the sight of 
 him ;" and she'll get right up and go into the other room 
 and say, "Why, how do you do ? I am so glad to see you." 
 There is a good deal of that sort of thing in the world. I 
 remember I was talking with a man one day, and an ac- 
 quaintance of his came in, and he jumped up at once and 
 shook him by the hand I thought he was going to shake 
 his hand out of joint, he shook so hard, and he seemed to 
 be so glad to see him, and wanted him to stay, but the 
 man was in a great hurry, and could not stay, and he 
 coaxed and urged him to stay, but the man said no, he 
 would come at another time; and after that man went out, 
 my companion turned to me and said, "Well, he is an 
 awful bore, and I'm glad he's gone. " Well I began to feel 
 that I was a bore too, and so I got out as quick as I could. 
 That is not real love. That is love with the tongue, while 
 the heart is not true. Now let us not love in word and in 
 tongue, but in deed and in truth. That is the kind of love 
 God gives us. MOODY. 
 
 AN EXAMPLE OF LOVE. 
 
 On the deck of a foundering vessel stood a negro slave. 
 The last man left on board, he was about to step into the 
 life-boat. She was almost laden to the gunwale, to the 
 water's edge. Bearing in his arms what seemed a heavy 
 bundle, the boats crew who with difficulty kept her afloat 
 in the roaring sea, refused to receive him. If he came it 
 must be unincumbered and alone, on that they insisted. 
 He must either leave that bundle and leap in, or throw it 
 in and stay to perish. Pressing it to his bosom, he opened 
 its folds ; and there, warmly wrapped, lay two little chil- 
 dren, whom their father had committed to his care. He 
 kissed them and bade the sailors carry his affectionate fare-
 
 52 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BE A UTY. 
 
 well to his master, telling him how faithfully he haA 
 fulfilled his charge. Then lowering the children into the 
 boat which pushed off, the dark man stood alone on the 
 deck to go down with the sinking ship, a noble example 
 of bravery, and true fidelity, and the "love that seeketh not 
 its own." 
 
 BROTHERLY LOVE MEANS LOVE TO ALL. 
 
 If any man's sorrows need our sympathy, his bodily or 
 spiritual wants our help, let us think no more of asking 
 whether he belongs to our country or family, our party or 
 church, than if we saw him stretching out his hands from 
 the window of a burning house, or found him, like the 
 object of the Samaritan's kindness, wallowing in a pool of 
 blood. Thus Christ loved us; and thus he teaches us to love 
 one another. GUTHRIE. 
 
 THE BEAUTY OF LOVE. 
 
 Oh, there is something beautiful in sympathy, in love, 
 in manly, wifely, motherly, yea and neighborly love. 
 Why was it that our city was aroused with excitement last 
 week when a little child was kidnapped from one of our 
 streets? Why where whole columns of newspapers filled 
 with the story of a little child. It was because we are all 
 one in love, and every parent said : "How if it had been 
 my Lizzie? how if it had been my Mary? how if it had 
 been my Maud \ how if it had been my child ? how if there 
 had been one unoccupied pillow in our trundle bed to- 
 night? how if my little one, bone to my bone, and flesh of 
 my flesh, were to-night carried captive into some den of 
 vagabonds, never to come back to me ? how if it had been 
 my sorrow looking out of the window, watching and wait- 
 ing, that sorrow worse than death?'' Then when they 
 found her, why did we declare the news all through the
 
 BR OTHERL Y LOVE. 53 
 
 households, and everybody that knew how to pray said: 
 "Thank God!" Because we are all one, bound by one 
 great golden chain of love. TALMAGE. 
 
 LOVE WHAT IT IS 
 
 Love is not mere good nature. We speak of the duty 
 of all men to be loving in disposition; to be the incarnation 
 of love as nearly as may be; and one says "That is my 
 doctrine. I do not believe in those always dry, metaphy- 
 sical men, arguing, and arguing, and arguing." Another 
 man says, " That is my idea about it. I do not like those 
 men who are always combative. I like a mild, meek, and 
 lowly man." I do not mean any such thing as that. I do 
 not mean those lazy, sunshiny, good natured men, who 
 have no particular opinions, and who would about as soon 
 have things go one way as another ; who are without sharp 
 and discriminating thought, have no preferences, no indig- 
 nation, no conscience, no tire. I do not believe in any such 
 men. I like to see a man who has got snap in every part 
 of him, who knows how to think and to speak, and to put 
 on the screw, if that is his particular mode of working. 
 
 This sweet heart quality I am speaking of, is the atmos- 
 phere in which every other faculty works. Do you sup- 
 pose that love has no anger ? There is no such anger as that 
 which love furnishes. Do you suppose that when a mother 
 sees the child, that is both herself and him whom she loves 
 better than herself, the child in whom her hope is bound 
 up, the child that is God's glass through which she sees 
 immortality, the child that is more to her than her own 
 life, doing a detestable meanness, that she is not angry 
 and indignant, and that the child does not feel the smart of 
 physical advice? You might as well say the summer 
 shower has no thunder, as to say that love has no anger. 
 BEECHER.
 
 CHARITY. 
 
 " And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the 
 greatest of these is charity. " / Cor. xiii. ij. 
 
 "Lord, lead the way the Savior went, 
 
 By lane and cell obscure, 
 And let love's treasures still be spent, 
 
 Like His, upon the poor. 
 
 WILLIAM CROSWELL. 
 
 A PLEA FOR GREATER LIBERALITY. 
 
 Instead of cutting down the support of those mission- 
 aries in foreign lands, I think it would be better for us to 
 cut off some of our luxuries. When a man can drive 
 out with a four in-hand, let him give up two of his horses, 
 and give what he saves by it to the foreign mission field. 
 He could enjoy his religion better. People say that such 
 a man died worth so many millions. It does not make 
 any differance how much a man accumulates, he can't die 
 worth anything. He isn't worth a penny; and so if you 
 want to save money, lay it up in heaven. Make yourself 
 rich by investing in good, institutions, and maintaining 
 good works. I want to be rich for eternity, not for time. 
 MOODY. 
 
 OPPORTUNITIES FOR EXERCISING CHARITY. 
 
 X>ne of us liveth to himself; no man or woman should. 
 Yet in this i-nuntry what an immense amount of power is 
 li-t lost to God, and to the world ! I know a person in 
 an humble position she is a blacksmith's wife who, 
 sparing some hours each day for the work, has educated 
 not a few of the neglected children where she resides. 
 
 64
 
 CHARITY. 65 
 
 Her name though unknown to fame, is known to heaven; 
 and, better than on gold or marble is graven on loving 
 hearts. How many woman there are, who, treading in 
 her humble footsteps, could change a languid into a bright, 
 happy blessed life! In this world of sin and misery, time 
 ought not to be wasted on trifles; well-spent hours, like 
 drops of oil spreading on the waters diffuse themselves in 
 blessing and pleasure all the day.- GUTHRIE. 
 
 THE RESULT OF CHARITY IN MISSIONS. 
 
 Here is a man who gives a thousand dollars to the mission- 
 ary cause. Men cry out, "What a waste! what's the use of 
 sending New Testaments and missionaries, and spending 
 your money in that way? Why don't you send plows, and 
 corn threshers, and locomotives, and telegraphs!" But is 
 it a waste? Ask the nations that have been saved ; ' 'Have 
 not religious always preceded financial blessings?" Show 
 me a nation where the Gospel of Christ triumphs, and I 
 will show you a community prospered in a worldly sense. 
 It is a waste to comfort the distressed, to instruct the ig- 
 norant, to back the immoral, to capture for God the innu- 
 merable hosts of men who erst with quick feet were tramp- 
 ing the way to hell? Alas! for the man who has nothing 
 better than "greenbacks" and Government securities! 
 There is no safe investment save that which is made in the 
 bank, of which God holds the keys. TALMAGE. 
 
 THE RIGHT MOTIVE. 
 
 To be praised, and to have the reputation of liberality, is 
 the way many people have of taking interest in what they 
 lend to the Lord. It is probable that benevolence is only 
 the cat's paw of vanity, when our obscure and casual kind- 
 ness seem to us like pale, inodorous flowers grown in a 
 solitary wood, and only public charities have color and
 
 5f, GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 fnurrunce. A man should fear when he only enjoys what 
 L'ood lie does publicly. Is it not the publicity rather than 
 tluj charity he loves ? Is it not vanit}^ rather than benevo- 
 lence, that irives such charities? A man must be very rich 
 in secret charities before he can bear the strain of public 
 beneficence. BEECHER. 
 
 TRUE CHARITY. 
 
 If men valued the truth as they do their goods and their 
 houses, they would not regard error with such cool content- 
 ment. The cant of the present day cries ' 'Charity, Char- 
 ity." As if it were not the truest charity to grow indig- 
 nant with that which ruins souls. It is not uncharitable to 
 warn men against poisonous adulterations of their food, or 
 invasion of their rights; and surely it can not be more un- 
 charitable to put them upon their guard against that which 
 will poison or rob their souls. SPURGEON.
 
 CHEERFULNESS. 
 
 " Rejoice in the Lord alway ; and again I say rejoice. "- 
 
 Phil, iv: 4. 
 
 ' ' Let us gather up the sunbeams, 
 
 Lying all around our path ; 
 Let us keep the wheat and roses, 
 
 Casting out the thorns and chaff. 
 Let us find our sweetest comfort 
 
 In the blessings of to-day, 
 With a patient hand removing 
 
 All the briars from the way." 
 
 CHEERFULNESS IN CONTENTMENT. 
 
 The way to happiness does not lie in attempting to 
 bring our circumstances up to our minds, but our minds 
 down to our circumstances. Many birds wear a finer 
 coat than the lark, nor is there any that dwells in a low- 
 lier home ; yet which of the feathered songsters soars 
 so high, or sings so cheerily, or teaches man so well how 
 to leave the day's cares and labors tor the bosom of his 
 family, as when, neither envying the peacock his splendid 
 plumage, nor the proud eagle her lofty realm, it drops 
 singing into its grassy nest to caress its young, and with 
 its wings to shield them from the cold dews of the night ? 
 Let ours be the cheerful happiness of Him who, content 
 with little, pleased with whatever pleases the Father, care* 
 ful for nothing, thankful for anything, prayerful for and 
 in everything, can say with Paul, "I have learned in 
 whatsoever state I am, to be content." GUTHRIE 
 
 CHEERFULNESS GOOD FOR THE HEALTH. 
 
 One reason why godliness is profitable unto the things
 
 58 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 of the life that now is, is because it cultivates cheerful- 
 ness, and cheerfulness is good for a man's physicial 
 health. It will not restore a broken down constitution, 
 or drive rheumatism from the limbs, or neuralgia from 
 the temples, or pleurisy from the side ; but it puts one in 
 such a condition as is most favorable for physical health. 
 That I believe, and that I avow. Everybody knows that 
 buoyancy of spirit is good physical advantage. Gloom, 
 unrest, dejection are at war with every pulsation of the 
 heart, and with every respiration of the lungs. It low- 
 ers the vitality, it slackens the circulation, while exhil- 
 eration of spirit pours the very balm of heaven through 
 all the currents of life. TALMAGE. 
 
 LIVING IN AN ATMOSPHERE OF CHEERFULNESS. 
 
 A man's house should be on the hill top of cheerfulness 
 and serenity, so high that no shadows rest upon it, and 
 where the morning comes so early, and the evening tarries 
 so late, that the days has twice as many golden hours as 
 those of other men. He is to be pitied whose house is in 
 some valley of grief between the hills, with the longest 
 night and the shortest day. Home should be center of 
 joy, equatorial and tropical. BEECHER. 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN S PRIVILEGE. 
 
 The same Lord who hath bidden us " quit yourselves 
 like men; be strong," has also said, "Rejoice in the 
 Lord alway." The believer's life has its sweets, and these 
 are of the choicest : What is more joyful than the joy of 
 a saint, what more happy than the happiness of a believer? 
 I will not condescend to make a comparison between our 
 joy and the mirth of fools ; I will go no further than 
 a contrast. Their mirth is as the crackling of thorns, 
 which spit fire, and make a noise and a flash, but there is
 
 CHEERFULNESS. 59 
 
 no heat, and they are soon gone out, nothing come of it. 
 But the Christian's delight is like a steady coal fire. 
 You have seen the grate full of coals all burning red, 
 and the whole mass of coal has seemed to be one great 
 glowing ruby, and everybody who has come into the room 
 out of the cold has delighted to warm his hands, for it 
 
 O ' 
 
 gives out a steady heat. Such are our joys. I would 
 sooner possess the joy of Christ five minutes, than the 
 mirth of fools for half a century. SPURGEON. 
 
 CHEERFULNESS HELPFUL TO OTHERS. 
 
 God has put us here to make the world brighter, hap- 
 pier and better by our lives, and by helping bear one an- 
 other's burdens. Every one of us should study how he 
 can be a blessing to others. Let us cheer up the discour- 
 aged. If the love of God beats in warm pulsations in our 
 hearts, how easy it will be to win souls for Christ! ] 
 have known a whole family to be won to Christ by a smile. 
 We must get the wrinkles out of our brows, and we must 
 have smiling faces. The world is after the best thing, 
 and we must show them that we have something better 
 than they have. MOODY.
 
 CHILDREN. 
 
 " But Jesus said suffer little children, and forbid them not, to 
 come unto me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven" Matt, 
 xix: 14. 
 
 "Is anything so innocent, 
 
 So lovely sweet and mild, 
 As the budding thought, the untrained soul 
 Of a tender little child?" 
 
 CHARLES B. MANLY. 
 
 CHILDREN GONE. 
 
 Some are from infancy light and happy they romp, 
 they fly. You can hear their swift feet in the hall. Their 
 loud laughter rings through the house, or in the woods 
 bursts into a score of echoes. At night you can hardly 
 hush their glad hearts for slumber, and in the morning 
 they wake you with their singing. Alas ! if then they 
 leave you, and you no more hear their swift feet in the 
 hall, and their loud laughter through the house, or in the 
 woods bursting into a score of echoes; if they wake you no 
 more in the morning with their sweet song; if the color go 
 out of the rose and the leaves fall; if angels for once grow 
 jealous, and want what you cannot spare; if packed away 
 in the trunk or drawer there be silent garments that once 
 fluttered with youthful life, and by mistake you call some 
 other child by the name of the one departed ah me ! ah 
 me ! TALMAGE. 
 
 HOW TO TREAT CHILDREN. 
 
 There are many persons who have heard so much of 
 family government that they think there cannot be too 
 
 60
 
 CHILDREN. 61 
 
 * 
 
 much of it. They imprison their children in stiff rooms, 
 where a fly is a band of music in the empty silence, and 
 govern at morning, at noon, and at night, and the child 
 goes all day long like a shuttle in the loom, back and for- 
 ward, hit at both sides. Children subjected to such treat- 
 ment are apt to grow up infidels, through mere disgust. 
 
 Many children grow up like plants under bell glasses. 
 They are surrounded only by artifical and prepared influ- 
 ences. There are house bred, room-bred nurse-bred, 
 mother-bred everything but self-bred. The object of 
 training is to teach the child to take care of himself; but 
 many parents use their children only as a kind of spool on 
 which to reel off their own experience ; and they are 
 bounded and corded until they perish by inanity, or break 
 all bonds and cords, and rush to ruin by reaction. 
 BEECHER. 
 
 PATIENCE WITH CHILDREN. 
 
 In planting beans the old practice was to put three in 
 each hill: one for the worm, one for the crow, and one to 
 live and produce the crop. In teaching children, we must 
 give line upon line, and precept upon precept, repeating 
 the truth which we would inculcate, till it becomes impossi- 
 ble for the child to forget it. We may well give the lesson 
 once, expecting the child's frail memory to lose it, twice 
 reckoning that the devil, like an ill bird will steal it, thrice, 
 hoping that it will take root downward, and bring forth 
 fruit upward to the glory of God. SPURGEON. 
 
 BRAVE CHILDREN. 
 
 When the Lawrence mills were on fire a number of 
 years ago, after they had fallen in there was only one room 
 left entire, and in it were three mission Sunday-School chil- 
 dren imprisoned. The crowd got shovels, and picks, and
 
 62 
 
 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 crowbars, and were soon working to set the children free. 
 M- lit came on, and they had not yet reached the children. 
 When thev were near them, by some mischance a lantern 
 bn.ke .-Hid 'the ruins caught fire. They tried to put it out 
 but could not succeed. They could talk with the children 
 and even pass them some food, and encourage them to keep 
 up. But, alas, the flames drew nearer and nearer to this 
 pri-on. Superhuman were the efforts made to rescue the 
 children; the men fought bravely back the flames; but the 
 fire gained fresh strength and returned to claim its victims. 
 The efforts of the fireman were hopeless. When the chil- 
 dren knew their fate, they knelt down and commenced to 
 sing the little hymn they had been taught in their Sunday- 
 school days, O, how sweet : "Let others seek a home 
 below, where flames devour and waves overflow." The 
 flames had now reached them; the stifling smoke began to 
 pour in their little room, and they sank, one by one, upon 
 tli-' floor. A few moments more and the fire circled around 
 them and then their souls were taken into the bosom of 
 God. MOODY. 
 
 PROPER SUBJECTS FOR BAPTISM. 
 
 Hear the argument of some: "What an oversight on the 
 part of the Lord, in the covenant of circumcision, not to 
 ohserve that a child eight days old could not understand 
 what it was about ! What a waste of piety to baptize 
 an infant of days when it cannot understand what you 
 are doing to it. It cries, poor thing; therefore, how 
 ridiculous to baptize it! It plucks the preacher's gown, 
 or chuckles and coos in the preacher's arms; therefore how 
 absurd to admit it into the covenant! For myself let me 
 say that when I baptize a child I baptise human life, 
 human life, life redeemed by the Son of God. The infant 
 is something more than an infant, it is humanity; it is an
 
 CHILDREN. 63 
 
 heir of Christ's immortality. God not only baptizes great 
 trees, but the daisies as well. He enriches Lebanon and 
 Bashan with rain, but does He not also hang the dew of 
 the morning upon the shrinking rose ? Account for it as 
 you please, children are under the covenant. 
 
 The child does not understand the alphabet, do not teach 
 it. You say the child will understand by and by ; exactly 
 so; that answer is good; and by and by the child will 
 understand that it was baptised in the name of the Father, 
 and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, three persons in 
 one God. PARKER. 
 
 A CHILDREN'S HEAVEN. 
 
 Heaven is greatly made up of little children sweet buds 
 that have never blown, or which deatn has plucked from a 
 mother's bosom to lay on his own cold breast, just when 
 they were expanding flower-like from the sheath, and 
 opening their engaging beauties in the budding time and 
 spring of life. "Of such is the kingdom of heaven." In- 
 deed it may be that God does with his heavenly garden as 
 we do with our own gardens. He may chiefly stock it 
 from nurseries, and select for transplanting what is yet in 
 its young and tender age flowers before they have 
 bloomed, and trees ere they begin to bear. GUTHEIE.
 
 CHRIST. 
 
 " Christ came, who is wer all, God blessed forever: 1 Rom. 
 
 ' Crown Him with many crowns, 
 
 The Lamb upon His throne; 
 Hark! how the heavenly anthem drowns 
 
 All music but its own. 
 
 " Awake, my soul and sing 
 
 Of Him who died for thee, 
 And hail Him as thy matchless king 
 
 Through all eternity." 
 
 MATTHEW BBIDGES. 
 
 NO NAME LIKE HIS. 
 
 There is no name like His for us. It is more imperial 
 than (.'a'-ar's, more musical than Beethoven's, more con- 
 quering than Charlemagne's, more eloquent than Cicero's. 
 It throbs with all life. It weeps with all pathos. It 
 groans with all pain. It stoops with all condescension. It 
 breathes with all perfume. Who like Jesus to set a 
 broken bone, to pity a homeless orphan, to nurse a sick 
 man. to take a prodigal buck without any scolding, to 
 illumine a cemetery all ploughed with graves, to make a 
 qu<-en unto (io.l out of the lost woman of the street, to 
 
 :i tin- tear- of human sorrow in a lachrymactory that 
 never >hall be broken '. Who has such an eye to see our 
 
 1. siu-h a lip to kiss away our sorrow, such a hand to 
 snatch u-i out of the fire, such a foot to trample our ene- 
 mies, such a heart to embrace all our necessities? TAL- 
 HAOE. 
 
 64
 
 CHRIST. 65 
 
 HIS COMPASSION. 
 
 The miracles of Christ were, almost all of them, mere 
 acts of benevolence. He was poor ; he had neither rai- 
 ment nor money to give ; and yet there was suffering 
 round about him, and he relieved it. The miracles of 
 Christ were never wrought in an ostentatious way. Never 
 were they wrought for the purpose of exalting himself. 
 They were not employed by Him when arguments failed, 
 to carry men away by superstitious enthusiasm. Multi- 
 tudes resorted to Him for help the sick, the blind, the 
 deaf, lepers, all kinds of unfortunate people ; and mir- 
 acles were His means of bestowing charity upon them. 
 No hospital had He to which He could send them ; He 
 was His own hospital. His miracles were His general 
 acts of kindness. As laid down in the gospel they rep- 
 resent the heart of God. BEECHEK. 
 
 THE GLORIOUS CONQUEROR. 
 
 Christ has forever overcome all His foes, and divided the 
 spoil upon the battle-field, and now, even at this day, is 
 He enjoying the well-earned reward of His fearful strug- 
 gle. Lift up your eyes to the battlements of Heaven 
 the great metropolis of God. The pearly gates are wide 
 open, and the city shines with her jeweled walls like a 
 bride adorned for her husband. Do you see the angels 
 crowding to the battlements? At last there is heard the 
 song of a trumpet, and the angels hurry to the gates 
 the army of the redeemed. "The church of the first-born" 
 is approaching the city. Hark to the shout of acclama- 
 tion! "Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousands of 
 His saints. " Hearken to them as they enter. Every one 
 of them waving his helmet in the air, cries, "Unto Him 
 that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His blood,
 
 66 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 unto Him bo honor, and glory, and dominion, and power, 
 for ever and ever." 
 
 Mark the heroes as they march along the golden streets, 
 everywhere meeting an enthusiastic welcome from the 
 angels who have kept their first estate. On, on they pour, 
 those countless legions was there ever such a spectacle? 
 For four thousand years streams on the army of Christ's 
 redeemed. But see ! He comes. I see his immediate her- 
 ald, clad in a garment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle 
 about His loins. The Prince of the house of David is 
 not far behind. Let every eye be open. He comes ! He 
 comes! He comes! It is Christ Himself! Lash the 
 snow-white coursers up the everlasting hills; " Lift up 
 your heads, X), ye gates, and be ye lifted up ye everlasting 
 doors, that the King of Glory may come in." See, He 
 enters in the midst of acclamations. It is He ! but He is 
 not crowned with thorns. It is He ! but though His hands 
 wear the scar, they are stained with blood no longer. 
 His eyes are as a flame of fire, and on His headare 
 many crowns, and He hath on His vesture and on His 
 thigh written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF 
 LORDS. Clothed in a vesture dipped in blood, He stands 
 confessed the emperor of heaven and earth. SPURGEON. 
 
 WORTHY TO RECEIVE PRAISE. 
 
 We are told that when John was in the spirit on the 
 Lord's day, and being caught up, he heard a shout 
 around him, ten thousand times ten thuosand, and thous- 
 ands of thousands of voices, "Worthy is the Lamb 
 that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, 
 tn-nirth, and honoi, and glory, and blessing." Yes, 
 s worthy of all this. Heaven can not speak too well 
 Oh, that earth would take up the echo, and 
 a with heaven in singing that doxology. I would to
 
 CHRIST. 67 
 
 God that I had the voice of an angel, that I might win 
 your soul to the Son of God. A man was preaching in 
 Brooklyn to-day about the white robes, and a friend said 
 the halls of that building never heard such preaching be- 
 fore. And the minister said they might be wearing those 
 robes a good deal sooner than they thought. And just as 
 he got through he drew up both his hands and said, 
 "Jesus," and fell dead. Would that I could stand aside 
 and let him take my place for five minutes. MOODY, 
 
 HIS CROWN. 
 
 There are crowns worn by living monarchs, of which it 
 would be difficult to estimate the value. The price paid 
 for their jewels is the least part of it. They cost thous- 
 ands of lives and rivers of human blood ; yet in His es- 
 teem, and surely in ours also, Christ's crown outweighs 
 them all. He gave his His life for it ; and alone, of all 
 monarchs, He was crowned at His coronation by the hands 
 of Death. Others cease to be kings when they die. By 
 dying He became a king. He laid His head in the dust 
 that He might become "head over all," He entered His 
 kingdom through the gates of the grave, and ascended 
 the universe by the steps of a cross. GUTHRIE. 
 
 THE INTERPRETER OF LIFE. 
 
 Life is a dream, a riddle, a mystery, a difficult problem. 
 But there is one interpreter. What is his name ? Where 
 can he be found? His name is Jesus Christ, and he can 
 be found wherever there is a heart that wants him. You 
 have a dream you cannot call it by any other name 
 about sin. You know there is something wrong some- 
 where. You cannot explain it; you cannot set it down in 
 order, proposition after proposition. It is as unsubstantial 
 as a dream, and impalpable as a vision. Yet it haunts you
 
 68 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 and you want to know more about it. Christ is the Inter- 
 preter, and He alone can explain what sin is; show it in its 
 reality, and give the soul to feel how terrible a thing it is. 
 You have dreams about truth. Sometimes you see an image 
 that you think is the very image of truth herself. Some- 
 times that angel comes quite near you, and you are almost 
 on the point of laying your hand on the glittering vision. 
 You cannot quite do so. It leaves you, escapes you, 
 mocks you ! Jesus Christ is the Interpreter of that dream. 
 Why ? Because he is the truth. PARKEB.
 
 CONFESSION. 
 
 "My Son, give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord God of Israel 
 and make confession unto him." Jos. vii : 19. 
 
 "I bring my sins to Thee, 
 
 The sins I can not count, 
 That all may cleansed be, 
 
 In Thy once opened Fount; 
 I briag them Savior, all to Thee ; 
 
 The burden is too great for me." 
 
 UNCONSCIOUS SELF-CONFESSION. 
 
 A company of persons suspected of crime were brought 
 before a judge. Only one of them was guilty, but how to 
 find out which one, was the question. The judge put his 
 ear against the heart of each one and listened. When he 
 came to the guilty one, he heard in every thump of his 
 heart an acknowledgment of his crime. And so, though 
 all may seem fair in our case, if we could listen at the door 
 of our hearts, every pulsation would confess, Guilty! 
 Guilty ! TALMAGE. 
 
 CONFESSION ASSURES PARDON. 
 
 If I am working beside a man, and I see that he tries to 
 shirk and shift his labor upon me, I am angry with him. 
 But if he says to me, "I am wounded, and cannot work," 
 or, "I am lame," or, "sick," then the thought comes tome 
 at once, "you shall not work; I will help you." And so if 
 a man says to us, "I know I did wrong; but I am weak. 
 Blame me as little as you can," that very confession dis- 
 arms us, and we think better of him than we did before- 
 
 69
 
 70 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 Therefore it is that God so exhorts us to confess our sins to 
 Him. God is like us to this extent that whatever in us is 
 good, is like God. BEECHER. 
 
 COMING TO THE KING AS A BEGGAR. 
 
 A great monarch was accustomed on certain set occasions 
 to entertain all the beggars of the city. Around him were 
 placed his courtiers, all clothed in rich apparel; the beggars 
 sat at the same table in their rags of poverty. Now it came 
 to pass that on a certain day, one of the courtiers had 
 spoiled his silken apparel, so that he dared not put it on, 
 and he felt, "I can not go to the King's feast to-day, for my 
 robe is foul." He sat weeping till the thought struck him, 
 "To-morrow when the King holds his feast, some will come 
 as courtiers happily decked in their beautiful array, but 
 others will come and be made quite as welcome who will 
 be dressed in rags. Well, well," said he, " so long as I 
 may see the King's face, and sit at the royal table, I will 
 enter among the beggars." So without mourning because 
 he had lost his silken habit, he put on the rags of a beggar 
 and saw the King's face as well as if he had worn the scar- 
 let and fine linen. My soul has done this full many a time, 
 when her evidences of salvation have been dim; and I bid 
 you do the same when you are in like case, if you cannot 
 come to Jesus as a saint, come as a sinner; only do come 
 with simple faith to Him, and you shall receive joy and 
 peace. SPURGEON. 
 
 CONFESSION A CONDITION OF BLESSING. 
 
 When Job was confessing his sin, God turned his cap- 
 tivity and heard his prayer. God will hear our prayer and 
 turn our captivity when we take our true place before Him, 
 and confess and forsake our transgressions. It was when 
 laaiah cried out before the Lord, "I am undone," that the
 
 CONFESSION. 71 
 
 blessing came. It was when David said, "I have sinned!" 
 that God dealt in mercy with him. Jonah was cast into 
 the sea, and there was an ease in the ship; Achan was 
 stoned and the plague was stayed. Out with Jonah, out 
 with Achan; and there will follow ease and quiet in the 
 soul presently. MOODY. 
 
 CONFESSION OF PAUL, DAVID AND EZRA. 
 
 Confession, self-abasement has characterized not prophets 
 and apostles only, but the elect of God in every age of the 
 Church. "I," said St. Paul, "am the chief of sinners." 
 "I," said David, "was as a beast before Thee." "I," said 
 Ezra, "am ashamed, and blush to lift up my face to Thee,O 
 my God;" and so certainly does a man grow humbler as he 
 grows holier. It is with self-esteem as with the column of 
 mercury in the tube of a barometer the higher we ascend, 
 it sinks the lower. What more striking illustration than 
 that of Heaven itself affords? There, purified from all 
 conceit and pride, perfect both in humility and in holiness, 
 the saints, as if unworthy to wear on their heads what 
 Jesus won on His cross, cast their crowns at His feet. 
 GUTHRIE.
 
 CONSCIENCE. 
 
 ' And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience 
 void of offense toward God, and toward men. "-Acts xxiv : 16. 
 "What stronger breast-plate than a heart untainted? 
 
 Thrice is he armed that hath his quarrel just; 
 And he but naked though locked up in steel, 
 Whose conscience with un justice is corrupted." 
 
 SHAKESPEARE, HENRY VI. 
 
 "The mind that broods o'er guilty woes 
 So like the scorpion girt by fire. " BYRON. 
 
 AN APARTMENT OF THE SOUL. 
 
 Conscience is an apartment of the soul an apartment 
 wonderfully constructed. It seems to be central. It is 
 connected with every other apartment in the dwelling. 
 On examination, however, it will be found that, for the 
 most part, the doors are all locked. The floor is thick 
 with dust. The dust is its carpet. The room is very dark. 
 The windows are glazed over with webbed dirt. The light 
 is shut out and the whole apartment is dismal. The 
 man who owns the house does not frequent this room. 
 BEECHER. 
 
 CONSCIENCE MAY BECOME HARDENED. 
 It is a very terrible thing to let conscience begin to grow 
 hard, for it soon chills into northern iron and steel. It is 
 like the ftve/.intr of a pond. The first film of ice is scarce- 
 ly p.Ttvptible; keep the water stirring and you will prevent 
 1 he frost from hardening it; but once let it film over and 
 mn:iin ^uiot, the ghi/- thickens over the surface, and it 
 
 72
 
 CONSCIENCE. 73 
 
 thickens still , and at last is so firm that a wagon might be 
 drawn over the solid ice. So with conscience, it films over 
 gradually, until at last it becomes hard and unfeeling, and 
 J3 not crushed even with ponderous loads of iniquity. 
 SPURGEON. 
 
 CONSCIENCE UNIVERSALLY SIN-STRICKEN. 
 
 The universal conscience of mankind is stricken with a 
 sense of guilt. Alarmed by an instinctive sense of danger, 
 men have felt the need of reconcilation; and under a sense 
 of His displeasure, have everywhere and in all ages, 
 sought to make their peace with God. For this end altars 
 were raised, and temples were built; sacrifices offered, and 
 penances endured. If the colossal structures of Egypt, 
 and the lovely temples of Greece and Rome, were erected, 
 as well to adorn the state as to please the gods, it was less 
 to please approving, than to appease angry divinities, that 
 their courts resounded with the cries of victims, and smok- 
 ing altars ran red with blood. So much did the heathen 
 feel their need of peace, such store did they set by it, that 
 many of them sought it at any price. They would buy 
 peace at any cost; nor did they shrink from giving all their 
 fortune, even the fruit of their body, for the sin of their 
 souls. For peace with God, the Hindoo walked to his dis- 
 tant temples in sandals that, set with spikes, pierced his 
 flesh at every step, and marked all the long, slow, painful 
 journey with a track of blood; for peace with God, the 
 Syrian led his sweet boy up to the fires of Moloch, and, 
 unmoved in purpose by cries, or curses, or passionate en- 
 treaties, cast him shrieking on the burning pile; for peace 
 wilh God the Indian mother approached the river's brink 
 with streaming eyes and trembling steps, and tearing the 
 suckling from her bursting heart, kissed it, to turn away 
 her eyes, and fling it into the flood. GUTHRIE.
 
 74 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 CONSCIENCE KEEPS A RECORD. 
 
 Conscience obeyed, or conscience violated, records itself 
 upon the judgment leaf, that one leaf in every human heart. 
 You have known persons who were near drowning, but 
 tlx-v were afterwards recuscitated, and they have told you 
 that in the two or three minutes between the accident and 
 tin- recuscitation, all their past life flashed before them, all 
 they had ever thought, all they had ever done, all they had 
 over -een in an instant came before them. The memory 
 never loses anything. It is only a folded leaf. It is only 
 a closed book. Though you be an octogenarian, though 
 you be a nonagenarian, all the thoughts and acts of your 
 life are recorded by conscience on memory's page, whether 
 you recall them or not. That leaf, that judgment leaf in 
 my heart, that judgment leaf in your heart, will decide our 
 condition after this world shall have five thousand million 
 years been swept out the heavens, an extinct planet, and 
 time itself will be so long past that on the ocean of eternity 
 it will seem only as now seems a ripple on the Atlantic. 
 TALMAGE.
 
 CONSOLATION. 
 
 "As ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the 
 consolation. n Cor. /'./. 
 
 A lily said to a threatening cloud, 
 
 That in sternest garb arrayed him, 
 "You have taken my Lord, the Sun, away 
 
 And I know not where you have laid him." 
 
 "It folded its leaves, and trembled sore 
 
 As the hours of darkness pressed it, 
 But at morn, like a bird, in beauty shone, 
 
 For with pearls the dews had dressed it." 
 
 "Then it felt ashamed of its fretful thought, 
 
 And fain in the dust would hide it, 
 For the night of weeping had jewels brought, 
 
 Which the pride of day denied it." 
 
 MBS. SlGOUKNEY. 
 
 COMFORT IN VIEW OF REWARD. 
 
 If you are ever so low now remember that 
 
 "A few more rolling suns, at most, 
 Will land thee on fair CanaanVcoast." 
 
 Thy head may be crowned with thorny troubles now, but 
 it shall wear a starry crown directly; thy hand may be 
 filled with cares it shall grasp a harp soon, a harp full of 
 music. Thy garments may be soiled with dust now; they 
 shall be white by and by. Wait a little longer. Ah! 
 beloved, how despicable our trials and troubles will seem 
 when we look back upon them! Look at them here in the 
 
 75
 
 76 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 prospect, they seem immense; but when we get to Heaven, 
 we shall then, 
 
 ''With transporting joys recount 
 The labors of our feet." 
 
 Our trials will seem to us nothing at all. We shall talk 
 to one another about them in Heaven, and find all the more 
 to converse about, according as we have suffered more here 
 below. Let us go on, therefore; and if the night be ever 
 1 irk, remember there is no night without a morning; 
 and that morning is to come by and by. SPURGEON 
 
 WORDS F.OR WEEPING MOTHERS. 
 
 A lady had a little child that was dying. She thought it 
 
 was resting sweetly in the arms of Jesus. She went into 
 
 the room and the child asked her: "What are those clouds 
 
 and mountains thatl see so dark?" "Why, Eddy," said his 
 
 mother, ''there are no clouds nor mountains, you must be 
 
 mistaken." "Why. yes, I see great mountains, and dark 
 
 cloiuls, anil I want you to take me in your arms and carry 
 
 me over the mountains." " Oh," said the mother, "you 
 
 must pray to Jesus, He will carry you safely." My friends 
 
 the dear mother, the praying mother, may comedo your 
 
 Iside and wipe the damp sweat from your brow, but they 
 
 cannot carry you over Jordan when the hour comes. This 
 
 ther said to her little boy, "you must pray that the 
 
 I be with you in your dying moments." And the 
 
 o prayed, but the boy turned to her and said: Don't 
 
 hear the angels, mother, over the mountains, calling 
 
 r me, and I cannot go? " "My dear boy, pray to Jesus" 
 
 e .will come; He alone can take you." And the boy 
 
 s eyes and prayed, and when he opened them a 
 
 enly smile overspread his face as he said, "Jesus has 
 
 ne to carry me over the mountains/' What consolation 
 
 Jt tho mother, to know her little one was with Jesus.-
 
 CONSOLATION. 77 
 
 WEEP NOT AS THOSE THAT HAVE NO HOPE. 
 
 If a God had died, the terror and grief could barely have 
 exceeded that I once saw in the case of a mother who had 
 set her affections on the child we had met to carry to the 
 grave. Seated at the head of the coffin, she seemed a 
 statue; the grand work of some master hand, to represent 
 the deepest, blackest grief. No tears were on her blood- 
 less cheek. Fixed on the 'coffin, her eyes never left it. 
 She neither moved nor spake, as on her face one could read 
 these words, "my heart is withered like grass." Absorbed 
 in shadow, it mattered as little to her as to the dead, who 
 went out, or who came in. At length the moment came to 
 remove the body. Then, as when the heavens that have 
 been gathering blackness break out into a blaze of flame 
 and roar of thunder, burst the storm. The form that had 
 looked more like lifeless marble than one animate with life^ 
 now sprung up, threw itself on the coffin, clung to it with 
 wails to pierce a heart of stone; and, when gentle force was 
 employed to unloose her arms, she walked to the door pat- 
 ting the poor coffin; and saw it borne out of her sight with 
 an expression of agony, which, as she fell fainting back 
 into the arms of kind neighbors, seemed to cry, ' ' Ye have 
 taken away my god, and what have I more ?" 
 
 It is not so we are to love our dear ones. We are to 
 love oar children as they are to obey their parents, "in 
 the Lord;" never forgetting that He who lends may resume 
 His gifts whensoever it pleases Him, and so ever seeking 
 NI our nurseries to rear plants for heaven, and so train up 
 our children in the faith, that we shall have the infinite 
 consolation of knowing, if death enters our house and 
 plucks them from our arms, that our loss is their gain; that 
 if a chair in the circle by our fireside is empty, a blood- 
 bought throne is filled in heaven; that if there is one voice 
 less in the psalm when we are assembled for worship, there
 
 78 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 is one more ringing'sweet and clear in glory, praising Him 
 through whose dying love and in blissful presence we shall 
 join our loved to weep and to part no more. Blessed 
 Hope! Sweet Comfort! Everlasting Consolation ! 
 (it ruiuE. 
 
 COMFORT AS OF A MOTHER. 
 
 " As one whom a mother comforteth, so will I comfort 
 you." You know there is no cradle song like a mother's. 
 Alter the excitement of the evening it is almost impossible 
 to get the child to sleep. If the rocking-chair stop a mo- 
 ment, the eyes are wide open; but the mother's patience 
 and the mother's soothing manner keep on until, after a 
 while, the angel of slumber puts his wing over the pillow. 
 Well, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the time will 
 come when we will be waiting to be put to sleep. The clay of 
 our life will be done, and the shadows of the night of death 
 will be gathering round us. Then we want God to soothe 
 u-. to hush us to sleep. Let the music at our going not be 
 the dirge of the organ, or the knell of the church-tower, or 
 the drumming of a " dead march," but let it be the consol- 
 ing hush of a mother's lullaby. Oh, the cradle of the 
 grave will be soft with the pillow of all the promises. 
 When we are being rocked into our last slumber, I want 
 this to be the cradlesong : "As one whom a mother com- 
 forteth, so will I comfort you." TALMAGE. 
 
 LIKE SUNSHINE THRO' CLOUD. 
 
 There are happy and easy souls that are buoyed up by 
 inward hopefulness and outward prosperities, who can 
 hardly understand the need of so much being said about 
 > consolations, and who scarcely derive any lighter 
 eotnfort from those numerous passages in the word of God 
 that to others are like water in the wilderness. In God's
 
 CONSOLATION. 79 
 
 words of promise, comfort and cheer, there is a singular 
 sweetness when they are regarded as voices sent down to 
 men in their struggles through life. They are like open 
 glades in a dark forest, where the sun lies on warm banks, 
 the father of many flowers. And so these openings with 
 summer in them have peculiar relish and charm to many. 
 BEECHEE.
 
 CONVERSION. 
 
 " Repent ye therefore, and be converted" Acts Hi : /p. 
 
 "Oh, happy day! When first I felt. 
 My soul with deep contrition melt, 
 And saw my sins of crimson guilt, 
 All cleansed by blood on Calvary spilt." 
 
 RESTITUTION. 
 
 When Zaccheus was converted, he gave half his goods 
 to the poor. He did more than that; he said, "if I have 
 taken anything from any man, falsely, I will restore him 
 fore-fold." It made a great stir in Jericho. The people 
 said, lk there is a true disciple." His conversion was like 
 a Hashing meteor so sudden. You must remember one 
 
 o 
 
 thing conversion means something. If you don't give 
 half your goods to feed the poor, you must make restitu- 
 tion. If you have lied about a man, if you have slandered 
 a man, if you have abused a man, go and tell him you have 
 done him an injustice; go and make restitution. I felt 
 much encouraged last night; a man came into the inquiry 
 room and said, "Mr. Moody, I want you to forgive me."' 
 " Why," said t, "I have got nothing to forgive you for; I 
 nt v.i- nut von before." "Well," said the man, "I have 
 bri-n abusing you for about a year. I was here last night, 
 and I L f ot con verted, and I want your forgiveness." There 
 \\a-a man in Brooklyn who, after his conversion, said: 
 icre is a shoemaker's bill I've been owing for nine 
 
 O 
 
 rs; I'll go and pay it." He did so, and the shoemaker 
 -aid, " Well, I believe in that kind of meetings now." He 
 didn't bi'lit-vr in them before. Conversion implies disci- 
 pleskip to Jesus Christ. MOODY. 
 
 80
 
 CONVERSION, 81 
 
 DATE OF CONVERSION. 
 
 Some can tell the time of their conversion, giving day 
 and date, the hour, the providence, the place, the text, the 
 preacher, and all the circumstances associated with it. 
 They can show the arrow, which, shot from some bow 
 drawn at a venture, pierced the joints of their armor, and 
 quivered in their heart. They can show the pebble from 
 the brook, that, slung, it may be, by a youthful hand, but 
 directed of God, was buried in the forehead of their giant 
 sin. It is not so however with all, or perhaps with most. 
 Some, so to speak, are still born; they were unconscious of 
 their change; they did not know when or how it happened; 
 for a while at least they gave hardly a sign of life. 
 GUTHRLE. 
 
 REVIVAL CONVERSIONS. 
 
 I have more faith (put this down in your memorandum- 
 book), I have more faith in men who are brought to God 
 during revivals than during a frigid state of the church. 
 I have had close observation in these things. Stand two 
 men side by side. Let them have equal endowments. 
 You tell me that this man was brought in when the church 
 was very cold, and the other was brought in while the 
 church was very warm in revivals. I will say, "Give 
 me the last one ; I had rather have him than five of the 
 other kind. 
 
