UC-NRLF 
 
 B 3 13b ATT 
 
 LITTLE SERMONS 
 
 FOR TO-DAY 
 
 BY 
 
 CLYDE SHEPARD 
 
SHALL AMERICA 
 GO TO WAR? 
 
 CLYDE SHEPARD 
 
SHALL AMERICA 
 GO TO WAR? 
 
 A Sermon Preached at the Mount 
 Hollywood Congregational Church, 
 Los Angeles, Cal., February 25, 1917, 
 by the Minister, Rev. Clyde Shepard. 
 
 PRICE TEN CENTS 
 (Special Rates in Quantities.) 
 
 CHRISTIAN HEALTH MAGAZINE 
 
 Mt. Hollywood Congregational Church. 
 Los Angeles, 
 
Rv the Same Author 
 
 Little Sermons lor To-Day 
 
 "Full of comfort and inspiration. I 
 found my faith strengthened, and my 
 soul quieted. I am glad I found it." — 
 A Reader. 
 
 Boards, 112 pages, 75c postpaid. 
 
 Christian Healtli Magazine 
 
 A periodical scientific, evangelical, 
 practical, helpful. It points the way 
 to health, happiness, power, through 
 Jesus Christ. It will help you. 
 
 SI. 00 per year. 
 
 CHRISTIAN HEALTH MAGAZINE 
 
 .'Vlt. Hollywood Congregational Church, 
 
 Los Angeles 
 
SHALL AMERICA GO TO WAR? 
 
 This is a time when every man up- 
 on whom rests the responsibility of 
 leadership should declare the convic- 
 tion that is in him. There is no place 
 for cant, or for well sounding eu- 
 phemisms, or for commonplace pla- 
 titudes. It behooves every man to 
 search w^ell his heart and to use all 
 intellectual and spiritual means to 
 learn the truth. There cannot have 
 been at any time any greater obliga- 
 tion or any greater privilege than 
 todav's dutv of seeking to find what 
 is the best thing for our country to 
 do in its time of national stress and 
 uncertainty. We are in a serious sit- 
 uation. There stretch out cross the 
 future two ways, and they are as op- 
 posite as the poles. One of them 
 means war; one of them means 
 peace; and there is a lot of differ- 
 ence between the two. 
 
 It is most remarkable that in scan- 
 nng the current religious utterances, 
 which should be the prophetic lit- 
 
erature of the time, there is found 
 very little voice upon this all-import- 
 ant question. There have been times 
 upon which discussion of it was an- 
 nounced. There are occasions when 
 that is the subject upon which some- 
 one preaches; but as for a real pro- 
 phetic utterance upon the duty of 
 our country it is hardly to be found 
 in the religious literature of the last 
 few weeks. The one contribution of 
 the pulpit to the thought of the situa- 
 tion is, "Stand by the President", and 
 that is mere time-serving. I think 
 we can take it for granted that we 
 will, as a country, stand united be- 
 hind the man who is at the helm ot 
 our ship of state. We have cause to 
 give thanks to God for the noble 
 character and for the splendid spir- 
 it and faith of the man who is our 
 chief at this time. There is no ele- 
 ment of sedition or sign of rebellion 
 in the country, or any hue and cry 
 raised in opposition to the President 
 of the United States. We will stand 
 by him, and stand united. But the 
 all-important question is. what will 
 the President do for us to stand by? 
 
 The question for whose answering 
 the world waits breathlessly is not, 
 will the United States of America as 
 a people stand together, but upon 
 
■« 
 
 what platform and in what action 
 will the United States be united? We 
 will stand united and strong, a great 
 and a free people, and we will take 
 together some course for the future. 
 But what course shall it be, and for 
 what purpose do we act, and to what 
 end do we move? That is the ques- 
 tion for the answer to which all the 
 world waits and trembles tonight. 
 
 The President of the United States 
 of America is bearing the burdens 
 that are upon him like a Lincoln. He 
 desires to know that there is behind 
 him a people who support him. But 
 he desires also to find the action 
 which is right for him to take, and 
 one of the determining factors of his 
 decision is the attitude of the people, 
 the spirit and the voice of your heart 
 and inine. 
 