 When are we going to get the world converted ? When 
 the people in solid columns, march into the Kingdom of 
 God, not by ones, but by tens, fifties and hundreds,. Oh, 
 that the Lord would upturn this church with holy revivals ! 
 Oh, that such days might come as Richard Baxter saw in 
 Kidderminster, as Jonathan Edwards saw in Northamp- 
 ton, as McCheyne saw in Dundee ! " O, Lord, revive thy 
 work !" TALMAGE.
 
 82 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 FEELING NOT AN INDEX OF CONVERSION. 
 
 There are many persons whose conversion is a long and 
 severe struggle, during which they alternate week after 
 week, and month after month between hope and fear, who, 
 were it not for perplexing their minds with a wrong notion 
 of what they are to do and be done with, might go up the 
 mountain almost without going through the valley. It is 
 known that John Wesley went well nigh three years before 
 he found what he sought. John Bunyan went through 
 awful terrors, as a consequence of a long continued exer- 
 cise of mind, before he found religious peace. His expe- 
 riences are embalmed in some of the best writing in the 
 English language. It is my impression that the conver- 
 sion of Bunyan might as well have been a work of days as 
 of months. The difficulty in many cases results from an 
 erroneous apprehension of what is to be taken as evidence 
 of conversion, Now, to be a Christian is to obey Christ, 
 no matter how you feel. If a person trying to come into 
 the discipleship of Christ, expects to do so by sitting down 
 and waiting for a certain preconceived state of mind to 
 come to him, as he might wait for a pair of wings to sprout 
 out of his shoulders, he must not be surprised if he is 
 disappointed. BEECHER. 
 
 CONVERSION A SIMPLE DOCTRINE. 
 
 When we preach fine sermons our hearers say, "That 
 was prettily put." They do not so much notice what we 
 taught, as how we taught it, and this is a great evil. Even 
 so if you go and talk about your salvation to your neigh- 
 bor, and narrate it eloquently, she will say, "Mrs. So-and- 
 so has been here, and told me about her conversion in such 
 
 Msautitul language; I do not know that I ever heard such 
 elegant sentences; it was most delightful to hear her." 
 
 "What did she say?" I do not know what she said, but
 
 CONVERSION. 83 
 
 it was very beautiful." Thus many a sermon is overlaid 
 and buried under its own robes. Conversion is a simple 
 doctrine. Pity that those we seek to bless should be more 
 taken up with our pretty words than with the truth of our 
 adorable master. SPUKQEON.
 
 COURAGE. 
 
 " He thanked God and took courage" Acts xxviii: 15. 
 Dare to be a Daniel, 
 Dare to stand alone, 
 Dare to have a purpose true, 
 Dare to make it known. 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN A SOLDIER. 
 
 To watch, to fight, with steady front to meet and repel 
 temptation in other words to do no evil, is, however, 
 though an important part, but one, and not the most im- 
 portant part of Christian work. The Church of the Living 
 God bears no resemblance to those communities of ants 
 where a certain number of these curious insects form asort 
 ..I' -landing army, and have no other duties but to defend 
 and battle for the commonwealth; the building, and pro- 
 vi>ioning, and other duties of the ant hill belonging to the 
 others, and not to them, nor to take an illustration from 
 tin- arrangements of human society, does Christ's kingdom 
 mble this, or that of any other sovereign, where the 
 military, wearing a distinct garb, and exempted from those 
 productive labors whereby others support themselves, and 
 add to the wealth of the country, form a distinct order of 
 the community. The type of a Christian is seen not in 
 lands where citizens and boldiers, working and fighting 
 men from dim-rent clasM--; but rather in those troubled 
 us of the East, where the husbandman, constantly 
 expose.l to the attack of murderers and robbers, ploughs 
 the si.il with a carbine slung at his back, or a sword slung 
 
 84
 
 COURAGE. 85 
 
 at his side. The true Christian must be a soldier, and he 
 must be a true soldier, bold, courageous and active in de- 
 fensive and aggressive warfare. GUTHRIE 
 
 GRACE FOR COURAGE. 
 
 The father does not give to his son at school enough 
 money to last him several years, but as the bills for tuition 
 and board and clothing and books come in, pays them, so 
 God will not give you grace all at once for the future, but 
 will meet all your exigencies as they come. Then courage, 
 my brother, courage! TALMAGE. 
 
 COURAGE ON BEHALF OF PRINCIPLE. 
 
 Do not be afraid to spend yourself. Do not hesitate to 
 risk yourself. Do not shrink from treading on principle. 
 It will carry you, as a bridge, over the deepest and darkest 
 chasm that exists. Trust truth, and purity, and integrity, 
 and benevolence. Give yourself to them. Throw your- 
 self impetuously, enthusiastically, into them. And do not 
 wait to tee if anybody sees you. Do not care what any- 
 body says. Be unconscious so far as men are concerned. 
 Be boldly true and truly bold. BEECHER. 
 
 MEMORY AN AID TO COURAGE. 
 
 Sir Francis Drake being in a dangerous storm in the 
 Thames, was heard to say, " Must I who have escaped the 
 rage of the ocean, be drowned in a ditch?" Will you, ex- 
 perienced saints, who have passed through a world of 
 tribulation, lie down and die of despair, or give up your 
 profession because you are at the present moment passing 
 through some light affliction? Let your past preservation 
 inspire you with courage, and constrain you to brave all
 
 86 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 storms for Jesus' sake. Courage for the present is 
 igthened by the memory of past deliverances. SPUR- 
 
 GEON. 
 
 GOD USES BOLD MEN. 
 
 See Elijah on Mount Carmel, full of boldness. How 
 the Lord used him! How the Lord stood by him! How 
 the Lord blessed him! But when he got his eyes off the 
 way, and Jezebel sent a message to him that she would 
 have his life, he got afraid. He was not afraid of Ahab 
 and the whole royalty, not afraid of all the nation. He 
 stood on Mount Carmel alone, and see what courage he 
 had! But what came over him, I don't know, unless it 
 was that he got his eyes off the Lord. That, I think, is 
 the trouble with a good many of God's people. We get 
 frightened, and are afraid to speak to men about their souls. 
 We lack moral courage. The work of soul-saving will not 
 begin until we get the com age to invite men to Christ, 
 personally. We read that when the Apostles were brought 
 before the council, they perceived their boldness, and it 
 made an impression on the council. The Lord could use 
 them then because they were fearless and bold. MOODY. 
 
 RIGHT AGAINST MIGHT. 
 
 Will you do nothing to put down the evil side of that 
 foolish proverb, " Nothing succeeds like success?" Beard 
 success in its own den, fight the most popular evils, es- 
 pouse the poorest and the weakest causes, if 'you believe 
 that they are inspired by one element of right. It takes a 
 >t rong man to stand alone. It is only a man here and 
 there that can raise a tune; almost everybody tries to have 
 a mumble after it is raised. But stand alone, young 
 friend; stand alone, poor man; stand with the right. We
 
 COURAGE. 87 
 
 are in the minority, but we are in the minority of God. I 
 do not believe in majorities, popularly so called. I believe 
 men should be weighed as well as numbered. I would 
 rather have the support of one man of a certain kind, than 
 the support of ten thousand of a kind directly opposite. 
 PARKER.
 
 CREATION. 
 
 " In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth" 
 Gen. i: J. 
 
 " Loud hallelujahs to the Lord, 
 
 From distant worlds, where creatures dwell; 
 Let heaven begin the solemn word, 
 
 And sound it dreadful down to hell. 
 Wide as his vast dominion lies, 
 
 Make the Creator's name be known; 
 Loud as his thunder shout his praise, 
 
 And sound it lofty as his throne." 
 
 CREATION IN A CIRCLE. 
 
 God created the universe on the plan of a circle. There 
 are in the natural world straight lines, angles, parallel- 
 ograms, diagonals, quadrangles; but these evidently are 
 not God's favorites. Giant's Causeway in Ireland shows 
 what God thinks of mathematics. There are over thirty- 
 five thousand columns of rocks octagonal, hexagonal, 
 pentagonal. These rocks seem to have been made by 
 rule and compass. Every artist has his moulding room, 
 where he may make fifty shapes; but he chooses one shape 
 as preferable to all the others. I will not say that the 
 Giant's Causeway was the world's moulding room, but I 
 do say, out of a great many figures, God seems to have 
 selected the circle as the best. He created the stars in a 
 circle, the universe in a circle, and the throne on which 
 He sits is the center of that circle. TALMAGE. 
 
 CULTURE THE COMPLEMENT OF CREATION. 
 
 Creation begins the work. Culture continues it. There 
 
 88
 
 CREATION. 89 
 
 is but a beginning in natural fruits, and they never, when 
 left to nature alone, reach beyond that point. When a 
 man finds a crab apple in the woods, he would not will- 
 ingly find it more than once; yet, brought to his own 
 orchard, it becomes a fine fruit. But did nature make the 
 pippin? Nature had been trying her hand for years and 
 years, and had never been able to get beyond the crab 
 apple. Man says to her: "You are a bungling apprentice; 
 /will make you a journeyman." Iron is created, but a 
 sword is made. Nature does not create a jack-knife, a 
 steam engine, a knife and fork, but bare, cold, dead iron. 
 God intends that we shall only do the work of utilizing, 
 He of creating, for that we can not do. BEECHEK. 
 
 GOD IN CREATION. 
 
 Phidias, the Grecian sculptor, needed not to have the 
 name Phidias in so many letters on his work, for the 
 master's hand had a cunning of its own which none could 
 counterfeit. An instructed person had enly to look at the 
 statue and say at once, "Phidias did this, for no other 
 hand could have chiseled such a countenance;" and be- 
 lievers have only to look either at creation, providence, or 
 the divine word, and they will cry instinctively, "This is 
 the finger of God." There is God engraven upon every 
 work of creation. SPURGEON. 
 
 SKILL IN NATURE. 
 
 The British museum possesses in the Portland vase one 
 of the finest remains of ancient art; and it may be remem- 
 bered how, some years ago the world of taste was shocked 
 to hear that this precious relic had been shattered by a 
 maniac's hand. Without disparaging classic taste or this 
 exquisite example of it, I venture to say there is not a
 
 90 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 poor worm that we tread upon, nor a sere leaf, that, like 
 a ruined but reckless man, dances merrily in its fallen state 
 to the autumn winds, but has superior claims upon our 
 study and admiration. The child who plucks a lily or rose 
 to pieces, or crushes the fragile form of a fluttering insect, 
 destroys a work which the highest art could not invent, 
 nor man's best-skilled hand construct. And there was not 
 :i leaf quivered on the trees which stood under the domes 
 of the crystal palace, but eclipsed the brightest glories of 
 loom or chisel; it had no rival among the triumphs of in- 
 vention, which a world went there to see. In his humblest 
 works, God infinitely surpasses the highest efforts of 
 human skill. GUTHEIE.
 
 THE CROSS. 
 
 " God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord 
 fesus Christ" Gal. ^1:14. 
 
 In the cross of Christ I glory, 
 
 Towering o'er the wrecks of time; 
 All the light of sacred story 
 
 Gathers round its head sublime. " 
 
 SIR JOHN BOOKING. 
 
 CHRIST WITH US MEANS THE CROSS FOR US. 
 
 When God breaks up your plans, and throws you to the 
 very ground, and breaks all the threads in the loom which 
 you were weaving, and says to you, "Begin again," is 
 there any Christ for you at that point of your overthrow ? 
 Can you go forth unto your Savior marking that place in 
 His life where He was overthrown, identifying it in some 
 way with your own overthrow ? Can you stand rejoicing 
 with Christ at that very point of humiliation and crucifix- 
 ion ? Christ may be followed in two ways victorious, and 
 in disgrace and ignominy; and we are called to follow, 
 first, not Christ as He is set forth in all the royalty of 
 philosophy and reason, but a Christ humiliated, a Christ 
 despised; a Christ hated, a Christ crucified. Before we 
 stand with Christ upon Olivet, we must stand with Him 
 upon Calvary, must walk with Him thither. BEECHER. 
 
 SPES UNICA. 
 
 On a huge cross by the side of an Italian highway hung 
 a hideous caricature of the Beloved of oar souls, who poured 
 out His life for our redemption. Out of reverence to the 
 
 91
 
 92 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 living Savior we turned aside, disgusted from the revolting 
 ini:i^-. but not until we had espied the words, " Spes 
 n capitals over its head. Here was truth emblaz- 
 oned on an idol. Yes, indeed, Jesus our once crucified, 
 hut now exalted Lord, is the sole and only hope of man. 
 The cross bears ths Spes Unica to our soul. SPUEGEON. 
 
 JESUS BORE THE CROSS FOR US. 
 
 You ladies wear small crosses made of gold and wood 
 and stone about your necks; but the cross that the Son of 
 God carried was a rude, heavy tree, made into a cross. I 
 can imagine Him reeling and staggering under it. Un- 
 doubtedly He had lost so much blood that He was too faint 
 to carry it, and before they got to the place, it well nigh 
 crushed Him to the earth. And then some stranger under- 
 took to bear it along after Him. That was only nine o'clock 
 in the morning. They arrived at Calvary a little before 
 nine. Then they took up the Son of God and they laid Him 
 out upon that cross. I can imagine them binding His 
 wrists to the arms of the cross. And after they got Him 
 bound, up came a soldier with a hammer and nails and put 
 one nail into the palm of His hand, and then came the ham- 
 mer without mercy, driving it down through the bone and 
 tit -h and into the wood: and then into the other hand. 
 And then they brought a long nail for His feet. O, you 
 young ladies, who say you see no beauty in Christ that you 
 should desire to be like Him, come with me and take a 
 look at those wounds, and remember that that crown of 
 thorns was laid upon His brow by a mocking world. But 
 
 while they were crucifying Him, He was praying for them. 
 
 Was there ever such love as that ? MOODY. 
 
 OUR SALVATION WROUGHT UPON THE CBOSS. 
 
 Are you trusting in a righteousness of your own? Leave
 
 THE CROSS. 9i 
 
 that loom. Are the gossamer threads of your own vows 
 and promises ever snapping in your hand, and breaking at 
 every show of the shuttle ? The robe of righteousness, a 
 raiment meet for chy soul, and approved of by God, was 
 never woven there. It was wrought upon the cross; and, 
 of color more enduring than Tyrian purple, it is dyed red 
 in the blood of Calvary. GUTHRIE. 
 
 THE THREE CROSSES. 
 
 The cross! Poets have sung its praise, and sculptors 
 have attempted to commemorate it in marble, and martyrs 
 have clung to it in fire, and Christians dying quietly in 
 their beds have leaned their heads against it. May all our 
 souls embrace it with an ecstacy of affection. Lay hold of 
 that cross, O dying sinner. Everything else will fail you. 
 Without a strong grip of that you perish. Put your hand 
 on that and you are safe, though the world swing from 
 beneath your feet. Oh! that 1 might engrave on 3 our souls 
 ineffaceably the three crosses, and that if in your waking 
 moments you will not heed, then that in your dream to-night 
 you might see on the hill back of Jerusalem the three spe'c- 
 tacles the right-hand cross showing unbelief, and dying 
 without Christ the left-hand showing what it is to be par- 
 doned while the central cross pours upon your soul the 
 sunburst of Heaven as it says: "By all these wounds I 
 plead for thy heart. I have loved thee with an everlasting 
 love. Rivers cannot quench it. The floods cannot drown 
 it 1 " TALMAGE. 
 
 THE CURE FOR TROUBLE. 
 
 What is the cure for all this social chaos, domestic 
 trouble, secret pain, this wrong doing as between kings and 
 subjects, fathers and children, map and man ? The one cure 
 is the cross of Christ. Have I not preached that with some
 
 94 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 consistency ever since you knew me? Have I ever given 
 a second pre.-eription lor this malady of the world ? If I 
 have, oh ! allow me now to tear it up, publicly to tear it 
 up, so that nobody can ever patch it together so as to make 
 one word of it through all time. The prescription I will 
 give is given to me. The prescription by which I would 
 abide according to the exhortation of Scripture, the pre- 
 scription which I would preach to all mankind is this: 
 'The blood of Jesus Christ, God the Son, cleanseth from 
 all sin." PARKER.
 
 CROSS-BEARING. 
 
 "Jf any man win. come after me, let him deny himself, and take 
 
 up his cross, and follow me." Matt, xvi: 24. 
 
 " Only a little while 
 
 Of walking with weary feet, 
 Patiently over the thorny way 
 
 That leads to the golden street." 
 
 " Suffer if God shall will, 
 
 And work for him while we may, 
 From Calvary's cross to Zion's crown, 
 Is only a little way." 
 
 A HEAVY CROSS. 
 
 "Jesus, I my cross have taken," was not written in an 
 easy chair, or on a damask curtain. It was written by a 
 young woman, who for Christ's sake had been driven from 
 her fathers home; and you account for the pathos of that 
 hymn when I tell you that she dipped the pen in the blood 
 of her own broken heart, and in her tears, wrote 
 
 ' ' Jesus, I my cross have taken 
 
 All to leave and follow Thee: 
 Naked, poor, despised, forsaken, 
 
 Thou from hence my all shall be." 
 
 BATTLE SCARS FOR CHRIST. 
 
 Oh Christian man, Oh Christian woman! Have you any 
 scars to show in this conflict ? When a war is over the 
 heroes have scars to show. One hero rolls back a sleeve 
 and shows a gun-shot fracture, or he pulls down his collar 
 and shows where he was wounded in the neck. Another 
 man says, "I have never had the use of my limb since I 
 
 95
 
 96 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 wounded in that great battle." When the last day 
 
 will we have any wounds to show for Christ ? Will 
 
 we -how marks where we have borne the cross ? TALMAGE. 
 
 To the end of life the way of Christ is a way of cross- 
 bearing and of self-denial. To the end of life men stand 
 where these two great influences, one from heaven and the 
 other from the bottom of the earth, meet, and whirl all 
 things round about in struggles; and there is where men 
 strive to overcome the old man that is lowest the appe- 
 tites; and to endow themselves with the new man Christ 
 is. An- you willing to stand at that point and identify 
 yourself with all the humiliation and self-sacrifice which 
 are necessary to put down the old man and to endow your- 
 self with the new man that is in Christ Jesus ? BEECHEE. 
 
 CHRIST OUR EXAMPLE IN CROSS-BEARING. 
 
 Christ is our great example in cross-bearing. He had 
 not win re to lay his head in life, nor a rag to cover him 
 in death, nor anything but a borrowed grave in burial. 
 What inMim r of persons ought we to be in all unselfish- 
 win n \\e have such a Lord! He hath not said to us 
 in matters of .-elf denial, "Take up thy cross and go," 
 but "Come, take up thy cross and follow me." Well 
 may the soldiers endure hardness when the king himself 
 roughs it among us; and suffers more than the meanest 
 private in our ranks. My soul, I charge thee, bear thy 
 9, and look not for ease where Jesus found his death. 
 
 - S|-i EtOEON. 
 
 SMALL CROSSES. 
 
 Snme shrink from bearing their crosses because of their 
 insignificance, as well as on account of their heaviness, in
 
 CROSS-BEARING. 97 
 
 i 
 
 other cases. I remember hearing of a person who was 
 always trying to do some great thing for the Lord, and 
 because he could not do a great thing, he never did any- 
 thing. There are a great many who would be willing to 
 do great things if they could come up and have their 
 names heralded through the press. Your cross may be an 
 humble one. Don't slight it. MOODY. 
 
 AFTER THE CROSS THE CROWN. 
 
 Now for the work, hereafter for the wages; earth for the 
 cross, heaven for the crown. Go thy way, assured that 
 there is not a prayer you utter, nor a word you speak, nor 
 a foot you walk, nor a tear you shed, nor a hand you hold 
 out to the perishing, nor a warning you give to the care- 
 less, nor a wretched child you pluck from the streets, nor 
 a visit paid to the widow or fatherless, nor a loaf of bread 
 you lay on a poor man's table, that there is no cross you 
 bear for the sake of God and men, but is faithfully regis- 
 tered in the chronicles of the kingdom, and shall be pub- 
 licly read that day when Jesus, calling you up perhaps 
 from a post as mean as Mordecai's, shall crown your brows 
 before an assembled world, saying, " Thus it shall be done 
 to the man whom the king delighteth to honor." GUTHRIE.
 
 DEATH. 
 
 "77i( small and great are there; and the servant is free from 
 his master" Job Hi : 19. 
 
 "Leaves have their time to fall, 
 And flowers to wither at the North-wind's breath, 
 
 And stars to set, but all, 
 Thou hast all seasons for thine own, O Death ! " 
 
 MBS. HEMANS. 
 
 A CHILD'S DEATH. 
 
 There was a child born in your house. All your friends 
 congratulated you. The other children of the family and of 
 the neighborhood stood amazed looking at the new-comer, 
 and asked a great many questions, genealogical and chro- 
 nological. You said and you said truthfully that a 
 white angel flew through the room and left the little one 
 there. That little one stood with its two feet in the very 
 center of your sanctuary of affection, and with its two hands 
 it took hold of the altar of your soul. But one day there 
 came one of the three scourges of children scarlet fever, 
 or croup, or diphtheria and all that bright scene vanished. 
 The great Friend of children stooped down and leaned 
 toward that cradle and took the little one in His arms, and 
 walked away with it into the bower of eternal summer. 
 Death came into your household, but are you not more 
 pure and tender hearted than you used to be, do you not 
 more patiently waiting for the daybreak, on account of that 
 heavenly visitor ? TALMAGE. 
 
 DEATH AND MIGRATION. 
 
 As birds in the hour of transmigration feel the impulse
 
 DEATH. 99 
 
 of southern lands, and gladly spread their wings for th3 
 realm of light and bloom, so may we, in the death hour feel 
 the sweet solicitations of the life beyond, and joyfully soar 
 from the chill and shadow of earth to fold our wings and 
 sing in the summer of an eternal Heaven. BEECHER. 
 
 DEATH AND UNMASKING. 
 
 To-day the world is like a masquerade. High carnival 
 is being held, and men wear their masques and dominoes, 
 and strut about, and we think that man a king, and this a 
 mighty prince, and this a haughty chief. But the time is 
 over for the masque; daylight dawns; strip off your gar- 
 nishings; every one of you put on your ordinary garments. 
 Who goes out to the unrobing room with greatest confi- 
 dence? Why, the man who feels that his next dre;S will 
 be a far more glorious vestment. If any reader of this 
 page seems to be what he is not, let him be wise enough to 
 think of the spade, the shroud, and the silent dust. Let 
 every one among us now put his soul into the crucible, 
 and as we shall test ourselves in the silence of the dying 
 hour, so let us judge ourselves now. SPURGEON. 
 
 DEATH ROBBED OF HIS TERROR. 
 
 A certain gentleman was a member of the Presbyterian 
 Church. His little boy was sick. When he went home, his 
 wife was weeping, and she said, "Our boy is dying; he has 
 had a change for the worse. I wish you would go in and 
 see him." The father went into the room and placed his 
 hand upon the brow of the dying boy, and the cold, damp 
 sweat was gathering there: the icy hand of death was feel- 
 ing for the chords of life. "Do you know, my boy, that 
 you are dying ? " asked the father. "Am I 2 Is this death 2 
 Do you realy think I am dying?'' "Yes, my son, your end 
 on earth is near." "And will I be with Jesus to night 2 "
 
 100 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 "Yes you will be with the Savior." "Father, don't you 
 weep,' for when I get there, I will go straight to Jesus and 
 U-11 Him that you have been trying all your life to lead ine 
 to Him." So death was robbed of half his terror, by those 
 words of the Christian child. MOODY. 
 
 COMFORT IN DESOLATE HOMES. 
 
 Our children may not abide; the earth sounds hollow to 
 the foot it is so full of graves. Ah! how few gardens 
 are there where death has not left his footprints, when he 
 came to steal away some of our sweetest flowers. Few are 
 the trees standing on this earth, from which he has not 
 lopped off some goodly boughs. In this world, have I not 
 seen one and another stand bleak and branchless; and oh 
 how blessed for the father who has laid the last survivor in 
 the dust, and returns from that saddest funeral to find 
 God waiting for him in his desolate home. GUTHRIE. 
 
 AFTER DEATH, WHAT ? 
 
 Like a pendulum I swing from prayer to blasphemy, 
 and back again to prayer; and if I would die at prayer ] 
 might go to Heaven, but if I should die at blasphemy I 
 might go to hell, and blaspheme there through the ages, 
 and grow worse, and still worse, until God Himself cannot 
 know me as the child baptized in His own name, and held 
 up in public prayer in the old village church a million 
 years before. I fight, and win, and die. I plant the green 
 vineyard and gather purple grapes, and as the wine foams in 
 the full flagon, I fall down and cannot taste the inviting 
 cheer. I build a high house with roof that wind cannot stir 
 nor storm blow through, and when the blazing fire roars 
 from the gleaming hearth, and Comfort, rosy faced, beams 
 upon me from the pictured walls, I'm sent for and thrust 
 into the grave and prayed over as a failure here, perhaps
 
 DEATH. 101 
 
 a failure there ; handed over to the resurrection, to the 
 Great Unknown, to Ghostland, and a cold stone with lies on 
 it keeps me well down in the earth. 
 
 Jesns save me! Christ redeem me! Lord keep me! God 
 help me ! PARKER.
 
 DECISION. 
 
 "As for me" Joshua xxiv: I $. 
 
 "Delay not, delay not; the hour is at hand, 
 The earth shall dissolve and the heaven's shall fade ; 
 
 The dead, small and great, in the judgment shall stand 
 What helper, then, brother, shall lend thee his aid?" 
 
 BE DECISIVE. 
 
 How many there are who roll through life performing 
 no higher functions than the swine at the trough! They 
 exercise not their God-given power of will to restrain, to 
 decide, to determine. Round and fat they are; sleek and 
 comely they are; good eaters they are; good drinkers they 
 are; good sleepers they are; and good diers they are for 
 when they are dead they are out of the way. They are 
 born with a cry; then they eat and drink and sleep; then 
 they die with a wheeze that is all. And how much are 
 they worth? What are they good for? They are fine as 
 the world goes. Yet my- asparagus-bed brings forth as 
 good men as they are. I would as lief have fat vegetables 
 as these men of no firmness, of no decision of character, 
 these men of shambles. BEECHER. 
 
 EXAMPLE OF DECISION. 
 
 After the defeat of the Romans at the battle of Allia, 
 Rome was sacked, and it seemed as if, at any moment, the 
 Gauls might take the capitol. Among the garrison was a 
 young man of the Fabian family, and on a certain day, 
 the anniversary of a sacrifice returned, when his family 
 
 102
 
 DECISION. 103 
 
 had always offered sacrifice upon the Quirinal Hill. This 
 hill was in the possession of the Gauls; but when the 
 morning dawned, the young man took the sacred utensils 
 of his god, went down from the capitol, passed through 
 the Gallic sentries, through the main body, up the hill, 
 offered sacrifice, and came back unharmed. It was always 
 told as a wonder among Roman legends. This is just 
 how the Christian should act when decision for Christ is 
 called for. Though he be a solitary man in the midst of 
 a thousand opponents, let him, at the precise moment 
 when duty calls, fearless of danger, go straight to the ap- 
 pointed spot, do his duty, and remember that consequences 
 belong to Gcd, and not to us. I pray God that after this 
 style we may display decision for Christ. SPURGEON. 
 
 IMMEDIATE DECISION. 
 
 I urge upon you the need of present decision for the 
 right. Don't delay the answer to this great question, 
 "What shall I do with Jesus?" Accept him now. When 
 you are sick is no time to receive Jesus. When death 
 comes, he often steals in unawares. Some men don't 
 know that death is coming until they are hurried away 
 into the other world without any preparation. How much 
 do you suppose some lost one would give for the oppor- 
 tunity of another decision? How much do you think 
 Agrippa would give to be in Paul's place now? How 
 much do you think those men who heard Christ preach, 
 would give if they had the opportunity you have here this 
 afternoon? I believe that Caiaphas would be very glad to 
 exchange places with John; but it is too late now. All 
 the opportunities are gone. MOODY. 
 
 IMPORTANCE OF DECISION. 
 
 On decision of character, man's best and eternal interest
 
 104 GEMS OF TRUTH AXD BEAUTY. 
 
 depends. Our position nearly corresponds to that of 
 Israel on Carmel, when Elijah, standing by the mountain 
 altar, addressed the people, saying," "How long hah ye 
 between two opinions: if the Lord be God, follow Him: 
 but if Baal, then follow him!" Christ with a cross, but 
 heaven behind Him; and Satan with the world glittering 
 in his hand, but hell flaming at his back, stand before us. 
 rival candidates. Each solicits our hands and our heart. 
 We must decide between them; the one or the other we 
 must serve. In the vain hope of making much of both 
 worlds, unwilling to perish, but yet unwilling to part from 
 sin, many postpone their decision, and attempt to com- 
 promise the matter by offering these rivals a divided 
 allegiance. Futile and vain attempt! GUTHRIE. 
 
 AN EARNEST EXHORTATION. 
 
 I beg of you, make up your decision this morning to 
 start for the kingdom. u Yes," you say, '! will start, but 
 not now." William III. made proclamation, when there 
 was a revolution in the north of Scotland, that all who 
 came and took the oath of allegiance by the 31st of Decem- 
 ber should be pardoned. Maclan, a chieftain of a pro- 
 minent clan, resolved to return with the rest of the rebels, 
 but had some pride in being the very last one who should 
 take the oath. He postponed starting for this purpose 
 until two days before the expiration of the term. A snow- 
 storm impeded his way, and before he got up to take the 
 oath and receive a pardon from the throne the time was 
 up and past. While the others were set free, Maclan was 
 miserably put to death. He sta'ted too late and arrived 
 too late. In postponing your decision, in like manner, 
 -onie of you are \\\ prospect of lo>ing forever the amne.-ty 
 of the Gospel. -TAI.MAGE.
 
 DIVINITY OF CHRIST. 
 
 " And they shall call his name Emmanuel, which, being inter- 
 preted is, God with us." Matt, i: 23. 
 
 Jesus is God ! the solid earth, 
 
 The ocean broad and bright, 
 
 The countless stars like golden dust, 
 
 That strew the skies at night, 
 
 The wheeling storm, the dreadful fire, 
 
 The pleasant, wholesome air, 
 
 The summer's sun, the winter's frost, 
 
 His own creations were. 
 
 F. W. FABER. 
 
 CHRIST ALL AND IN ALL. 
 
 As, with the genius that aspires to immortality, and 
 anticipates the admiration of future ages, the painter leaves 
 his name on a corner of the canvas, so Inspiration, dipping 
 her pen in indelible truth, has inscribed the name of Jesus 
 upon all we see on sun and stars, flower and tree, rock 
 and mountain, the unstable waters and the firm land; and 
 also on what we do not see, nor shall till death has removed 
 the veil, angels and spirits, the city and heavens of the 
 eternal world. This is no matter of fancy. It is a fact. 
 It is a blessed fact. No voice ever sounded more distinctly 
 to my ear, than that of revealed truth, proclaiming Jesus, 
 Lord of all. GUTHRIE. 
 
 HE WAS DIVINE. 
 
 Christ's work was that of a God. I hear it in his voice; 
 I see it in the flash of his eye; I behold it in the snapping 
 of death's shackles; I see it in the face of the rising slum- 
 
 105
 
 106 GEMS OF TRUiHAND BEATUY. 
 
 berers; I hear it in the outcry of all those who were specta- 
 tors of the scenes. He cleft the sea. He upheaved the 
 metalline walls along which the Israelite* marched. He 
 planted the mountains. He raised up governments, and 
 i-a-t down thrones. He marches across nations, and across 
 worlds, and across the universe, eternal, omnipotent, un- 
 hindered, and unabashed. That hand that was nailed to 
 the cross holds the stars in a leash of love. That head that 
 dropped on the bosom in fainting and death shall make the 
 world quake at its nod. That voice that groaned in the 
 last pang shall swear before the trembling world that time 
 shall be no longer. He was a God a God! TALMAGE. 
 
 HIS DIVINITY MANIFEST IN HIS LOVE. 
 
 The nature of Divinity as disclosed by Jesus Christ, is 
 uplifting love in a God who does not sit like some old 
 .Jupiter seeking his own happiness, and indulging in self- 
 worship; in a God that does not bargain or traffic; in :i 
 God of disinterested goodness, who is constantly pouring 
 out his life in suffering, in burden-bearing, for the sake 
 of saving men, and raising them from degradation and 
 misery to a life of happiness and exaltation; in One who 
 walks in sublime purity among men, and comes to his 
 ji.-ission knowing what is before him, and drinks the cup 
 to the very dregs, and will not turn back; in One, who 
 tor love's sake dies heroically, ascends to heaven, and 
 comes back and bears witness to mankind that they are 
 ascending to His Father and their Father, and says, "Now 
 go and preach to all that the love of God was made plain 
 to men by the sufferings ot his only begotten son, that 
 very man who hears it may know that though he be 
 weak, imperfect and sinful, he has a Friend in heaven." 
 BEECHER.
 
 DIVINITY OF CHRIST. 107 
 
 THE EXALTED ONE. 
 
 Look at him, can your imagination picture him? Be- 
 hold his transcendent glory! The majesty of kings is 
 swallowed up; the pomp of empires dissolves like the 
 white mist of the morning before the sun; the brightness 
 of assembled armies is eclipsed. He, in himself is brighter 
 than the sun, fairer than the moon, more terrible than an 
 army with banners. See him! See him! O! hide your 
 heads, ye monarchs; put away your gaudy pageantry, ye 
 lords of this poor narrow earth! His kingdom knows no 
 bounds; without a limit his vast empire stretches out 
 itself. Above him all is his; beneath him many a step are 
 angels, and they are his; and they cast their crowns before 
 his feet. With them stand his elect and ransomed, and 
 their crowns too are his. And here upon this lower earth 
 stand his saints, and they are his, and they adore him; 
 and under the earth, among the infernals, where devils 
 growl their malice, even there is trembling and adoration; 
 and where lost spirits, with wailing and gnashing of teeth, 
 forever lament their being, even there is the acknowl- 
 edgment of his Godhead, even though the confession helps 
 to make the fire of their torment. In heaven, in earth, 
 in hell, all knees bend before him, and every tongue con- 
 fesses that he is God. If not now, yet, in the time that 
 is to come, this shall be carried out, that every creature of 
 God's making shall acknowledge his Son to be "God over 
 all, blessed forever. Amen." SPURGEON. 
 
 CHRIST ON TRIAL. 
 
 When Jesus was on trial, they did not go and summon 
 his friends those who knew him best. They did not go 
 and bring up Zaccheus of Jericho, they did not bring up 
 that poor man that had the legion of devils cast out of 
 him; they did not bring the blind man of Jericho they
 
 108 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 brought his enemies. Let Caiaphas tell his own story-- 
 >upj ><>- he stood in my place. Caiaphas, just tell us what 
 \\-jis the evidence you found against Jesus. "I said to 
 him I adjure thee by the living God, art thou the Son of 
 ( And he said"' I am.' When I heard it I tore my 
 mantle and .said he was guilty of blasphemy." That is what 
 we glory in, his being the Son of God. Stephen said, 
 \\hen the curtains were lifted, and he caught a glimpse of 
 glory, I see Jesus standing at the right hand of God." 
 The testimony is perfectly overwhelming that Jesus Christ 
 was the Son of God as well as the Son of David. Even 
 the devils called him "that son of the Most High God." 
 
 M<X)DY.
 
 DUTY. 
 
 We have done that which was our duty to do." Luke xvii: 10. 
 
 " Better than ringing plaudits of a throng, 
 Than voice of multitudes in shouts of praise, 
 Than smiles of beauty and of rarest grace, 
 Are silent whispers of a conscience free 
 From sense of duty left undone." 
 
 - CHARLES MANLY. 
 
 DUTY VERSUS LOVE. 
 
 I am tired of the word duty; tired of he&ring duty, 
 duty, duty. Men go to church because it is their duty. 
 You can never reach a man's heart if you talk to him be- 
 cause it is your duty. Suppose I told my wife I love her 
 because it is my duty what would she say? Once every 
 year I go up to Connecticut to visit my aged mother. 
 Suppose when I go next time, I tell her I know she is old 
 and living on borrowed time; that I knew she had done a 
 great deal for me, and that I came to see her every year 
 because it is my duty. Don't you think she would say, 
 "Well, then, my son, you needn't take the trouble to come 
 again ?" Oh, let us strike for a higher plane than duty. 
 MOODY. 
 
 EXAMPLE OF LOVE AS COMPARED WITH DUTY. 
 During a heavy storm off the Coast of Spain, a dis- 
 masted merchantman was observed by a British frigate 
 drifting before the gale. Every eye and glass were on 
 her. With all his faults, no man is more alive to humanity 
 than the rough and hardy mariner; and so the order sounds 
 
 109
 
 110 
 
 to put the ship about, and presently a boat is sent out to 
 , K ,; r doun upon the wreck. Through the swell of a roar- 
 in- sea. tlu-y reach it; they shout; and now a strange ob- 
 j.-rt rolls out of a canvas screen against the lee shroud of 
 a broken mast. Hauled into the boat, it proves to be the 
 trunk of a man, bent head and knees together, so dried 
 and shriveled as to be hardly felt within the ample clothes, 
 and so light that a mere boy lifted it on board. It is laid 
 on the (kvk; in horror and pity the crew gather round it; 
 it ^hows signs of life; they draw nearer, it moves, and 
 then mutters mutters in a deep, sepul chral voice "There 
 i* another man," Saved himself, the first use the saved 
 one made of speech was to save another. Oh! learn that 
 precious lesson. Be daily practicing it. So long as in our 
 homes, among our friends, in this wreck of a world which 
 is drifting down to ruin, there lives an unconverted one, 
 there is " another man " let us for God's sake, and for 
 duty's, go to him and plead for Christ; go to Christ and 
 plead for that man: the cry, "Lord save me, I perish," 
 ehanired into one as welcome to a Savior's ear, "Lord save 
 them, they perish. GUTHRIE. 
 
 COMMONPLACE DUTY. 
 
 There is no better place from which to see heaven than 
 
 a-penter's bench, or a mason's wall, or a merchant's 
 
 counter, if the heart be right. Elisha was plowing in the 
 
 field when the prophetic mantle fell upon him. Matthew 
 
 \\as engaged in his custom-house duties when he was com- 
 
 inandrd to "follow." James and John were busily en- 
 
 <1 in mending their nets when called to become fishers 
 
 of men. Had they been snoring in the sun, Christ would 
 
 not have brought their indolence into the apostleship. 
 
 Gideon \v:is at work with a flail on a threshing floor when
 
 DUTY. Ill 
 
 he saw the angel. It was when Saul was with fatigue 
 hunting his father's asses that he got the crown of Israel. 
 There is no post like the post of duty. TALMAGE 
 
 DUTY THE PENDULUM OF A CLOCK. 
 
 If you wind up the weights of a clock, and point the 
 hands to the proper figures, and go away, you will find 
 them in the same place when you go away an hour later. 
 Set it again, and an hour later it will be as you left it. 
 What does it need ? It needs to have the pendulum swing 
 and then it will keep time. Now, I am continually setting 
 Christians; and when I look again, I find them just as I 
 left them. What all such need is to swing the pendulum 
 of duty. Your hearts must be always ticking, if you 
 would keep time with the Sun of Righteousness. BEECHER. 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN S DUTY. 
 
 Oh, Christians, never be satisfied with being merely 
 saved. Up with you! Away off! Go onward, up the 
 path of loving duty to the high mountains, to the clearer 
 light, to the brighter joy. If saved and brought like the 
 shipwrecked mariner to shore, is that enough ? Yes, for 
 the moment it is enough to warrant the purest satisfaction 
 and the warmest congratulations. Must the mariner not 
 seek a livelihood as long as he lives ? Must he not put 
 forth his energies ? Just so let it be with you. Saved 
 from the deep which threatened to swallow you up, rejoice 
 that you are preserved from death, but resolve that the life 
 vouchsafed to you shall be active, earnest, fruitful, vigor 
 ous and dutiful. Be active as your merchants are. SPUR- 
 GEON.
 
 EARNESTNESS. 
 
 "Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the thing's 
 which we hare heard." 1 Heb. it: I. 
 
 "The busy world (shoves angrily aside 
 
 The man who stands with arms akimbo set, 
 
 Until occasion tells him what to do; 
 
 And he who waits to have his task marked out, 
 
 Shall die and leave his errand unfulfilled. 
 
 Our time is ono which calls for earnest deeds." 
 
 JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL. 
 
 IMPORTANCE OF EARNESTNESS. 
 
 Not simply to the wind, however auspicious, does the 
 nan owe his progress. Without it, indeed, his ship 
 \v(iiild but rise and fall in the swell of the deep; but with- 
 out the skill to catch and use the breeze, and compel it, 
 even when adverse, by dexterous trimming of the yards, 
 and .-et ting of the sails, and handling of the helm, to force 
 him on mill over the waves, what service were the wind to 
 him. So was it in Joseph's and so is it in all cases of suc- 
 
 God gives the opportunities; but success turns on 
 the use we make of them; on the promptitude with which 
 
 ze the <MnMiings of providence; on the earnestness 
 of character we bring into the field; on the resolution and 
 energy we throw into our business. GUTHRIE. 
 
 UK WARDED ACCORDING TO EARNESTNES 
 
 Our work does not amount to much. We only teach a 
 or di>tril>ute a bundle of tracts, or preach a sermon, 
 112
 
 EARNESTNESS. 113 
 
 and we say } "Oh, if I had done it in some other way!" 
 Christ will make no record of our bungling way if we only 
 did the best we could. He will make a record of our in- 
 tention and the earnestness of our attempt. We can not 
 get the attention of our class, or we break down in oui 
 exhortation, or our sermon falls dead, and we go home 
 disgusted and sorry; we try to speak, and feel Christ is 
 afar off Why he is nearer than if we had succeeded, if 
 we have been in earnest, for he knows we need sympathy, 
 and he is touched with our infirmity. TALMAGE. 
 
 EARNESTNESS IN PREACHING. 
 
 According to my principles, if a man is a messenger of 
 God, and knows that men are in danger, and believes that 
 he is sent to rescue them, he must be lost in the enthusiasm 
 of that work. Men often think that earnestness excite- 
 ment is dangerous. Yes; everything is dangerous in this 
 world. From the time that a man is born into the world, 
 until he leaves it, it is possible that danger maybe coupled 
 with everything he does. There is a danger that your 
 feeling may be too boisterous, or of too coarse a nature, 
 but there is no danger from excitement that is half so 
 fearful as the danger of not feeling and not caring. A 
 preacher who is earnest in everything he does, in all that 
 he believes, and in all his movements, will generally carry 
 the people with him. BEECHER. 
 
 THE NEED OF EARNESTNESS. 
 
 We lack men of apostolic zeal. Converted in a most 
 singular way, by a direct interposition from heaven, Paul 
 from that time forward became an earnest man. lie had 
 always been earnest, in his sins, and in his persecutions; 
 but after he heard that voice from heaven, "Saul, Saul,
 
 1 14 GEMS OF TR UTH AND BE A UTY. 
 
 \\liypersecutestthou me?" and had received the mighty 
 office of an apostle, and had been sent forth a chosen vessel 
 unto the gentiles, you can scarcely conceive the deep, the 
 awful earnestness he manifested. Whether he did eat, or 
 drink, or whatsoever he did, he did all for the glory of his 
 God. His zeal was so earnest that he could not restrain 
 himself within a little sphere; but he preached the word 
 everyhwere. Where are the men like that man ? He had 
 a heart on fire. SPUEGEON. 
 
 EXAMPLE OF EARNESTNESS. 
 
 When I Avas going to Europe in 1867, my Friend, Mr. 
 Stuart, of Philadelphia, said, "Be sure to beat the Gen- 
 eral Assembly at Edinburg in June. I was there last 
 year," he said, u and it did me a world of good." He said 
 that a returned missionary was invited to speak to the 
 General Assembly on the wants of India. This old mis- 
 sionary, after a brief address, told the pastors who were 
 present to go home and stir up the churches to send young 
 men to India to preach the Gospel. He spoke with such 
 earnestness that after a while he fainted, and they carried 
 him from the hall. When he recovered, he asked where 
 he was, and they told him the circumstances under which 
 he hud been brought there. "Yes," he said, "I was mak- 
 ing a plea for India, and I didn't quite finish my speech, 
 did I? " After being told that he did not, he said, < Well, 
 take me back and let me finish it." But they said, "No, 
 you will die in the attempt." "Well," said he, "I will 
 die if I don't," and the old man asked again that they 
 would allow him to finish his plea. When he w^as taken 
 back the whole congregation stood as one man, and as 
 they brought him on the platform, with a trembling voice 
 he said, "Fathers and mothers of Scotland, is it true that
 
 EARNESTNESS. 1 1 5 
 
 you will not let your sons go to India ? I spent twenty- 
 five years of my life there. I have come back with sick- 
 ness, and shattered health. If it is true that we have no 
 strong grandsons to go to India, I will pack up what I 
 have and be off to morrow, and I will let those heathen 
 know that if I can not live for them, I can die for them." 
 The world said that the old man was enthusiastic. He was 
 in earnest, and that's what we want. MOODY.
 
 EDUCATION. 
 
 " Wisdom is the principal thing : therefore get wisdom : and 
 with all thy getting get understanding" Prov: iv. 7. 
 " Knowledge and wisdom, far from being one, 
 Have oft-times no connection, knowledge dwells 
 In heads replete with thoughts of other men; 
 Wisdom in minds attentive to their own. 
 Knowledge is proud that he has learned so much, 
 Wisdom humble that he knows no more." 
 
 WM. COWPEB. 
 
 EDUCATION ALONE NOT ENOUGH. 
 
 I heard two persons on the Wengern Alp talking by the 
 hour together of the names of ferns; not a word about 
 their characteristics, uses, or habits, but a medley of crack- 
 jaw titles and nothing more. They evidently thought that 
 they were ventilating their botany, and kept each other in 
 countenance by alternate volleys of nonsense. Education 
 alone is :i branchless tree, and little worth. Knowledge 
 lies not in mere words. SPURGEON. 
 
 BIBLE A MEANS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 Gods word is a means of education for heaven. By His 
 grace and your own co-operation, your soul may be gradu- 
 ally developed into a more perfect resemblance to Him. 
 Finally your Heavenly Father will call you home, where 
 you will .see the angels and saints clothed in the beauty of 
 Christ Himself, standing around His throne, and hear the 
 word that will admit you into their society: " Well done." 
 MOODY. 
 
 116
 
 EDUCATION. 117 
 
 EDUCATION IN CRIME. 
 
 * 
 
 There is such a thing as education in crime. As there 
 are medical schools for doctors, and commercial academies 
 for merchants, so thieving is systematically taught in some 
 of our large towns. One boy for instance gives this ac- 
 count of himself: "My father was a soldier and died 
 when I was a little fellow, leaving mother very poor. She 
 begged in the street for a living. She died about nine years 
 ago. There was nobody to look after me. I soon fell 
 among thieves, and was taken to Wentworth Street, in 
 Whitechapel, to a house where I was boarded and lodged 
 for six months, where I was taught to pick pockets. There 
 were twenty more boys besides myself kept by a man and 
 woman who got the plunder. Daily the woman dressed 
 herself, put a bell in her pocket, also a purse. Any boy 
 who could take the purse from her pocket without caus- 
 ing the bell to tinkle, got the money it contained. We 
 stayed till we were well fitted to pick pockets." The ex- 
 tent to which this education is carried is almost incredible. 
 What an argument for Christian mission schools! 
 GUTHRIE. 
 
 EDUCATION INCREASES RESPONSIBILITY. 
 
 The educated rationalist may laugh at you. But to- 
 morrow he will be trodden under foot, and will go down 
 to shame and everlasting contempt. "Stop, "you say, 
 "suppose he graduated at Harvard? or at Princeton? or 
 suppose he is at the head of one of the German Universi- 
 ties? I can not help that. God inafces no special regulation 
 for the graduates of Harvard or Princeton. Rejecting the 
 Bible, they will go down to be companions of the most 
 abandoned wretches in the universe, and more miserable 
 than they, because of their superior education. One rule 
 for all for great brain and little brain; for high-fore-
 
 1 1 8 GEMS OF TR UTH A ND BE A UTY. 
 
 headed Greek professor, and for flat-skulled Esquimaux: 
 "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; and he 
 that believeth not shall be damned." TALMAGE. 
 
 EDUCATION A FRUIT OF PAST INVESTIGATION. 
 
 The wisdom of to-day is the fruit of the education of all 
 past centuries. We are heirs to the accomplishments of 
 forgotten ages. The knowledge we possess is as a tree 
 which draws its life from the debris of forests that have 
 crumbled into dust. BEECHER. 
 
 EDUCATION FOSTERS MANHOOD. 
 
 I plead for education, not because it is the highway to 
 prosperity in law, or in medicine, or in the pulpit, or in 
 political life, or in science, but because it means manhood. 
 I plead for educaf ion as the indeepensable condition of a 
 continuing, complete, and perpetuated happiness. IBID. 
 
 CHRISTIANITY AN EDUCATION. 
 
 Christianity redeems us; not from sin only, but from all 
 narrowness, meanness, and littleness of conception; it puts 
 great thought into our hearts and bold words into our 
 mouths, and leads us out from our village prisons to behold 
 :ill nations of mankind. On this ground alone, Christi- 
 anity is the best educator in the world. It will not allow 
 the soul to be mean. It forces the heart to be noble and 
 hopeful. It says, "Go'and teach all nations;" "Go ye 
 into all the world;" "Look not every man on his own 
 things, but every man also on the things of others;" " Give 
 and it shall be given unto you." It is something to have 
 
 voice so Divine ever stirring the will and mingling coun- 
 sels. It is like a sea-breeze blowing over a sickly land;
 
 EDUCATION. 119 
 
 like sunlight piercing the fogs of a long dark night. If 
 we have narrow sympathies, mean ideas, paltry concep- 
 tions, we are not scholars in the school of Christ. We are 
 citizens of the world; let us bring no reproach upon Christ 
 by our exclusiveness. PARKER.
 
 ETERNITY. 
 
 " The high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is 
 Holy. Isaiah Ivii : 15. 
 
 " The bell strikes one. My hopes and fears 
 
 Start up alarmed, and o'er life's narrow verge 
 
 Look down on what? A fathomless abyss! 
 
 A dread eternity! how surely mine ! 
 
 And can eternity belong to me, 
 
 Poor pensioner on the bounties of an hour ! " 
 
 EDWARD YOUNG. 
 
 BUILDING FOR ETERNITY. 
 
 Let us build for eternity. A ship, however pretty she 
 may be, is not good for anything unless she can battle with 
 the deep. It makes no difference how splendidly you 
 build so far as this world is concerned, your life is a fail- 
 ure if you build not so that you can go out into the great 
 future and make the harbor of eternal life. We are to 
 live on. We are not to live again, but we are to live on 
 without a break. Death is not'an end. It is a new im- 
 pulse. We are discharged out of this life, where we have 
 been like arrows in a quiver. Death is a bow which shoots 
 us into eternity. BEECHER. 
 
 ETERNITY BEYOND COMPARISON. 
 
 Afar off, one can hardly tell which is mountain and 
 which is cloud. The clouds rise with peaks and summits, 
 all apparently as solid, and certainly as glistening, as the 
 snow-clad Alps, so that the clearest eye might readily be 
 
 120
 
 ETERNITY. 121 
 
 deceived. So do the things of time appear to oe all im- 
 portant, far-reaching, and enduring, and eternal things are 
 not always of equal weight to the soul with those near at 
 hand. Yet, despite all our instinctive judgments may 
 suggest to the contrary, nothing earthly can ever be last- 
 ing, nothing in time can be worth considering compared to 
 eternity. SPURGEON. 
 
 ETERNAL LIFE AND ETERNITY PARALLEL. 
 
 Now when a man believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, he 
 gets eternal life. A great many people make a mistake 
 right there: he that believeth on the Son hath h-a-t-h- hath 
 
 O ' 
 
 eternal life; it does not say he shall have it when he comes 
 to die; it is in the present sense; it is mine now if I be- 
 lieve. You can't bury the gift of God; you can't bury 
 eternal life, any more than you can bury eternity, for they 
 are parallel. MOODY. 
 
 ETERNITY WILL REVEAL TO SINNERS THEIR FOLLY. 
 
 We are in darkness till we are converted; because we are 
 blind and that not by accident, but by nature born 
 blind. There are animals, both wild and domestic, which 
 by a strange and mysterious law of Providence are in that 
 state when born. "Having eyes, they see not." Appar- 
 ently unripe for birth, they leave their mother's womb to 
 pass the first period of their being utterly sightless. But 
 when some ten days have come and gone, time unseals 
 their eyelids, and they are delivered trom the power of 
 darkness. But not ten days, nor years, nor any- length of 
 time will do us any such friendly office. Not that we shall 
 be always blind. Oh, how men shall see, and regret in 
 another world, the folly they were guilty of in this! 
 Eternity opens the darkest eyes, but opens them at last too 
 late GUTHRIE.
 
 122 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 TIDES OF ETERNITY RISING. 
 
 A gentleman wandering along on the beach of Scotland, 
 where the high rocks came near the sea, was unmindful of 
 the fact that the tide was rising, which would cut ofi his 
 retreat. A man on the top of the rocks shouted, "Hallo! 
 the tide is rising, and this is the last place through which 
 you can make your escape; you had better climb up on to 
 the rocks." The man laughed at the warning and went on. 
 After awhile he thought it was time to return; he camp 
 hark and found retreat cut off. He tried to scale the rocks; 
 he clambered half way up could get no further. The 
 wave came to his feet, came to his waist, came to his chin, 
 and with a wild shriek for help he perished. Oh, brother, 
 the tides of eternity are rising. Those only will be saved 
 who get on the Rock of Ages. TALMAGE.
 
 FAITH. 
 
 "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the evi- 
 dence of things not seen" Hebrews xi: i. 
 
 Of for a faith that will not shrink, 
 Tho' pressed by every foe, 
 That will not tremble on the brink 
 O' any earthly woe." 
 
 FAITH THE ONLY DOOR. 
 
 There is only one door into heaven; that door is faith. 
 There is only one ship that sails for the skies; her name is 
 Faith. There is only one weapon with which to contend 
 with opposition; that is faith. Faith is the first step; faith 
 the second step; faith the third step; faith the fourth step; 
 faith the last step. We enter the road by faith. We con- 
 tend against adversaries by faith; we die by faith; heaven 
 is the reward of faith. TALMAGE. 
 
 FAITH TRIUMPHANT. 
 
 May all of us have that faith in the Lord Jesus Christ 
 which availeth, that faith which worketh by love, and so, 
 though we have begun in the egg on earth, yet, through 
 God's brooding, before we know it we shall chip the shell: 
 and though we have lain so long coiled up and helpless, 
 we shall begin to put forth plumes; and, disdaining the 
 nest, and finding the ground chilly beneath our feet, with 
 every gathering feather we shall pine for the air, and, 
 pining, begin to try those notes which we are yet to 
 
 123
 
 124 GEMS OF TKU7H AND BEAUTY. 
 
 l,,nr and, at length, in some bright and beaded morning, 
 we .hull -pread our wings, and rising above the tangle and 
 foe thicket, soar through the blue, singing to the gate of 
 heaven. BEECHER. 
 
 AN EXAMPLE OF FAITH. 
 
 Suppose a fire in the upper room of a house, and the 
 people gathered in the street. A child is in the upper 
 story: how is he to escape? He cannot leap down, that 
 were to be dashed to pieces. A strong man comes beneath, 
 and cries, "Drop into my arms." It is a part of faith to 
 know that the man is there; it is another part of faith to ' 
 belifve that the man is strong; but the essence of faith 
 lir- in dropping down into the man's arms. So, sinner, 
 then art to know that Christ died for sin; thou art also to 
 underhand that Chri>t is able to save, and thou art to 
 believe that; but thou art not saved, unless, in addition to 
 that, thou puttest thy trust in him to be thy Savior, and 
 to be thine forever. SPURG EON. 
 
 MORE FAITH. 
 
 When we were in Edinburg, a man came to me and said, 
 "Over yonder is one of the most prominent infidels in 
 Edinburg. I wish you would go over and see him." I 
 took my si>at l>eside him and asked him if he was a Chris- 
 tian, lit- laughrd at me. and said he didn't believe in the 
 Hiblr. "Well," said I, after talkingfor some time, "Will 
 v,u let me pray with you?" "Yes," said he, "just pray, 
 and sec if God will answer your prayers." "Will you 
 kneelT "No. I won't kneel. Who be I going to kneel 
 brfort-r He said it with considerable sarcasm. I got 
 down and prayed beside the infidel. He sat up very 
 straight so that the people would understand that he was
 
 FAITH. 125 
 
 not in sympathy with the prayer. After I got through, I 
 said, "Well, my friend, I believe that God will answer my 
 prayer, and I want you to let me know when you are 
 saved." "Yes, I will let you'know when I am saved," all 
 with considerable sarcasm. At last up at Wick, at a meet- 
 ing in the open air one night, on the outskirts of the 
 crowd, I saw the Edingburg infidel. He said, "Didn't I 
 tell you God wouldn't answer your prayer?" I said, "The 
 Lord will answer my prayer yet." I had a few minutes 
 conversation with him, and left him, and just a year ago 
 this month, when we were preaching in Liverpool, I got a 
 letter from one of the leading pastors of Edinburg, stating 
 that that infidel had found his way to Christ. 
 
 There may be many in New York who will laugh at 
 this idea, and say that God don't answer prayer, but He 
 does, 'f Christians will only have faith. What we want is 
 to have more faith. MOODY. 
 
 THE OLD AND THE NEW. 
 
 Bring out from the dust of six thousand years the old 
 covenant of Eden, and on that soiled and torn banner you 
 read the fading motto, "Do and live." But what read we 
 on the folds of this banner, which, defiant of hell and the 
 world, waves above Calvary, and under which believers 
 march to crowns and victory ! The eye of a sinner's hope 
 kindles at the sight of another and a better motto; for 
 there, inscribed in the blood of Jesus, like red letters on a 
 snow-white ground we read, "Believe and live." Salva- 
 tion is the only thing needful for man, and faith is the 
 one thing needful for salvation. GUTHRIE. 
 
 HEAD-FAITH. 
 
 Faith is practically nothing so long as it is merely in 
 the head. Head faith can save no man. This is exactly
 
 126 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 so in daily life. There is no witchery nor mystery in this 
 doctrine at all. Faith can not s:ive you in commerce any 
 more than it can save you in religion. Faith cannot save 
 the body any more than it can save the soul. 
 
 A man believes that if he puts his money into certain 
 funds, he will get back good interest with the most ap- 
 proved security, yet at the end of a year he gets literally 
 nothing. How was that? Because, though he believed 
 it, he did not put any money into the funds. Can faith 
 save him? A man thoroughly believes that if he takes a 
 certain mixture prescribed for him by good medical 
 authority, he will get better, he will be recovered from 
 his disease; but he gets no better; he gets worse; because, 
 though he believed in the mixture, he did not take it. 
 Can faith save him? A man wants to go to New York; he 
 believes that ship is going; he is quite sure that that ship 
 will be there m le*s than a fortnight; yet he himself will 
 not be there! How is that? He had faith. He had not 
 the shadow of a doubt. Yet there he is, in England! Can 
 faith take him to New York? Can faith save him? 
 PARKER.
 
 FORGIVENESS. 
 
 "And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors" The 
 Prayer of Prayers. 
 
 " When on the fragrant sandal tree, 
 
 The woodman's ax descends, 
 And she who bloomed so beauteously 
 
 Beneath the keen stroke bends, 
 E'en on the edge that brought her death, 
 Dying, she breathes her sweetest breath, 
 As if to token in her fall 
 "Peace to my foes, and love to all! " 
 How hardly man this lesson learns, 
 To smile, and bless the hand that spurns; 
 To see the blow, and feel the pain, 
 But render only love again ! 
 This spirit ne'er was given on earth; 
 One had i*-., He of heavenly birth; 
 Reviled, rejected, and betrayed, 
 No curse He breathed, no plaint He made, 
 But when in death's dep pang He sighed, 
 Prayed for his murderers and died." 
 
 CHRISTIANITY TEACHES FORGIVENESS. 
 
 For though nature, fallen and unrenevved nature, hates 
 her enemies, and, thirsting for vengeance, would drag them 
 from the horns of the altar, Christianity embraces the 
 bitterest foe in the arms of brotherhood. 
 
 Mercy, like the regions of space, has no limit; and as 
 these stretch away before the traveler who looks out from 
 the f:irthe>t star, so the loftiest intellect and the largest 
 heart can descry no bounds to mercy. Like our Father in 
 
 127
 
 128 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 heavpn. we are to forgive without stint, forgiving as we 
 expert to be forgiven. GUTHRIE. 
 
 AN EXAMPLE OF FORGIVENESS. 
 
 An old Christian black woman was going along the 
 >t reel -of New York with a basket of apples that she had 
 for sale. A rough sailor ran against her and upset the 
 ba-krt. and stood back expecting to hear her scold fright- 
 fully: but she stooped down and picked up the apples, and 
 said, God forgive you, my son, as I do." The sailor 
 saw the meanness of what he had done, felt in his pocket 
 for his money, and insisted that she should take it all. 
 Though she was black, he called her mother, and said, 
 Forgive me, mother; I will never do anything so mean 
 again." Ah ! there is a power in a forgiving spirit to 
 overcome all hardness. There is no way of conquering 
 men like that of bestowing upon them your pardon, 
 whether they will accept it or not. TALMAGE. 
 
 FORGIVENESS AND MEMORY. 
 
 "lean forgive, but I cannot forget," is only another 
 way of saying, "/ will not forgive." A forgiveness 
 ought to be like a cancelled note, torn in two and burned 
 up, so that it can never be shown against the man. 
 
 HEDGE -HOG FORGIVENESS. 
 
 There is an ugly kind of forgiveness in this world a 
 kind of hedge-hog forgiveness, shot out like quills. Men 
 take one who has offended, and set him down before the 
 blowpipe of their indignation, and scorch him, and burn 
 his fault into him; and when they have kneaded him suffi- 
 ciently with their fiery fists, then they forgive him. 
 
 HER.
 
 FORGIVENESS. 129 
 
 CHRIST'S FORGIVENESS. 
 
 In the midst of the darkness and the gloom of the cross, 
 there came a voice from one of those thieves. It flashed 
 into the soul of Jesus as He hung there, " This must be 
 more than man; this must be the true Messiah." He cried 
 out, "Lord remember me when Thou comest into Thy 
 Kingdom!" We are anxious to get the last word or act 
 of our dying friends. Here was the last act of Jesus. He 
 snatched the thief from the jaws of death, saying, "This 
 day shalt thou be with me in Paradise." Such was his 
 forgiveness of sin, an act of grace, as his forgiveness of 
 his murderers was an act of mercy. MOODY. 
 
 WHO IS TO BEGIN? 
 
 Families and households often get awry. The j'ounger 
 brother differs from his elder brother, sisters fall out. 
 One wants more than belongs to him; another is knocked 
 to the wall because he is weak; and there come into the 
 heart bitterness and alienation, and often brothers and sis- 
 ters have scarce a kind word to say of one another. Is it 
 always to be so ? Do not merely make it up, do not patch 
 it up, do not cover it up, go right down to the base. But 
 who is to begin ? I can tell you. You are ! "But I am 
 the eldest," yes, and therefore ought to begin. "But I 
 am the youngest." Then why should the youngest be ob- 
 stinate ? Who are you that yoti should not go and throw 
 yourself down at your brother's feet and say, "I have 
 done you wrong, pardon me ?" Who is to begin ? 5Tou ! 
 Which? Both! When? Now ! PARKER.
 
 FRIENDSHIP. 
 
 ' A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and 
 there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.'" Prov: 
 xriii. 24. 
 
 " For in companions 
 
 That do converse and waste the time together, 
 Whose souls do bear an equal yoke of love 
 There must be needs a like proportion 
 Of liniaments, of manners, and of spirit. " 
 
 SHAKESPEARE. Merchant of Venic. 
 
 JESUS THE BEST FRIEND. 
 
 I have found a great many kind friends but Jesus is the 
 best. He understands me so well, and has such a way of 
 putting up with my frailties, and has promised to do so 
 much for me when all other loved ones swim away from 
 my vision, and I can no more laugh with them over their 
 joys or cry with them over their sorrows. Oh! when 
 a man has trouble, he needs friends. When a man 
 loses property, he needs all those of his acquaintances who 
 have lost property to come in with their sympathy. When 
 bereavement comes to a household, it is a comfort to have 
 Jherewho have been bereaved come in and sympathize. 
 1 1"1 is a sympathetic friend. O the tenderness of divine 
 friendship. TALMAGE. 
 
 FRIENDSHIP AND FAULTS. 
 
 It is one of the severest tests of friendship to tell your 
 lend of his faults. If you are angry with a man, or hate 
 s not hard to go to him and stab him with words, 
 130
 
 fRIENDSHIP. 131 
 
 but so to love a man that you can not bear to see the stain 
 of sin upon him, and to speak painful truth through loving 
 words that is friendship. But few have such friends. 
 Our enemies usually teach us what we are at the point of 
 the sword. BEECHER. 
 
 SUFFERING FRIENDSHIP. 
 
 In the French revolution, a young man was condemned 
 to the guillotine, and shut up in one of the prisons. He 
 was greatly loved by many, but there was one who loved 
 him more than all put together. How know we this? It 
 was his best earthly friend, his own father, and the love he 
 bore the son was proven in this way: When th6 lists were 
 called, the father, whose name was exactly the same as the 
 son's, answered to the name, and the father rode in the 
 gloomy tunebril out to the place of execution, and his head 
 rolled beneath the axe instead of his son's, a victim to 
 mighty love. See here an image of the love of Christ for 
 sinners. "Greater love hath no man than this; that he 
 laid down his life for his friends." But Jesus died for the 
 ungodly ! He is the friend of sinners. There is no friend- 
 ship like Christ's. SPURGEON. 
 
 FRIENDS MUST AGREE. 
 
 Friends must agree. Enoch was a friend of God, as was 
 Abraham. God and he agreed very well, so that at last 
 God said to him, "come up here and walk with me." It 
 is sweet to walk with God. We walk the wilderness to- 
 day and the promised land to-morrow. Enoch found the 
 right way, back there in that dim age; even so may we 
 put our hands in God's hand and walk with Him as Enoch 
 did, and commune with Him as friend with friend. 
 MOODY.
 
 132 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 FRIENDSHIP PECULIAR TO MEN. 
 
 Though the lower animals have feeling, they have no 
 fellow-feeling. Have I not seen the horse enjoy his feed 
 of corn, when his yoke fellow lay dying in the neighbor- 
 ing stall, and never turn an eye of pity on the sufferer ? 
 They have strong passions, but no sympathy no capacity 
 for friendship. It is said that the wounded deer sheds 
 tears; but it belongs to man only to weep with them that 
 weep, and by sympathy divide another's sorrow and double 
 another's joys. When thunder, following the dazzling 
 flash has burst among our hills, when the horn of the Switzer 
 has rung in his glorious valleys, when the boatman has 
 shouted from the bosom of the rock-girt loch, wonderful 
 were the echoes I have heard them make; but there is no 
 echo so fine or wonderful as that which, in the sympathy 
 of human hearts repeats the cry of another's sorrow, and 
 makes me feel his pain almost as if it were my own. 
 GUTHRIE.
 
 GOD. 
 
 "The blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord 
 of lords : Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which 
 no man can approach unto ; whom no man hath seen, nor can see : 
 to whom be honor and power everlasting'"' i Tim. vi:i$. 
 
 '' Thou Eternal One! Whose presence bright 
 All space doth occupy, all motions guide 
 Unchanged through time's all-devastating flight! 
 Thou only God there is no God beside ! 
 Being above all beings ! Mighty one, 
 Whom none can comprehend and none explore ! 
 Who fill'st existence with Thyself alone- 
 Embracing all, supporting, ruling o'er 
 Being whom we call God, and know no more." 
 
 GABRIEL, DEKZIIAVIN. 
 GOD IS LOVE. 
 
 Let no man, therefore, when he says, "Oar Father which 
 art in Heaven," suppose that he addresses a God without 
 any color of strength, of equity, or of penalty. He is a God 
 who loves you so that He will not suffer wickedness in you; 
 and that if it be needful to purge wickedness out from 
 you by exquisite pains, will imploy the pains to purge it 
 out. A God of love and justice will do that which is neces- 
 sary to be done in order to redeem a soul from death; and 
 whether pains and penalty will be now or hereafter, it will 
 be averaged to the measure of necessity. The love of God 
 does not take away the motive of fear, but augments it; it is 
 a.higher fear, it is a more generous fear. Love punishes. 
 There is no punishment like that of love. And God is 
 love. BEECHER. 
 
 133
 
 134 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 HIS NAME ETERNAL. 
 
 God's name, like Himself is abiding. It is eternal. Even 
 if the last harp of the glorified had been touched with the 
 la>t fingers; if the last praise of the saints had ceased; if the 
 last hallelujah had echoed through the then deserted vaults 
 of Heaven, for they would be gloomy then; if the last 
 immortal had been "buried in his grave; if graves there 
 might be for immortals-would the praise of His name cease 
 then ? No, by heaven ! no ; for yonder stand the angels; 
 they too sing His glory; to Him the cherubim and sera- 
 phim do cry without ceasing, when they mention His name 
 in that thrice holy chorus, ''Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of 
 armies." But if these where perished if angels had been 
 swept away, if the wing of seraph never flapped the ether, 
 if the voice of cherub never sang his flaming sonnet, if 
 the living creatures ceased their everlasting chorus, if 
 the measured symphonies of glory were extinct in silence, 
 would His name then be lost ? Ah ! no ; for as God upon 
 the throne He sits THE EVELASTING ONE, the Father, 
 Son and Holy Ghost. SPURGEON. 
 
 WRONG CONCEPTION OF GOD. 
 
 If I thought I could make the world believe that God is 
 love, I would take that text and go up and down the earth, 
 trying to counteract what Satan has been telling men that 
 God is not love. He has made the world believe it pretty 
 effectually. It would not take twenty-four hours to make 
 the world come to God, if you can only make them believe 
 that God is love. If you have really made a man believe 
 you love him, you have won him. But man has got a false 
 idea about God, and will not believe He is a God of love. 
 It is because he don't know Him. Whatever other concep- 
 tion of God, either right or wrong, you may have, don't
 
 GOD. 135 
 
 let this be forgotten He is love, love unchangeable, love 
 everlasting, love unfailing. MOODY. 
 
 GOD IN NATURE. 
 
 Insects as well as angels, the flowers that spangle the 
 meadow as well as the stars that spangle the sky, the lamp of 
 the glow-worm as well as the light of the sun, the lark that 
 sings in the air and the saint that sings in Paradise, the still 
 small voice of conscience as well as the thunders that rend 
 the clouds, or the trump that shall rend the tomb, these and 
 all things else reveal God's attributes and proclaim his 
 praise. GUTHRIE. 
 
 GOD A PARENT. 
 
 The Bible is a warm letter of affection from a parent to a 
 child, yet there are many who see chiefly the severer pass- 
 ages. As there may be fifty or sixty nights of gentle dew in 
 one summer, that will not cause as much remark as one 
 hail-storm of half an hour, so there are those who are more 
 struck with those passages of the Bible that announce the 
 indignation of God than by those that announce his affec- 
 tion. God is a Lion, John says in the Book of Revelation . 
 .God is a Breaker, Micah announces in his prophecy. God 
 is a Rock. God is a King. But hear also that God is Love. 
 A father and his child are walking out in the fields on a 
 summer's day, and there comes up a thunder storm; and 
 there is a flash of lightning that startles the child, and 
 the father says, "My dear, that is God's eye." There comes 
 a peal of thunder and the father says, "My dear that is God's 
 voice." But the clouds go off the sky, and the storm is 
 gone, and the light floods the heavens, and floods the land- 
 scape; and the father forgets to say, "That is God' s smile." 
 Let us not shut our eyes to God's, tender nature. He is a 
 father. He is our mother. TALMAOE.
 
 136 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 A CHALLENGE TO ATHEISTS. 
 
 You say this God was dreamed by human genius. Be it 
 so. Make Him a creature of 'fancy. What then? The man 
 who made, or dreamed, or otherwise projected such a God 
 must be the author of some other work of equal or approxi- 
 mate importance. Produce it! That is the sensible reply 
 to so bold a blasphemy. Singular if man has made Jehovah 
 and then has taken to the drudgery of making oil paintings, 
 and ink poems, and huts to live in. Where is the congruity. 
 A man says he kindled the sun, and when asked for his 
 proof, he strikes a match which the wind blows out ! Is the 
 evidence sufficient ? Or a man says he has covered the earth 
 with all the green and gold of summer, and, when challenged 
 to prove it, he produces a wax flower which melts in 
 his hands! Is the proof convincing? The God of the 
 Bible calls for the production of other gods gods wooden, 
 gods stony, gods ill-bred, gods well-shaped, and done up 
 skillfully for market uses ; from His Heavens He laughs 
 at them, and from His high throne he holds them in derision. 
 Again and again I demand that the second effort of human 
 genius bear some obvious relation to the first. We wait for 
 the evidence. We insist upon having it; and, that we may 
 not waste our time in idle expectancy, we will meanwhile 
 call upon God, saying, "Our Father who art in Heaven, 
 hallowed be Thy name. Thy will be done in earth 5 as it 
 is in Heaven 1" PARKER.
 
 THE GOSPEL. 
 
 "lam not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ : for it is the po 
 of God unto salvation, to every one that believeth." Rom. i: 
 
 *' Upon the Gospel's sacred page 
 The gathered beams of ages shine; 
 And as it hastens every age 
 But makes its brightness more divine." 
 
 SIB JOHN BQWXLNO 
 
 THE GOSPEL ETERNAL. 
 
 When was there a time when the Gospel of Christ did 
 not exist? Can you point your finger to a period when 
 the religion of Jesus was an unheard of thing? "Yes," 
 one replies, " before the days of Christ and his apostles." 
 But we answer, " Nay, Bethlehem was not the birthplace 
 of the gospel. Though Jesus was born there, there was a 
 gospel long before the birth of Jesus, and a preached one, 
 too; although not preached in its simplicity and plainness, 
 as we hear it now. There was a gospel in the wilderness 
 of Sinai, although it might be confused with the smoke of 
 the incense, and only to be seen through slaughtered vic- 
 tims; yet there was a gospel there." Yea, more, we take 
 them back to the fair trees of Eden, where the fruits per- 
 petually ripened, and summer always rested, and amid 
 these groves we tell them there was a gospel, and we let 
 them hear the voice of God as he spoke to recreant man, 
 and said, "The seed of the woman shall bruise the ser- 
 pent's head." Such was the beginning of the gospel. 
 SPURGEON. 
 
 137
 
 138 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 GOSPEL MEANT FOR ALL. 
 
 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because He hath 
 annointed me to preach the Gospel." Now, the question 
 i-. who shall the Gospel be preached to? There is a cer- 
 tain class of people who think that the Gospel is very good 
 for drunkards, and thieves, and vagabonds; but there are 
 M) many of these self-righteous Pharisees to-day, who are 
 drawing their filthy rags of self-righteousness around them, 
 and thinking the Bible is for a certain class. If I under- 
 stand it correctly, the Gospel is for all. There is no dis- 
 tinction; rich and poor must be served alike; learned and 
 unlearned, all have to come into the Kingdom of God one 
 way, and that is by believing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 
 MOODY. 
 
 THE GOSPEL DESTINED TO BE UNIVERSAL. 
 
 A single grain of corn would, were the produce of each 
 -on sown again, so spread from field to field, from 
 country to country, from continent to continent, as in the 
 course of a few years to cover the face of the whole earth 
 with one wide harvest, employing all the sickles, filling all 
 the barns, and feeding all the mouths in the world. Such 
 an event, indeed, could not happen in nature, because each 
 latitude has its own productions, and there is no plant 
 formed to grow alike under the sun of Africa, and amid 
 the snows of Greenland. It is the glory of the Gospel, 
 and one of the evidences of its divine origin that it can; 
 and, unless prophecy fail, that it shall. There is not a 
 Miore which shall not be sown with this seed; not a land 
 but shall yield harvests of glory to God and of souls for 
 tieaven. By revolutions that are overturning all things, 
 by w:ir' s rude and bloody share, and otherwise, God is 
 breaking up the fallow ground, and ploughing the earth 
 
 ' a glorious seed-time. The seed that sprang up in
 
 THE GOSPEL. 139 
 
 Bethlehem shall wave over Arctic snows and desert sands; 
 and as every shore is washed by one sea, and every land 
 that lies between the poles is girdled by one hemisphere, 
 and every drop of blood in human veins belongs to one 
 great family, of brothers, so in God's set time, men of every 
 color and tongue shall cherish a common faith, and trust 
 in a common Savior. GUTHRIE. 
 
 THE GOSPEL A DELUSION. 
 
 Some accuse the Gospel of being a delusion. Powerful 
 delusion, all-conquering delusion, earth-quaking delusion 
 of the Christian religion. Yea, it goes on, it is so imper- 
 tinent, and it is so overbearing, this chimera of the Gos- 
 pel, that it has conquered the great picture galleries of the 
 world, the old masters and the young masters, and having 
 done this it is not satisfied until it has conquered the music 
 of the world. Yes this chimera of the Gospel is not satis- 
 fied until it goes on and builds itself into the most per- 
 manent architecture, so it seems as if the world is never to 
 get rid of it. What are some of the finest buildings in 
 the world ? St. Paul's, St. Peter's, the churches and ca- 
 thedrals of all Christendom. Yes, this impertinence of 
 the Gospel, this vast delusion is not satisfied until it pro- 
 jects itself, and in one year gives, contributes $6,250,000 
 to foreign missions. The work of which is to make 
 dunces and fools on the other side of the world people 
 we have never seen. TALMAGE. 
 
 THE GOSPEL AT HOME. 
 
 Spreading Christianity abroad is sometimes an excuse 
 for not having it at home. A man may cut grafts from 
 his tree till the tree itself has no top left with which to 
 bear fruit. In the end, the power of Gospel missions will
 
 140 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 l>c measured by the zeal of enlightened piety at home, as 
 the circulation of the blood at the extremities of the body 
 will depend upon the soundness of the lungs and heart. I 
 !<> not say that we should not send the Gospel abroad; but 
 mat we may do it, there must be more of it at home. We 
 must deepen the wells of salvation, or drawing will run 
 them diy. BEECHER..
 
 GRACE. 
 
 "The grace of God that bringeth salvation" Titus ii: II. 
 
 "Thou art coming to a king! 
 Large petitions with thee bring, 
 For His grace and power are such, 
 Thou canst never ask too much." 
 
 LAW AND GRACE. 
 
 How differently do law and grace work! The law 
 "Stone the sinner;" grace says, "Forgive him." When 
 Moses was in Egypt to punish Pharaoh, he turued the 
 waters into blood. When Christ was on earth, He turned 
 the water into wine. That is the difference between la \v 
 and grace. Law makes us crooked; grace straightens u. 
 The law makes us vile; grace cleanses us. When the la\v 
 came out of Horeb, 3,000 men were lost. At Penticost. 
 under grace, 3,000 men got life. What a difference! 
 When Moses came up to the burning bush, he was com- 
 manded to take the shoes off from his feet. When the 
 prodigal came home after sinning, he was a given a pair of 
 shoes to put on his feet. I would a thousand times rather 
 be under grace than under the law. MOODY. 
 
 GRACE OF GOD AN ARCH. 
 
 As with an arch, the grace of God stands the firmer the 
 more weight you lay on it; it's sufficiency, at least, will be 
 the more evident; the more clearly you will see the pro- 
 mise, "My grace is sufficient for thee." With the 
 
 141
 
 142 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 well ever full and ever flowing, our vessels need 
 never be empty. Whether, therefore you want more 
 faith, more purity of heart or peace of mind, more 
 li<rht or love, a humbler or a holier spirit, a calmer 
 or a tenderer conscience, a livelier sense of Christ's 
 excellences or of your own unworthiness, more tears for 
 Christ's feet, or honor for his head, fear not to draw, to 
 hope, to ask too much. GUTHRIE. 
 
 GRACE DOES NOT CHANGE MEN FROM NATURE. 
 
 The popular impression is that grace is designed to 
 change men from nature. No. They are sinful simply 
 because they have deviated from their true nature, or fallen 
 short of it. Grace is given to bring out the followers of 
 every man's nature. Not the nature which schoolmen 
 write about; but that nature which God thought of, when 
 He put forth man, and pronounced him a child of God, 
 bearing his Father's likeness. BEECHER. 
 
 EARLY TRAINING. 
 
 Grace, like flower-seed needs to be sown in spring. The 
 Hrst fifteen years of life, and often the first six, decide the 
 eternal destiny. 
 
 CHRIST ON A THRONE OF GRACE. 
 
 ( 'hrist is on a throne of grace. Our case is brought be- 
 fore him. The question is asked: "Is there any good 
 about this man?" The law answers, "None." Justice 
 wye, "None." Nevertheless Christ hands over our par- 
 Ion, and asks us to take it, Oh! The height and depth, 
 the length and breadth of his mercy. TALM AGE.
 
 GRACE. 143 
 
 PAYSON ON "GRACE." 
 
 Payson, when dying, expressed himself with great earn- 
 estness respecting the grace of God as exercised in saving 
 lost men, and seemed particularly affected that it should 
 be bestowed on one so ill deserving as himself. " O, how 
 sovereign! O, how sovereign! Grace is the only thing 
 that can make us like God. I might be dragged through 
 heaven, earth, and hell, and I should be the same sinful, 
 polluted wretched transgressor, unless God himself should 
 renew and cleanse me." SPURGEON.
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 " There remaineth therefore a rest for the people of God"- 
 Heb: iv. g. 
 
 Jerusalem the golden, 
 
 With milk and honey blessed, 
 Beneath thy ci.uttmplation 
 
 Sink heart :r:d voice oppressed, 
 I know not, O I know not 
 
 What social joys are there; 
 What radiance of glory 
 
 What light beyond compare. 
 
 BERNARD of Cluny, Tr. by J. M. NEALE. 
 
 HEAVEN A PLACE OF LOVE. 
 
 Heaven is the only place where the conditions of love 
 can be fulfilled. There it is essentially mutual. Every- 
 body loves everybody else. In this world of wickedness 
 and sin it seems impossible to be all on a perfect equality. 
 When we meet people who are bright and beautiful and 
 good, we have no difficulty in loving them. All the people 
 of heavrn will be like that. There will be no fear of 
 misplaced confidence there. We will never be deceived 
 by those we love. When a suspicion of doubt fastens upon 
 any one who loves, their happiness from that moment is 
 at an end. There will be no suspicion there. 
 
 " Beyond these chilling winds : nd gloomy skies. 
 
 Beyond death's cloudy portal, 
 There is a land where beanty never dies, 
 
 Where love becomes immortal." 
 
 MOODY 
 
 144
 
 HEAVEN. H5 
 
 COMPORT FOR SORROWFUL HEARTS. 
 
 Oh ye whose locks are wet with the dews of the night 
 of grief; ye whose hearts are heavy because those well- 
 known footsteps sound no more at the doorwav, yonder is 
 your rest! There is David triumphant; but once he be- 
 moaned Absalom., There is Abraham enthroned; but once 
 he wept for Sarah. There is Paul, he is exultant, but he 
 once sat with his feet in the stocks. There is Pay son radi- 
 ant with immortal health; but on earth he was always 
 sick. No toil: no tears: no partings: no strife: no agon- 
 izing cough: no night. No storm to ruffle the crystal sea. 
 No alarm to strike from the cathedral towers. No dirge 
 throbbing from seraphic hearts. No tremor in the ever- 
 lasting song; but rest perfect rest unending rest. 
 TALMAGE. 
 
 THE SWEETEST MUSIC. 
 
 The sweetest music is not the peal of marriage bells, nor 
 tender descants in moonlight woods, nor trumpet notes qf 
 victory it is the soul's welcome to heaven. God grant 
 that when we die there may not come booming to our ear 
 the dreadful sound, "Depart!" But may we hear stealing 
 upon the air the mellow chime of all the celestial bells 
 saying, "Come, come, come, ye blessed, enter ye into the 
 joy of your Lord!" 
 
 JOY FOR TIMID SAINTS. 
 
 To a Christian who has lived all his lifelong in bondage 
 unto fear, not daring to believe himself a child of God, 
 how sweet will be the awakening in heaven. With great 
 dread and trembling he will approach the death hour, and 
 go down through chilling mists and vapors to the unknown 
 sea, and when upon the other shore sweet strains come to
 
 146 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 his ear, he will not understand them, but fair form after 
 fair form will appear to greet him, and at length, from the 
 impearled atmosphere God's whole band of gathering and 
 reaping angels, more in number than the autumn leaves 
 out-streaming from the forest when there are bursts of 
 wind, will come forth, filling all the air with music, and 
 minister unto him an abundant entrance into the kingdom! 
 It were almost enough to make one's heaven to stand and 
 see the first wild stirring of joy in the face, and hear the 
 first rapturous cry as they cross the threshold, of thousands 
 of timid Christians who lived weeping and died sighing, 
 but who will wake to find every tear an orb of joy and 
 every sigh an inspiration of God. O, the wondrous joy 
 of heaven to those who did not expect it! BEECHEB. 
 
 THE CHRISTIANS HOME. 
 
 In his best hours, home, his own sinless home a home 
 with his Father above that starry sky will be the wish of 
 every Christian man. He looks around him the world is 
 full of suffering; he is distressed by its sorrows, and vexed 
 by its sins. He looks within him he finds much in his 
 own corruptions to grieve him. In the language of a 
 heart repelled, grieved, vexed, he often turns his eye up- 
 ward, saying, "I would not live alway." No. Not for 
 all the gold of the world's mines, not for all the pearls of 
 the seas, not for all the pleasures of her flashing, frothy 
 cup, not for all the crowns of her kingdoms would I live 
 lien- ahvay. Like a bird about to migrate to those sunny 
 lands where no winter sheds her snows, or strips the 
 grove, or binds the dancing streams, he will often in spirit 
 be pruning his wing for the hour of his flight to glory. 
 GUTHRIE.
 
 HE A VEN. 147 
 
 HEAVEN WORTH STRIVING FOR. 
 
 Julius Caesar, going towards Rome with bis army, and 
 hearing that the senate and people had fled from it, said, 
 "They that will not fight for this city, what city will they 
 fight for ?" If we will not take pains for the Kingdom of 
 heaven, what kingdom will we take pains for ? SPURGEON. 
 
 HELPS ON THE WAY. 
 
 When Abraham went from Ur of the Chaldees at the 
 command of God, on his way he received a renewal of the 
 promise. Very beautiful was this! It showed that he was 
 on the right road, and that God's faithfulness followed him 
 like an angel of defence. It is so with ourselves on the 
 journey to the better Canaan, where the upper springs 
 never dry, and the summer lies like an infinite blessing 
 over the whole land. 
 
 *' There shall be no more enow, 
 No weary wandering feet." 
 
 O, fair Canaan! A land so near, did we but know itl 
 Just over the river, the stream, the faint dark rill. It was 
 a river to our youth, it is a stream to our manhood, it will 
 be but a rill to the faith of our old age! And as we move 
 to it, step by step, what words of love and hope are spoken 
 to us by the Lord of the fair land! How he helps us up 
 the steps that are long and hard; how he cheers us along 
 the road that is flat and tedious; how he throws a robe 
 around us when the fierce winds blow upon us in bitter 
 cold. PABKEB.
 
 HOLINESS. 
 
 " Holiness to the Lord" Ex. xxviii: 
 " More holiness give me, 
 
 More strivings within; 
 More patience in suffring, 
 
 More sorrow for sin, 
 More faith in my Savior, 
 
 More sense of His care; 
 More joy in His service, 
 
 More purpose in prayer." 
 
 A HOLY MAN. 
 
 Abraham was a holy man. Each important transaction 
 of life was entered on in a pious spirit, and hallowed by 
 religious exercises. His tent was a moving temple. His 
 household was a pilgrim church. Wherever he rested, 
 whether by the venerable oak of Marnre, or on the olive 
 slopes of Hebron, or on the lofty forest-crowned ridge of 
 Bethel, mi jiltar arose; and his prayers went up with its 
 smoke to heaven. Such daily, intimate and loving com- 
 munion did this grand saint maintain with heaven, that 
 God calls him his " friend." He lived on terms of fellow- 
 ship with God, such as had not been seen since the days of 
 Eden. Voices addressed him from the skies; angels paid 
 visits to his tent, and visions of celestial glory hallowed 
 his lowly couch and mingled with his nightly dreams. His 
 life was one of holy devotion and consecrated righteous- 
 ness. GUTHRIE. 
 
 HOLINESS BY THE BLOOD. 
 
 Holiness is gained only by the application of Christ's 
 
 148
 
 HOLINESS. 149 
 
 blood. A heathen got worried about his sins, and came to 
 a priest and asked how he might be cured. The priest 
 said, "If you will drive spikes in your shoes and walk 
 five hundred miles you will get over it." So he drove 
 spikes in his shoes and began the pilgrimage, trembling, 
 tottering, agonizing on the way, until he got about twenty 
 miles and sat down under a tree, exhausted. Near by, a 
 missionary was preaching Christ, the Savior of all men. 
 When the heathen heard it, he pulled off his sandals, threw 
 them as far as he could, and cried, "That's what I want; 
 give me Jesus ! give me Jesus ! " Oh, ye who have been 
 convicted and worn of sin, trudging on all your days to 
 reap eternal woe, will you not, at the announcement of a 
 full and glorious atonement, throw your torturing trans- 
 gressions to the wind? "The blood of Jesus Christ 
 cleameth from all sm." TALMAGE. 
 
 A BEAUTIFUL CHARACTER. 
 
 Holiness is beauty. There is no beauty like that of a 
 pure character. The grandest sight on this earth is not the 
 march of the all-conquering storm whose cloudy battalions 
 go rushing through the sounding heavens; the most beau- 
 tiful thing on earth is not the garden which opens, and 
 sends forth from its censers fragrance; it is not the state- 
 liness of the tree which you sit under through the long 
 summer's day; those are Lot the most beautiful things on 
 earth that art carves out of stone; the beauty of the soul 
 lies in its secret chambers; and the rich, deep, just, holy 
 and loving natures these are the beautiful things of this 
 world. There is nothing so beautiful as Christ in man. 
 BEECHER. 
 
 ACQUIRED BY COMMUNION WITH CHRIST. 
 
 A.S courtiers are more polite in their manners than ordi-
 
 150 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 nary subjects, because they are more in their prince's com- 
 pany, so may the society of the Lord's holy servants raise 
 the tone of our thought and make us aspire after a sanctity 
 beyond what we possess. If the society of Christ's dis- 
 ciples be thus helpful, we may be sure that communion 
 with their Lord will be still more so. If we learn good 
 manners from the man, what may we expect from being 
 with the master. From Jesus we shall learn gentleness 
 and love, purity and self-sacrifice, and so acquire the 
 courtly manners of the Prince of Peace. There is no 
 preparation for heaven like abiding with heaven's Lord. 
 The oftener we are in God's court, tae more holy we shall 
 become. SPURGEON. 
 
 HOLINESS AND HUMILITY. 
 
 Some one asked a minister if he had ever received a 
 second blessing since he was converted. " What do you 
 mean?" was the reply. "1 have received ten thousand 
 since the first." A great many think because they have 
 been holy once, they are going to be holy for all time 
 after. But O, my friends, we are leaky vessels, and have 
 to be kept right under the fountain all the time in order to 
 be kept full. If we are going to be used by God, we must 
 be very humble. Humility and holiness go together. A 
 man that lives close to God will be the humblest of men. 
 Let us keep near Him. MOODY.
 
 HOLY SPIRIT. 
 
 " He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire" 
 Matt. Hi: n. 
 
 "Our blessed Redeemer, ere he breathed 
 
 His tender last farewell. 
 A Guide, a Comforter bequeathed, 
 
 With, us on earth to dwell. " 
 
 HABRIET ATJBEB. 
 
 THE SPIRIT A DOVE. 
 
 In the far East there is a bird called the Huma, about 
 which is the beautiful superstition that upon whatever 
 head the shadow of that bird rests, upon that head there 
 shall be a crown. Oh, thou Dove of the Spirit, floating 
 above us, let the shadow of thy wing fall upon our heads, 
 that each, at last, in heaven may wear a crown! a crown! 
 and hold in his right hand a star! a star! TALMAGE. 
 
 NECESSARY TO CONVERSION. 
 
 Some regard religion as a sort of divine aura, which 
 descends upon a man and encircles him, as silvery mists 
 enwreath autumnal mountain tops. There is a sense in 
 which this is true. No one would become a Christian 
 without the direct aid of the Holy Spirit, any more than a 
 bud would become a blossom without the influence of the 
 sun; but yet personal religion is the result of personal 
 choice. BEECHEK. 
 
 151
 
 152 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 THE OFFICE OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 Call it fanaticism if you will, but I trust that there are 
 some of us who know what it is to be always, or generally, 
 under the influence of the Holy Spirit always in one 
 sense, generally in another. When we have difficulties 
 we ask the direction of the Holy Ghost. When we do not 
 understand a portion of Holy Scripture, we ask God the 
 Holy Ghost to shine upon us. When we are depressed, 
 the Holy Spirit comforts us. You can not tell what the 
 power of the indwelling of the Holy Ghost is. How it 
 pulls back the hand of the saint when he would touch the 
 forbidden thing; bow it prompts him to make a covenant 
 with his tyes; how it binds his feet lest they should fall in 
 a slippery way; how it restrains his heart, and keeps him 
 from temptation. O ye, who know nothing of the in- 
 dwelling of the Holy Ghost, despise it not. SPURGEON. 
 
 A REPROVER OF SIN. 
 
 The Holy Spirit tells a man of his faults in order to lead 
 him to a better life. In John xvi: 8, we read: "He is to 
 reprove the world of sin." There is a class of people who 
 don't like this part of the Spirit's work. Do you know 
 why? Because He convicts them of sin; they don't like 
 that. What they want is some one to speak comforting 
 words and make everything pleasant; keep everything all 
 quiet; tell them there is peace when there is war; tell them 
 it is light wbec if is> dark; tell them everything is growing 
 1 ictter; that the world is getting on amazingly in good- 
 ness; that is the kind of preaching tLer a r fi seeking for. 
 That suits human nature, for it is full of priat. MCB w$l 
 strut around and say, "Yes, I believe that; the world * 
 improving; I am a good deal better man than my fatfcv 
 was; my father was too strict; he was Puritanical. O, we
 
 HOLY SPIRIT. 153 
 
 are getting on; we are more liberal; my father wouldn't 
 think of going out riding on Sunday, but we will; we will 
 trample the laws of God under our feet; we are better 
 than our fathers." 
 
 Just wait till you bring the Word of God to bear upon 
 them, and the Spirit drives it home, then men will say: 
 " I don't like that kind of preaching; I will never go to 
 hear that man again." The Spirit of God convicts men of 
 sin. Do not blame the preacher for it, but the Holy 
 Ghost. MOODY. 
 
 THE SPIRIT'S POWER. 
 
 Sin never wove, in hottest hell-fires the devil never 
 forged a chain, which the Spirit of God, wielding the 
 hammer of jthe word, cannot strike from fettered limbs. 
 Put that to the test. Try the power of prayer. Let con- 
 tinued, constant, earnest, wrestling prayer be made for 
 those that are chained to their sins, and, so to speak, 
 "thrust into the inner prison," and see,, as when on that 
 night when Peter was led forth by the angels' hand, whether 
 your prayers are not turned into most grateful praises. 
 GUTHEIE.
 
 HOME. 
 
 u And the Lord haf.h brought me home again" Ruth i : ai. 
 
 "I was a wandering sheep 
 
 I did not love the fold ; 
 I did not love my shepherd's voice, 
 
 I would not be controlled: 
 I was a wayward child, 
 
 I did not love my home, 
 I did not love my Father's voice 
 
 I loved afar to roam. 
 
 No more a wandering sheep, 
 
 I love to be controlled, 
 I love my tender shepherd's voice,* 
 
 I love the peaceful fold: 
 No more a wayward child, 
 
 I seek no more to roam; 
 I love my heavenly Father's voice, 
 
 I love, I love His home." 
 
 WHAT IT MEANS. 
 
 Home ask ten diflerent men the meaning of that word 
 and they will give you ten difierent definitions. To one it 
 means love at the hearth, it means plenty at the table, in- 
 dustry at the workstand, intelligence at the books, devo- 
 tion at the altar. In that home, Discord never sounds his 
 warwhoop, and Deception never tricks with his false face. 
 To him it means a greeting at the door and a smile at the 
 chair. Peace hovering like wings, joy clapping her hands 
 
 ith laughter. Life a tranquil lake. Pillowed on the 
 ripples sleep the shadows. 
 
 Ask another man "What is home 2 " He will tell you 
 
 154
 
 HOMR. 155 
 
 it is Want looking out of a cheerless fire grate, kneading 
 hunger in an empty bread tray. The damp air shivering 
 with curses. No Bible on the shelf. Children, robbers 
 and murderers in embryo. Obscene songs their lullaby. 
 Every face a picture of ruin : want in the background, and 
 sin staring from the front. No Sabbath wave rolling 
 over that door-sill. Vestibule of the pit. Shadow of in- 
 fernal walls. Furnace for forging everlasting chains. 
 Faggots for an unending funeral pile. Awful word ! It 
 is spelled with curses, it weeps with ruin, it chokes with 
 woe, it sweats with the death agony of despair. The word 
 "home" in the one case means everything bright. The 
 word " home " in the other case means everything terrific. 
 TALMAGE. 
 
 HOTEL VERSUS HOME. 
 
 A man living at a hotel is like a grape-vine in a flower 
 pot moveable, carried around from place to place, docked 
 at the root and short at the top. No where can a man get 
 real root-room, and spread out his branches until they 
 touch the morning and the evening, but in his own home. 
 BEECHER. 
 
 GOING HOME. 
 
 See how the horse pricks up his ears and quickens his 
 pace when you turn his head to his stable. Much more 
 then should intelligent Christian men feel the attractions 
 of their heavenly home. Courage, brothers and sisters; 
 we, too, are homeward bound. Every hour brings us 
 nearer to the many mansions. We are not going from 
 home, or we might hang our heads: our way is toward the 
 Father's house on high, therefore let us rejoice at every 
 step we take. SPURGEON.
 
 156 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 MAKING A HOME HAPPY. 
 
 A little girl who had attended one of our meetings went 
 home and climbed upon her father's knees and said. 
 "Papa, you have been drinking again." It troubled him. 
 If his wife had spoken to him, he might have got mad and 
 gone out into some shop or saloon, and got more liquor, 
 but that little child acted like an angel. He came down to 
 our meetings with her and found out how he might be 
 saved, and now that home is a little heaven. There are 
 many homes that might be made happy in that way. 
 MOODY.
 
 HOPE. 
 
 we are saved by hope" Rom. viii: 24., 
 
 "Hope, only hope, of all that clings 
 Around us, never spreads her wings." 
 
 O. W. HOLMES. 
 
 HOPELESS SOULS 
 
 While some saints enjoy a clear assurance of their salva- 
 tion, and stretching toward heaven behold the land that is 
 very far off, as seamen from their outlook descry the 
 mountain-tops, when their bark is ploughing a waste of 
 waters, and yet a long way from land, there are other 
 Christians who pass their days in a state of despondency. 
 The sun seldom breaks out to cheer them. Their hope 
 has a hard fight with their fears. It is little they know of 
 rejoicing in the Lord, and joy in the God of their salva- 
 tion. By help of God's word, their compass, they suc- 
 ceed, no doubt, in steering their way to heaven, but it is 
 over a troubled sea, and under a cloudy sky; nor are they 
 ever happy enough to be delivered from doubt and fear, 
 till fears are lost in light, and they find themselves safe in 
 glory. GUTHRIE. 
 
 THE STAR OF HOPE. 
 
 Christ is the star of hope. I would like to have my 
 death-bed under that star I would like to have my eye on 
 that star, so I could be assured of the morning. Then the 
 dash of the surf on the sea of death would only be the 
 billowing up of the promise, "When thou passest through 
 the waters I will be with thee, and the rivers, they shall 
 
 157
 
 158 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 not overflow thee." All other lights will fail, the light 
 that falls from the scroll of fame, the light that flashes 
 from the gem in the beautiful apparel, the light that flames 
 from the burning lamps of a banquet but this light burns 
 on and burns on. Paul kept his eye on that star until he 
 could say, ''I have fought the good fight, I have finished 
 my course, I have kept the faith." Edward Payson kq>t 
 his eye on that star until he could say, "The breezes of 
 heaven fan me.'' John Tennant kept his eye on that star 
 until he could say, "Welcome, sweet Lord Jesus, welcome, 
 eternity." No other star ever pointed a mariner into so 
 safe a harbor. No other star ever sunk its silver anchor 
 so deep into the waters. TALMAGE. 
 
 A CHAMBER OF THE SOUL. 
 
 Hope is one of the chambers of the soul if haply you 
 can see the inscription over the door. It has two sides 
 and two windows. From one of these you can see the 
 stars, the heaven beyond, the Holy City, the angels of 
 God, the General Assembly, and church of the first born. 
 This is shut! The other window looks out into the world's 
 highway, and sees men, caravans, artificers, miners, arti 
 sans, engineers, builders, bankers, brokers, pleasure- 
 mongers. That window stands wide open, and is much 
 used! BEECHER. 
 
 NO WORD FOR HOPE. 
 
 It is reported that in the Tauml language there is no 
 word for hope. Alas! poor men, if we were all as destitute 
 of the blessed comfort itself, as these Tamul speakers are 
 of the word! What must be the misery of souls in hell, 
 where they remember the word, but can never know hope 
 itself! SPURGEON.
 
 HOPE. 159 
 
 NECESSITY OF HOPEFULNESS. 
 
 Did you ever notice this, that no man or woman is ever 
 used by God to build up His kingdom who has lost hope? 
 Now, I have been observing this through different parts 
 of the country, and wherever I have found a worker in 
 God's vineyard who has lost hope, I have found a man or 
 woman not very useful. Now, just look at these workers. 
 Let your mind go over the past for a moment. Can you 
 think of a man or woman whom God has used to build 
 His kingdom who has lost hope? I don't know of any; 
 I never heard of such an one. It is very important to 
 have hope in the Church, and it is the work of the Holy 
 Ghost to impart hope, "that you may abound in hope 
 through the power of the Holy Ghost." A man filled 
 with the Spirit of God will be very hopeful MOODY.
 
 HUMILITY. 
 
 " He that humbleth himself shall be exalted" Matt, xviii .- 4. 
 
 '' Higher than the highest heaven, 
 Deeper than the deepest sea. 
 
 Lord, Thy love at last has conquered, 
 None of self, and all of Thee." 
 
 THE CHILD OF KNOWLEDGE. . 
 
 Wise men ever know their own ignorance and are ready 
 to learn. Humility is the child of knowledge. Michael An- 
 gelo was found by the Cardinal Farnese walking in solitude 
 amid the ruins of the Coliseum, and when he expressed his 
 surprise, the great artist answered, i'l go yet to school 
 that I may continue to learn." Who among us can after 
 this, talk of finishing our education? We have need to learn 
 of all around us. He must be very foolish who cannot tell 
 us something; or more likely, we must be very foolish not 
 to be able to learn of him. SPURGEON. 
 
 GOD'S ALPHABET. 
 
 I suppose Isaiah thought he was as good as most men, in 
 his day, and perhaps he was a good deal better than most 
 men, but when he saw the Lord, he cried, "Woe is me, for 
 I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips". When 
 he saw the Lord, he saw his own deformity, and he fell in the 
 dust before the Lord. And that is the proper place for the 
 sinner. Until men realize their own uncleanness they talk
 
 HUMILITY. 161 
 
 of their own righteousness, but the moment they catch a 
 sight of Him their mouth is stopped. We can not learn to 
 read till we learn the alphabet. We can not come into His 
 kingdom until we are humble. That is God's alphabet. 
 MOODY. 
 
 THE STRENGTH OF PIETY. 
 
 We have wondered at the lowliness of a man, who stood 
 among his compeers like Saul among the people to find him 
 simple, gentle, generous, docile, humble as a little child till 
 we found that it is with great men as with great trees. 
 What giant tree has not giant roots ? When the tempest 
 has blown over some such monarch of the forest, and he lies 
 in death stretched out at his full length upon the ground, 
 on seeing the mighty roots that fed him the strong cables 
 that moored him to the soil we cease to wonder at his noble 
 stem, and the broad, leafy, lofty head he raised to heaven, 
 defiant of storms. Let us not forget that humility is the 
 root and strength of lofty piety. GUTHRIE. 
 
 SONS OF HUMANITY. 
 
 They who have been the deliverers of literature and 
 nations have come from homes without afiluence, and by the 
 discipline of their own privations have learned how to speak 
 and fight for the ignorant and oppressed. Poetry and science 
 and laws and constitutions and commerce were born, like 
 Jesus, in a manger. Most of thegreat thoughts which have 
 seemed the axletrees on which the centuries turned, had 
 their start in obscure corners, and had Herods who tried to 
 slay them, and Iscariots who betrayed them, and unjust 
 prelates who condemned them, ami rabbles that crucified 
 them, till they burst out again in glorious resurrection. 
 Many are the noble sons of humanity. TALMAGE.
 
 162 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 JOY A FRUIT OF HUMILITY. 
 
 Our humiliations work out our most elevated joys. The 
 way that a drop of rain comes to sing in a leaf that rustles 
 in the top of a tree all summer long, is by going down to 
 the roots first, and from thence ascending to the bough. 
 BEECHEB.
 
 INFIDELITY, 
 
 " Without God in the world." Eph. it: 12. 
 
 God is in this and every place ; 
 
 But O, how dark and void 
 To me ! 'tis one great wilderness 
 
 This earth without my God." 
 
 CHARLES WESLEY. 
 
 Forth from his dark and lonely hiding place, 
 
 Portentious sight ! the owlet Atheism, 
 Sailing on obscene wings athwart the noon, 
 
 Drops his blue-fringed lids, and holds them close, 
 And hooting at the glorious sun in heaven, 
 
 Cries out, Where is it ? COLERIDGE. 
 
 THE MOST ALARMING INFIDELITY. 
 
 The most dangerous infidelity of the day is the infidelity 
 rich and orthodox churches. BEECHER. 
 
 HAVE INFIDELS SOMETHING BETTER? 
 
 No matter how infidel philosophers may regard the Bible : 
 they may say that Genesis is awry, and that the Psalms are 
 snore than half bitter imprecations, and the Prophecies only 
 the phantasies of brain-bewildered men, and the Gospels 
 weak laudations of an impostor, and the Epistles but the 
 letters of a mad Jew, and that the whole book has had its 
 lay; I shall cling to it until they show me a better revela- 
 tion. The Bible emptied, effete, worn out ! If all the 
 wisest of the world were placed man to man, they could 
 
 163
 
 164 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 not sound the shallowest depth of the Gospel of John. O 
 philosophers ! break the shell, and fly out, and let me hear 
 how you can sing. Not of passion I know that already; 
 not of wordly power I hear that everywhere ; but teach 
 me, through your song, how to find joy in sorrow, strength, 
 in weakness, and light in darkest days; how to bear buffet 
 ing and scorn, how to welcome death, and to pass through 
 its ministration into the sphere of life; and this not for 
 me only, but for the whole world that groans and travails in 
 pain; and until you can do this, speak not to me of u better 
 revelation. IBID. 
 
 INFIDELITY A SIN. 
 
 I affirm, and the world declares it, unbdiefis a sin Is it 
 not a sin for a creature to doubt the word of its maker ? Is 
 it not a crime and an insult to the Divinity for me, an atom, 
 a particle of dust, to dare to deny His words? Is it not 
 the very summit of arrogance and extremity of pride, for 
 a son of Adam to say, even in his heart, "God, I doubt thy 
 grace; I doubt thy love; I doubt thy power ?" Oh! sirs, 
 believe me, could you roll all sins into one mass; could you 
 take murder, and blasphemy, and lust, and adultery and 
 everything that is vile, and unite them all into one vast 
 globe of black corruption, they would not equal then, the 
 sin of unbelief. This is the monarch sin, the quintessence 
 of guilt; the mixture of the venom of all crimes; the dregs 
 of the wine of Gomorrah; it is the master-piece of Satan; 
 the chief work of the devil. SPURGEON. 
 
 INFIDELS IGNORANT OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 Of all the skeptics and infidels I have ever met, I have 
 yet to meet the first one that has read the Bible through 
 from beginning to end. Now, if a book comes out, and 
 you have not read all of it, you say, "I have not read it
 
 INfWELlTY. 165 
 
 through yet, and don't like to express my opinion until I 
 have more carefully read it." But people are not afraid 
 of expressing their opinion of God's book after having read 
 a few chapters, and because they don't understand what 
 they have read, they condemn the whole. When these infi- 
 dels and unbelievers go up and stand before the Lord, they 
 will say, "I was very anxious to accept your invitation to 
 attend the marriage supper of the Lamb, but there were some 
 things in the Bible that were dark and mysterious, and so I 
 could not accept the invitation." That excuse sounds very 
 well here, but up there you can't tell that. You will be 
 speechless when you stand before God's bar. MOODY. 
 
 INFIDELITY DEFEATED. 
 
 The history of infidelity, were it written, would present a 
 succession of ignominious defeats; defeats due not to any 
 want of ability in those who have assailed the truth, but to 
 this: that its defenders have driven them out of all their posi- 
 tions. The history, the morality, the theology, the consisf 
 ency,the authenticity, the genuineness of the Bible, the truth 
 of its prophecies, and the very possibility of its miracles have 
 been all attacked, each in its turn, and with the same result. 
 We have seen the soldier return from the fields of war 
 with scars as well as medals on his breast, but our religion 
 has come out of a thousand fights unscarred, from a thousand 
 fires unscathed. She bears no more evidence of the as- 
 saults she has sustained than the air of the swords 
 that have cloven it, or the sea of the keels which have 
 ploughed its foaming waves; than some bold rocky head- 
 land of the billows that dashing against it in proud but 
 impotent fury, have shivered themselves on its sides. 
 
 GUTHRIE.
 
 166 GEMS OF TRU'iHAND BEATUY. 
 
 A WORD TO MR. INGERSOLL. 
 
 He (Mr. Ingersoll) is said to be a very brave man. I 
 dare him to do one thing. I dare him to take his mother's 
 Bible, and some Sunday afternoon, go into his room, and 
 locking the door, kneel down, and while kneeling read the 
 fourteenth chapter of John. Nothing there about Jonah 
 and the whale; nothing there about the sun and moon stop- 
 ping; nothing there about the manner in which Eve was 
 made. Certainly a man so brave that he defies the God of 
 the universe, and scoffs at the armies of martyrs and apos- 
 tles, and prophets, and bullies perdition certainly, a man 
 as brave as that ought to be brave enough on a Sabbath 
 afternoon to go into his room and kneel down, if the door 
 is locked, and read the fourteenth chapter of John. 
 
 Here is infidelity: no prayer on her lips, no benediction 
 on her brow, both hands clenched what for? To fight 
 Christianity. That is the entire business. That is the 
 complete mission of infidelity to fight Christianity. 
 Where are her schools, her colleges, her asylums of 
 mercy? Let me throw you down a whole ream of foolscap 
 paper that you may fill all of it with the names of her bene- 
 ficent institutions, the colleges and the asylums, the insti- 
 tutions of mercy, founded by infidelity, and supported by 
 infidelity, pronounced against God; and the Christian reli- 
 gion and yet in favor of making the world better. " Oh," 
 you say, " a reai of paper is too much for the names of 
 those institutions." "Well then, I throw you a quire of 
 paper. Fill it it all up now. I will wait until you get all 
 the names down. "Oh," you say, "that is too much." 
 Well, then, I will just hand you a sheet of letter paper. 
 Just fill up the four sides while we are talking of this mat- 
 ter. " Oh," you say, " that is too much room. We don't 
 want a whole sheet of paper to write down the names." 
 Perhaps I had better tear out one leaf from my hymn book,
 
 INFIDELITY. 167 
 
 and ask you to fill up both sides of it with the names 
 of such institutions. "Oh," you say, " that is too much 
 room; you don't want so much room as that." Well then 
 suppose you count them on your ten fingers. " Oh," you 
 say, "not 'quite so much as that." Well, then, count them 
 on the fingers of one hand. " Oh," you say, "not quite 
 so many as that." Well, then, count on one finger the name 
 of any institution founded by infidelity, supported by infi- 
 delity, pronounced against God, and the Christian religion, 
 yet toiling to make the world better. Not one! Not one! 
 TALMAGE.
 
 INTEMPERANCE. 
 
 "Nor drunkards shall inherit the Kingdom of God." / Cor, 
 vi: 10. 
 
 "No, I'll shun the hollow glee, 
 And the mirth and revelry, 
 Where King Alcohol must be 
 
 Crowned the monarch of the feast; 
 For this rosy-fingered devil, 
 Prince and priest of all things evil, 
 While this poor weak head is level, 
 
 Ne'er shall make a slave of me." 
 
 "DROWNING CARE." 
 
 Some men drink to excess to drown care. As well may 
 a man in debt drink to drown bis thoughts; it neither pays 
 the debt, nor postpones the reckoning. O, soul, be true 
 to thyself. When conscience is uneasy, it is foolish as 
 well as wicked to attempt to smother its cries with worldly 
 merriment. SPURGEON. 
 
 A DRUNKARD SAVED. 
 
 Look you, down there in the dark alleys of New York 
 is a poor drunkard. If you want to get near hell, go to a 
 poor drunkard's home. Go to the house of that poor 
 liuM-raWe drunkard. See the want and distress that reigns 
 there. But hark! A footstep is heard at the door, and 
 the (hildren run and hide themselves. The patient wife 
 waits to meet him. The m:m has been her torment. Many 
 a time she has borne about for weeks the marks of blows 
 
 168
 
 INTEMPERANCE. 169 
 
 Many a time that strong right hand has been brought 
 down on her defenceless head. And now she waits, ex- 
 pecting to hear his oaths, and to receive his brutal treat- 
 ment. He comes in and says to her: "I have been to the 
 meeting, and I heard there, that if I will, I can be con- 
 verted. I believe that God is able to save me." Go down 
 to that house in a few weeks and see what a change! As 
 you approach, you have some one singing. It is not the 
 long of a reveller, but "The Rock of Ages." The chil- 
 dren are no longer afraid of him, but cluster around his 
 knee. His wife is near him, her face lit up with a happy 
 glow. I can take you to thousands of homes made happy 
 by such power of the religion of Christ. O ye slaves to 
 drink, or sin of any kind, God will give you power to over- 
 come temptation, and to lead a right life. MOODY. 
 
 TWO CHILDREN. 
 
 In the country I have often seen a little child, with her 
 sun-browned face and long golden locks, sweet as any 
 flower she pressed beneath her naked foot; merry as any 
 bird that sung from bush or brake, driving the cattle 
 home; and with fearless hand controlling the sulky leader 
 of the herd, as with armed forehead and colossal strength 
 he quailed before that slight image of God. Some days 
 ago I saw a different sight such a child, with hanging 
 head, no music in his voice, nor blush but that of shame 
 upon his cheek, leading home a drunken father upon the 
 public street. The man required to be led, guided, 
 guarded. And into a condition hardly less helpless large 
 masses of our people have sunk. Why do they drink? 
 Look at their unhappy and most trying circumstances. 
 Many of them are born with a propensity to this vice. 
 They suck it in with a mother's milk. The drunken parent
 
 170 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY, 
 
 transmits to his children a proneness to his fatal indulgence. 
 The foul atmosphere which many of them breathe, the 
 hard labor by which many of them earn their bread, pro. 
 duce a prostration which seeks in stimulants something to 
 rally the system, nor will they be debarred from their use 
 by any prospect of danger. With our improved tastes, 
 our books, our recreations, our domestic comforts, we have 
 no adequate idea of the temptations to which the poor are 
 exposed, and from which nothing is truer kindness than to 
 protect them. GUTHRIE. 
 
 INTEMPERANCE AMONG WOMEN. 
 
 I am told that it is becoming more and more fashionable 
 for women to drink; and it is not very long ago that a 
 lady of great respectability, in this city, having taken two 
 glasses of wine away from home, became violent, and her 
 friends, ashamed, forsook her, and she was carried to a 
 police station, and afterward to her disgraced home. I 
 care not how well a woman may dress, if she has taken 
 enough of wine to flush her cheek, and put a glassiness on 
 her eye, she is intoxicated. She may be handed into a 
 2,500 dollar carriage, and have enough of diamonds to 
 confound the Tiffanys she is intoxicated. She may be a 
 graduate of Packer Institute, and the daughter of some 
 man in danger of being nominated for the Presidency, she 
 is drunk. You may have a larger vocabulary than I have, 
 and you may say in regard to her that she is "convivial,'' 
 or tshe is " merry," or she is "festive," or she is " exhilar- 
 ated"; but you can not with all your garlands of verbiage, 
 cover up the fact that it is an old-fashioned case of drunk. 
 TALMAGE. 
 
 A WARNING. 
 
 The victim pauses, gazes around upon the scene r.bout
 
 INTEMPERANCE. 1 7 1 
 
 his path of sin, and whispers, " Is it harmless?" "Harm- 
 less!" responds a serpent from the grass. Harmless! 
 echo the sighing winds. Harmless! re-echo a hun- 
 dred airy tongues. If now a gale from heaven 
 might only sweep the clouds away through which the vic- 
 tim gazes! O, it God would break that potent power 
 which chains the blasts of hell, and let the sulphur-stench 
 roll up the vale, how would the vision change the road 
 become a track of dead men's bones, the heavens a lower- 
 ing storm, the balmy breezes distant wailings, and all those 
 balsam-shrubs that lied to his senses sweat drops of blood 
 upon their poison boughs! 
 
 Ye who are meddling with the edges of vice, ye are, on 
 this road, and utterly duped by its enchantments. Your 
 eye has already lost its honest glance, your taste has lost 
 its purity, your heart throbs with poison. The leprosy is 
 all over you; its blotches and eruptions cover you. Your 
 feet stand on slippery places, whence in due time they 
 shall slide, if you refuse the warning which I raise. 
 BEECHER.
 
 JUDGMENT. 
 
 " For we must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ "- 
 I Cor, v: JO. 
 
 Before me place in dread array, 
 The pomp of that tremendous day, 
 
 When thou with clouds shalt come 
 To judge the nations at thy bar; 
 And tell me, Lord, shalt i be there 
 
 To meet a joyful doom? 
 
 CHARLES WESLEST. 
 
 The day of wrath, that dreadful day, 
 When heaven and earth shall pass away, 
 What power shall be the sinner's stay, 
 How shall he meet that dreadful day? 
 
 SIR WALTER SCOTT. 
 
 THE CROWNING DAY OF RECKONING. 
 
 The word of God teaches us plainly that there is future 
 retribution; if it does not teach that it does not teach any- 
 thing. If it tells us about the glory of heaven, and the 
 mansions that Christ has gone to prepare, it tells us also 
 about the torments of hell; it tells about the rich man lift- 
 ing up his face in torment and crying for water. Now 
 some people say, " Oh, you are just tryingto scare us, you 
 >ay such things just to alarm us." I would consider my- 
 self an unfaithful servant if I did not so warn you. The 
 blood of your soul would be required at my hands if I did 
 not so Avarn you Chr.-st says, "How shall you escape the 
 damnation of hell i " No one spoke of the judgment as 
 ( 'hrist did; none knew it as well as he. MOODY. 
 
 172
 
 JUDGMENT. 173 
 
 OUR RECORD. 
 
 We shall meet again all we are doing and have done. 
 The graves shall give up their dead, and from the tombs 
 of oblivion the past shall give up all that it holds in keep- 
 ing, to be witness for or witness against us. Oh, think of 
 that, and in yonder hall of the inquisition see what its 
 efiect should be. Within those blood-stained walls, for 
 whose atrocious cruelties Rome has yet to answer, one is 
 under examination. He has been assured that nothing he 
 reveals shall be written for the purpose of being used 
 against him. While making frank and ingenious con- 
 fession he suddenly stops. He is dumb a mute. They 
 ply him with questions, flatter him, threaten him; he an- 
 swers not a word. Danger makes the senses quick. His 
 ear has caught a sound; he listens; it ties his tongue. An 
 arras hangs beside him, and behind it he hears a pen run- 
 ning along the pages. The truth flashes on him. Behind 
 that screen a scribe sits committing to the fatal page every 
 word he says, and he shall meet it again on the day of 
 trial. Ah! how solemn to think that there is such a pen 
 going in heaven, and entering on the books of judgment all 
 we say, or wish, all we think or do. GUTHRIE. 
 
 AN AWFUL FACT. 
 
 A young woman, dying, said to her father: " Father, 
 why did you not tell me there was a hell?" "Jennie, 
 there is no such place. God is merciful. There w r ill be 
 no future suffering." She said: " I know better! I feel it 
 now! I know there is such a place! My feet are slipping 
 into it this moment. I am lost! Why did you not tell me 
 there was such a place?"' It is the awful, stupendous, 
 consuming, incontrovertible fact of the universe TAI- 
 MAGE.
 
 174 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 HARSHNESS IN JUDGMENT. 
 
 We ought to be induced away from all harshness by the 
 fact that we ourselves are to be brought into high tribunal 
 at the last, and that he shall have judgment without mercy 
 that has shown no mercy. You are accustomed with rough 
 grip to shake men for their misdeeds, waiting for no palli- 
 ations, listening to no appeals. What will become of you, 
 when at last, with all your imperfections, you stand before 
 the bar of your Maker. IBID. 
 
 THE SINNERS'S DOOM. 
 
 To the Christian the shadow of death is the golden haze 
 which heaven's light makes when it meets the earth. But 
 to the sinner these shall be shadows full of phantom shapes. 
 Images of terror in the future shall dimly rise and beckon 
 thee, ghastly deeds of the past shall stretch out their skinny 
 hands to push thee forward. Thou shalt not die unattended. 
 Despair shall mock thee. Agony shall tender to thy 
 parched lips her fiery cup. Remorse shall feel for thy 
 heart, and rend it open. Good men shall breathe freer at 
 thy death, and utter thanksgiving when thou art gone. 
 Men shall place thy grave-stone as a monument and testi- 
 mony that a plague is stayed, no tears shall wet it, no 
 mourner linger there. And, as borne by the blast thy 
 guilty spirit whistles toward the gate of hell; the hideous 
 shrieks of those whom thy hand hath destroyed shall pierce 
 thee hell's first welcome. BEECHER. 
 
 DAY OF SETTLMENT FORGOTTEN. 
 
 Is it not foolish to be living in this world without a 
 thought of what you will do at last? A man goes into an 
 inn, and as soon as he sits down he begins to order his 
 wine, his dinner, his bed; there is no delicacy in season
 
 JUDGMENT. 175 
 
 which he forgets to bespeak. He stops at the inn for some 
 time. By and by the bill is forthcoming, and it takes him 
 by surprise. "I never thought of that, I never thought 
 of that! " " Why," says the landlord, ''here is a man who 
 is either a born fool or else a knave. What! never thought 
 of the reckoning never thought of settling with me!" 
 After this fashion too many live, they eat and drink and 
 sin, but they forget the inevitable hereafter, when for all 
 the deeds done in the body, the Lord will bring us into 
 judgment. SPURGEON.
 
 LIFE. 
 
 " What is your tiff." fames iv: 1 
 
 Life, I know not what thou art, 
 But know that thou and I must part; 
 And when or how or where we met, 
 I own to me's a secret yet. 
 
 Life, we've been long together, 
 Through pleasant and through cloudy weather 
 'Tis hard to part when friends are dear, 
 Perhaps 'twill cost a sigh, a tear; 
 
 Then steal away, give little warning, 
 Choose thine own time; 
 Say not " Good night," but in some fairer clime 
 
 Bid me " Good morning." 
 
 ANNA L. BARBAULD. 
 
 'ACT IN THE LIVING PRESENT." 
 
 What we do, we had better do right away. The cloctf 
 ticks now and we hear it. After a while the clock will tick 
 and we will not hear it. Seated by a country fireside, I 
 saw the fire kindle, blaze, and go out. I gathered up from 
 the hearth enough for profitable reflections. Our life ia 
 just like the fire on that hearth. We put on fresh fagoti,. 
 and the tin- bursts through and up and out, gay of flash, 
 gay of crackle emblem of boyhood. Then the fire red- 
 dens into coals; the heat is fiercer; and the more it is stirred 
 the more it reddens. With sweep of flame it cleaves its 
 way until all the hearth glows with the intensity emblem 
 of full manhood. Then comes a whiteness to the coals. 
 The heat lessens. The flickering shadows have died along 
 the wall. The fagots drop apart. The household hover 
 
 176
 
 LIFE. 177 
 
 over the expiring embers. The last breath of smoke has 
 oeen lost in the chimney. The fire is out. Shovel up the 
 white remains. Ashes! TALMAGE. 
 
 LAUNCH OUT. 
 
 The voyage of life should be right across the ocean, 
 whose waters never shrink, and where the keel never rubs 
 the bottom. But men are afraid to venture, and hang upon 
 the coast, and explore lagoons, or swing at anchor in wind 
 sheltered bays. Some men put their keel into riches, some 
 into sensuous pleasures, some into friendship, and all these 
 are shallow for anything that draws as deep as the human 
 soul does. God's work in each age, indicated by the great 
 movements of His providence, is the only thing deep 
 enough for the heart. We ought to begin life as the source 
 of a river, growing deeper every league to the sea; where- 
 as, in fact thousands are like men who enter the mouths of 
 rivers and sail upwards; finding less and less water every 
 day; and in old age they lie shrunk and gaping upon dry 
 gravel. BEECHER. 
 
 WRECKS. 
 
 Sailing down the Thames one occasionally sees a green 
 flag in tatters, inscribed with the word WRECK, floating in 
 the breeze over a piece of mast, or the funnel of a steamer 
 which is just visible above the water. Alas! how many 
 lifes might thus be marked, and how needful that they 
 should be so labeled, lest they prove ruinous to others! 
 The debauched, the self righteous, the spendthrift, the 
 miserly, the apostate, the drunken; how wisely might the 
 flag be placed over them, for they are WRECKS. SPUR 
 GEON.
 
 178 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 BUBDEN-BEARING. 
 
 Religious life is a life of burden-bearing. Fret not 
 against your crosses, and they will be light. The yoke sits 
 easiest on the neck of the patient ox. He feels his chain 
 the lightest who does not drag but carry it. Bow before 
 your trials, as I have read travelers do when overtaken 
 in the desert by the dreadful Simoom. The Simoom! When 
 that cry arises, striking terror into the boldest hearts, and 
 the purple haze sweeps on, which to breath is death, they 
 make no attempt to fly the swiftest Arab scours not the 
 desert like the wing of this scourge but, instantly, they 
 throw themselves on the ground, every head is muffled; and 
 there, low in the dust, trembling, dumb, in awful silence 
 they lie, and let the poisonous wind blow over them. 
 "Hide thee in the dust, hidethee in the dust! '' is the voice 
 of God in our life calamities; and the lower we lie before 
 Him, we shall suffer the less when darkness comes. 
 GUTHBIE. 
 
 WHAT IS MY LIFE? 
 
 My life. A ship that started well. All canvas set. A 
 fair wind. A sea all sun. Then a cloud; then a lurid glare; 
 then a lightning bolt, and the ship staggered in pain and 
 fright. A great north wind, harsh, mighty, tempestuous, 
 and then a sickening fear that I might never reach the 
 shore. Perhaps go down in mid sea; perhaps perish in 
 sight of land; perhaps go in more lost than found, a wreck 
 to cry over. 
 
 My life? A bright bird, tuneful, brilliant, exceedingly; 
 singing as I soar; cleaving the wind and getting higher and 
 higher, and singing more blithely and more still; when an 
 arrow strikes me, and I fall bleeding to the earth. Music 
 gone; heart going; nothing but my own blood about me. 
 
 What is my life? A sullied robe; a crime concealed; a
 
 LIFE. 179 
 
 treason against God. I ' ' know the right and yet the wrong 
 pursue." I have sinned. I have grieved my Maker. I 
 have played the mean trick; kept back the price; spoken 
 the false word; said " yes," meant " no"; thought of self 
 Srst, others last and least. The prayer has been upon my 
 tongue, the loved sin under it. The hymn religious has 
 aot cleansed the mouth that sang it. I have bent my knee 
 in prayer and straightened it again to fight. I have wept 
 Dver sin, and done again that sin that made me weep. I 
 have stopped half way home, and gone back to have one 
 nore day with the devil. I see oaths, vows, promises, 
 iying behind me like tender blossoms shaken from the 
 branches by rough winds in tho spring time. My heart 
 iches with the question "What shall I do ? " 
 
 And the great answer is, "Do nothing of thyself." All 
 is done for thee. The great Christ of God asks for no 
 aelp of thine. One touch of his heart's blood and thou art 
 torn again; thou art a child, the universe is thine, the stars 
 thy playthings, and the sky thy home. PARKER.
 
 LITTLE THINGS. 
 
 " Who hath despised the day of small things ?" Zach iv: IO. 
 
 Let us be content to work, 
 To do the thing we can, and not presume 
 To fret because it's little. 'Twill empioy 
 Seven men, they say to make a perfect pin. 
 Who makes the heai ccnsents to leave the point ; 
 Who makes the point agrees to miss the head ; 
 And if a man should cry, " I want a pin, 
 And I must make it straightway head and point," 
 His wisdom is not worth the pin he wants. 
 
 MRS. E. B. BROWNING. 
 
 LITTLE SINS AND BIG SINS. 
 
 You will find many a merchant who, while he is so care- 
 ful that ho would not take a yard of cloth or a spool of 
 cotton from the counter without paying for it, and who, if 
 a bank cashier should make a mistake and send in a roll of 
 bills five dollars too much would dispatch a messenger in 
 hot haste to return the surplus, yet who will go into a 
 stock company in which after a while he gets control of 
 the stock, then waters the stock and makes $100,000 ap- 
 pear like $200,000. He only stole $100,000 by the opera- 
 tion. Many of the men of fortune made their wealth in 
 that way. One of those men, engaged in such unrighteous 
 acts, that evening, the evening of the very day when he 
 watered the stock, will find a wharf-rat stealing a Brooklyn 
 E-igle from the basement doorway, and will go out and 
 catch the urchin by the collar, and twist the collar so 
 tightly the fellow can't talk, but grip the collar tighter and 
 
 180
 
 LITTLE THINGS. 181 
 
 tighter, saying, "I have been looking for you a long 
 while; you stole my paper four or five times, didn't you? 
 you miserable wretch." And then the old stock gambler, 
 with a voice they can hear three blocks away, will cry 
 out, "Police, police!" Prisons for sins insectile, but 
 palaces for crimes dromedarian. No mercy for sins 
 animalcule in proportion, but great leniency for mastodon 
 iniquity. A poor boy slyly takes from the basket of a 
 market woman a choke pear saving some one else from 
 the cholera and you smother him in the horrible atmos- 
 phere of Raymond street jail, or New York Tombs, while 
 his cousin, who has been skillful enough to steal $50,000 
 from the city, you will make a candidate for the New York 
 Legislature. TALMAGE. 
 
 DANGER OF LITTLE SINS. 
 
 Be fearful of little sins. Take alarm at even an evil 
 thought, wish, desire. These are the germs of sin the 
 floating seeds which drop into the heart, and finding in our 
 natural corruption a fat and favorable soil, spring up into 
 actual transgressions. These, like the rattle of the snake, 
 the hiss of the serpent, reveal the presence and near neigh- 
 borhood of danger. The experience of all good men proves 
 that sin is most easily crushed in the bud, and that it is 
 safer to flee from temptation than to fight it. GUTHRIE. 
 
 POSSIBILITY OF LITTLE BEGINNINGS. 
 
 When the air balloon was first invented, a matter of fact 
 gentleman contemptuously asked Dr. Franklin what was 
 the use of it. The doctor answered this question by ask- 
 ing another: " What is the use of a new-born in/ant?"
 
 182 GEMS OF TRUTH AND 3EAUTY. 
 
 
 
 It may become a man. This anticipation of great things 
 springing from small beginnings should induce us to put 
 into practice those holy promptings which at certain sea- 
 sons move our souls. What if we ourselvt s and our work 
 should be little in Zion; cannot the Lord cause the grandest 
 issues to proceed from insignificant beginnings? SPUR- 
 GEON. 
 
 THIS PRINCIPLE IN SOUI, WINNING. 
 
 Now all men that angle, or catch fish by the hook and 
 line, know that it is individual work. It is one at a time. 
 And when men so work, they are the servants of the fish. 
 No man can walk out in lordly boots, and with admirable 
 fixtures, gold and silver on his line, and say to the trout, 
 "Here I am, come up here." No man can take what bait 
 he chooses, and throw it in, and then with reason damn 
 the fish because they do not bite. 
 
 In the preaching of the Gospel it id the business of every 
 preacher to preach to every man and to all men. There 
 is no great and there is no small before the coming of the 
 sun. To the sun all things are small and all things are 
 great, and they all alike receive beneficent power from it. 
 -BEECHER. 
 
 SMALL DEFICIENCES OBSTACLES TO GRACE. 
 
 There was only a hill between Israel and the land of 
 promise. Surely the space being so small some concession 
 will be made to Israel \ If God could concede one inch 
 to the bad man, he could concede all heaven. A ship 
 may go down within ten feet of the shore; the vessel that 
 has come proudly over the main may be wrecked in the 
 channel. Heaven may be lost by an apparently insignificant
 
 LITTLE THINGS: 183 
 
 deficiency. No action is to be regarded as of but secondary 
 importance. We cannot regard our friend six days out of 
 seven and disregard him on the seventh. Every moment 
 of time is due to those with whom we have covenanted as 
 to its duties and its remuneration. PARKER.
 
 LOVE. 
 
 "Love is the fulfilling of the law." Rom. v: 
 
 "I say to thee, do thou repeat 
 To the first man thou mayest meet, 
 That he, and you, and all men move 
 Under a canopy of love, 
 Broad as the open sky above." 
 
 "Love? I will tell you what it is to love! 
 It is to build with human hearts a shrine, 
 Where hope sits brooding like a beauteous dove, 
 Where time seems young, and life a thing divine." 
 
 CHARLES SWAIN. 
 
 LOVE LIKE A FLOWER SEED. 
 
 Love, in this world, is like a seed taken from the tropics, 
 and planted where the winter comes too soon; and it can- 
 not spread itself in flower clusters, and wide twining vines, 
 so that the whole air is filled with the perfume thereof. 
 But there is to be another summer for it yet. Care for the 
 root now, and God will care for. the top by and by. 
 BEECHER. 
 
 NEED OF LOVE. 
 
 Frequently at the great Roman games, the emperors, in 
 order to gratify the citizens of Rome, would cause sweet 
 perfumes to be rained down upon them through the awn- 
 ing which covered the amphitheatre. Behold the vases, 
 the hngh vessels of perfume! Yes, but there is naught 
 here to delight you so long as the jars are sealed; but let 
 
 184
 
 LOVE. 185 
 
 the vases be opened, and be poured out, and let the drops 
 of perfumed rain begin to descend, and every one is 
 refreshed and gratified thereby. Such is the love of God. 
 There is a richness and a fullness in it, but it is not per- 
 ceived till the spirit of God pours it out like the rain of 
 fragrance over the heads and hearts of all the living chil- 
 dren of God. See, then, the need of having the love of 
 God shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost. SPUB- 
 GEON. 
 
 POWER OF LOVE. 
 
 In Chicago a few years ago. there was a little boy who 
 went to one of the mission Sunday-schools. His father 
 moved to another part of the city about five miles away, 
 and every Sunday that boy came past thirty or forty Sun- 
 day-schools to the one he attended. And one Sunday a 
 lady who was out collecting scholar* for a Sunday-school 
 met him and asked him why he went so far, past so many 
 schools. " There are plenty of others," saidshe , " just as 
 good." "Ah," he said, "they may be just as good, but 
 they are not so good for me." "Why not? " she asked. 
 "Because they love a fellow over there," he answered. 
 Ah! love won him. "Because they love a fellow over 
 there! " How easy it is to reach people through love. 
 MOODY. 
 
 GIVE MY LOVE TO JESUS. 
 
 The world owes its love to Jesus. Dear Jesus! Faith- 
 ful Jesus! Loving Jesus! What fine flour was in that 
 day to Samaria, Jesus Christ is to all who take him. No 
 wonder the little child, having been told that her play- 
 ma(e was dying, asked to be lifted up to see her. They
 
 186 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 lifted her up, and she kissed her dying playmate, and 
 said, "Clara, give my love to Jesus" If Christ were fully 
 known, the whole world would throw its arm around his 
 neck. TALMAGE. 
 
 SOUL-WINNING BY LOVE. 
 
 A Christian woman went to the tract house in New 
 York, and asked for tracts for distribution. The first day 
 she was out on her Christian errand she saw a policeman 
 taking an intoxicated woman to the station house. After 
 the woman was discharged from custody, this Christian 
 tract distributor saw her coming away all unkempt and un- 
 lovely. The tract distributor went up, threw her arms 
 about her neck and kissed her. The woman said, "O my 
 God, why do you kiss me?" "Well," replied the other, 
 U I think Jesus told me to." "Oh no," the woman said, 
 "don't you kiss me; it breaks my heart: nobody has 
 kissed me since my mother died." But that loving, sis- 
 terly kiss brought her to Christ, started her on her way to 
 heaven. IBID. 
 
 LOVE STRONG AS DEATH. 
 
 I look on this mother, who stands with her child on the 
 side of the sinking wreck, to catch the last chance of a 
 passing boat. She catches it not to leap in herself; but, 
 lifting her boy in her arms, and printing a mother's last 
 kisrs upon his rosy lips, she drops him, and remains behind 
 herself to drown and die. Or I look at that maid in old 
 border story, who, having caught a glance of the arrow 
 that, shot by a rival's hand, came from the bushes on the 
 other bank, flung herself before her lover, and received 
 the fatal shot in her own true and faithful heart I look
 
 LOVE. 187 
 
 at these things, and seeing that love is strong as death, I 
 urge you to cultivate the love of Jesus, and go in its 
 divine strength to the field of duty, and to the altar of 
 sacrifice. GUTHRIE.
 
 MAN. 
 
 " What is man, that Thou art mindful of him ? Psa. viii : 4. 
 
 Man is a watch, wound up at first but never 
 Wound up again: once down he's down forever. 
 The watch once down, all motions then do cease; 
 And man's pulse stopped, all passions sleep in peace. 
 
 ROBERT HERBICK. 
 
 DEMAND FOR GOOD MEN 
 
 In a hot summer's day some years ago, I was sailing with 
 a friend in a tiny boat, on a miniature lake, enclosed like a 
 cup within a circle of steep, bare Scottish hills. On the 
 shoulder of the brown sun-burnt mountain, and full insight, 
 was a well with a crystal stream trickling over its lip, and 
 making its way down to the lake. Around the well's mouth 
 and along the course of the rivulet, a belt of green stood out 
 in strong contrast with the iron surface of the rocks all 
 around. We soon agreed as to what should be made of it 
 There it was, a legend clearly printed by the finger of God 
 on the side of these silent hills, teaching the passer-by how 
 needful a good man is, and how useful he may be in a desert 
 world. SPUEGEON. 
 
 THE BEST MONUMENT. 
 
 What monument is appropriate for the grave of a godless 
 man I What for the resting place of a Christian ? It seems 
 to me after I am dead and gone, I would rather have a mar 
 come to my grave and drop a tear, and say, "Here lies the 
 man who converted me: who brought me to the cross oi 
 
 188
 
 MAN. 189 
 
 Christ" it seems to me I had rather have this than a col- 
 imn of pure gold reaching to the skies, built in my honor, 
 f a man wants to be useful, let him follow Christ. MOODY- 
 
 THE WORTH OF MAN. 
 
 If the value of anything is to be estimated by its price, 
 o what an immeasurable height of worth does it exalt man 
 hat God gave His Son to redeem him ! redeeming him 
 lot with corruptible things such as silver and gold, but with 
 he precious blood of Christ; as of a lamb without spot or 
 ilemish. So far from cherishing low views of man, I 
 >elieve that a gem of inestimable value lies concealed be" 
 leath the beggar's rags. A soul is there of divine-like 
 acuities and of priceless worth: and a body also, which, 
 hough the seat of appetites that man shares with brutes, 
 ind of passions, perhaps, such as burn in the breast of fiends, 
 nay become more sacred than any fane built by human 
 lands -a temple of the Holy Ghost. There is a worth in 
 nan no meanness of circumstances, no degredation of char- 
 icter can altogether conceal. He is a jewel, though bur- 
 ed in a heap of corruption ; the vilest outcast, possessing 
 cowers and affections that need only to be sanctified to ally 
 lim with angels, and make publicans and harlots fit for 
 Heaven. GUTHRIE. 
 
 MAN'S EXALTED NATURE. 
 
 I look at man's moral nature. Made in the image of 
 jrod. Vast capacity for enjoyment, capable at first of eter- 
 lal joy and, though now disordered, still through the recu- 
 perative grace of God, able to mount up to more than its 
 original felicity: faculties that may blossom and bear fruit 
 nexhaustibly. Immortality written on every capacity: a 
 >odl destined to range in unlimited spheres of activity 
 ong after the world has put on ashes, and the solar sj'stem
 
 190 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 shall have snapped its axle, and the stars that, in their 
 courses, fought against Sisera, shall have been slain, and 
 buried amid the tolling thunders of the last day. TAL- 
 MAGE. 
 
 A NAME OF POWER. 
 
 It makes no difference what you call men prince, peer, 
 or slave. Man is that name of power which rises above 
 them all, and gives to every one the right to be that which 
 God meant he should be. No law nor custom, nor opinion, 
 nor prejudice has the right to say to one man, "You may 
 grow," and to another, "You may not grow," or, You may 
 grow in ten directions, and not in twenty;" or to the strong, 
 "You may grow stronger," or to the weak, "You may 
 never become strong." Launched upon the ocean of life, 
 like an innumerable fleet, each man may spread what sails 
 God has given him, whether he be pinnace, sloop, brig, 
 bark, ship, or man of war; and no commodore or admiral 
 may signal what voyage he shall make or what canvas he 
 shall carry. BEECHER. 
 
 THE PRIMEVAL MAN. 
 
 "God made man in His image." There is surely no 
 bolder sentence in all human speech. It takes an infinite 
 liberty with God! It is blasphemy if it is not truth. AVe 
 have been accustomed to look at the statement so much 
 from the human standpoint, that we have forgotten how 
 let-ply the Divine character is implicated. To tell us that 
 all the sign-boards of Italy were painted by Raphael is 
 simply to dishonor and bitterly humiliate the great artist. 
 We would resent the suggestion that Beethoven or Handel 
 is the author of all the noise that goes under the name of 
 music. Yet we say God made man. Look at man, and 
 then repeat the audacity if you dare! Lying, drunken,
 
 MAN. 191 
 
 selfish man; plotting, scheming, cruel man; foolish, vain, 
 babbling man; prodigal man, wandering in wildernesses 
 in search of the impossible, sneaking in forbidden places 
 with the crouch of a criminal, putting his finger into hu- 
 man blood and musing as to its probable price per gallon 
 did God make maril Verily then, a strange image is God's! 
 Leering, gibing, mocking image; a painted mask; a vigor 
 meant to deceive. See where cunning works in its own 
 well-managed wrinkle see how cold selfishness puts out 
 the genial warmth of eyes that should have beamed with 
 kindness; hear how mean motives have taken the music 
 out of voices that should have expressed more truthful 
 frankness; then look at the body, misshapen, defiled, de- 
 graded, rheum in every joint, specks of corruption in the 
 warm currents of the blood, leprosy making the skin loath- 
 some, the whole body tottering under the burden of the 
 invisible, but inseparable companionship of death! Is this 
 the image, is this the likeness of God? Or take man 
 at his best estate 5 what is he but a temporary success in 
 art, clothier's art, schoolmaster's art, fashion's art? He 
 cannot see into to-morrow; he imperfectly remembers what 
 happened yesterday; he is crammed for the occasion, made 
 great for the little battle, careful about the night air, dainty 
 as to his digestion, sensitive to praise or blame, preaching 
 gospels and living blasphemies, praying with forced words, 
 whilst his truant mind is uneasy in the thick of markets, 
 or the complicity of contending interests. Is this the 
 image of God? Is this incarnate Deity? Oh, how we burn 
 under the sharp questioning! Yet there are the facts. 
 There are the men themselves. Write on the low brow 
 "th& image and likeness of God;" write on the idiot's leer- 
 ing face "the image and likeness of God;" write on the 
 sensualist's porcine face the image and likeness of God;" 
 do this; and then say how infinite is the mockery, how in-
 
 192 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 finite the lie! Yet here is the text. Here is the distinct 
 assurance that God created man in His own image. This 
 is enough to ruin the Bible. This is enough to dethrone 
 God. Within narrow limits any man would be justified 
 in saying, "If man is made in the image of God, I will not 
 worship a God who bears such an image." 
 
 What is to be done? We are driven back upon our- 
 selres not ourselves as outwardly seen, but our inner 
 selves, the secret of our soul's reality. 
 
 Aye; we are now nearing the point. We have not been 
 talking about the right man at all. The man is within 
 the man; the man is not any one man; the man is Hu 
 manity. We have never seen the true man; he has been 
 seen only by his Maker. As to temper and action, we are 
 all bankrupts and criminals. But the manis greater than 
 the sin. When I see the sinner run into sin, I feel as if he 
 might have been made by the devil, but when he stands 
 still and bethinks himself; when the hot tears fill his eyes; 
 when he sighs toward heaven a sigh of bitterness and true 
 penitence, when he falls down to pray without words; then 
 I see a dim outline of the image and likeness in which he 
 was created. In that solemn hour I begin to see man the 
 man that accounts for the Cross, the man who brought 
 down Christ. PARKER.
 
 MARRIAGE. 
 
 " Marriage is honorable in all." Heb. xiii: 4* " What there- 
 fore God has joined together, let no man put asunder" Matt. 
 : 4- 
 
 Crabbed age and youth 
 
 Cannot live together; 
 Youth is full of pleasance 
 
 Age is full of care; 
 Youth like summer morn, 
 
 Age like winter weather; 
 Youth like summer brave, 
 
 Age like winter bare, 
 Youth is full of sport, 
 Age's breath is short. 
 
 SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 Marriage is the golden chain 
 
 That binds two hearts together 
 For pleasure or for pain, 
 
 For storm or pleasant weather. 
 
 CHAS. BENJ. MANLY 
 
 JOY AT A WEDDING. 
 
 If the hard brow ever relaxes, it is at a wedding. The 
 nature cold and unsympathetic thaws out under the glow, 
 and the tears start as we hear the bride's dress rustling 
 down the stairs and the company stands back, and we hear 
 in the timid " I will" of the twain, the sound of a lifetime's 
 hopes and joys and sorrows. We look steadily at them, 
 but thrice at her to once at him, and say, " God bless her, 
 
 193
 
 194 GEMS OF TRU'iH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 how well she" looks! " We cry at weddings, but not bitter 
 tears; for when the heart is stirred, and smiles are insipid, 
 and the laughter is tame, the heart writes out its joy on the 
 cheek in letters of crystal. Put on the ring! Let it ever 
 be bright, and the round finger it encloses never be 
 shrunken with sorrow. TALMAGE. 
 
 UNHAPPY MARRIAGES. 
 
 Marriages are said to be made in heaven. No, oh no! 
 There may be a world of difference between the two who 
 are joined together; and marriage is a sphere for heroism 
 on that very account. What tragedies! What wondrous 
 lives! The story of "Daniel in the lion's den, and of the 
 four in the burning furnace, are typical of the angelic vir- 
 tues that are found in women that walk in the very midst 
 of hell for years and lives. I cannot conceive of any life 
 so horrible as that of a pure, high-minded woman, a virtu- 
 ous and aspiring soul, allied to trickery, to lying, to all 
 lecherous vices, to drunkenness and the worst forms of ani- 
 malism. To sleep with swine, to nestle with serpents, to 
 be with loathsome insects that gnaw and sting, is bad 
 enough; but to be with them altogether in the shape of a 
 man is hideous beyond conception. Dante, in his vision, 
 never saw anything worse than that which exists in some 
 married lives. BEECHER. 
 
 "UNEQUALLY YOKED TOGETHER." 
 
 I do not believe a Christian man has a right to marry 
 any unconverted woman. I do not believe any Christain 
 woman has a right to marry an unconverted man. I 
 imagine you will laugh about it and ridicule the whole 
 idea, but here is the word of God for it. "Be ye not 
 unequally yoked together with unbelievers." "Where-
 
 MARRIAGE. 195 
 
 fore come out from among them and be ye separate. " Now 
 I never knew any one to go against the Bible that did 
 riot suffer for it. Let him that takes off the harness laugh, 
 not him that puts it on. It is not for you, young people, 
 that have not seen as much of life and the world as some 
 others, to say that you can go right on and dispute this 
 thing. You can see it is plain. There is not a mother 
 here that would not feel badly to have her daughter marry 
 a man that could not bear her, but would only make her 
 wretched and abuse her. There is no father here who 
 would not be made miserable by such a possibility. Do 
 you suppose that God does not feel it to have His sons and 
 daughters marry unregenerate and unconverted persons 
 who hate Him, doubt Him, and misrepresent Him. 
 MOODY. 
 
 A TENDER TIE. 
 
 In looking back to the first marriage, I cannot but think 
 that it was to make its tie more tender that God chose the 
 singular plan he pursued in providing the man with a mate. 
 No other way would have occurred to our fancy of making 
 woman, than that of another clay figure, modeled by God's 
 hands in the female form, and inspired by His breath with 
 lifeT In making her out of Adam, and from the part of 
 his body lying nearest the heart, while he lay in the mys- 
 terious sleep from which he awoke to gaze on a beautiful 
 form reposing by his side, God gave a peculiar emphasis 
 and power to the figure, k ' they twain shall be one flesh," 
 one in sympathy, in mind, in affections, and in interests; 
 nothing but death afterward to divide them. GUTHBIE.
 
 MISSIONS. 
 
 ' Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every crea~ 
 ture" Mark xvi: 1. 
 
 Where is your heathen brother? From his grave 
 
 Near thy own gates, or 'neath a foreign sky, 
 From the thronged depths of ocean's mourning wave, 
 
 His answering blood reproachfully doth cry: 
 Blood of the soul ! Can all earth's fountains make 
 Thy dark stain disappear? Stewards of God, awake. 
 
 MRS. SlGOURNEY. 
 
 OUR FIELD, THE WORLD. 
 
 The mission spirit has now gained such momentum and 
 rapidity, that we can now go through a revolution, chang- 
 ing public sentiment from selfishness to benevolence, in 
 twenty-five or thirty years. We know that the influence 
 of Ca)vary can never die. I may die in the wilderness, 
 and you may die on the sea; but the road to heaven is as 
 short from India as it is from Indiana, and when onc*e in 
 heaven we shall see a much better sight than Moses saw 
 from the top of Pisgah, and everyone may gaze on it who 
 has done one jot or one tittle to advance the work. Whis- 
 per it then into the ears of your children, that "the field 
 is the world!" Ye who are bringing up your own flesh 
 and blood to delight in dress, in worldly aggrandizement, 
 in wealth, in ambition, in honor, have you not seen what 
 the Lord is doing? Have you not seen that his service is 
 becoming the path to honor ? That working for the world 
 
 196
 
 MISSIONS. 197 
 
 is the shortest road to promotion in our day ? Teach your 
 children to give up their soul and body and strength to 
 their Master's service. Thus shall they be nearer to God, 
 and God to them. We must not live for ourselves, but 
 for others. BEECHER. 
 
 AN EARNEST PLEA. 
 
 If there were but one man in Siberia unsaved, and all 
 the world were saved besides, if God should move our 
 minds, it would be worth while for all the people in Eng- 
 land to go after that one soul. Did you ever think of the 
 value of a soul? Ah! ye have not heard the howls and 
 yells of hell; ye have not heard the mighty songs and 
 hosannas of the glorified; ye have no notion of what eter- 
 nity is, or else ye would know the value of a soul. 
 
 Permit me, with all earnestness, to plead with you, on 
 behalf of Christ, and Christ's holy gospel, that you would 
 stir yourselves up to renewed efforts for the spread of His 
 truth, and to more earnest prayers that His kingdom may 
 come. Ah! could I show you the tens of thousands of 
 spirits who are now walking in outeB darkness; could I 
 take you to the gloomy chamber of hell, and show you 
 myriads upon myriads of souls in unutterable torture, me- 
 thinks you could ask yourselves: "Did I do anything to 
 save these unhappy myriads?" They have been damned, 
 and are you clear of their blood ? "If the watchman warn 
 them not, they shall perish, but their blood will He re- 
 quire at the watchman's hands." SPURGEON. 
 
 "UNTO EVERY CREATURE." 
 
 I can imagine Peter saying, " Lord, do you really mean 
 that we shall preach the gospel to every creature ? " " Yes, 
 Peter." " Shall we go back to Jerusalem and preach the
 
 198 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 gospel to those sinners who murdered you ? " "Yes, Peter, 
 go back and tarry there until you are endued with power 
 from on high. Offer the gospel to them first. Go search 
 out that man who spat in my face; tell him I forgive him; 
 there is nothing in my heart but love for him. Go, search 
 out that man who put the cruel crown of thorns on my 
 brow; tell him I will have a crown ready for him in my 
 kingdom, if he will accept salvation; there shall not be a 
 thorn in it, and he shall wear it forever and ever in the 
 kingdom of heaven. Find out that man who took the 
 reod from my hand, and smote my head, driving the 
 thorns deeper into my brow. If he will accept salvation 
 as a gift, I will give him a sceptre, and he shall sway it as 
 a king. Go, seek out that man who struck me with the 
 palm of his hand; find him, and preach the gospel to him; 
 tell him that the blood of Jesus Christ was shed for all 
 men, and even for him, if he accepts it." Yes, I can im- 
 agine him saying, "Go, seek out that poor soldier who 
 drove the spear into my side; tell him that there is a nearer 
 way to my heart than that. Tell him that I forgive him 
 freely; and tell him that I will make him a soldier of the 
 cross, and my banner over him shall be love." 
 
 I thank God that the gospel is to be preached to every 
 creature. Rich and poor, great and small, king and peas- 
 ant, alike are welcome. MOODY. 
 
 UNIVERSAL FRATERNITY. 
 
 I am bound to preach the gospel to every creature, for 
 all men are my brothers. The ignorant black man is my 
 brother. His skin, to be sure, may have a different hue 
 from mine; bred for the market, he may be bought and 
 sold like a cattle-beast; he may be marked with the brand, 
 loaded with the fetters, lashed with the whip, crushed with
 
 MISSIONS. 199 
 
 the sufferings of a slave; but he is my brother, and if he 
 lift his manacled hands and streaming eyes to that heaven 
 where bondsmen are free, and, robed and throned, they 
 stand before Him, and share in the glory of His Son, slave 
 though he be, sold though he be, trodden in the dust 
 though he be, he may be my saved brother. With the 
 same God for our Father, the same Savior for our Elder 
 Brother, the same Spirit for our heavenly Comforter, one 
 cross for the anchor of our hope, one Bible for our guide- 
 book, one heaven for our everlasting home, the gospel 
 tells me to knock off my brother's fetters to loose them, 
 and let them free. GUTHRIE. 
 
 THE MISSIONARY OUTLOOK. 
 
 Why, the earth is like an old castle with twenty gates 
 and a park of artillery ready to thunder down every gate. 
 Lay aside all Christendom, and see how all heathendom is 
 being surrounded and honey-combed and attacked by this 
 all-conquering gospel. At the beginning of this century 
 there were only 150 missionaries; now there arc 25,000 
 missionaries and native helpers and evangelists. At the 
 beginning of this century there were only 50,000 heathen 
 converts; now there are 1,650,000 converts from heathen- 
 dom. There is not a sea-coast on the planet but the bat- 
 tery of the gospel is planted, and ready to march on, 
 north, south, east, west. You all know that the chief 
 work of an army is to plant the batteries, and they may do 
 all the work in ten minutes. These batteries are being 
 planted in all nations. It may take a good while to plant 
 them, but they may do all their work in a little while. 
 They will. Nations are to be born in a day. Hosts of 
 the living God, march on, march on! The sky is bright- 
 ening in every direction. I am glad for the boy and girl
 
 200 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 five years old: I think they may see the millennium. All 
 nations will yet salute the flag of Prince Immanuel. To 
 Him be glory in the church, throughout all ages. TAL- 
 MAGE.
 
 MOTHER. 
 
 "As one whom his mother comforteth" Isaiah Ixvi: 
 
 Such beautiful, beautiful hands, 
 
 They're neither white nor small, 
 And you, I know, would scarcely think 
 
 That they were fair at all. 
 I've looked on hands whose form and hue. 
 
 A sculptor's dream might be, 
 Yet are my mother's wrinkled hands 
 
 More beautiful to me. 
 
 And oh, beyond this shadow land. 
 
 Where all is bright and fair, 
 I know full well those dear old hands 
 
 Shall palms of victory bear. 
 Where crystal streams through endless years 
 
 Flow over golden sands, 
 There, where the old grow young again, 
 
 I'll clasp my mother's hands. 
 
 A SACRED NAME. 
 
 More -and more as we grow, we appreciate the finer traits 
 of human nature. Men going out into life never forget 
 the mother who stays at home, and who has presented to 
 them a nature with reason dominant, with a high moral 
 sense, with refined and sweet affections, with taste, with 
 patience, with gentleness, with self-sacrifice, and with dis- 
 interestedness. A man may go through all the world; he 
 may become a pirate, if you please; he may run through 
 every stage of belief and unbelief; he may become abso- 
 lutely apostate; he may rub out his conscience; he may de- 
 
 301
 
 202 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 stroy his fineness in every respect; but there will be one 
 picture which he cannot efface Living or dying there will 
 before him, like a morning star, the beauty of that re- 
 membered goodness which he called mother. 
 
 There are men who are so cynical that they swear the 
 whole race to hell; but they always spare some one person- 
 wit e, or sister, or mother. There is a single character that 
 survives annihilation in their thoughts. There is nothing 
 that takes hold of a man's very being so much as a nature 
 that seems to be well nigh perfect. BEECHER. 
 
 A SUGGESTIVE NAME. 
 
 When one speaks the name of my mother, and says to 
 me, ' ' Roxana, " it is no Greek that I think of ; it is she that 
 \vsis a Connecticut woman, bred in an obscure neighbor- 
 hood, quiet and retiring, but full of deep pondering of 
 things beyond her age, and of a heart rich and rare. And 
 is there a person who has not a name somebody's name 
 which, when he hears it, distils a sweet influence upon his 
 imagination, or rains down joyful emotive feelings on his 
 heart? Names? They are wonder-workers. A single 
 name will send fire through twenty thousand men. A 
 name < When the united armies of the North returned 
 from the sad but necessary war with the South , and marched 
 through Washington, and Sherman's name was sounded in 
 their ear, what a heaven-rending shout went up ! Just one 
 word was uttered, but what an effect it produced ! IBID. 
 
 MOTHER'S COMFOBT. 
 
 An aged mother is almost omnipotent in comfort. Why? 
 At seventy years of age she has been through it all. At 
 seven o'clock in the morning she goes over to comfort a 
 young mother who has just lost her babe. Grandmother
 
 MOTHER. 203 
 
 knows all about that trouble. Fifty years ago she felt it. 
 At twelve o'clock of that day she goes over to comfort a 
 widowed soul. She knows all about that She has been 
 walking in that valley of shadow twenty years. At four 
 o'clock in the afternoon some one knocks at the door want- 
 ing bread. She knows all about that. Two or three times 
 in her life she came to her last loaf. At ten o'clock that 
 night she goes over to sit up with some one who is severely 
 sick. She knows all about it. She knows all about fevers, 
 and pleurisies, and broken bones. She has been doctoring 
 all her life, spreading plasters, and pouring out bitter drops, 
 and shaking up hot pillows and contriving things to tempt 
 a poor appetite. Doctors Abernethy, Rush, Hosack and 
 Harvey were great doctors, but the greatest doctor the 
 world ever saw was a Christian mother. Dear me ! Do 
 we not remember her about the room, when we were sick 
 in our boyhood? Was there any one who could so touch 
 a sore without hurting it ? And when she lifted her spec- 
 tacles against her wrinkled forehead, so she could look 
 closer at the wound, it was three-fourths healed. And 
 when the Lord took her home, although you may have 
 been men and women thirty, forty, fifty years of age, you 
 lay on the coffin-lid and sobbed as though you were only 
 five or ten years of age. O man, praise God, if, instead of 
 looking back to one of those berouged and bespangled 
 old people, fixed up of the devil to look young, you have 
 in your memory the picture of an honest, sympathetic, 
 kind, self-sacrificing, Christ-like mother. TALMAGE. 
 
 MOTHER'S FORGIVENESS. 
 
 An Englishman told me a story once which may serve 
 to illustrate how God forgives. There was a boy a good 
 many years ago, stolen in London, the same as Charley
 
 204 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 Ross was stolen h:re. Long months and years passed 
 away, and the mot-icr prayed and prayed as that mother of 
 Charley Ross has prayed, I suppose, and all her efforts had 
 failed, and they had given up all hope; but the mother did 
 not quite give up all her hope. One day a boy was sent 
 up into the neighboring house to sweep the chimney, and 
 by some mistake he got down through the wrong chimney. 
 He came down through the sitting room chimney of that 
 house. His memory began at once to travel back through 
 the years that had passed. He thought that things looked 
 strangely familiar. The scenes of his early childhood were 
 dawning upon him; and as he stood there surveying the 
 place, his mother came into the room. He stood there cov- 
 ered with rags and soot Did she wait till she had sent 
 him to be washed before she took him in her arms ? No, 
 indeed; it was her own boy. She took him to her arms, 
 all black and smoke, and hugged him to her bosom, and 
 shed tears of grateful joy upon his head. Such is God's 
 love for the sinner. He will forgive, and receive him to 
 Himself.
 
 OLD AGE. 
 
 "When I am old and grey-headed, O God, forsake me not." 
 Psa. Ixxii: 18. 
 
 Eye hath not seen, tongue hath not told, 
 
 And ear hath not heard it sung, 
 How buoyant and bold, 
 Though it seem to grow old, 
 
 Is the heart, forever young; 
 Forever young though life's old age 
 
 Hath every nerve unstrung ; 
 The heart, the heart is a heritage 
 
 That keeps the old man young. 
 
 M. P. TUPPER. 
 
 VICE IN OLD AGE. 
 
 According to ^Esop, an old woman found an empty jar 
 which had lately been full of prime old wine, and which 
 still retained the fragrant smell of its former contents. She 
 greedily placed it several times to her nose, and drawing 
 it backwards and forwards said, "Oh, most delicious! 
 How nice must the wine itself have been, when it leaves 
 behind in the very vessel which contained it so sweet a 
 perfume." 
 
 Men often hug their vices when their power to enjoy 
 them is gone. The memories of reveling and wantonness 
 appear to be sweet to the ungodly in their old age. They 
 sniff the empty bottles of their follies, and only wish they 
 could again be drunken with them. Old age cures not the 
 
 205
 
 206 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 evil heart, but exhibits in a ridiculous but deeply painful 
 light the indelible perversity of human nature. SPUR- 
 
 GEON. 
 
 GROWING OLD UNCONSCIOUSLY. 
 
 Old age comes on almost imperceptibly though the 
 young, perhaps will hardly credit it. Men with furrows 
 in their brow, and gray hairs on their head, often find it 
 difficult to remember that they are old; to believe it, to 
 realize the approach of their end; how near they are to the 
 grave. Death seems to flee before us like the horizon 
 which we ever see, and never reach. The river that springs 
 like an arrow from its rocky cradle, to bound from crag 
 to crag, to rush brawling through the glen, and, like 
 thoughtless youth, to waste its strength in mere noise, and 
 froth and foam, flows on smoothly, slowly, almost imper- 
 ceptibly as it approaches its grave in the bosom of the sea. 
 And so it is often with man. The nearer we draw to our 
 end, through a natural callousness or otherwise, the less 
 sensible we grow to the evils and approach of age. And 
 when a man has not left his peace with God to seek in old 
 his greatest work to a time when he is least fit to do 
 it, it is a most blessed thing that old age does not make our 
 lit -arts old, or benumb our feelings that gray hairs are on 
 us, and we know it not. GUTHRIE. 
 
 SAD OLD AGE. 
 
 It is dismal to get old, without the rejuvenating influ- 
 ence of religion. When we step on the down grade of 
 life, and see that it dips in the verge of the cold river, we
 
 OLD AGE. 207 
 
 want to behold some one near who will help us across. 
 When the sight loses its power, we need that faith that can 
 illumine. When we feel the failure of the ear, we need the 
 clear tones of the divine voice. When the axe-men of 
 death hew down whole forests of strength and beauty 
 around us, and we are left in solitude, we need the dove 
 to simr in our branches. TALMAGE. 
 
 REJOICING IN OLD AGE. 
 
 Look at old age! A friend said to me, a lady, "I hate 
 old age,'' and there was a vehemency in it that left me no 
 doubt as to the sincerity of the expression. A young friend 
 wrote to me, "I can't bear to think that I am growing 
 old." Such have no horizon. They have no foresight, I 
 am growing old. Do I not know it? Do I not rejoice in 
 it? I have had my life; I have had my opportunities; and 
 I thank God for such as it has been. I thank God that my 
 eye grows dim. I thank God that my steps are not so 
 alert as once they were. Why should men mourn that 
 beauty which must fade before the glorious beauty of holi- 
 ness settles upon them forever. 
 
 When I see in the spring the trees full of bud, and ready 
 to bloom in the orchard, I hear complaint from the outside 
 green coating of the bud, that has wrapped it up like an 
 overcoat, and has carried it through the winter. As the 
 balmy atmosphere begins to expand the bud, I hear the 
 sepal mourn and siv: k -AIas, alas! I am being expelled 
 rnd pushed down, the hinges are breaking off; I have got 
 to drop." 1 And go it does in some high wind; but it goes 
 in order that the blossom may live. Then after a little 
 while, I hear the blossom say, u I must fall;" and fall it
 
 208 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 does to the ground, in order that the fruit may spring 
 forth. Now, when men mourn because they are losing 
 this faculty, and that faculty, they forget that they are 
 failing here, in order that glorious virtues and perfect 
 holiness may emerge to ripen forever in heaven. 
 BEECHER.
 
 PATIENCE. 
 
 ' In your patience possess ye your souls."" Luke xxi: 19. 
 
 Be patient, oh, be patient! put your ear against the earth, 
 
 And listen there how noiselessly the germ of the seed has birth ; 
 
 How noiselessly and gently it upheaves its little way, 
 
 Till it parts ihe scarcely broken ground and the blade stands up in day. 
 
 Be patient, oh, be patient! the germs of mighty thought 
 
 Must have their silent undergrowth, must underground be wrought; 
 
 But as sure as there's a power that makes the grass appear, 
 
 Our land shall be green with freedom, the blade-time shall be here. 
 
 IMPATIENCE REBUKED. 
 
 I remember a few years ago I got discouraged and could 
 not see much fruit of my work; and one morning, as I was 
 in my study, cast down, one of my Sabbath-school teach- 
 ers came in and wanted to know what I was discouraged 
 about, and I told him, because I could see no result from 
 my work; and, by and by, speaking about Noah, he said: 
 "By the way, did you ever study up the character of 
 Noah? " I felt that I knew all about that, and told him 
 that I was familiar with it, and he said, "Now, if you 
 never studied that carefully, you ought to do it, for I can- 
 not tell you what a blessing it has been to me." When he 
 went out I took down my Bible, and began to read about 
 Noah, and the thought came stealing over me, "Here is a 
 man who toiled and worked a hundred years and didn't 
 get discouraged; or if he did, the Holy Ghost didnlt put 
 it on record; and the clouds lifted, and I got up and said, 
 " If the Lord wants me to work without any fruit, I will 
 
 209
 
 210 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 work on. I will do the best I can and leave the result 
 with God. I will wait patiently upon the Lord." MOODY. 
 
 A PATIENT GOD. 
 
 Our God is a God of patience patience long continued 
 but not everlasting. Swift fly the wings of mercy, slow 
 goes the hand of justice; like the shadow on the sun-dial, 
 ever moving, yet creeping slowly on, with a motion all but 
 imperceptible. Still let sinners stand in awe. The hand 
 of justice has not stopped, although imperceptibly, it 
 steadily advances, by and by having reached the tenth, 
 eleventh, twelfth hour, the bell strikes. Then, unless you 
 soon flee to Christ, the blow which was so slow to fall shall 
 descend on the head of impenitence with accumulated 
 force. Let ; t never be forgotten, that although God's 
 patience is lasting, it is not everlasting. GUTHRIE. 
 
 MORE PATIENCE. 
 
 What we all need is patience. Before we start off for the 
 store we ought to pray for patience. We will be harrassed 
 and perplexed. Men will wrong us, and impose upon us, 
 and cheat us; and before the day is passed, if you have not 
 laid in a large supply of patience, you will half swear with 
 your lips, and perhaps make a whole swear with your 
 hearts. TALMAGE. 
 
 THE TEACHING OF THE LEAVES. 
 
 O impatient ones! Did the leaves say nothing to you as 
 (hey murmured, when you came hither to-day? They were 
 not created this spring, but months ago; and the summer 
 just begun will fashion others for another year. At the 
 bottom of every leaf stem is a cradle, and in it is an infant 
 germ; and the winds will rock it, and the birds will sing
 
 PATIENCE. 211 
 
 to it all summer long, and next season it will unfold. So 
 God is working for you, and carrying forward to the per- 
 fect development all the processes of your lives. 
 BEECHER. 
 
 PATIENCE IN SMALL EFFORTS. 
 
 A poor woman had a supply of coal laid at her door by 
 a charitable neighbor. A very little girl came out with a 
 small fire shovel, and began to take up a shovelful at a 
 time and carry it in. I said to the child, ' ' Do you expect 
 to get all that coal in with that little shovel ? " She was 
 confused at my question, but her answer was striking, 
 "Yes, sir, if 1 work long enough." Humble worker, make 
 up for your want of ability by abundant continuance in 
 well-doing, and your life work will not not be trivial. 
 Patience in small efforts will effect more than the occa- 
 sional use of great talents. SPURGEON 
 
 PATIENCE IN RETREAT. 
 
 Patience is hard, sometimes. Whilst I am climbing the 
 mountains, passing through the wilderness, daring dan- 
 gers, I feel comparatively quiet, or even glad. But to sit 
 down when the angel tells me to sit, and not to stir till he 
 comes back again who can do it ? 
 
 There are lines of retreat in every great life, when Christ 
 must be driven into Egypt, when the prophet must be ban- 
 ished into solitude, when John the Baptist must be in the 
 desert eating locusts and wild fconey, when Saul of Tarsus 
 must be driven off into Arabia times when "in patience 
 we must possess our souls." But an asylum need not be a 
 tomb, retreat need not be extinction. Make the best of 
 your leisure. You want to be at the front, instead of that 
 you have been banished to the rear. It is for a wise pur-
 
 213 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 pose. Gather strength, let the brain sleep, yield yourself 
 to the spirit of the quietness of God, and after what ap- 
 pears to be wasted time or unprofitable waiting, there shall 
 come an inspiration into thy soul that shall make thee 
 strong and fearless, and the banished one shall become the 
 center of nations. PARKER.
 
 POOR 
 
 " For ye have the poor always with you"~-MaU: xxvit ff. 
 
 Think you, indeed, Fate is unkind, 
 In poverty's dull chains to bind 
 Or fetter my aspiring mind? 
 
 Ah! think again: 
 Lady, my Father is a King; 
 Around His Throne immortals sing, 
 
 Their faces veil ! 
 
 This beauteous world, this air-hung ball, 
 Sun, moon, and stars, both great and small, 
 My Father made, and owns them all; 
 
 I am not poor. 
 
 NEAR THE SKIES. 
 
 When men go up in balloons they take with them bags 
 of sand for ballast, and when they want to rise higher they 
 throw out some of the sand. Now there are some Chris- 
 tians who, before they rise higher, will have to throw out 
 some ballast. If you have got overloaded, just throw out 
 a little money, and you will mount up as on eagle's wings. 
 The poor are often wealthier than the rich. They live 
 nearer the skies, nearer to God. MOODY. 
 
 PLEA FOR KINDNESS TO THE POOR. 
 
 Let a man invite the poor to dinner, and how people 
 would stop, and stare, and gaze with wonder at the stream 
 of poverty creeping along and pouring in at his open door 
 
 213
 
 214 GEMS OF TRIKH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 the lame hobbling on crutches, the blind led by dog, 
 or little child, the widow clad in rusty weeds, the poor 
 outcast with rags on her back and at her bosom a shriv- 
 elled infant, children shivering and shoeless, from streets 
 their haunt by day, from dirty dens and cellars their cold 
 home by night! Not wondered at only, and supposed by 
 many to be mad, the man who dare do this, who would 
 render a literal obedience to Christ's command, might pre- 
 pare for no measured censure people saying, this was to 
 turn the world upside down; to spoil the poor; to inflate 
 them with notions unbefitting their condition; to destroy 
 the lines of demarcation which God in His providence had 
 drawn between the different classes of society. What a 
 talk such a feast would make ! Nevertheless, why should 
 it not be tried ? GUTHRIE. 
 
 MERCY FOR THE POOR. 
 
 Thank God there is mercy for the poor! The great Dr. 
 Mason preached over a hundred times the same sermon, 
 and the text was, "To the poor the gospel is preached." 
 Lazarus went up, while Dives went down; and there are 
 candidates for imperial splendor in the back alleys and by 
 the peat fire of the Irish shanty. King Jesus set up Hiss 
 throne in a manger and made a resurrection day for the 
 poor widow of Nain, and sprang the gate of heaven wide 
 open, so that all the beggars and thieves and scoundrels 
 of the universe may come in if they only repent. TAL- 
 MAGE. 
 
 POVERTY AND HAPPINESS. 
 
 It sometimes happens that poverty brings to a man what 
 all his wealth had failed to give happiness. A man too 
 rich to be industrious is a prey to the thousand frets of
 
 POOR. 215 
 
 unoccupied leisure. The want of proper occupation is the 
 cause of more than half of the petty frets of life. 
 
 In this world, it is not what we take up, but what we 
 give up, that makes us rich. 
 
 No man can tell by turning to his ledger whether he is 
 rich or poor. It is the heart that makes a man rich. He 
 is rich or poor, according to what he is, not according to 
 what he has. BEECHER. 
 
 DANGER- OF GREAT RICHES. 
 
 Crossing the Col D'Obbia, the mule laden with our lug- 
 gage sank in the snow, nor could it be recovered until its 
 load was removed, then, but not till then, it scrambled out 
 of the hole it had made, and pursued its journey. This 
 circumstance made us meditate upon the wise way in 
 which the gracious Father unloads us by our own losses, 
 and brings us into the experience of poverty, that we may 
 be able to pursue our journey to heaven, and not sink in 
 the snow of carnal-mindedness. SPURGEON. 
 
 THE POOR IN HEAVEN. 
 
 In Christ's conception of the blessed life, I find men- 
 tioned many persons that I did not expect to find referred 
 to, and I find many persons omitted that I expected would 
 have been first referred to. Let me take the beatitudes as 
 a picture of Heaven. Who is in Heaven ? Blessed are the 
 mighty, for they are in Heaven; blessed are the rich, for 
 theirs is the kingdom of glory; blessed are the famous, for 
 theirs are the trumpets of eternity; blessed are the noble, 
 for the angels are their servants. Why, that is not the 
 text. Who is in Heaven ? The poor in spirit. Then, per-
 
 216 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 haps, we may be there. Not many mighty, not many no- 
 ble, not many learned, not many brilliant are called; then 
 perhaps we may be there. Woman, mother, sisters, ob- 
 scure person, unknown life you may be there. PARKER.
 
 POWER 
 
 " Tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until ye be endowed with 
 power from on high, Luke xxiv: 49. 
 
 Let our prayers to heaven ascending, 
 Earnest, patient, never ending, 
 Cleave the air of earth and sky, 
 Reach the ear of Him on high, 
 For the gift of holy power, 
 For the vitalizing shower 
 Of the blessed spirit's presence 
 Every moment, every hour. 
 
 CHAS. BENJ. 
 
 To the hills we lift our vision, 
 
 From whence must come all power, 
 And we pray to God the Father, 
 
 To send like a gentle shower, 
 The spirit of light, of truth and might, 
 
 To brighten our hearts and show us the way, 
 From the realms of night 
 
 To unending day. 
 
 IBID. 
 
 POWERLESS AND USELESS. 
 
 Of what use would be the machinery which is to be 
 moved, without a force adequate to move it? Without a 
 main-spring within the clock, however complete all its 
 wheels, pinioas, pivots, and axles, these hands would stand 
 on the face of time, nor advance one step over the num- 
 bered hours. So were it without the power of the spirit, 
 with the renewed soul, to set its forces in action, bring 
 them into play, and impart to them a true and heavenward 
 character. GUTHBIE. 
 
 217
 
 218 GEAfS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 POWER OF DEEP PIETY. 
 
 A man of deep religious experiences is always effective. 
 I care not how poor his voice is, or how uncomely his 
 countenance, or how awkward his gestures, or how shabby 
 his clothes, or how lame his grammar. By taking care of 
 our own vineyard, we learn how to help others in the care 
 of their vineyard.- TALMAGE. 
 
 THE TEST OF GODLINESS. 
 
 The test of Godliness is power. The man who is like 
 God in holiness, in love, in goodness, will have some of 
 God's power. He will be a sun, around which, like celes- 
 tial bodies around their solar center, smaller characters 
 will revolve. His life will be forceful, magnetic, and 
 crowded with results. His influence will be resistless, for 
 men will look at him and say, " He is a good man." He 
 is, for God is in him. BEECHER. 
 
 GETTING NEARER GOD. 
 
 In driving piles, a machine is used by which a high 
 weight is lifted up and then made to fall upon the head of 
 the pile. Of course the higher the weight is lifted, the 
 more powerful is the blow it gives when it descends. Now 
 if we would tell upon our age, and tell upon society with 
 ponderous blows, we must see to it that we are uplifted as 
 near to God as possible. All our power will depend upon 
 the elevation of our spirits. Prayer, meditation, commu- 
 nion, devotion, are like a windlass to wind us up aloft; it 
 is not lost time which we spend in such sacred exercises, 
 for we are thus accumulating force, so that when we come 
 down to our actual religion labor for God, we shall 
 descend with an energy unknown to those to whom com- 
 munion is unknown. SPURGEON.
 
 POWER. 219 
 
 ANNOINTING WITH POWER. 
 
 I have in my mind a minister who said, "I have heart 
 disease, I can't preach more than once a week," so he had 
 a colleague to preach for him once a week and do the visit- 
 ing. He was an old minister and couldn't do any visiting. 
 He had heard of the annointing of power, and he said, "I 
 would like to be annointed for my burial. I would like 
 before I go hence to preach the gospel once with power" 
 He prayed that God would fill him with the spirit, and I 
 met him not long after that, and he said, ' ' I have preached 
 on an average eight times a week, and I have had conver- 
 sions all along." The spirit came on him. I don't 
 believe that man broke down at first with hard work, so 
 much as with using the machinery without oil, without 
 lubrication. It is not the hard work which breaks down 
 ministers, but it is the toil of working without power. 
 Oh, that God may annoint His people! Not the ministry 
 only, but every disciple. MOODY.
 
 PRAYEK. 
 
 " Men ought always to pray " Luke xviii: I. 
 
 I often Bay my prayers; 
 
 But do I ever pray? 
 And do the wishes of my heart 
 
 Go with the words I say? 
 I may as well kneel down 
 
 And worship gods of stone, 
 As offer to the living God 
 
 A prayer of words alone, 
 For words without the heart 
 
 The Lord will never hear; 
 Nor will He to those lips attend 
 
 Whose prayers are not sincere. 
 
 JOHN BUBTON. 
 
 CONSISTENCY IN PRAYER. 
 
 It is an outrage to ask God to do a thing while we sit 
 indolent. The prayer to be acceptable, must come not 
 only from the heart, but from the hands. Luther came to 
 Melancthon's bedside and prayed for his recovery, and 
 insisted, at the same time, that he should take some warm 
 soup, the soup being just as important as the prayer. 
 
 If a man has "evening prayers" asking for health, and 
 then sits down to a full supper of indigestibles at eleven 
 o'clock at night, his prayer is a mockery. A man has no 
 riirht to pray for the safety of his family when he knows 
 there is no cover on the cistern. TALMAGE. 
 
 THE WEALTH OF PRAYER. 
 
 "Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abund- 
 antly, above all that we can ask or think," what a vision 
 
 220
 
 PRA YER. 221 
 
 the apostle must have had! How much can a man ask or 
 think? When the deepest convictions of sin are upon him, 
 in his hour of dark despondency, in some perilous pass of 
 life, when fears come upon his soul as on Lake Galilee the 
 storms come, consider how much a man then asks! Or 
 when love swells in his soul, and makes life as full as 
 mountains make the streams in spring, and hope is the sun 
 by day and the moon by night, in those glorious elate 
 hours when he seems no longer fixed to space and time, 
 but, mounting, as if the body were forgotten by the soul, 
 wings his way through the realm of aspiration and concep- 
 tion, consider how much a man then thinks! The prayers 
 of exiles, of martyrs, of missionaries, of the Waldenses, of 
 the covenanters, of mothers for children gone estray, when 
 with plash of tears, and yearnings that can find no speech, 
 they implore God's mercy upon them, if some angel, 
 catching them as they were uttered, should drop them 
 down from heaven, what a liturgy would they make! 
 BEECHER. 
 
 THE BELL-ROPE OF HEAVEN. 
 
 Prayer pulls the rope below and the great bell rings 
 above in the ears of God. Some scarcely stir the bell, for 
 they pray so languidly; others give an occasional pluck at 
 the rope; but he who wins with heaven is the man who 
 grasps the rope boldly, and pulls continuously, with all his 
 might. SPURGEON. 
 
 AN EXAMPLE OF FAITH IN PRAYER. 
 
 I remember hearing of a boy brought up in an English 
 almshouse. He had never learned to read or write. He 
 only knew the letters of the alphabet. One day a man of 
 God came there, and told the children that if they prayed 
 to God in their trouble, He would send them help. After
 
 222 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 a time this boy was apprenticed to a farmer. One day he 
 was sent out into the fields to look after some sheep. He 
 was having rather a hard time; so he remembered what the 
 preacher had said, and he thought he would pray to God 
 about it. Some one going by the field heard a voice behind 
 the hedge. They looked to see whose it was, and saw the 
 little fellow on his knees, saying, "A, B, C, D," and so on. 
 The man said, "My boy, what are you doing?" -He 
 looked up and said he was praying. "Why, that is not 
 praying; it is only saying the alphabet." He said he did 
 not know just how to pray, but a man once came to the 
 poor-house, who told them that if they called upon God, 
 He would help them. So he thought that if he named over 
 the letters of the alphabet, God would take them and put 
 them together into a prayer, and give him what he wanted. 
 The little fellow was really praying. Sometimes when 
 your child talks, your friends cannot understand what he 
 says, but the mother understands very well. So if our 
 prayer comes right from the heart, God understands our 
 language. MOODY. 
 
 PRAYER OMNIPOTENT. 
 
 The direct power of prayer is, in a sense, omnipotent. 
 
 rayer moves the hand that moves the world. It secures 
 
 for the believer the resources of divinity. What battles 
 
 it not fought! What victories has it not won! What 
 
 burdens has it not carried! What wounds has it not healed! 
 
 V hat griefs has it not assuaged! It is the wealth of pov 
 
 rtv, the refuge of affliction; the strength of weakness; the 
 
 light of darkness. It is the oratory that gives power to 
 
 the pulpit, , t is the hand that strikes down Sa^a, and 
 
 breaks the fetters of sin; it turns the scales of rate more 
 
 than the edge of the sword, the craft of statesmen, or the 
 
 : scepters, it has arrested the wings of time, turned
 
 PRA YER. 223 
 
 aside the very scythe of death, and discnarged heaven's 
 frowning and darkest cloud in a shower of blessings. 
 GUTHRIE. 
 
 A PULPIT PRAYER IN CITY TEMPLE, LONDON. 
 
 Almighty God, hear the hearts that are full of prayer, 
 that cannot utter their desires on account of the vehe- 
 mency of their secret emotion. Hear the parent who 
 wonders where the wanderer is, and would offer him a 
 thousand welcomes if he would return. Hear the mother 
 who must live in her sighs, because she dare not put them 
 into speech, so keen and poignant her yearnings after those 
 who are out of the way. Hear Thou the unuttered desires 
 of the penitent; the man who would return if he could 
 find some secret door by which to come stealthily into his 
 Father's dishonored house; find such a way for him Thyself 
 this very day, and make this the birthday of his soul, the 
 genesis of a blessed immortality. Hear us for our loved 
 ones who are sick, Mighty Physician, Tender Nurse, go 
 into all our sick chambers, and by the brightness of Thy 
 presence bring healing to the souls that soon must quit 
 their tenements of clay. 
 
 The Lord look upon the old man tottering over his staff, 
 and on the edge of the open grave; the Lord's own fingers 
 touch the cheek of the babe cooing in his cradle. The 
 Lord's eyes be for good upon the bent old woman who 
 has seen the measure of her time and longs for the city of 
 rest. The Lord turn the counsel of every evil man into 
 confusion, and bring him thereby not to ruin; but to con- 
 trition! The Lord unsettle the foundation of every 
 iniquitous throne; the Lord baffle the decrees of every 
 wicked empire, and prosper every man who endeavors to 
 do good with symplicity and earnestness!
 
 224 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 The Lord hear us in these things! We are always in 
 His arms; may He now draw us more closely to His heart* 
 Amen. PARKER. 
 
 IGNORANT PRAYERS ANSWERED IN LOVE. 
 
 Look at the case of your own family to-day, and your 
 child shall come and say to you, " Give me your most pre- 
 cious possession." What would be your answer to the lit- 
 tle child ? Would it be an instant imparting of the gift? 
 Nothing of the kind. Your child shall come to you and 
 say, "Let me go out all to-day, and all to-morrow, and 
 never ask where I am or what I am doing. Now I have 
 asked you, give." What would you say to your seven 
 year-old little boy who came with that prayer ? If ye, 
 then, being children of the night, bewildering shadows, 
 unable to see straight and clear, know how to say "No" 
 under the inspiration of love, how much more may your 
 Father in Heaven say "No " to your poor prayers, your 
 ignorant supplications, your asking for scorpions under the 
 supposition that they are eggs. For the naturalist tells us 
 that the scorpion coils itself up so as to look very much 
 like an egg; hard-hearted would be our Father in Heaven, 
 having heard our prayer when we have mistaken a coiled 
 scorpion for an egg, if his answer would be the reply of 
 death. PARKER.
 
 PREACHING. 
 
 The pr caching oj the cross." i Cor. i: 18. 
 
 Would I describe a preacher, Buch as Paul, 
 Were lie on earth, would hear, approve and own 
 Paul should himself direct me, I would trace 
 His master-strokes, and draw from his design. 
 I would express him simple, grave, sincere ; 
 In doctrine, uncorrupt; in language, plain; 
 And plain in manner; decent, solemn, chaste, 
 And natural in gesture ; much impressed 
 Himself, as conscious of his awful charge, 
 And anxious mainly that the flock he feeds 
 May feel it too. Affectionate in look, 
 And tender in address, as well becomes 
 A messenger of grace to guilty men. 
 
 WILLIAM COWPER. 
 
 O ! if you could have seen Paul preach, you would not 
 have gone away from the sermon as you do from some of 
 us, with half a conviction that we do not mean what we 
 say. His eyes preached a sermon without his lips, and his 
 lips preached it, not in a cold and frigid manner, but every 
 word fell with an overwhelming power upon the hearts of 
 his hearers. He preached with power, because he was in 
 downright earnest. You had a conviction when you saw 
 him that he was a man who thought he had a work to do, 
 and must do it, and could not contain himself unless he did 
 do it. He was the kind of a preacher whom you would 
 expect to see walk down the pulpit stairs, straight into his 
 coffin, and then stand before his God, ready for his last 
 
 225
 
 226 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 account. Where are the men like that man ? I confess I 
 cannot claim that privilege, and I seldom hear a solitary 
 sermon which comes up to the mark in earnest, deep, pas- 
 sionate longing for the souls of men. We have no eyes 
 now like the eyes of the Savior, which could weep over 
 Jerusalem; we have few voices like that earnest, impas- 
 sioned voice, which seemed perpetually to cry, ' ' O Jerusa- 
 lem ! Jerusalem ! how often would I have gathered thee 
 as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, but ye 
 would not" If ministers of the gospel, instead of giving 
 lectures, and devoting a large part of their time to literary 
 and political pursuits, would preach the word of God, and 
 preach it as if they were pleading for their own lives, ah ! 
 then, my brethren, we might expect better success. 
 SPURGEON. 
 
 PREACHING THE GOSPEL. 
 
 I have spoken a great many times in New York city, but 
 I believe that I never preached the gospel here but once. 
 That was twelve or fifteen years ago down at the Tombs. 
 I have spoken a great many times in different parts of the 
 city, but I have never preached the gospel but 
 once. I have tried to arouse Christians up to work. People 
 are in the habit of thinking that anything that is in the way 
 of a religious meeting is the gospel, but they are mistaken. 
 I have had quite a number of letters from Christians com- 
 plaining because I don't preach the gospel to the people. 
 Now, I believe I was converted years before I knew what 
 the gospel meant. Now the word means " good spell," or 
 in other words " God's spell." 
 
 The gospel is good tidings, tidings not of condemnation 
 and sentence, but of pardon and peace. Christ came into 
 the world to bring good news. Did you ever see or hear 
 any one that didn't like to hear good news ? The gospel is
 
 PREACHING. 227 
 
 good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people, "for 
 unto us is born, in the city of David, a Savior." I don't 
 believe that better news ever fell upon the ears of mortal 
 man, than the news of the gospel. Now any man can 
 preach, but all are not annointed to the preaching of the 
 gospel . Yonder is a man who preaches law, yonder one 
 who preaches philosophy, another science, another ethics, 
 all preachers, but not of the gospel. "The Spirit of the Lord 
 is upon me, because He hith annointed me to preach the 
 gospel to the poor." MOODY. 
 
 THEY MAKE OTHERS FEEL WHO FEEL THEMSELVES. 
 
 An obscure man rose up to address the French Conven- 
 tion. At close of his oration Mirabeau, the giant genius 
 of the Revolution, turned round to his neighbor, and eagerly 
 asked, " Who is that" ? The other, who had been in no way 
 interested by the address, wondered at Mirabeau's curios, 
 ity. Whereupon the latter said, "That man will yet ask 
 a great part," and, being asked to explain himself, 
 added, "He speaks as one who believes every word he 
 says." Much of pulpit power under God depends on that 
 admits of that explanation, or one allied to it. They make 
 others feel, who feel themselves. GUTHRIE. 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE PREACHING. 
 
 Illustrative preaching is intended as well for the unlearned 
 as the learned, for converting the unlettered poor, whose 
 souls are as precious in God's sight as those of philosophers 
 or kings. An humble woman well expressed it, "I like 
 best the likes of scripture." She comprehended best, and 
 was most interested and edified by those passages of the 
 Bible which present abstract truth under concrete forms, 
 and of which we have examples in such expressions of
 
 228 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 our Lord's as these "The kingdom of heaven is like unto 
 a grain of mustard seed unto a treasure unto a merchant 
 unto a householder unto a husbandman unto a king." 
 A story in a sermon, like a float, keeps it from sinking; like 
 a nail, fastens it in the mind; like the feathers of an arrow 
 makes it strike; and like the barb, makes it stick." IBID. 
 
 LEARNING HOW TO PREACH. 
 
 If it is your duty, go to preaching the gospel. How 
 shall you learn to preach? Just as the carpenter learns 
 how to be a carpenter. Does he sit down and study books 
 about tools, about hammers and axes ? Oh, no! He goes 
 to boring with the bit, and emoothing with the plane, and 
 smiting with the hammer, and striking with the adze; and 
 in this way he gets to be a carpenter. So, the way to learn 
 how to preach the gospel is to preach it. 
 
 Yonder is a man who ought to be preaching. He has 
 not been ordained, and he never will be. He could not be, 
 perhaps. It may be he has not brains enough, or time 
 enough, or money enough. But he is ordained of God. 
 Let him preach. Here is another. He may not perhaps 
 be able to round his sentences, or make elegant allusions 
 or fine quotations; and yet he may be able to save a soul 
 from death and hide a multitude of sins. Ohi for five 
 thousand men such as Moody to come out of Chicago, and 
 five thousand George H. Stuarts, to come out from Phila- 
 delphia, and five thousand Henry F. Durants to come out 
 from Boston, and preach this glorious gospel, waiting for 
 no other ordination except that which comes from the hand 
 of the Lord Almighty. TALMAGE. 
 
 EXPERIMENTAL PREACHING. 
 
 There is no such preaching as the experience which a 
 man gives who has just realized the ajnfulness of his own
 
 PREACHING. 229 
 
 soul. I often hear myself outpreached by some new con- 
 vert who can hardly put words together. Some say expe- 
 rimental preaching is shallow. Shallow! It is as deep as 
 ^.he soul of God. 
 
 Young man, when you get a parish don't get discouraged 
 for the first ten years, no matter how poor the work. There 
 is no trade that requires so long an apprenticeship as 
 preaching; and yet there is no trade to which they admit a 
 man so soon, or in which he learns so fast. It is easier to 
 study law and become a successful practitioner, it is easier 
 to study medicine and become a successful practitioner, 
 than it is to study the human soul all through, to know 
 its living forms, and to know the way of talking to it, and 
 coming into sympathy with it. 
 
 THE APOSTOLIC IDEA OF PREACHING. 
 
 The apostolic idea of preaching was the secret of the 
 power of the first Christian Church for many hundred 
 years. It is historically true that Christianity did not in 
 its beginning succeed by the force of its doctrines, but by 
 the lives of its disciples. It succeeded first as a light, in 
 accordance with the Master's command. "Let your light 
 so shine before men that they, seeing your good works, 
 may glorify your Father which is in heaven." Make reli- 
 gion attractive by the goodness that men see in you ; be so 
 -sweet, so sparkling, so buoyant, so cheerful, hopeful, cour- 
 ageous, conscientious and yet not stubborn, so perfectly 
 benevolent and yet not mawkish or sentimental; blossom- 
 ing in everything that is good, a rebuke to everything that 
 is mean or little, make such men of yourselves that every 
 body who looks upon you may say, "that is a royal good 
 fellow; he has the spirit that I should like to lean upon in
 
 230 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 time of trouble, or to be a companion with at all times." 
 Build up such a manhood that it shall be winning to men. 
 That is what the early Christians did. 
 
 We are to seek to preach, not simply by our own per- 
 sonal experience, but by bringing together one and another 
 in the church, and having the whole life of the church so 
 beautiful in the community that it shall be a constant 
 attraction to win men unceasingly to us and our influence. 
 BEECHEK. 
 
 DISHONORING THE BIBLE. 
 
 It is indeed pitiable, something quite absurdly vain to 
 hear a certain kind of people making out by lame violence, 
 which they mistake for forcible reasoning, that the Bible 
 is an old-world book, a rag out of fashion, not a garment 
 fit for this day's wearing. Some knavish preachers are not 
 ashamed to do this: They have lived on the dear old book, 
 it has kept them and their families in food and lodging 
 these last thirty years, and yet they have nothing good to 
 say about it; they like better the last book which they do 
 not understand, or the last novel which is as hemlock or 
 strychnine to the soul. Thieves they be, knaves with pul- 
 pit robes reluctantly thrown over their thievish breasts. 
 Beware of them. They are clever liars, swindlers who 
 look too innocent to be quite guiltless, hirelings who hun- 
 ger for the pelf. I could respect, in some grim way, the 
 vulgar infidel who blasphemes openly and on purpose, and 
 rejoices in his pitiful bellowing, mistaking the very bla- 
 tency for courage; but the man in the pulpit who insults 
 the Bible on which he lives, and wriggles out of the pro- 
 fession by which he climbed to the pulpit he dishonors, I 
 charge with worse crimes than those which blackened Bar- 
 rabus or damned Iscariot PARKER.
 
 PREACHING. 231 
 
 PRACTICAL PREACHING. 
 
 A mistake is often made about this matter of practical 
 preaching. If a man denounce the iniquities of his clay, he 
 is thought to be a practical preacher. To a certain extent 
 he is entitled to that designation. If I were to denounce 
 theatres (as usually understood), race courses, public 
 houses, gambling houses, I should be thought to be a most 
 practical preacher, and within a given limit, a very small 
 one, albeit, I should be preaching practically and use- 
 fully. That work needs to be done, must be done. But 
 he, too, is a practical preacher who encourages men to try 
 to be better and do better. He also is a practical preacher 
 who says, "Young man, you failed there, but pluck up 
 your spirits; try again; God bless you; try to do better 
 next time." He also is a practical preacher who recog- 
 nizes the sufferings of those who come to God's house to 
 hear his word. Sorrow is as great fact as sin. There 
 is not a heart here to-day that has not ached, or that 
 will ache, by-and-by. I take you man for man, pew 
 after pew, and the mourners outnumber those who 
 have had nothing but gladness. The preacher, there- 
 fore, is a practical preacher who recognizes that fact, and 
 speaks comfortably, who delivers healing gospels to broken 
 hearts, who deals out bread to the hungry, and who gives 
 the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. I often 
 want to hear such a preacher myself; namely, the man who 
 takes the high and bright view of things, who shows me 
 that my pain is for my good, that my loss is the beginning 
 of my riches, that all discipline and chastening, though for 
 the present anything but joyous, will afterward yield me 
 results that will make the soul nobler and tenderer. 
 PACKER.
 
 PROCRASTINATION. 
 
 " Seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him while 
 He is near" Isaiah Iv: 6. 
 
 To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, 
 - Creeps in this pretty face from day to day, 
 To the last syllable of recorded time ; 
 And all our yesterdays have lighted fools 
 The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle ! 
 
 SHAKE SPEAKE. 
 
 SHAME, PRIDE, OR FEAR. 
 
 Hungry souls go up and down, to and fro, before Christ's 
 table, when there is bread that will cause that hunger to 
 cease forever, and water that is drawn from the river com- 
 ing from God's throne; and yet they have gone back, 
 thinking what wife would say. what father would say, 
 what the business partner would say, what gay compan- 
 ions would say. They feel that gnawings of hunger, and, 
 as they look at the spread table, they say, ' ' Oh, how we 
 reed this food, but we dare not come and take it. " Oh ! 
 what is it causes their delay, and keeps them thus back? 
 It is shame, pride, or fear. BEECHER. 
 
 DANGER OF DELAY. 
 
 Do any of you remember the loss of the vessel called 
 the " Central America?'' She was in a bad state, had 
 sprung a leak and was going down, and she therefore 
 hoisted a signal of distress. A ship came close to her, the 
 
 232
 
 PROCRASTINATION. 233 
 
 captain of which asked through the trumpet, "What is 
 the matter ? " " We are in bad repair, and are going down: 
 lie by till morning," was the answer. But the captain of 
 the rescue-ship said, "Let me take your passengers on 
 board now." "Lie by till morning," was the answer that 
 came back. Once again the captain cried, "You had bet- 
 ter let me take your passengers on board now." " Lie by 
 till morning," sounded through the trumpet. About an 
 hour and a half after, the lights were missing, and though 
 no sound was heard, she and all on board had gone down 
 to the fathomless abyss. O unconverted friends, for God's 
 sake do not stay in sin and answer the Spirit's pleadings* 
 "Lie by till morning." To-day, even to-day hear ye the 
 voice of God. SPURGEON. 
 
 A SAD EXAMPLE OF PROCRASTINATION. 
 
 A man told me the following story, which I have never 
 forgotten. " When I left home my mother gave me this 
 text: " Seek first the kingdom of God." But I paid no 
 heed to it. I said when I got settled in life, and my ambi- 
 tion to get money was gratified, it would be time enough 
 then to seek the kingdom of God. I went from one village 
 to another and got nothing to do. When Sunday came, I 
 went into a village church, and what was my surprise to 
 hear the minister give out this text, " Seek first the king- 
 dom of God." The text went to the bottom of my heart. I 
 thought that it was only my mother's prayers following 
 me, or that some one must have written to the minister 
 about me. I felt very uncomfortable, and when the meet- 
 ing was over, I could not get the sermon out of my mind. 
 I went away from that town, and at the end of a week 
 went into another church, and heard the minister give out 
 the same text, " Seek first the kingdom of God." I felt sure
 
 234 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 this time it was the prayers of my mother, but I said 
 calmly and deliberately, "No, I must first get wealthy." I 
 went on, and did not go into a church for a few months, 
 but the first place of worship I went into, a third minister 
 preached a sermon from the same text. I tried to drown, 
 to stifle my feelings; tried to get the sermon out of my 
 mind, and resolved that I would keep away from church 
 altogether, and for a few years did keep out of God's 
 house. My mother died, and that text she had given me 
 kept coming up in my mind, and I said I will try to become 
 a Christian. I could not; no sermon ever touches me; " my 
 heart is as hard as a stone." 
 
 I heard that story when I was a boy, and after I got to 
 be a man, I went back home, and asked my mother what 
 had become of the man who told it. " Didn't I write to 
 you about him?" she asked. "They have taken him to 
 an insane asylum, and to every one who goes there, he 
 points upward with his finger and says, "Seek first the 
 kingdom of God." There, in the asylum, was that man 
 with his eyes dull with the loss of reason, but the text had 
 sunk into his soul it had burned down deep. MOODY. 
 
 TEMPORAL VERSUS ETERNAL INTERESTS. 
 
 As death may happen any day, it is certainly wise to be 
 prepared for it every day. So men make their wills; but, 
 so, alas, they don't mind their souls! This ye should have 
 done, but not have left the other undone. There is no law- 
 yer, but, if you have any property to dispose of, and would 
 not have your death the signal for quarrels and lawsuits 
 and heart burnings, will advise you to make a settlement, 
 nor delay one day to do so. Oh, how much more need to 
 make your peace with God, and prepare your eternal 
 rather than your temporal affairs for death, to make it all
 
 PR OCR A S TINA TION. 235 
 
 up with Him who is willing to forgive all, and is now tar- 
 rying on the road, to give you time to get oil, and go forth 
 with joy to the cry, "Behold the Bridegroom cometh. 
 GUTHRIE. 
 
 PREPARATION FOR A LONG* JOURNEY. 
 
 What if a man going to San Francisco should make 
 preparations for his journey from Brooklyn- to Hoboken, 
 and no further. Would you not call him a fool ? But here 
 is a man about starting on an everlasting journey, and yet 
 he postpones his preparation until the very last moment of 
 time. The distance from here to the grave is smaller when 
 compared with eternity, than the distance from here to 
 Hoboken is small compared with the thousands of miles 
 between here and San Francisco. Here is a man who 
 thinks only of the three or four yards of human life, and 
 regards not the millions of furlongs stretching out into the 
 infinite. 
 
 LOSING THE THRONE. 
 
 My brother, I am afraid you may lose heaven the way 
 Louis Phillipe lost his empire. The Parisian mob came 
 around the Tuilleries. The national guard stood in defense 
 of the palace, and the commander said to Louis Phillipe, 
 "Shall I fire now? shall I order the troops to fire? With 
 one volley we can clear the place." "No," said Louis 
 Phillipe, "Not yet." A few minutes passed on, and then 
 Louis Phillipe seeing the case was hopeless, said to the 
 general, "Now is the time to fire." "No," said the gen- 
 eral, "It is too late now; don't you see the soldiers are 
 exchanging arms with the citizens? It is too late. " Down 
 went the throne of Louis Phillipe. Away from the earth 
 went the house of Orleans, and ah because the king said?
 
 236 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY, 
 
 "Not yet, not yet." May God forbid that any of you 
 should adjourn this great subject of religion, and should 
 postpone assailing your spiritual foes until it is too late 
 too lute, you losing a throne in heaven the way that Louis 
 Phillipe lost a throne on earth. TALMAGE.
 
 PUNISHMENT. 
 
 "These shall go away into everlasting punishment.''' Matthew 
 xxr: 46. 
 
 When, after life is o'er, and we have passed 
 
 To our eternal destiny, and fixed for aye 
 
 Our dwelling place, in heaven or hell, 
 
 If happy we shall be with angel hosts above, 
 
 Our joy shall be not all in present peace, 
 
 And in the company of souls redeemed ; 
 
 But in the memory of Christian acts and words 
 
 On earth we did and spoke for His name's sake. 
 
 But if in hell, we upward lift our hopeless eyes 
 
 To plead for those we left behind in sin, 
 
 And if, in banishment from God, our course shall end, 
 
 Not all our torment shall be in the fiery heat, 
 
 Where wailings, gnashing of the teeth and cries 
 
 Of pain unceasing shall ascend ; but in the recollection 
 
 Of our stubborn will which led us to reject the Lord; 
 
 To toll the feet of others from the way ; to break a mother's heart ; 
 
 To curse the God who made us, and to crucify 
 
 Again the loving Jesus. An awful sentence that 
 
 "Remember thou!" A punishment intense, from which to flee, 
 
 Will be impossible. 
 
 CHARLES BENJ. MANLY. 
 
 PUNISHMENT PROPORTIONED TO SIN. 
 
 We sometimes say that punishment should be propor- 
 tioned to sin. There is a sense in which that is most true 
 and just. It is most true and just with regard to all pun- 
 ishment that comes from the outside. It is a law which 
 must be obeyed by the parent, the magistrate, and every 
 wronged or offended man. But this is by no means the 
 
 237
 
 238 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 limit of the question. The punishment which a man in- 
 flicts upon himself is infinitely severer than any punish- 
 ment that can be inflicted upon him. " A wounded spirit 
 who can bear." You remember how you ill-treated that 
 poor child now dead; you saw the anguish of his soul, and 
 he besought you and you would not hear; and now a' great 
 distress is come upon you and your bread is very bitter. 
 Who is punishing you? Not the magistrate. Who then ? 
 You are punishing yourself. You cannot forgive your- 
 self. The child touches you at every corner, speaks to you 
 in every dream, moans in every cold wind, and lays its 
 thin pale hand upon you in the hours of riot and excite- 
 ment. You see that ill-used child everywhere; a shadow 
 on the fair horizon; a back-ground to the face of every 
 other child; a ghastly contrast to everything lovely and 
 fair. Time cannot quench the fire. Events cannot throw 
 into dim distance this tragic fact. It surrounds you, mocks 
 you, defies you, and under its pressure you know the mean- 
 ing of the words, which no mere grammarian can under- 
 stand, " The wicked shall go away into everlasting pun- 
 ishment. " PARKER. 
 
 THE WAGES OF SIN. 
 
 Did not one who was as near to me almost, as flesh and 
 blood, and who stood high both in church and in business 
 circles, in an evil hour fall into forgeries ? When he awoke 
 to the magnitude of the transgression he would take no re- 
 lease, and said, "I have sinned, and I ought to suffer as 
 any other man would suffer who has sinned," he forced a 
 trial upon the court, was sentenced to the penitentiary and 
 went there willingly. He took his place among the pris- 
 oners and served there faithfully; but the hand of the Lord 
 was on him, and his child sickened and died, and the gov- 
 ernment would not remit a day that he might go to the
 
 PUNISHMENT. 289 
 
 burial of his darling. Months rolled on, and the wife sick- 
 ened; her very reason languished. That suffering was fol- 
 lowed by all-merciful death. Then in this chastening, even 
 the heart of the government relented, and let him go home 
 to the burial of his wife. Since then he has walked a free 
 life, so far as the law is concerned; but he is solitary. He 
 lives as if he were in the center of the great desert of Sa- 
 hara; for society will not forgive any man who touches its 
 money. BEECHEB. 
 
 A WARNING. 
 
 Some years ago, on a grand jubilee occasion, a distin- 
 guished statesman rose up in the presence of assembled 
 thousands, and, in reply to certain calumnious and dishon- 
 orable charges raised his hands in the vast assembly, ex- 
 claiming, "These hands are clean!" Now, if you or I, or 
 any of our fallen race, did entertain a hope that we could 
 act over this scene before God in judgment, I could com- 
 prehend the calm and unimpassioned indifference with 
 which men sit in churches on successive Sabbaths, eye the 
 Cross of Calvary, and listen to the overtures of mercy. 
 Are these matters with which you have nothing to do ? If, 
 indeed, you have no sins to answer for; if before this 
 world's great assize, you are prepared not only to plead, 
 but to prove your innocence; if conscience accuses you in 
 nothing and excuses you in everything, then sleep on, in 
 God's name, sleep on, and take your rest. But when the 
 heavens over men are clothed in thunders, and hell yawns 
 beneath their feet, and both God's law and their own con- 
 science condemn them, such indifference is madness ! Be- 
 ware ! Play with no fire; least of all, with fire unquench- 
 able. Play with no edged sword; least of all, with that 
 which justice sheathed in a Savior's bosom. Delay by the
 
 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 mouth of no pit; least of all, on the brink of a bottomless 
 one, the smoke of "whose torment goeth up forever and 
 ever. GUTHRIE. 
 
 "SOWING THE TARES." 
 
 I was at the Paris exhibition in 1867, and I noticed there 
 a little oil painting, only about a foot square, and the face 
 was the most hideous I have ever seen. On the paper at- 
 tached to the painting were the words, "Sow ing the Tares," 
 and the face looked more like a demon's than a man's. As 
 he sowed these tares, up came serpents and reptiles, and 
 they were crawling up on his body, and all around were 
 wolves and other wild animals prowling in them. I have 
 seen that picture many times since. Ah, the reaper is com- 
 ing. If you sow to the flesh, you must reap the flesh. 
 MOODY. 
 
 "LIKE THE CHAFF." 
 
 The ungodly " are like the chaff which the wind driveth 
 away." Where where where? Where are they driven ? 
 The man is in health, the sun shines, the sky is calm, the 
 world is still about him. Suddenly there is seen a little 
 cloud the size of a man's hand. A little signal overtakes 
 him. The hurricane begins to rise, but first it is only a 
 faint breath. The wicked man feels the cold air blowing 
 on him, but he screens it with the physician, and he thinks 
 that surely he shall live. The storm is on. God hath de- 
 1 it. and man cannot stay it. The breath becomes a wind, 
 the wind a storm, the storm a howling hurricane. His soul is 
 it away. To go to Heaven on angels wings is a glori- 
 ous thing; but to be swept out of this world with the 
 wieked is an awful thing to be carried, not on wings of 
 cherubs, but on the eagle wings of the wind; to be borne, 
 not by yon songsters up to their feathered seats, but to be
 
 PUNISHMENT. 241 
 
 carried away in the midst of a howling tempest by grim 
 fiends. SPURGEON. 
 
 GOOD ADVICE. 
 
 In order to hold yourselves masters of your appetites, 
 begin early. It is no use for a man forty-five years of age 
 beginning to say he is going to turn over a new leaf; the 
 leaves won't be turned then. I think, perhaps, I may be 
 speaking discouragingly to some man who is making at 
 that time of life a resolution to do better. Well, to reso- 
 lution, to perseverance, to devout energy, it is possible, but 
 it is not easy. Young man, lay down your cigar; it will 
 do you no good. Throw away your pipe; it does not make 
 you manly; it only makes you a nuisance to other and bet- 
 ter people; and don't touch strong drink of any kind what- 
 ever. This is the testimony that I have to bear: that he 
 who gives way to these things in his youth is committing 
 suicide by inches. He is taking away his will-power, he 
 is dulling his finest sensibilities. It does not tell upon him 
 all at once; he may live to be an old man and say: " It is 
 a very slow poison." What he might have been he never 
 thinks of ; he only sees what he is, a tough, much-enduring 
 man; whereas, he might have been a very prince, and king, 
 and guide, and friend among the highest classes of the land. 
 Let me ask you to attend to the discipline of saying " No." 
 I love to see the practice of manly sports of the right kind: 
 running, leaping, swimming, and divers gymnastic exer- 
 cises. I rejoice exceedingly in all these athletic pastimes, 
 and in all these disciplinary sports and enjoyments. They 
 have a great purpose to serve, but there is still a higher 
 discipline a discipline of the soul; a discipline which ena- 
 bles one to look at a bodily advantage and say: "I will
 
 242 GEMS OP TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 not touch it;" the discipline which enables a man to receive 
 an invitation, on gilt-edged paper and scented, to spend an 
 evening with sinners in their gluttony and their wine bib- 
 bing, and that enables him to put it into the fire. PA.KKER.
 
 RESURRECTION. 
 
 " The hour is coming in which all that are in the graves shall 
 hear His voice, and shall come forth" John v: 28, 29. 
 
 The seed, the insentient seed, 
 
 Buried beneath the earth, 
 
 Starts from its dusty bed, 
 
 Responsive to the breath of spring, 
 
 And covers mead and mountain, 
 
 Fields and forests, with its life. 
 
 Myriads of creatures, too, that lay 
 
 As dead as dust on every inch of ground, 
 
 Touched by the vernal ray, 
 
 Spring from their little graves, and sport 
 
 On beautious wings in fields of sunny air. 
 
 Shall this be so? shall plants and worms 
 
 Come forth to life again? And, oh, shall man 
 
 Descend into the grave to rise no more? 
 
 Shall he, the master of this world, 
 
 Image and offspring of the fontal life, 
 
 Through endless ages sleep in dust? 
 
 - THOMAS. 
 
 DEATH A SLEEP, RESURRECTION A WAKING. 
 
 On a summer's day, the gentle western wind brings in 
 all the sweets of the field and garden; and the child, over- 
 tasked by joy, comes back weary, and climbs for sport into 
 the mother's lap; and before he can sport, he feels the balm 
 of rest stealing over him, and lays his curly head back 
 upon her arm; and look! he goes to sleep; hush! he has gone 
 to sleep; and all the children stand smiling. How beauti- 
 ful it is to see a child drop asleep upon its mother's arm! 
 
 243
 
 244 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 And it is said of one, " He fell asleep in Jesus." Is there 
 anything so high, so noble, so divine, as the way in which 
 the New Testament speaks of dying? How near death is, 
 and how beautiful! 
 
 If you have lost your companions, children, friends, you 
 have not lost them. They followed the Pilot. They went 
 through airy channels, unknown and unsearchable, and 
 they are with the Lord; and you are going to be with Him 
 too. I die to go, not to Jerusalem, but to the New Jerusa- 
 lem. I die, not to wait in the rock-ribbed sepulchre, which 
 shall hold me sure; I die, that when this body is dropped I 
 shall have a place, in the inward fullness of my spiritual 
 power, with the Lord. " Because He lives, I shall live 
 again, also." BEECHER. 
 
 THE MASTER OF THE GRAVE. 
 
 Christ is the Master of the grave. Just outside of the 
 gate of the city of Nain, Death and Christ measured lances; 
 and when the young man rose, Death dropped. Now we 
 are sure of our resurrection. Oh, what a scene it was when 
 that young man came back! The mother never expected 
 to hear him speak again. She never thought that he would 
 kiss her again. How the tears started, and how her heart 
 throbbed as she said, "Oh, my son, my son, my son!" 
 And that scene is going to be repeated. It is going to be 
 repeated ten thousand times. These broken family circles 
 have got to come together. These extinguished household 
 lights have got to be rekindled. There will be a stir in the 
 family lot in the cemetery, and there will be a rush into 
 life at the command, "Young man, I say unto thee, arise!" 
 As the child shakes off the dust of the tomb, and comes 
 forth 1'resh and fair, and beautiful, and you throw your 
 arms around it and press it to your heart, angel to angel
 
 RESURRECTION. 245 
 
 will repeat the story of the resurrection at Nam, ' He 
 delivered him to his mother." 
 
 O ye troubled souls! O ye who have lived to see every 
 prospect blasted, peeled, scattered, consumed! wait a little. 
 The seed-time of tears will become the wheat harvest. In 
 a clime cut of no wintry blast, under a sky palled by no 
 hurtling tempest, and amidst redeemed ones that weep not, 
 that part not, that die not, friend will come to friend, and 
 kindred will join kindred, and the long procession that 
 marches the avenues of gold will lift up their palms as 
 again and again it is announced that the same one who 
 came to the relief of the stricken widow of Nain, to the 
 relief of the weeping sisters of Bethany, has come to the 
 relief of many a maternal heart, and repeated the wonders 
 of resurrection. TALMAGE. 
 
 A JOYFUL DOCTRINE. 
 
 The doctrine of the resurrection is full of joy to the 
 bereaved. It clothes the grave with flowers and wreathes 
 the tomb with unfading laurel. The sepulchre shines with 
 a light brighter than the sun, and death grows fair, as we 
 say, in full assurance of faith. "I know my brother shall 
 arise again." Rent from the ignoble shell, the pearl is gone 
 to deck the crown of the "Prince of Peace." Buried 
 beneath the sod, the seed is preparing to bloom in the 
 King's garden. SPURGEON. 
 
 A WRONG VIEW OF DEATH. 
 
 We ought not to look upon death as we do. Bishop 
 Heber has written of a dead friend! . 
 
 " Thou art gone to the grave, but we will not deplore thee, 
 Though sorrow and darkness encompass the tomb ; 
 
 Thy Savior has passed through its portals before thee, 
 And the lamp of His love is thy guide through the gloom."
 
 24G GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 The roll is being called, and one after another is being 
 summoned away, but if their names are there, if we know 
 that they are saved, how sweet it is, after they have left 
 us, to think tbat we shall meet them by and by; that we 
 shall see them in the morn when the night has worn away. 
 
 During the late war a young man lay on a cot, and they 
 heard him say, " Here, here ! " and some one went to bi> 
 cot and wanted to know what he wanted, and he said, 
 " Hark! hush! don't you hear them ? " kt Hear who ? " was 
 asked, "They are calling the roll of heaven," he said, and 
 pretty soon he answered, " Here! " and he was gone. If 
 our names are in the Book of Life, by and by at the 
 trumpet call of the resurrection morning, when the name 
 is called, we can say with Samuel, " Here, Lord Jesus," 
 and fly away to meet Him. MOODY. 
 
 A MATCHLESS CHANGE. 
 
 Who saw the rolling waves stand up a rocky wall; who 
 saw the water of Cana flow out rich purple wine; who saw 
 Lazarus's festering corpse, with health glowing on its 
 cheek, and its arms enfolding sisters ready to faint with 
 joy, saw nothing to match the change the grave shall work 
 on these mouldering bones. Sown in corruption, they shall 
 rise in incorruption, mortal putting on immortality. How 
 beautiful they shall be! Never more shall hoary time write 
 age on a wrinkled brow. The whole terrible troupe of 
 diseases cast with sin into hell, the saints shall possess 
 unfading beauty, and enjoy a perpetual youth; a pure soul 
 shall be mated with a worthy partner in a perfect body, 
 and an angel form shall lodge an angel mind. GUTHBIE.
 
 REST. 
 
 " There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God." Heb. 
 iv: p. 
 
 We ?.re but children crying here upon a mother's breast, 
 
 For life and peace and blessedness, and for eternal rest! 
 
 Bless God I hear a still small voice, above life's clamorous din, 
 
 Saying-, "Faint not, O weary one, thou yet mays't enter in; 
 
 That city is prepared for those who well do win the fight, 
 
 Who tread the wine-press till its blood hath washed their garments white ; 
 
 Within it is no darkness, nor any baleful flower 
 
 Shall there oppress thy weeping eyes with stupifying power. 
 
 It lieth calm within the light of God's peace-giving breast, 
 
 Its walls are called Salvation, the city's name is Rest." 
 
 ANON. 
 
 DESIRE FOR REST. 
 
 What has been, and is now, one of the strongest feelings 
 in the human heart? Is it not to find some better place, 
 some lovlier spot, than we have now ? It is for this that 
 men are seeking everywhere; and yet, they can have it, if 
 they will; but instead of looking down, they must look up 
 to find it. As men grow in knowledge, they vie with each 
 other more and more in making their homes attractive, but 
 the brightest home on earth is but an empty barn, com- 
 pared with the mansions that are in the skies. 
 
 What is it that we look for at the decline and close of 
 life? Is it not some sheltered place, some quiet spot, 
 where, if we cannot have constant rest, we may at least 
 have a foretaste of what perfect rest is to be. What was it 
 
 247
 
 248 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 that led Columbus, not knowing what would be his fate, 
 across the unsailed western seas, if it was not the hope of 
 finding a better country ? This it was that sustained the 
 hearts of the Pilgrim Fathers, driven from their native 
 land by persecution, as they faced a rock-bound, savage 
 coast, with an unexplored territory beyond. They were 
 cheered and upheld by the hope of reaching a free and 
 fruitful country, where they could be at rest and worship 
 God in peace. Somewhat similar is the Christian's hope 
 of heaven. MOODY. 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN'S LIFE NOT ONE OF REST. 
 
 The life of a Christian is not one of rest. He who is con- 
 verted, believes, and is thereby savingly united to Christ, 
 has, to use the words of Nehemiah, u a great work to do." 
 He enters on a harder task than Gideon's. His enemies, 
 paralyzed with terror, flying like a flock of sheep that 
 barking dogs pursue, fell without an attempt at resist- 
 ance. Not so does Satan yield. He makes desperate 
 efforts to rally his scattered forces, and recover the ground 
 he has lost. By no means easily expelled, he lurks in our 
 habits and hides in the recesses of our hearts. Now a cun- 
 ning serpent, and now a roaring lion; at one time with 
 devilish craft he proposes terms of peace, and at another, 
 seeking not to deceive, but to cast us into despair, he 
 comes forth, boastful as Goliath, to defy the armies of 
 the living God. And even when he flies, as the apostle 
 ;tures us he will do if we resist him, he flies like the 
 ancient Parthians fighting all the while, and with the fiery 
 darts he shoots, putting the believer's peace in jeopardy, 
 and making his armor ring. 
 
 To conquer sin is work unceasing, and not at all easy. 
 I know a weed which, more than any .other which infests
 
 REST. 249 
 
 the ground, gardeners and husbandmen find it hard to 
 exterminate. Shooting its long, knotted fibres under the 
 surface, spreading in all soils, whether rich or poor, with 
 unexampled rapidity, it survives being crushed beneath the 
 heel, or cut into morsels with the spade; and, tenacious of 
 life, springs again, if the smallest portion of its root is left 
 in the ground. Such is sin! With an enemy like this can 
 we have any cessation from work ? GUTHRIE. 
 
 DANGER OF RESTFUL EASE. 
 
 Dangers are in very many cases blessings in disguise. 
 They prevent us from drowsiness in spiritual matters. You 
 never read that Christian went to sleep when lions were in 
 the way ; he never slept when he was going through the river 
 Death, or when he was in Giant Despair's castle, or when 
 he was fighting with Apollyon. Poor creature! he almost 
 wished he could sleep then. But when he had got half way 
 up the Hill Difficulty, and came to a pretty little arbor, in 
 he went, and sat down, and began to read his roll. O, how 
 he rested himself! How he unstrapped his sandals and 
 rubbed his weary feet! Very soon his mouth was open, 
 his arms hung down, and he was fast asleep. Again, the 
 enchanted ground was a very easy, smooth place, and lia- 
 ble to send the pilgrim to sleep. You remember Bunyan's 
 descriptions of some of the arbors. "Then they came to 
 an arbor, warm, and promising much refreshing to the 
 weary pilgrims; for it \yas finely wrought above head, 
 beautified with greens and furnished with benches and set- 
 tees. It had also in it a soft couch, where the weary might 
 lean." 
 
 Oh, depend upon it, it is in easy places that men shut 
 their eyes, and wander into the dreamy land of forgetful- 
 ness. Take care, thou who art full of gladness. There is 
 no season in which we are so likely to fall asleep as that of
 
 250 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 high enjoyment. The disciples went to sleep after they 
 had seen Christ transfigured on the mountain top. Rest 
 not, O Christian, while souls are being lost, while men are 
 being damned, while hell is being peopled, while Christ is 
 being dishonored, while the devil is grinning at thy sleepy 
 face, while demons are dancing round thy slumbering car- 
 cass, and telling it in hell that a Christian is asleep! 
 SPURGEON. 
 
 IDLENESS NOT REST. 
 
 Idleness is not rest. Idleness is not happiness. Rest is. 
 The poor man with industry is happier than the rich man 
 in indolence. Labor makes the one more manly, while 
 riches unmans the other. The slave is often happier than 
 the master, who is nearer undone by license than his vas- 
 sal l>y toil. Luxurious couches, plushy carpets from Ori- 
 ental looms, pillows of eider-down, carriages contrived with 
 cushions and springs to make motion imperceptible, is the 
 indolent master of these as happy as the slave who wove 
 the carpet, the Indian who hunted the northern flock, or the 
 servant who drives the pampered steeds ? Let those who 
 envy the gay revels of city idlers, and pine for their mas- 
 querades, their routs, and their operas, experience for a 
 week the lassitude of their society, the unarousable torpor 
 of their life when not under a fiery stimulus, their des- 
 perate ennui and restless somnolency, and they would 
 gladly flee from their haunts as from a land of cursed en- 
 chantment. BEECHEB.
 
 REWARD. 
 
 "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown oj 
 r ife." Rev. ii: 10. 
 
 "The season will come and is coming, 
 
 When the Christian shall lay down the cross, 
 And receive the reward from his glorified Lord, 
 Feel joy without measure, 
 Exchange gain for pleasure, 
 Obtain gain for loss." 
 
 CHAS. BENJ. MANLY. 
 
 REWARD FOR UNAPPRECIATED LABOR. 
 
 Cheer up men and women of unappreciated services. 
 You will get your reward, if not here, hereafter. When 
 Charles Wesley comes up to judgment, and the thousands 
 of souls which were wafted into glory through his songs 
 shall be enumerated, he will take his throne. When John 
 Wesley will come up to judgment his name will be men- 
 tioned in connection with the salvation of millions of souls 
 brought to God through the Methodism which he founded, 
 and he will take his throne. But between the two thrones 
 of John Wesley and Charles Wesley, there will be a throne 
 higher than either, on which shall sit Susannah Wesley, 
 who with maternal consecration in Epworth Rectory, 
 started those two souls on their mission of sermon and 
 song through all following ages. Oh, what a day that will 
 be for many who rocked Christian cradles with weary fe^t 
 who patched worn-out garments and darned socks, and 
 with a small income made the children comfortable for the 
 winter. What a day that will be for those to whom the 
 
 251
 
 252 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 world gave the cold shoulder, and called them nobodies, 
 and begrudged them the least recognition, and who, weary 
 and worn, and sick, fainted by the brook Besor. Oh, that 
 will be a mighty day when the Son of David shall distrib- 
 ute among them the garlands the crowns, the scepters, the 
 chariots, the thrones. And then it shall be found out that 
 all who on earth served God in inconspicuous spheres re- 
 ceived just as much reward as those who filled the earth 
 with uproar of achievement. Then they shall understand 
 the height, the depth, the length, the breadth, the pillared 
 and domed significance of that verse: " As his part is that 
 goeth down to the battle, so shall his part be that tarrieth 
 by the stuff. " TALMAGE. 
 
 THE LIGHT WILL SOON BREAK. 
 
 Last night I saw a faint yellow light struggling with fee- 
 ble timidity against some angry clouds; they gathered 
 against the light as if determined to shut it out; and the 
 pale moon seemed too languid for resistance, but the breeze 
 came to help her; the thickening clouds were broken, and 
 the moon seemed to take heart; brighter and brighter were 
 her mild beams, until at last she stood up in the southern 
 sky, the clouds all gone, like an angel watching from afar 
 the flowers which the sun had just forsaken. So shall it 
 be with our cloudy life, if we be God's children, the 
 clouds are not permanent. They are but elevated shadows. 
 The true light will pierce them, melt them, scatter them, 
 and we shall stand out distinct as stars, lighter than ever 
 cloud ascended, renewed in lustre by the infinite glory of 
 God. PARKER. 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN'S REWARD. 
 
 Am I poor ? He cannot be poor to whom God's angels 
 come every day and every night. Have I no riches here \
 
 REWARD. 253 
 
 I have all that every man owns on this earth, and all that 
 God owns besides. I am an heir of God. I am joint heir 
 with Jesus Christ. 
 
 You say, "That is a hifalutin notion." It is not. I am 
 myself a witness, and I testify that this is so. I do own 
 the beauty and the glory of this world because 1 am a child of 
 God, and as such, I am the heir of my Father. There is 
 not a bird that flies that is not mine. There is not an insect 
 that lives and enjoys its brief space of life that is not mine. 
 There is not a mountain-top that is not mine. There is 
 nothing that glows in the seasons that is not mine. The 
 very drapery of the heavens is mine. He is yours whom 
 you love, and he cannot keep himself. And this is our re- 
 ward. BEECHER. 
 
 THE BRIGHTEST HONORS OF HEAVEN. 
 
 Others may have filled the world with the breath of their 
 name; he has helped to fill Heaven; others may have 
 won an earthly renown; but he who, a Christian himself, 
 has sought to make others Christians who, reaching the 
 rock himself, draws another, a perishing child, friend, 
 brother, neighbor, up plucked from the flood himself, 
 pulls another out who has leaped into the depths that he 
 might rise with a pearl, and set it lustrous in Jesus' crown 
 he is the man who shall wear Heaven's brightest honors, 
 and to whom, before all else, the Lord will say: "Well 
 done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of 
 thy Lord." GUTHRIE. 
 
 REWARD OF GOODNESS SOMETIMES IMMEDIATE. 
 
 Occasionally a benevolent action wrought in faith brings 
 with it an instantaneous recompense in kind; therein Prov- 
 dence is seen as smiling upon the deed. The late John 
 Andrew Jones, a poor Baptist minister, whilst walking in
 
 254 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 Cheapside, was appealed to for help by some one he knew. 
 He had but a shilling in the world, and poised it in his mind 
 to give or not to give ? The greater distress of his acquain- 
 tance prevailed, and he gave his all, walking away with 
 the sweet remembrance of the promise: "He that hath 
 pity upon the poor, lendeth unto the Lord, and that which 
 he hath given will He pay him again.'' He had not gone 
 a hundred yards further before he met a gentleman who 
 said : "Ah, Mr. Jones, I am indeed glad to see you. I 
 have had this sovereign in my waistcoat pocket for a week 
 past for some poor minister, and you may as well have it." 
 Mr. Jones was wont to add, when telling the story : '-If I 
 had not stopped to give relief, I should have missed the 
 gentleman and the sovereign too." SPURGEON. 
 
 HEAVEN A PLACE OF REWARD. 
 
 Heaven is the place of victory and triumph. This is the 
 battle-field; there is the triumphal procession. This is the 
 land of the sword and the spear ; that is the land of the 
 wreath and the crown. Oh, what a thrill of joy will shoot 
 through the hearts of all the blessed when their conquests 
 will be made complete in Heaven; when death itself, the 
 last of foes, shall be slain, and Satan dragged as captive 
 at the chariot wheels of Christ. MOODY.
 
 RICHES. 
 
 " How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom 
 of God!" Luke xviii: 24. 
 
 Gold and silver like the snow 
 
 Quickly pass away; 
 Like the curtained clouds of summer, 
 
 Enduring not a day; 
 Like the early dew of morning, 
 
 Drunken by the sun ; 
 Or the maddened hill-side torrent, 
 
 Whose course is quickly run. 
 But the grace of Christ, our Savior, 
 
 Bringeth riches more 
 Than the tongue of man can utter, 
 
 And of wealth a store 
 Like the river, failing never 
 
 Flowing evermore. 
 
 CHAS. BENJ. MANLY. 
 
 ADVERSITY A BLESSING SOMETIMES. 
 
 I don't believe we would have had such a blessing in 
 New York during these meetings, if it had not been for 
 these hard times. When men get their millions, and hoard 
 theii up, I think it is the very best thing that can happen to 
 them to have the Lord come and take their riches away. If 
 a rmn lends his money to the Lord, in maintaining good 
 works, he will never lose it. People say that such a man 
 died worth so many millions. It doesn't make any differ- 
 ence how much a man accumulates, he can't die worth any- 
 thing, for he leaves it here. He is not worth a penny, if 
 
 255
 
 256 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 he has not laid it up in heaven, where thieves do not break 
 through and steal. MOODY. 
 
 DANGER OF RICHES. 
 
 The danger and deceitful influence of riches, their ten- 
 dency to turn our thoughts away from another world, and 
 drown such concern for the soul as providences or preach- 
 ers may have awakened, in the cup of pleasure, is awfully 
 expressed in the saying of the Lord, "It is easier for a 
 camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich 
 man to enter into the kingdom of God." Dr. Johnson put 
 the point well when, on Garrick showing him his beautiful 
 mansion and grounds. The great man and moralist laid 
 his hand gently on the player's shoulder, and said, "Ah, 
 David, David, these are the things which make a death-bed 
 terrible ! " GUTHRIE. 
 
 " A POOR RICH MAN." 
 
 A man may have every comfort and luxury here, and 
 yet come to a wretched future. It is no sin to be rich. It 
 is a sin not to be rich, if we can be honestly. I wish I had 
 five hundred thousand dollars I suppose I might as well 
 make it a million I see so much suffering and trial every 
 day, that I say again and again, I wish I had the money 
 to relieve it. But alas for the man who has nothing but 
 money! Dives' house had a front door and a back door, 
 ami they both opened into eternity. Sixty seconds after 
 Dives was gone, of what use were his horses ? he could not 
 ride them; of what use his rich viands ? he could not open 
 his clenched teeth to eat them; of what use his fine linen 
 shirts ! he could not wear them. The poorest man who 
 stood along the road watching the funeral procession of 
 Dives owned more of this world than the dead gormandi-
 
 RICHES. 257 
 
 zer. The future of the other world was all the darker 
 because of the brightness of this. Who of you will take 
 Dives' fine home, and costly plate, and dazzling equipage, 
 and kennel of blooded dogs, if his eternity must be thrown 
 in with it ? 
 
 The Indian who for a string of beads sells as much terri- 
 tory as will make a State, is wise compared with a man 
 who for the trinkets of earth barters heaven. TALMAGE. 
 
 SHAM GENEROSITY. 
 
 Oftentimes you will find men who have been penurious 
 all their lives, and who have amassed a fortune, attempting 
 to buy respect in their old age. Sometimes they dp it by 
 making their will, and letting it be known what they are 
 going to do. That is an exquisite piece of trickery. 
 Where a man wants to keep his money, and also wants to 
 have the credit of giving it away, he holds on to it, and 
 lets it be known that he is going to give $250,000 for 
 benevolent purposes, $10,000 here, and '$20,000 there, 
 $50,000 somewhere else, and so on. There are many men 
 that are going to be very generous when they die. Dead 
 men are always generous. They keep their money while 
 they live, and only give it away when they no longer own 
 it. When men are surrounded by all that earth can give 
 them, by position, by circumstance, by plenary physical 
 blessings, how, after all, do they long for morel How 
 pitious it is to see them! BEECHEB. 
 
 AVOID ANXIETY FOR RICHES. 
 
 Do not be over-anxious about riches. Get as much of 
 true wisdom and goodness as you can; but be satisfied with 
 a very moderate portion of this world's good. Riches may 
 prove a curse as well as a blessing.
 
 258 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 I was walking through an orchard looking about me, 
 when I saw a low tree laden more heavily with fruit than 
 the rest. On a nearer examination, it appeared that the 
 tree had been dragged to the very earth, and broken by the 
 weight of its treasures. " Oh," said I, gazing on the tree, 
 "here lies one who has been ruined by his riches." 
 
 In another part of my walk, I came up w r ith a shepherd 
 who was lamenting the loss of a sheep that lay mangled 
 and dead at his feet. On inquiring about the matter, he 
 told me that a strange dog had attacked the flock, that the 
 rest of the sheep had got away through a hole in the hedge, 
 but that the ram now dead had more wool on his back than 
 the rest, and the thorns of the hedge held him fast till the 
 dog had worried him. " Here is another,'' said I, "ruined 
 by his riches." 
 
 At the close of my ramble, I met a man hobbling along 
 on two wooden legs, leaning on two crutches. " Tell me," 
 said I, " my poor fellow, how you came to lose your legs." 
 " Why, sir," said he, "in my younger days, I was a sol- 
 dier. With a few comrades, I attacked a party of the 
 enemy, and overcame them, and we began to overload our- 
 selves with spoil. I burdened myself with as much as I 
 could carry. We were pursued. My companions escaped, 
 but I was overtaken and so cruelly wounded, that I only 
 saved my life afterwards by losing my legs. It was a bad 
 aflair, sir, but it is too late to repent of it now." "Ah, 
 friend," thought I, "like the fruit tree and the mangled 
 sheep, you may date your downfall to your possessions. 
 It was your riches that ruined you." SPUEGEON.
 
 SABBATH. 
 
 " Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy" Ex. xx: 8. 
 
 Now let us repose from our care and our sorrow, 
 Let all that is anxious and sad pass away; 
 
 The rough cares of life lay aside till to-morrow, 
 And let us be tranquil and happy to-day. 
 
 JAMES EDMESTON. 
 
 THE LORD'S DAY IN PARIS. 
 
 Let my readers fancy that as they pass on their way to 
 the house of God, they see almost all the shops in their 
 native town Oi village standing open, with men and women 
 buying and selling, and they have an idea of the desecra- 
 tion of the Lord's day in Paris. The tide and toil of busi- 
 ness does not cease in very many cases till night brings 
 rest to its weary slaves. On returning from evening ser- 
 vice, I have seen them still behind the counter, chained to 
 the oar; and, in not a few instances playing cards when 
 business was slack in the shop. A visit to Paris would 
 convince the working classes that those are their worst 
 friends who attempt to divest the first day of the week of 
 that holiness which, as all experience proves, affords the 
 only security for rest and repose to the sons of toil. 
 GUTHRIE. 
 
 THE MEANNESS OF THE, SABBATH BREAKERS. 
 
 How unutterly mean is the behavior of the Sabbath 
 breaker. It is as though a man had a large estate, and he 
 
 259
 
 260 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 said to his employes: "Now, I will give you to-day for 
 yourselves you need not toil a particle ; " and then, at the 
 close of day, the employer should find out that they 
 had been stealing out of the corn-crib, not content with the 
 rest he had given them. Just so those do who, when God 
 tells them to rest, and gives them an opportunity to rest, 
 employ the hours for their own enjoyment, neglecting, or 
 entirely overlooking the fact that God all the time on the 
 Sabbath day is just as busy for them as He is on any other 
 day. Their corn is growing just as rapidly on Sabbath as 
 on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday or 
 Saturday. Their bonds and mortgages are bringing just 
 as much interest. Although God has given them a day of 
 rest, He has not taken His hand from their worldly inter- 
 ests. TALMAGE. 
 
 HILLS OF LIGHT AND JOY. 
 
 Through the week we go down into the valleys of care 
 and shadow. Our Sabbaths should be hills of light and 
 joy in God's presence; and, as time rolls by, we shall go 
 on from mountain top to mountain top, till at last we catch 
 the glory of the gate, and enter in, to go no more out for- 
 ever. 
 
 ADDRESSED TO' THE CHURCH AT A WEDNESDAY NIGHT 
 
 LECTURE. 
 
 Let us interrupt the flow of the week, and rear up an- 
 other Sabbath in the middle of it. And, as those who 
 swim mighty streams do stop, panting, to rest upon some 
 midway rock ere they plunge again into the tide, so let us 
 rest here, lifted up above the tumult of earthly care, and 
 gain strength, before we go down into the dark ford, for 
 the farther shore the Sabbath. BEECHER.
 
 SABBATH. 261 
 
 SABBATH VIEWS OF HEAVEN. 
 
 When a gentlemau was inspecting a house in Newcastle, 
 with a view to buying it as a residence, the landlord took 
 him to the upper window, expatiated on the extensive 
 prospect, and added, "You can see Durham Cathedral 
 from this window on a Sunday." " Why on Sunday ahove 
 any other day ? " inquired our friend, with some degree of 
 surprise. The reply was conclusive enough. "Because 
 on that day there is no smoke from those tall chimneys." 
 Blessed is the Sabbath to us when the earth-smoke of care 
 and turmoil no longer beclouds our view; then can our 
 souls full often behold the goodly land, and the city of the 
 New Jerusalem. SPURGEON.
 
 SELF-DENIAL. 
 
 " Whosoever will come after me, let hint deny himself, and take 
 up his cross and follow Me." Mark viii: 34. 
 
 Would'st thou inherit life with Christ on high? . 
 
 Then count the cost and know 
 
 That here on earth below 
 
 Thou needs must suffer with thy Lord, and die. 
 
 We reach that gain, to which all else is loss, 
 
 But through the cross ! 
 
 SIMON DACH. 
 
 RELIGION REQUIRES SELF-DENIAL. 
 
 Religion, in one sense, is a life of self-denial, just as hus- 
 bandry, in one sense is a life of death. You go and bury 
 a seed and that is husbandry; but you bury one, that you 
 may reap a hundred fold. Self-denial does not belong to 
 religion as characteristic of it; it belongs to human life. 
 The lower nature must always be denied when you are 
 trying to reach a higher sphere. It is no more necessary 
 to be self-denying to be a Christian, than it is to be an 
 artist, or to be an honest man, or to be a man at all, in 
 distinction from a brute. Of all joyful, smiling, ever- 
 laughing experiences, there are none like those which 
 spring from true religion. BEECHER. 
 
 OUR EXAMPLE OF SELF-DENIAL. 
 
 Alexander, when his army grew sluggish because laden 
 with the spoils of their enemies, to free them from this in- 
 cumbrance, commanded all his own basreafire to be set on 
 
 OO D 
 
 262
 
 SELF-DENIAL. 263 
 
 fire, that when they saw the king himself devote his rich 
 treasures to the flames they might not murmur if their 
 mite and pittance were consumed also. So, if Christ had 
 taught us contempt of the world, and had not given us an 
 instance of it in His own person, His doctrine had been 
 less powerful and effective. But what an example we now 
 find in Him, since he had not where to lay His head in life, 
 nor a rag to cover Him in death, nor anything but a bor- 
 rowed grave in burial. What manner of persons ought we 
 all to be in unselfishness when we have such a Lord! He 
 hath not said to us in matters of self-denial, "Take up thy 
 cross and go," but "Come, take up thy cross and follow 
 Me." Well may the soldiers endure hardness when the 
 King himself roughs it among us, and suffers more than 
 the meanest private in our ranks. SPURGEON. 
 
 SELF-DENYING LIVES. 
 
 How grand it is, amid the selfishness of the world, to 
 find such generous deeds! The Moravian missionaries 
 were told that they could not enter the lazarettos where the 
 lepers were dying unless they stayed there. " Then," they 
 said, "We will go and stay there." They went in to nurse 
 the sick and perished. You have read the life of pure- 
 hearted Elizabeth Fry, toiling among the degraded. But 
 the full biographies of the world's martyrs will never be 
 written. The firemen in our cities who have rescued peo- 
 ple from blazing buildings; the sailors who have helped the 
 passengers off the wreck, themselves perishing; the nurses 
 who have waited upon the sick in yellow fever and cholera 
 hospitals, and sunk down to death from exhaustion; the 
 Christian men who, on the battle field, have administered 
 to the fallen amid rattling canister and bursting shell; the 
 Christian women who have gone down through haunts of
 
 264 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BE A UTY. 
 
 shame on errands of mercy, defended by no human arm, 
 but looked after by that God who, with his lightnings, 
 would have struck to hell any who dared to do them harm! 
 TALMAGE. 
 
 Selfishness is sin. Self-indulgence is criminal. A soul 
 filled with self has no room for God; and like the inn of 
 Bethlehem, given to lodge meaner guests, a heart full of 
 pride has no chamber, within which Christ may be born 
 "in us the hope of glory." How rare a virtue is self sac- 
 rifice! What can be more sad than to see the value a 
 woman sets on trinkets, the pride with which she shows 
 and wears her jewels, while Jesus has no preciousness in 
 her eyes? What fools people are! They set more value 
 on some glittering bits of glass or stone than on a crown 
 of glory! they care more in this dying body for the per- 
 ishable casket than for the immortal jewel which it holds. 
 
 GUTHRIE.
 
 SIN. 
 
 " To him that knowtth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is 
 sin" James iv: 17. 
 
 Sin is the living worm, the lasting fire ; 
 Hell soon would lose its heat, could sin expire. 
 
 JOHN 
 
 LITTLE SINS. 
 
 It is high time to get out of your sins. You say, "I 
 have committed no great transgressions." But are you not 
 aware that your life has been sinful ? The snow comes 
 down on the Alps flake by flake, and it is so light that you 
 may hold it on the tip of your finger without feeling any 
 weight; but the flakes gather; they compact, until some day 
 a traveler's foot starts the slide, and it goes down in an 
 avalanche, crushing to death the villagers. So the sins of 
 your youth, and the sins of your manhood, and the sins of 
 your womanhood may have seemed only slight inaccura- 
 cies, or trifling divergences from the right so slight that 
 they are hardly worth mentioning, but they have been pil- 
 ing up and piling up, packing together and packing to- 
 gether, until they make a mountain of sin, and one more 
 step of your foot in the wrong direction may slide down 
 upon you an avalanche of ruin and condemnation. TAL- 
 MAGE. 
 
 SIN IS CRUEL. 
 
 Sin is not only strong to seduce, but heartless to sustain 
 its victims. It will exhaust your means, teach you to 
 
 265
 
 266 GEMS OF TRUTH AND 3EAUTY. 
 
 despise the God of your fathers-, and then when the inevi- 
 table disaster of wickedness begins to overwhelm you, it 
 -will abandon whom it has debauched. When at length, 
 death gnaws at your bones, and knocks at your heart, 
 when staggering and worn out, your courage wasted, your 
 hope gone, your purity, and long, long ago your peace 
 will he who first enticed your steps serve your extremity 
 with one office of kindness ? Will he stay your head, cheer 
 your dying agony with one word of hope, or light the way 
 for your coward steps to the grave, or weep when you are 
 gone, or send one pitiful scrap to your desolate family ? 
 What reveler wears crape for a dead drunkard ? What 
 gang of gamblers ever intermitted a game for the death of 
 a companion? What harlot weeps for a harlot? What 
 debauchee mourns for a debauchee ? They would carouse 
 at your funeral, and gamble at your funeral. If one flush 
 more of pleasure were to be had by it, they would drink 
 shame and ridicule to your memory out of your own skull, 
 and roar in bacchanal revelry over your damnation! Oh! 
 the cruel heartlessness of sin! BEECHER. 
 
 THE POWER OF A SINGLE SIN. 
 
 There was but one crack in the lantern, and the wind has 
 found it out and blown out the candle. How great a mis- 
 chief one unguarded point of character may cause us. One 
 spark blew up the magazine, and shook the whole country 
 for miles around. One leak sank the vessel and drowned 
 all on board. One wound may kill the body; one sin 
 destroy the soul. SPURGEON. 
 
 SINS ACCUMULATE. 
 
 Sins seldom come alone; where there is room for one 
 devil, seven other spirits more wicked than himself will find
 
 SIN. 267 
 
 a lodging. We may say of sins as Longfellow says of 
 birds of prey, in his Song of Hiawatha. 
 
 ' ' Never stoops the soaring vulture 
 On his quarry in the desert, 
 On the sick or wounded bison, 
 But another vulture watching, 
 From his high aerial look-out 
 Sees the downward plunge and follows, 
 And a third pursues the second, 
 Coming from the invisible ether, 
 First a speck, and then a vulture, 
 Till the air is dark with pinions." 
 
 IBID. 
 
 SALVATION FROM SIN. 
 
 As certain as we are lost in sin, so certain can Christ save 
 us from our sins. He will save us if we will let Him. A 
 story is told of Rowland Hill, the great preacher. Lady 
 Ann Erskinewas passing by in her carriage, and she asked 
 her coachman who that was that was drawing such a large 
 assembly. He replied that it was Rowland Hill. "I have 
 heard a good deal about him," she said, "drive up near 
 the crowd." Mr. Hill soon saw her, and saw that she be- 
 longed to the aristocracy. He stopped all at once in the 
 middle of his discourse and said, " My friends, I have 
 something for sale." Thfs astonished his hearers. "Yes, 
 I have something for sale; it is the soul of Lady Ann Ers- 
 kine. Is there any one here who will bid for her sou! ( 
 Ah, do I hear a bid ? Who bids ? Satan bids. Satan, 
 what will you give for her soul ? ' I will give riches, 
 honor, and pleasure.' But stop; do I hear another bid? 
 Yes, Jesus Christ bids. Jesus, what will you give for her 
 soul? ' I will give eternal life.' Lady Ann Erskine, you 
 have heard the two bids, which will you take ? " And 
 Lady Ann fell on her knees, and cried out, "I will have 
 Jesus." So may it be with you. MOODY.
 
 268 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 A DISEASE OF THE HEART. 
 
 Like snow drift when it has leveled the church-yard 
 mounds, and glistening in the winter sun, lies so pure and 
 fair and beautiful above the dead, who fester and rot below, 
 a very plausible profession, wearing the semblance of inno- 
 cence, may conceal from human eyes the foulest heart-cor- 
 ruption. The grass grows green upon a mountain that 
 holds a volcano in its bowels. Behind the rosy cheek, and 
 soft lustrous eye of beauty, how often does there lurk a 
 deadly disease, the Headliest of all! Even so sin has its 
 seat within. It is a disease of the heart, and the worst of 
 all heart complaints. 
 
 The most advanced saint is not altogether free from the 
 bondage of sin. Sin is the greatest folly, and the sinner 
 the greatest fool in the world. Think of a man purchasing 
 momentary pleasure at the cost of endless pain. Think 
 of a dying man living as if he were never to die. Think 
 of a man risking eternity on the uncertain chance of sur- 
 viving another year. GUTHRIE. 
 
 THE EFFECTS OF SIN. 
 
 Have you ever watched the deteriorating effects of sin 
 even upon the personal appearance f Take a youth of ex- 
 treme beauty, and let him, little by little, be led into wicked 
 practices; in proportion as he is so led, will the register of 
 his descent be written upon his face, and upon his whole 
 attitude and manners. Quite unperceptibly, I admit, but 
 with awful exactness and depth. The eyes, once so clear 
 and steady in look, will be marked by suspicion, uncer- 
 tainty, or timidity of movement; their glances will not be 
 like sun rays darting through thick foliage, but rather like 
 ft dark lantern turned on skillfully to see whatis happening 
 here and there, but throwing no light on the man who holds
 
 SfN. 269 
 
 it. And strange lines will be woven around the mouth; 
 and the lips, so well cut, so guileless and generous, will he 
 tortured into ugliness and sensual enlargement; and the 
 voice, once so sweet, so ringing, the very music of a char- 
 acter unstained and fearless, will contract some mocking 
 tones, and give itself up to a rude laughter, partly deceitful 
 and partly defiant. All this will not happen in one day. 
 Herein is the subtlety of evil. If you do not see the youth 
 for years you may be shocked when you miss the fine sim- 
 plicity and noble bearing which you associated with the 
 name. It is the spot of leprosy on a forehead once so open 
 and unwrinkled, and it will grow and spread and deepen 
 until there will be no place fit for him but the silent and 
 unhospitable wilderness. PARKER.
 
 THE CHURCH. 
 
 " Christ loved the church, and gave himself for it, that he might 
 sanctify and cleanse it, with the washing of the water by the word, 
 that he might present it to himself a glorious church'' 1 Eph. 
 v. 25-27. 
 
 "Glorious things of thee are spoken, 
 
 Zion, city of our God; 
 He, whose word cannot be broken 
 
 Formed thee for his own abode ; 
 On the rock of ages founded, 
 
 What can shake thy sure repose? 
 With salvation's wall surrounded, 
 
 Thou may'st smile at all thy foes." 
 
 JOHN NEWTON. 
 
 PRESENT FOES TO FIGHT. 
 
 The church ought to be the leader, the inspirer of the 
 age. It is all folly for us to be discussing old issue ar- 
 raigning Nero, hanging Absalom, striking the Philistines 
 with Shamgar's ox-goad when all about us are iniquities to 
 be slain a corrupt legislature, a rotten judiciary, and a 
 whiskey ring ! TALMAGE. 
 
 WHY CONDEMN THE CHURCH? 
 
 Do you ask, "Why not do away with the church, if its 
 members make so many mistakes ? " Would you take away 
 the light-house because careless mariners, through wrong 
 observations, run their ships high and dry upon the shore? 
 U ould you put out the lamps in your house because moths 
 and millers burn their wings in it? What would the chil- 
 dren do ? BEECHER. 
 
 270
 
 THE CHURCH. 271 
 
 DO NOT MAGNIFY TRIFLES. 
 
 If a man should fire a house to destroy the mice in it, we 
 should think him to be fairly mad. Yet those who con- 
 sider themselves to be reasonable men will set the church 
 in a blaze about the merest trifle. Meeting after meeting 
 will be called, and angry discussions provoked, and holy 
 work overturned about the smallest mistake of the preacher, 
 on the minutest fault of the deacon. One would think 
 that heaven itself were endangered, and yet it turns out to 
 be a question of infinitessimal importance. Societies which 
 were doing great service have often been broken up by the 
 crazy whimsies of good brethern, who made much ado 
 about nothing, and did great harm in trying to do a little 
 good. Aim at reformation, not at desolation. The church 
 has been thought to be sick, and fools have doctored it till 
 they brought it to death's door by their poisons. SPUR- 
 GEON. 
 
 SOMETHING WRONG. 
 
 Nine-tenths, at least, of the church members never think 
 of speaking for Christ. If they see a man, perhaps a near 
 relative, going right down to ruin, going rapidly, they 
 never think of speaking to him about his sinful course, and 
 of seeking to win him to Christ. Now certainly there must 
 be something wrong, and yet when you talk with them, 
 you find they have faith, and you can not say they 
 are not children of God; but they have not the 
 power, they have not the liberty, they have not the love 
 that real disciples of Christ should have. A great many 
 people are thinking that the church needs new measures, 
 that it needs new buildings, that it needs new organs, that 
 it needs new choirs, and all these new things. That is not 
 what the church of 'God needs to-day. It is the old power 
 that the Apostles had that is what we want. MOODY.
 
 272 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 He has but one church; for the second Adam, like the 
 first, is the husband of one wife. And just as the church 
 cannot have two heads, neither can the head have two 
 bodies; for, as that body were a monster which had more 
 heads than one, not less monstrous were that form where 
 one head was united to two separate bodies. Of all these 
 churches, then, each claiming to be cast in the true gospel 
 mould, that with consecrated bishops, this with simple 
 presbyters, this other without either; that administering 
 baptism to infants as well as adults, this only to adults; 
 that robed in a ritual of many forms, this thinking that 
 religion, like beauty, when unadorned, is adorned the 
 most which is Christ's body, the Lamb's wife ? which 
 are we to receive as the favorite of heaven ? Of which does 
 God say as he said of David among rival brethren, "Arise, 
 annoint her, for this is she ?" Of none of them. Christ has 
 a church, but it is none of these. In explanation of a re- 
 mark which may surprise some, and is fitted to teach all of 
 us humility and charity, I observe : that Christ's body 
 which is not identical with any one church, is formed of 
 all true believers, to whatever denomination they may be- 
 long. GUTHEIE.
 
 THE SOUL IMMORTAL. 
 
 "And man became a living sou/." Gen. 11:7. 
 The witnesses axe heard: the cause is o'er. 
 Let conscience file the sentence in her court, 
 Dearer than deeds that half a realm convey. 
 Thus sealed by truth, the authentic record runs, 
 Thus know, all infidels! (unapt to know!) 
 'Tis immortality your nature solves; 
 'Tis immortality deciphers man. 
 And opens all the mysteries of his make. 
 Without it, half his instincts are a riddle; 
 Without it, all his virtues are a dream. 
 His very crimeb attest his dignity ; 
 His sateless thirst for pleasure, gold and fame, 
 Declares him born for blessings infinite. 
 
 EDWARD YOUNG. 
 
 THE IMMORTALITY OF INFLUENCE. 
 
 It is the privilege of every man to live more in 
 the future than he does in the present. John Wesley's 
 name is a thousand fold greater to-day than it AVM.S when he 
 was living. He still lives. He lives in the lives of thous- 
 ands and millions of his followers. 
 
 Martin Luther lives more to-day than he did centuries 
 ago, when he was Hying in Germany. He only lived one 
 life for a while. But, now, look at the myriads of lives he 
 is living. He is dead in the sight of the world, but "his 
 works do follow him." He still lives. 
 
 The voice of John the Baptist is ringing through the 
 world to-day, although nearly nineteen hundred years have 
 passed away. Herod thought when he was beheading Him 
 he was hushing His voice, but it is ringing all through the 
 earth to-dav. John the Baotist lives, because hi- lived for 
 
 273
 
 i' 7 4 GEMS OP TR UTH AND BE A UTY. 
 
 God. If a man just gets outside of himself and begins to 
 work for God, his name will be immortal. Why, you may 
 go to Scotland to-day, and you will find the influence of 
 John Knox over every mountain. It seems that you can 
 almost feel the breath of that man's prayer in Scotland to- 
 day. His influence still lives. MOODY. 
 
 STARS SYMBOLS OF IMMORTALITY. 
 
 The same stars that look down on us looked down upon 
 the Chaldean shepherds. The meteor that I saw flashing 
 across the sky the other night, I wonder if it was not the 
 same one that pointed down to where Jesus lay in a man 
 ger, and if, having pointed out his birth-place, it has ever 
 since been wandering through the heavens, watching to see 
 how the world would treat him. When Adam awoke in 
 the garden, in the cool of the day, he saw coming out 
 through the dusk of the evening the same worlds that 
 greeted us on our way to church to-night. 
 
 In Independence Hall is an old cracked bell that sounded 
 the signature of the Declaration of Independence. You can 
 not ring it now; but this great chime of silvery bells that 
 strike in the dome of night ring out with as sweet a tone as 
 when God swung them at creation. Look up to-uight, and 
 know that the white lillies that bloom in the hanging gar- 
 dens of our King are century plants not blooming once 
 in a hundred years, but through all the centuries. 
 
 The star at which the mariner looks to-night was the 
 light by which the ships of Tarshish was guided across the 
 Mediterranean, and the Venetian flotilla found its way into 
 Lepanto. Their armor is as bright to-night as when in 
 ancient battle, the stars in their courses fought against 
 Sisera. To the ancients, stars were the symbols of eter- 
 nity. But here the figure breaks down not in defeat, but 
 on the majesties of the judgment. The stars shall not
 
 THE SOUL IMMORTAL. 275 
 
 shine forever. The Bible says they shall fall like autumn 
 leaves. It is almost impossible for a man to tako in a 
 courser going a mile in three minutes; but God shall take 
 in the worlds, flying a hundred thousand miles an hour by 
 one pull of his finger. As, when the factory band slips at 
 nightfall from the main wheel, all the smaller wheels slacken 
 their speed and with slower and slower motion they turn 
 until they come to a full stop; so this great machinery of 
 the universe, wheel within wheel, making revolutions of 
 appalling speed, shall, by the touch of God's hand, slip the 
 band of present law, and slacken, and stop. That is what 
 will be the matter with the mountains. The chariots in 
 which they ride shall halt so suddenly that the kings shall 
 be thrown out. Star after star shall be carried out to 
 burial amid the funeral torches of burning worlds. Con- 
 stellations shall throw ashes on their head, and all up and 
 down the highways of space shall be mourning, mourning, 
 mourning, because the worlds are dead. But Christian 
 workers shall never quit their thrones they shall reign 
 forever and ever. Forever the river of joy flows on; for- 
 ever the jubilee progresses forever, forever. TALMAGE. 
 
 THE GRAIN OF WHEAT. 
 
 On unrolling some of the old Egyptian mummies, you 
 will find wheat three thousand years old. The Greek em- 
 pire has risen and gone; the Roman empire has been riven 
 and its dust has been blown away, and civil, zation has de- 
 veloped since the careful attendants rolled up that wln-:it ; 
 it has lain three thousand years doing nothing but keeping 
 unconscious company with hideous mummies; and yet 
 when taken out and planted in a field it goes to work, 
 comes up, develops a stem, and brings forth fruit as though 
 it had not taken a wink of sleep. And if wheat will keep 
 as long as that, I am sure that men will. Though they are
 
 276 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 for years wrapped up, yet when God unrolls them the seed 
 will come up and the germ grow again. Then let us take 
 a broader view. Do not think of life as in the compass of 
 a pint or a gill. Measure existence on a broader scale. 
 How intinjte the space ! How enormous the duration ! 
 How transcendantthe capacity which belongs to the human 
 soul ! BEECHER. 
 
 IMMORTALITY COMMON TO CHRISTIAN AND HEATHEN MINDS. 
 
 Why do these weeping Greeks approach the dead man, 
 as he lies on his bier for burial, and open his mouth to put 
 in an obolus ? That coin is passage money for the surly 
 ferryman who rows the spirit over Styx's stream. And 
 why, in that forest grave, around which plumed and 
 painted warriors stand unmoved and unmovable as statues, 
 do they bury with the body of the Indian chief his canoe 
 and bow and arrow. He goes to follow the chase and hunt 
 the deer in the spectre land, where the Great Spirit lives, 
 and the spirits of his fathers have gone before him. How 
 easy it is to teach in these customs and beliefs a sort of 
 rude copy of the words Life and Immortality. I shall not 
 die but live. GUTHRIE. 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN OUT OF DEATH'S REACH. 
 
 The time will come when men will laugh at death. We 
 shall one day get such a view of the universe that we shall 
 look down upon death, and say, "O death, where is thy 
 How so? Jesus Christ abolished death. He 
 brought life and immortality to light. If we believe in 
 lira, death will to us be no longer a spectre, a ghost, an 
 ugly guest to the house, sucking out our blood, and dark- 
 ening our future. It will then become a swinging door, 
 and, as it swings, we shall pass in to light, to music, to
 
 THE SOUL IMMORTAL. 277 
 
 rest. Death will always be a frightful thing to the man 
 who has no Savior. He may have lived himself into that 
 measure of beasthood that will not confess terror. I never 
 knew of a felled ox saying, "Death is very terrible." So 
 there are men who have lived themselves down so beast- 
 ward and devil ward that they hardly know death from life. 
 But the man who is in Christ, his life is above the reach of 
 death. When the body crumbles and falls down, to get 
 up no more, the soul is a guest in Heaven. A guest ? 
 Nay, he is a child at Home ! PABKER.
 
 TONGUE. 
 
 1 Refrain thy tongue from eril" I Pet. Hi: IO 
 
 "Five things observe with care: 
 
 Of whom you speak, 
 
 To whom yon speak, 
 
 And how, and when* and where." 
 
 "WHISPERS." 
 
 When Paul called the list of the world's villainy, he put 
 in the midst of the roll ''Whisperers." They are so-called 
 because they generally speak undervoice, and in a confi- 
 dential way, their hand to the side of the mouth, acting as 
 a funnel to keep the precious information from wandering 
 into the wrong ear. They speak softly, not because they 
 have lack of lung force, or because they are overpowered 
 with the spirit of gentleness, but because they want to 
 escape the consequences of defamation. If no one hears 
 but the person whispered unto, and the speaker be ar- 
 raigned, he can deny the whole thing, for whisperers are 
 always first-class liars ! Some people whisper because they 
 are hoarse from a cold, or because they wish to convey 
 some useful information without disturbing others, but the 
 slanderer gives muffled utterance from sinister and de- 
 praved motive, and sometimes you can only hear the sibi- 
 lant sound as the letter "S" drops from the tongue into 
 the listening ear, the brief hiss of the serpent as it projects 
 its venom. 
 
 From the frequency with which Paul speaks of them un- 
 
 278
 
 TONGUE. 279 
 
 der different titles, I conclude that he must have suffered 
 somewhat from them. His personal appearance M-:IS de- 
 fective, and that made him perhaps the target of this ridi- 
 cule. And besides that, he was a bachelor, persisting in 
 his celibacy down into the sixties, indeed, all the w:iy 
 through j and some having failed in their connubial de- 
 signs upon him, the little missionary was put under the 
 raking fires of these whisperers. He was no doubt a rare 
 morsel for their scandalization; and he cannot keep his 
 patience any longer, and he lays hold of these miscreants 
 of the tongue, and gives them a very hard setting down in 
 the text among the scoundrels and murderers. 
 
 They are to be found everywhere, these whisperers. I 
 think their paradise is a country village of about one or 
 two thousand people, where everybody knows everybody 
 else. But they are also to be found in our cities. They 
 have a prying disposition. They look into the basement 
 windows at the tables of their neighbors, and can tell just 
 what they have to eat, morning and night. They can see 
 as far through a key-hole as other people can see with the 
 door wide open. They can hear conversation on the oppo- 
 site side of the room. The world to them is a whispering 
 gallery. TALMAGE. 
 
 UNKIND WORDS LIKE NEEDLES. 
 
 I saw in the museum at Venice an instrument with which 
 one of the old Italian tyrants was wont to shoot poisoned 
 needles at the objects of his wanton malignity. I thought 
 of gossips, backbiters, and secret slanderers, and wished 
 that their mischievous devices might come to a speedy end. 
 Their weapons of inuendo, shrug, and whispers, appear to 
 be insignificant as needles, but the venom which they in- 
 stil is deadly to many a reputation. SPURGEON.
 
 280 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 One of our ancient nobility had inscribed over his castle 
 gate these words, which I commend to all persons who are 
 thin-skinned in the matter of private gossip or public wor- 
 ship: 
 
 THEY SAY. 
 
 WHAT DO THEY SAY? 
 LET THEM SAY. 
 
 IBID. 
 
 A DEADLY SIN. 
 
 Jesus calls a slanderous spirit a beam, compared with 
 which any other mistake is a little thin splinter. Here is a 
 man that condemns every poor creature that is overtaken 
 in a fault. He has no sympathy with such. The man 
 took a glass of whisky too much, lost his equilibrium, was 
 seen in a reeling state that circumstance is reported to 
 the man who only indulges in slanderous criticism, and the 
 man immediately calls for the excommunication of the 
 erring brother from the church, not knowing that he him- 
 self is drunk, but not with wine, drunk with a hostile 
 spirit, drunk with uncharitableness. 
 
 If I had been guilty of this ineffable meanness, I would 
 preach to myself as loudlv and keenly as to any other 
 man, if I had been guilty of speaking an unkind word 
 about any human creature, or suspecting the honesty of 
 any man. If ever I had said about a brother minister, 
 " He is a fine man in many respects, a noble creature, kind, 
 chivalrous, grand of soul, but ," if ever I have said that 
 but, God will punish me for it. 
 
 We do not lay hold of this great truth sufficiently. We 
 think that a little slander is of no consequence. To be 
 called up before the church and condemned for slander! 
 Condemn the drunkard, turn out the man who by infinite 
 pressure has committed some sin turn him out--certainly,
 
 TONGUE. 281 
 
 and never go after him, and never care what becomes of 
 him, let a wolf gnaw him only get rid of him: if we go 
 home and speak unkindly of man, woman, or child, who is 
 the great sinner; the drunkard we have just expelled, or 
 the closely-shaven, highly-polished Christian who does 
 nothing but filch his neighbor's good name ? PARKER.
 
 WOMAN. 
 
 "And they marveled that He was speaking with the woman. 1 ' 
 John iv: 2f. 
 
 " 0, what is woman, what her smile, 
 
 Her lip of love, her eye of light? 
 What is she if her lip revile 
 
 The lowly Jesus? Love may write 
 His name upon her marble brow, 
 
 Or linger in her curls of jet; 
 The bright spring flowers may scarcely bow 
 
 Benfath her step, and yet and yet, 
 Without that meeker grace, she'll be 
 
 A lighter thing than vanity." 
 
 WOMEN AMONG HEATHEN. 
 
 Now what is the difference between the condition of 
 women there and here, then and now ? The only differ- 
 ence is that which is made by the gospel of the Son of God. 
 O, women! To-day you would have been hitched to the 
 plough, or you would have been leaping upon the funeral- 
 pyre, or you would have been ground under the heel of 
 man's cruelty and insolence, were it not for the fact that in 
 this land and in this age the Lord Jesus Christ appeared, 
 with love in his voice and omnipotence in his arm. and 
 stood above this grave of womanhood, and said, "Come 
 forth! " And she has come forth in the dignity of a Chris- 
 tian hope. TALMAGE. 
 
 WOMEN ON THE BATTLE-FIELD. 
 
 There never was a better illustration given of how well 
 
 282
 
 WOMAN. 283 
 
 women can help in the camp, if she tries to, than during 
 our late war. Men forged the cannon. Men fashioned 
 the musketry. Men manned the guns. Men unlimbered 
 the batteries. Men lifted the wounded into the ambulances. 
 But women scraped the lint. Women administered the cor- 
 dials. Women watched the dying pillow. Women wrote 
 the last messages of love to the home circle. A woman 
 was the mourner; the only mourner at many a burial. 
 IBID. 
 
 A LOST WOMAN. 
 
 Look out upon that fallen creature whose gay sally 
 through the street calls out the significant laugh of bad 
 men, the pity of good men, and the horror of the pure. 
 Was not her cradle as pure as ever a loved infant found I 
 Love soothed its cries. Sisters watched its peaceful sleep, 
 and a mother pressed it fondly to her bosom. Had you 
 afterwards when spring flowers covered the earth, mid 
 every gale was odor, and every sound was music, seen her 
 fairer than the lily or the violet, searching them, would 
 you not have said, "Sooner shall the rose grow poisonous 
 than she; both may wither, but neither corrupt." And 
 how often, at evening, did she clasp her tiny hands in 
 prayer! How often did she put the wonder- raising ques- 
 tions to her mother, of God, and heaven, and the dead, as 
 if she had seen heavenly things in a vision! As young 
 womanhood advanced, and these foreshadowed graces 
 ripened to the bud and burst into bloom, health glowed in 
 her cheek, love looked from her eye, and purity was mi 
 atmosphere around her. Alas, she forsook the guide of l"-r 
 youth! Faint thoughts of evil, like a far-off cloud which 
 the sunset gilds, came first; nor does the rosy sunset blush 
 deeper along the heaven, than her cheek at the first 
 thought of evil. Now, ah, mother, and thou guiding elder
 
 284 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 sister, could you have seen the lurking spirit embosomed 
 in that cloud, a holy prayer might have broken the spell, 
 :i tear have washed its stain! Alas, they saw it not! She 
 spoke it not; she was forsaking the guide of her youth. She 
 thinketh no more of heaven. She breatheth no more 
 prayers. She hath no more penitential tears to shed, she 
 drops the bitter tear upon the cheek of despair, then her 
 only suitor. Thou hast forsaken the covenant of thy God. 
 Go down! fall never to rise! Hell opens to be thy home! 
 BEECHER. 
 
 HEROISM OF CHRISTIAN WOMEN. 
 
 Both before and since the days when they ministered 
 to our Lord, followed him to Calvary with their tears, 
 were last at the cross and first at the sepulchre, the church 
 has exhibited many instances of high and holy heroism on 
 the part of women. However deserving of the name in 
 ordinary circumstances where martyr's fires were fiercely 
 burning, and scaffolds flowed with blood, and prisons over- 
 flowed with captives, women have not showed themselves 
 to be the " weaker sex." On the contrary, when adher- 
 ence to principle involved painful sacrifices, men have 
 found such support in gentle women, as I have seen 
 the green and pliant ivy lend the wall it clung to, when 
 that, undermined and shaken, was ready to fall. GUTHRIE. 
 
 CHRIST AND WOMAN. 
 
 You cannot get rid of Christ. You exclude Him from 
 your schools by act of Parliament, but, passing through 
 the midst of you, He says, "Suffer Me and the children to 
 meet; let the flowers see the sun; " you find Him in statute- 
 books, in pbilantrophic institutions, in literature; you find 
 Him now just as his disciples found Him, in out-of-the-way 
 places, doing out-of-the-way things; "they marvelled that
 
 WOMAN. 285 
 
 he spake with the WOMAN," the eternal marvel, the 
 eternal hope! He is speaking with the woman still; speak- 
 ing with her in India, in China, in islands far out upon the 
 sea; presently He will take up her children in his arms and 
 bless them, and be himself as the child that is born unto 
 every woman. PARKER.
 
 YOUTH. 
 
 " Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth.'''' Ecclcs. 
 xi i: I . 
 
 There are gains for all our losses, 
 
 There are balms for all our pain, 
 But when youth, the dream departs, 
 It takes something from our hearts, 
 
 And it never comes again 
 
 RICHARD H. STODDARD. 
 
 Ah. five and twenty years ago 
 
 Had I but planted seed of trees, 
 How now I should enjoy their shade, 
 
 And see their fruit swing in the breeze. 
 
 ORIENTAL. 
 
 In an election, the first votes recorded count all the day 
 long, and so encourage the party through all the anxious 
 hours of polling. When men give in their names for Jesus 
 and his cause in the morning of their lives, their whole 
 existence influences their time, and their encouragement to 
 the cause is life long. Young people, remember this! 
 SITRGEON. 
 
 A soul that comes early to Christ is worth more to itself 
 and to the world than a soul that comes late to Christ, and 
 not so miu-h perhaps because it wants to serve God, as 
 because it is afraid it will go to hell. 
 
 286
 
 YOUTH. 287 
 
 NEGLIGENCE OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 The world comes to the child when it is in the April of 
 life, and sows tares. The world comes along again when 
 the child is in the May of life, and sows thistles. Again 
 in the fair June it comes and sows nox vomica. The church 
 meanwhile folds its hands and waits until the April has 
 gone, and the May has gone, and June and July have gone, 
 and then at the close of August gets in earnest and says, 
 "Now, now we have got a bag of good wheat here, and we 
 must sow it in this fresh young soil, and we shall have a 
 glorious harvest!" Will it? No, no! It is too late! 
 Everlastingly too late! You should have sowed in April 
 and in May the good seed of the kingdom. 
 
 PATIENCE WITH YOUTH. 
 
 As we get older, do not let us be affronted if young men 
 and women crowd us a little. We will have had our day, 
 and we must let them have theirs. When our voices get 
 cracked, let us not snarl at those who can warble. When 
 our knees are stiffened, let us have patience with those who 
 go fleet as the deer. Because our leaf is fading, do not let 
 us despise the unfrosted. TALMAGE. 
 
 INSIDIOUS TEMPTATIONS. 
 
 The young are seldom tempted to outright wickedness; 
 evil comes to them as an enticement. The honest generos- 
 ity and fresh heart of youth would refuse to embrace open 
 meanness and undisguised vice. The adversary conforms 
 his wiles to their nature. He tempts them to the ba 
 deeds by beginning with innocent ones, gliding to more 
 exceptionable, and, finally, to positively wicked ones. All 
 our warnings therefore must be against the vernal beauty 
 of vice! Its autumn and winter none wish.
 
 288 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 THE DECEITFUL NATURE OF SIN. 
 
 The face of pleasure to the youthful imagination is the 
 face of an angel, a paradise of smiles, a home of love; while 
 the rugged face of industry, imbrowned by toil, is dull and 
 repulsive; but at the end it is not so. These are harlot 
 charms which pleasure wears. At last, when industry shall 
 put on her beautiful garments, and rest in the palace 
 which her own hands have built, pleasure, blotched and 
 diseased with indulgence, shall lie down and die upon the 
 dung-hill. BEECHER. 
 
 ADVICE TO YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 
 
 Now we want these young converts to serve Christ. It 
 is not too much to expect that each of you should bring 
 twelve more. One young man came to me and said he was 
 converted on the 3d of February; he had a list of fifty-nine 
 persons, with the residence of each, whom he had since 
 that time been instrumental in leading to Christ; and if 
 that young convert had led fifty-nine, every man, woman, 
 and child ought to be able to reach some. Let each one go 
 to work. That is the way to grow in strength. "They 
 that water others shall themselves be watered, and the 
 liberal soul shall be fed. God is able to make all grace 
 abound." Let me give you a little advice. Let your 
 friends be those who are in the church. Select for your 
 companions experienced Christians. Keep company with 
 those who know a little more than you do yourselves. Of 
 course, you get the best of the bargain; but from my own 
 experience I know it is the best way to make advances in 
 religious life. And get in love with the Book, and the 
 world will lose its hold on you. MOODY. 
 
 An address to converts at the close of a great revival in New York.
 
 YOUTH. 289 
 
 INFLUENCE OF A MOTHER ON YOUTH. 
 
 Take the history of Rehaboam. There is, in his life, just 
 one short sentence which supplies the key, more perhaps 
 than anything else, to his sin and folly, "his mother's 
 name was Naamah, an Ammonitess." She was by blood 
 an alien, and by religion a heathen. Unhappy in many 
 things, but unhappiest most in such a mother, he begins to 
 be regarded more with pity than with astonishment. The 
 letters written on water are hardly formed when they are 
 filled up; on the other hand the finger that traces them on 
 stone leaves no visible impression on its indurated service; 
 but plastic clay, midway between what is hard and soft, 
 offers to the gentlest finger a substance which both receives 
 and retains an impression. Such is the heart that youth 
 and childhood offer to a mother's influence. Hear how 
 Cowper sings of the boy by a mother's knee. 
 
 " His heart, now passive, yields to thy command, 
 Secure it thine, its key is in thine hand." 
 
 GUTHRIE.
 
 DR. TALM AGE'S GREAT SERMON ON 
 "HOME." 
 
 "Let them learn first to show piety at home.' 1 '' I Tim. v: 4. 
 
 In the summer months the tendency is to the fields, to 
 visitation, to foreign travel, and the watering places, and 
 the ocean steamers are thronged. But at this season of 
 the year the tendency is to gather in the domestic circles, 
 and much of our life for months must be spent in-doors. 
 My text enjoins upon us Christian behavior amid such sur- 
 roundings. How many are longing for grand spheres in 
 which to serve God ? They admire Luther at the Diet of 
 Worms, and wish they had some such daring opportunity 
 in which to exhibit Christian character, and are only wait- 
 ing an opportunity in which to display their Christian prow- 
 ess. Now, the apostles comes to such persons in my text and 
 says: "I will show you a place where you can exhibit all 
 that is grand and beautiful and glorious in the Christian 
 character, and that place is the domestic circle. " ' 'Let them 
 learn first to show piety at home." Indeed, if a man does 
 not serve God on a small scale, he never will serve him on 
 a large scale. If Peter is not willing to help the cripple at 
 the gate, he will not be able to preach 3,000 souls into the 
 kingdom on the day of Pentecost. If Paul will not stop 
 to instruct the keeper of the Phillipian dungeon, he will 
 not be able to make Felix tremble. Faithfulness in small 
 affairs is a prophecy of faithfulness in large affairs. There 
 is one word in my text around which all our thoughts this 
 morning will revolve. Home ! 
 
 290
 
 DR. TALAMGE ON "HOME." -29 / 
 
 The home, in the first place, is the most powerful test of 
 one's character. A man's disposition in public may be of 
 gay costume, while in private it is en dishabille.. The play 
 actor does differently on the platform from the way he does 
 behind the scenes. Public life is often a very different 
 thing from private life. A man will receive you in his par- 
 lor with so much gracefulness that he seems to be the dis- 
 tillation of smiles, while in his heart there is a swamp of 
 nettle. Men will sometimes in business life all day long 
 be courteous and good natured, damming back their irri- 
 tability and their petulance and their discontent, but at 
 nightfall the dam breaks, and scolding pours forth in floods 
 and freshets. The wind sometimes rises at sunset, and 
 in summery days 
 
 THERE MAY BE TEMPESTUOUS NIGHTS. 
 
 Anger does not like to display itself among the men who 
 excite it, but sometimes in cowardly manner comes home 
 and drops itself on the domestic circle. Private life is 
 often public life turned wrong-side out. The lips that 
 dropped with myrrh and cassia, the disposition that seems 
 to be warm and bright as a sheaf of sunbeams, may only 
 be a magnificent show window to a wretched stock of 
 goods. The harp that all day sang like an angel may at 
 nio-ht grate like a saw. Such persons do not understand 
 the precept of my text. They do not show piety at home. 
 In the home we reveal our real character. Reputation is 
 only the shadow of character, and you know a small hmisf 
 will sometimes cast a very long shadow. Men do not like 
 to exhibit their badness in public for the same reason that 
 they do not like their note to go to protest- --it does not 
 pay; or for the same reason that they do not want men in 
 their stock company to sell at too low a rate, for it will de- 
 preciate the value. There are men who do not exhibit
 
 292 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 their bad temper in public for the simple reason that they 
 do not want to be knocked down ! There are those who 
 are philanthropists in public life, who in homes are the 
 Xero with respect to their slippers and their gown. Audu- 
 bon, the great ornithologist, with gun and pencil went all 
 through the forests of this country for the purpose of 
 bringing down and sketching the bird of the land; then 
 went home, put the valuable documents in a trunk, and, 
 after an absence, .found that the rats had completely de- 
 voured the manuscript, so that again he took gun and pen- 
 cil and again went through the forests of the land, repro- 
 ducing that which Avas destroyed, while there are many in 
 private life, at the loss of a pencil or an article of clothing 
 will act as though they had met with an irreparable loss, 
 and will blow sharp and loud and long as a northeast 
 storm. If a man make pretensions to kindness and gen- 
 tleness in public where there is none in his heart, he is 
 making a fraudulent over-issue of stock, and is as unright- 
 eous as a bank with three or four hundred thousand dol- 
 lars of bills in circulation but no specie in the safe. Let 
 us learn to show piety at home. If we do not there ex- 
 hibit Christian character, it is because there is no grace 
 and genuineness of character in our soul, and our outward 
 plausibility of behavior only springs from fear of the 
 world, and the slimy, putrid pool of our own selfishness. 
 Home is the mightiest of all tests of a man's character. 
 Again, I remark that 
 
 HOME IS A REFUGE. 
 
 Life is the United States army on the national road to 
 Mexico, with a long march, and ever and anon a skirmish 
 and a battle. The home is the tent we pitch to rest in, our 
 bayonets stacked, our war-caps hung up, our heads resting 
 on the knapsack until the morning bugle sounds, warning
 
 DR. TA IMAGE ON "HOME." 293 
 
 us to strike tent and prepare for marching and action. Oh, 
 what a pleasant place it is to talk over the day's victories 
 and surprises and attacks, seated by the still camp-fires of 
 the domestic circle. Life is a stormy sea. With shivered 
 mast and torn sail and hulk aleak we put into the harbor 
 of Home. Into this dry dock we come for repair. Blessed 
 harbor ! The candle in the window is to the laboring man 
 the lighthouse guiding him into port. Children come out 
 to meet their fathers as in the "Narrows" pilots take the 
 hand of ships. The door-sill is the wharf where heavy life 
 is unladen. In the home we may talk of what we have 
 done without being charged with self-adulation. "We may 
 lounge without being thought ungraceful. We may ex- 
 press affection without being thought silly. We may ex- 
 press our thoughts without being considered uncultivated. 
 Forlorn earth pilgrim ! No home ! Then die. That is 
 better. The grave is brighter and warmer than this world 
 without a tont from marching, without a harbor from the 
 storm, without a home in this scene of greed and gouge 
 and loss and gain. May God pity the poor, miserable 
 wretch who has no home ! 
 
 Again I remark that the home is a political safeguard. 
 The safety of the State depends upon the character of the 
 home. Why can not France have a placid republic ? Mac- 
 Mahon appoints a ministry that sets all France aquake lest 
 the republic be smothered. Gambetta dies, and multitudes 
 of Frenchmen fear the return of monarchy ! France has 
 no home on which to build. The Christian hearthstone is 
 the only foundation for a republic. In the -family virtues 
 are cultured which are a necessity for the State; and, if 
 there be not enough moral principle to make the family 
 adhere, there can not bo enough political principle to make 
 the Siato adhere. No home, no free institution. No home 
 makes a nation of Goths and Vandals; makes the Nomads
 
 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 of Central Asia; makes the Numidians of Africa, changing 
 from month to month and from place to place as the pas- 
 ture happens to change. 
 
 CONFOUNDED BE ALL THOSE MODERN BABELS 
 
 That propose to overtop and destroy the family institu- 
 tion ! The family institution is the foundation of the right 
 kind of civil government. The same storm that upsets the 
 boat in which the family sails will sink the frigate of the 
 Constitution. Jails, penitentiaries, armies, navies, are not 
 our chief defences. The door of the home is the best for- 
 tress, household utensils are our artillery, and the chim- 
 neys of our homes are the monuments of safety and tri- 
 umph. No home, no republic. 
 
 I go further, and speak of home as a school. Old 
 ground must be upturned by a subsoil plough, and re- 
 harrowed, and then it will not yield as good a crop as new 
 ground with less culture. Now, infancy and childhood are 
 new ground, and all that is scattered over that ground 
 yields luxuriantly. All the smiles you have ever shown 
 upon your children will be preserved in their disposition. 
 All your ebulitions of anger; all your frowns of indigna- 
 tion in the presence of your child, will be kept as fuel in 
 his temper, and in after years, when the storms of life blow 
 upon that soul, that temper will begin to flash and to glow 
 with your wrath and your indignation they being fuel 
 added to that bad fire. Your expression in regard to the 
 child's intelligence in his presence, when you had no idea 
 that he knew enough to understand what you were 
 talking about, will show itself before he is ten years 
 of age in annoying affectation. Your remark in regard 
 to his beauty will result in your finding some day 
 that he is standing on a high chair in front of the 
 flattering mirror. Deeds and words and examples are the
 
 DR. TALMA GE ON " HOME ." 295 
 
 seed of character, and children are generally the second 
 edition of their parents; but the second edition is not al- 
 ways an improvement and correction of the first edition. 
 Oh, how important it is that the teachers in this homo 
 school should feel their responsibility. Make your home 
 the brightest place on earth if you would charm your chil- 
 dren into the high path of rectitude and religion. Do not 
 always have the blinds turned the wrong way. Let God'> 
 light that puts gold on the gentian and spots the pansv 
 stream into your windows. Do not expect your children to 
 
 KEEP STEP TO A DEAD MARCH. 
 
 Do not cover up your walls with West's "Death on a 
 Pale Horse" and Tinteret's "Massacre of the Innocents :" 
 but rather let there be on your walls some simpler pic- 
 tures "The Hawking Party," "The Old Mill by the 
 Mountain Stream," "The Fox Hunt," "The Ilarv^t 
 Scene," "The Children Amid Flowers" and "Saturday 
 Night Marketing." Get you no lesson of cheerful i. 
 from grasshoppers' leap and lambs 1 frisk, and squirrels' 
 chatter and quails' whistle and garrulous streamlet which, 
 from the rock on the mountain top to the meadow-fern un- 
 der the shadow of the steep, comes looking for the st<-epe>t 
 place to leap off at, and talkingjust for the sake of hearing 
 itself talk ! If all the skies hurtled in thunder tempi 
 and storms perpetually wandered acro.-s the .sea. and al| 
 the streams were raving mad, frothing at the mouth with 
 mud foam, and there were eternal simoons throbbing 
 among the hills, and the world had neither lark's carol nor 
 humming-bird's trill, nor waterfall's dash, but only bear'- 
 bark and panther's scream and wolfs howl then you 
 would do well to bother and plague yourself all through 
 life, gathering around you only the shadows; but win -M 
 God has strewn our path with so many blessings, it is high
 
 296 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 time we took into our homes more of the brightness, more 
 of the innocent hilarity, more of the good cheer. A dark 
 home makes bad boys and bad girls, to be bad men and 
 bad women. Above all take into your home thorough 
 Christian principles. Can it be that in any of the comfort- 
 able homes of my congregation that prayer is never heard? 
 It is a pointed question to ask, and therefore I ask it. At 
 night is there no petition for protection? In the morning 
 is there no thanksgiving for care? Are you raising your 
 children Avithout any inculcation of Christian principles? 
 How will you feel at the judgment seat of Christ when you 
 are caHed to answer for your parental neglect. In the tenth 
 chapter of Jeremiah is the startling prediction that 
 
 GOD WILL POUR OUT HIS FURY 
 
 Upon the families that call not upon the Lord. O! parents, 
 when you are under ground and the moss has covered the 
 inscription on your tomb, will your children look back to 
 a good Christian home and a father and mother at morn- 
 ing and evening prayer ? Will they have the everlasting 
 impression of such a scene ? As they take up the old Bible 
 will they see- in that family Bible the marks of tears of 
 contrition, tears of consoling promise, wept by eyes long 
 years gone into darkness ? Oh, if you train up your chil- 
 dren without any inculcation of Christian sentiment, with- 
 out warning them against evil, without inviting them to 
 holiness and to God, and they go off afterward into lives of 
 dissipation and infidelity and make shipwreck of their mor- 
 tal interests on their death-bed and at the judgment they 
 will curse you. Seated at the register or stove at night, 
 your chiMivn around you, how if. in startling character, 
 there should come out on the wall the history of all your 
 loved ones? What a history 1 The mortal and immortal 
 history of your children. Every parent with liia h.-md is
 
 DR. TA IMAGE ON 'HOME." 297 
 
 writing out the history of his children, composing it into a 
 song, or pointing it with a groan. My mind runs back to 
 one of the best of early homes. Prayer like a roof over 
 it, peace like an atmosphere in it ; parents the personifica- 
 tion of faith in trial, and hope in darkness. The two pil- 
 lars of that home years ago fell into dust, but shall I ever 
 forget that home? Yes; when the flower forgets the sun 
 that warmed it. Yes; when the mariner forgets the star 
 that guided him. Yes; when love dies on the heart's altar 
 and memory empties its urn into forgetfulness. Then, 
 home of my childhood, I will forget thee the family altar 
 of a Cher's importunity and a mother's weepiiig, the 
 voices of affection, the funerals of our dead, the Sabbath 
 twii.ghts which were the pearly shores of Sabbath days, 
 father and mother with interlocked arms, like entwining 
 branches of trees, making a perpetual bower of love and 
 p eace no t till then, home of my childhood, will I forget 
 thee. 
 
 Once more I want to speak of 
 
 HOME AS A TYPE OP HEAVEN. 
 
 At the best estate, my friends, \\e are only pilgrims and 
 strangers; Heaven is to be eternal hcme. Death will never 
 knock at the door of that mansion, and in all that land 
 there will not be a single grave. Aged parents rejoice 
 very much when on Christinas day they have their chil- 
 dren at home, but there is almost always a son or daughter 
 absent absent from the country, perhaps absent from the 
 world. But oh, how our Heavenly Father will rejoice in 
 the long thanksgiving day of Heaven when He has all His 
 children with Him in glory ! How glad brothers and sis- 
 ters will be to meet after so long a separation? Perhaps a 
 score of years ago they parted at the door of the tomb. 
 Now they meet again at the door of immortality. Once 
 they looked through a -la^ darkly. Now face to face, cor-
 
 298 GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. 
 
 ruption, incorruption mortality, immortality. Where are 
 no\v all their sorrows and temptations and trials? Over- 
 whelmed in the Red Sea of death, while they, dry-shod, 
 marched into glory. Gates of jasper, capstone of ame- 
 thyst, thrones of dominion do not so much affect my soul 
 so much as the thought of home. Once there, let earthly 
 sorrows howl like storms and roll like seas. Home! Let 
 thrones rot and empires wither! Home! Let the world 
 die in earthquake struggles and be buried amid procession 
 of planets and dirge of spheres. Home! Let everlasting 
 ages roll in irresistible sweep! Home! No sorrow, no 
 crying, no tears, no death; but home! Sweet home! Beau- 
 tiful home! Glorious home! Everlasting home! Home 
 with each other! Home with angels! Home with God! 
 Home! 
 
 One twilight after 1 had been playing with the children 
 for some time, I laid down on the lounge to rest. The 
 children said: ''Play more!'' Children always want to play 
 more. And, half asleep and half awake I seemed to dream 
 this dream. It seemed to me that 
 
 I WAS IX A FAR DISTANT LAND 
 
 not Persia, although more than Oriental luxuriance crowned 
 the cities; nor the tropics although more than tropical 
 fruitfulness filled the gardens; nor Italy although more 
 than Italian softness filled the air. And I wandered around 
 looking for thorns and nettles, but I found none of them 
 grew there. And I walked forth, and I saw the sun rise, 
 and I said: "When will it set again?" And the sun sank 
 not. And I saw all the people in holiday apparel, and I 
 said: "When will they put on workingman's garb again 
 and delve in the mine and swelter at the fonje?" But 
 
 D 
 
 neither the garments nor the robes did they put off. And 
 I wandered in the suburbs, and I said: "Where do they
 
 DR. TALMA GE ON "HOME." 39 
 
 bury the dead of this great city?'' And I looked along by 
 the hills where it would be most beautiful for the dead to 
 sleep, and I saw castles and towns and battlements, but 
 not a mausoleum, nor monument, nor white slab could I 
 see. And I went into the great chapel of the town, and I 
 said: "Where do the poor worship; where are the benches 
 on which they sit?"" And a voice answered: "Wo have no 
 poor in this great city." And I wandered out, seeking to 
 find the place where were the hovels of the destitute, and I 
 found mansions of amber and ivory and gold, but no tear 
 did I see or sigh hear. I was bewildered, and I sat under 
 the shadow of a great tree, and I said, "What am I, and 
 whence comes all this?" And at that moment there came 
 from among the leaves, skipping up the flowery paths and 
 across the sparkling waters a very bright and sparkling 
 group; and when I saw their step I knew it, and when I 
 heard their voices I thought I knew them ; but their appa- 
 rel was so different from anything I had ever seen, I bowed. 
 a stranger to strangers. But after awhile, when they 
 clapped their hands and shouted, "Welcome! welcome!" 
 the mystery was solved, and I saw that time had passed 
 and that eternity had come, and that God had gathered us 
 up into a higher home; and I said: "Are we all here;"' and 
 the voices of innumerable generations answered: "All 
 here;'' and while tears of gladness were raining down our 
 cheeks and the branches of the Lebanon cedars were clap 
 ping their hands, and the towers of the great city were 
 chiming their welcome, we began to laugh and sing and 
 leap and shout, "Home! home! home!"
 
 Directions for Using the Audiphone, and for 
 Teaching the Deaf to Speak. 
 
 SINCE no amount of use will improve the sense of hear- 
 ing, it is essential that one learning to speak should im- 
 prove it mechanically at once, and be provided at all 
 times with a device for the improvement of this sense, 
 and never fail to use it when there is a sound to be heard, 
 as it is the perceptions of the deaf which will be improved 
 by practice and not the sense of hearing; sounds con- 
 veyed must be distinct to enable them to do this readily. 
 
 Teaching to Hear. 
 
 I have noticed in the reports of several institutions, 
 " Teaching to Hear." We hear with our sense; we per- 
 ceive with our understanding. We cannot bestow a 
 sense, but we may improve our understanding. We can- 
 not teach a sense; we cannot teach to hear. But, hear- 
 ing, we may teach to understand; we may teach through 
 our senses. The sense of hearing existing, it may be 
 appealed to to improve the mind or understanding. It 
 may be improved mechanically to enable us the more 
 readily to do this. But no amount of use will improve 
 the sense of hearing or any other sense we possess. My 
 own sense of hearing is about seven per cent, poorer now
 
 32 THE AUDIPHONE. 
 
 than it was fifteen years ago, but my ability to under- 
 stand is fifty per cent, greater, which shows that I have 
 not taught myself to hear, or improved my sense of 
 hearing by use, but that I have taught myself, through 
 the sense of hearing, the better to understand. 
 
 Hearing Their Own Voice. It is of the greatest 
 importance that the deaf should hear their own voice, 
 which they may do either by closing their .teeth firmly 
 and speaking, or by speaking against an audiphone prop- 
 erly adjusted against their teeth. They should then be 
 encouraged to make sounds for themselves, to hear and 
 
 | 
 
 to speak words as soon as possible, and to continue to 
 do this. Children of perfect hearing are prattling most 
 of the day while at play. We should try to have the 
 deaf use their voices as much as hearing children, to ena- 
 ble them to learn to control it. -To accomplish this they 
 should be required to study aloud most of the day, either 
 by speaking with their teeth closed, or with an audiphone 
 adjusted to the teeth. The teacher will then have but little 
 more labor than the teacher of hearing children, as she 
 will be required only to correct their pronunciation. As 
 soon as they have learned to read, they may read aloud 
 with their teeth closed, or with the audiphone adjusted to 
 their teeth, so as to reconvey to them the sound of their 
 own voice. By requiring them to do this much of their 
 time, they will soon acquire correct pronunciation with 
 but little labor on the part of the teacher. 
 
 Those who have been taught to speak hy the 
 oral method may at once commence reading aloud in 
 this way, and will very soon strengthen and improve their 
 voices. This may be done in cases where they have but one 
 per cent, of hearing only. Practice is the one thing essen-
 
 HEARING THROUGH THE TEETH. 33 
 
 tial to success; the more they practice in this way, the 
 sooner will they acquire a well-modulated voice. 
 
 Reading Aloud to Each Other. As soon as prac- 
 ticable, they may read aloud to each other, the listeners, 
 with the audiphone adjusted to their teeth, looking on a 
 duplicate book; and they will be surprised to note how 
 readily they will hear the words spoken when the)' see 
 them in a duplicate book. It is well for the teacher or 
 one having correct pronunciation to read to a class in 
 this way. 
 
 Use the Eyes as Well as Ears. persons with 
 perfect hearing do not look away from the speaker; 
 neither should one of defective hearing. Do not try to 
 have them distinguish sounds too soon by the ear alone, 
 as would be the case if they looked away from the 
 speaker, except from a duplicate book as above. It is time 
 enough to do this when one is able to understand readily 
 everything said by the use of both the eye and ear. 
 
 To all those who are classed as hard-of-hear- 
 ing, yet who understand language when heard, 
 the audiphone is an inestimable boon, and by them it is 
 in use in every civilized country in the world. They can 
 it to advantage at once, because they understand at 
 once what they hear, while the speechless deaf, though 
 they hear, do not understand what the sounds that reach 
 them mean. Those who are but slightly deaf will not 
 ive as much benefit as those who are more deaf, but all 
 who find trouble in understanding ordinary conversation, 
 and who have some degree of hearing remaining, and 
 who have natural upper teeth, or a very firmly fitting set 
 of false upper teeth, may use it with comfort, both to
 
 34 THE AUDIPHONE. 
 
 themselves and to those who would converse with them. 
 The deaf will be surprised to note how much more peo- 
 ple will have to say to them iif they provide themselves 
 with an audiphone, and render it easy for those who con- 
 verse with them. It is a duty they owe quite as much to 
 those who are obliged to talk with them as to themselves. 
 
 Instructions for Using the Audiphone. 
 
 To adjust the audiphone for use, draw down the silken 
 cord until the audiphone is curved slightly, and then 
 push up the small ring which is on the handle until it 
 tightens on the cord, and fastens it in this curved posi- 
 tion. 
 
 > 
 
 Holding it by the handle in this position, place its 
 upper edge against one or more of the upper teeth. An 
 ' ' eye-tooth " is generally the best. Do not press it against 
 the teeth, but let it rest lightly against them, else you will 
 make your teeth sore, and you will hear better to hold it 
 very loosely in your hand, and let it rest very gently 
 against the teeth. 
 
 Some persons hear better with the audiphone but 
 slightly curved, while others require it curved to a greater 
 degree. Experiment with it in this matter for the best 
 curved position until you get that curved position of the 
 audiphone which gives you the greatest sound. In this 
 respect the audiphone is adjusted to suit sound sonu- 
 what as an opera-glass is adjusted to suit distance. 
 
 Gentlemen may carry the audiphone conveniently 
 by fixing the cord over the collar-button at tin.- bark <>t 
 their neck and slipping it under their eoat under their 
 left arm, leaving the audiphone. strained. In this way 
 the weight of tin; coat will k.-cp the instrument concealed, 
 and they will find it very convenient to use.
 
 HEARING THROUGH THE TEETH. 35 
 
 Ladies may carry the audiphone by throwing the 
 cord over their neck, concealing it when wearing an over- 
 garment, or they may carry it as they would a fan, for 
 which it may be used when desired. 
 
 Persons who have been very deaf for many 
 s, and who are accustomed, wholly -or in part, to in- 
 terpret sound by the movement of the lips of the party 
 speaking, may not readily distinguish the words of the 
 speaker when first using the audiphone, though the 
 sound of these words will be heard. In all such cases a 
 little practice will be required. 
 
 Persons having false teeth, if they fit firmly-, can, 
 notwithstanding, use the audiphone successfully. 
 
 Persons using such instruments as ear trump. 
 ets, which in all cases increase the deafness by concen- 
 trating an unnatural force and volume of sound upon the 
 impaired organ, should at once lay aside all such devices 
 on receiving the audiphone. Such persons, thus 
 accustomed to the unnatural sound, through the ear 
 trumpet, will require some practice to again familiarize 
 themselves with the natural sound of the human voice 
 which the audiphone always conveys.
 
 36" THE AUDIPHOXE. 
 
 Styles and Colors of the Audiphone for Ladies. 
 
 THE Audiphone is made much in the shape of a fan, 
 and for ladies in nearly any color to match the color of 
 the costume worn. Ladies may use it as they would a 
 fan, casually placing it against the teeth when listening; 
 their infirmity will hardly be noticed by a stranger. The 
 instrument is very handsome; any lady might be pleased 
 to have so handsome "$. fan whether deaf or not. 
 . . . COLORS. . . . 
 
 Colorless Transparent 
 
 Amber " " 
 
 Blue, TWO Shades Transparent - 
 
 Green, Two " 
 
 Purple, " - 
 
 Cardinal Red " 
 
 White, "Ivory Finish" Opaque 
 
 Cream, " " 
 
 Pink, Three Shades 
 
 Lilac, 
 
 Drab, " 
 
 Yellow, " 
 
 Green (the New Shades), Two Shades Opaque 
 
 Blue, Three Shades Opaque - 
 
 Cardinal Red " - 
 
 Tortoise Shell " 
 
 Marbleized Gray, two Shades Opaque 
 
 Red 
 " Brown " 
 
 Black Opaque
 
 HEARING THROUGH THE TEETH. 37 
 
 Styles and Colors of the Audiphone for 
 Gentlemen. 
 
 GENTLEMEN prefer the 
 
 Colorless Transparent (Almost Invisible) 
 
 Amber " " 
 
 Black Opaque - 
 
 Tortoise " - 
 
 The favorites with gentlemen being the colorless 
 transparent and the black. 
 
 School Style. 
 
 WE manufacture an instrument adapted for use in 
 schools for the deaf, and solicit correspondence with 
 instructors of the deaf, to whom all information in rela- 
 tion to this instrument will be cheerfully furnished. 
 -PRICE.. . 
 
 Conversational Size (Any Color) $3.00 
 
 Extra Large, for very Deaf People to use 
 
 at Church, Concerts, etc 5.00 
 
 by mail post-paid to any address on receipt 
 of price. 
 
 ADDRESS 
 AGENTS FOR THE WORLD, 
 
 RHODES & M^CLURE PUBLISHING Co., 
 93 Washington St., 
 
 CHICAGO, ILL., U. S. A. 
 AUDIPHONE, 
 
 CHICAGO.