 Partisans are harassing and har- 
 anguing him from every side. One 
 group is after him and saying "Warn 
 every American citizen to stay off ev- 
 ery vessel that is going into the ter- 
 ritory where there is trouble. Don't 
 give clearance to any ship that car- 
 ries contraband or that goes into 
 troubled waters." And before he can 
 turn from that group another says. 
 "Why, American shipping is stopped. 
 Our ships are tied up in the harbors. 
 
There are guns enough in America 
 to arm these ships and send them out 
 on the sea. Whose fault is it they 
 haven't gone? Why doesn't the 
 President act?" While these cries 
 still ring in his ears, another spokes- 
 man delivers his instructions, "The 
 United States owes it to humanitv 
 to get into this war on the side of the 
 allies. ^\e are taking the part of 
 cowards; let us be men, and fight for 
 the rights of the world." 
 
 Loud voices are being raised on 
 every side, in Congress, in the press, 
 and in conversation, but it is most 
 remarkable that in all the wide coun- 
 tiw almost every preacher that opens 
 his mouth to speak upon the subject 
 dodges the issue and utters common- 
 place truisms, having nothing to say 
 about the decision which must be 
 made. In the last issue of the fore- 
 most denominational paper publish- 
 ed in this country there was a page 
 of opinions given by five prominent 
 ministers in answer to the question. 
 What shall the United States do in 
 its present crisis? That question 
 meant what shall be our policy, what 
 shall we do with reference to that 
 spot over yonder where there are 
 submarines and where we are for- 
 bidden to go? Shall we go with 
 
 8 
 
armed vessels or unprotected vessels, 
 or shall we go at all? Shall we fight, 
 or seek peace? What shall we do? 
 And not one of them dared make the 
 application of his faith to the prob- 
 lem. They said only this, "Let us 
 stand by the President." And preach- 
 ers, who three months ago were 
 talking in their patriotic sermons 
 about peace, and the duty of the 
 country, and the policy of the nation, 
 have today, when there comes a time 
 when it is necessary to apply the 
 truth and when there is a critical 
 situation, dodged the issue, and 
 uttered common-place platitudes, 
 "Stand by the President," "Be Ameri- 
 cans," "Stand together," "Love the 
 Germans," leaving us floundering 
 around in our uncertainty as to what 
 we are going to do about the great 
 national question. 
 
 The press, the public representa- 
 tives, the people, are talking about 
 this question; but it cannot be ans- 
 wered from a diplomatic or political 
 standpoint. Today's problem is big- 
 ger than law or platform. It can be 
 answered only by religion, and the 
 one man above all who should 
 dare to open his mouth to declare the 
 conviction of his heart upon the 
 question is the man who tries to find 
 
 9 
 
the truth in the light of the teachingc 
 of God. It may not come as near 
 
 agreeing with the opinions of every- 
 body who listens to him as do the 
 
 wishy-washy nothings. With pat- 
 riotic platitudes nobody will disa- 
 gree or find fault. But neither from 
 
 them will there come the salvation, 
 
 of the country, or of the world. 
 
 I have no criticism of the man who 
 differs with me. I must allow full 
 right to the man who cries, "Fight 
 for your rights", while I say, "Pre- 
 serve your rights by the better way 
 of peace." But I regret the weak, in- 
 consequential and immaterial utter- 
 ances on such an important matter. 
 It is painful to see a man undertake 
 to answer a great public question, 
 and then not touch it at all. 
 
 We will stand with the President; 
 but this continual harping on that 
 strain before he is decided savors 
 of that old toast, 
 
 "My country! May she always be 
 
 right: 
 But, right or w^rong,^my country!" 
 
 Which has in it the element of truth 
 that my country demands of me a 
 great loyalty and, if it is in difficulty 
 with another nation which, perhaps 
 is no better or not as good, 
 I will not surrender any rights 
 
 10 
 
of my country to that other 
 nation; I will not be a 
 traitor. But which also has in it this 
 element of falsehood, — that what- 
 ever my country does demands my 
 support, and if my country starts out 
 upon a series of depredations, seeks 
 to wrong other people, seeks to do 
 anything inimical to the cause of hu- 
 manity, yet I will stand by. The 
 Kingdom of God and of universal 
 brotherhood demands of us an alle- 
 giance prior to that claimed even ]>y 
 our beloved homeland, the United 
 States of America. And the Banner 
 of the Cross, for him who sees in it 
 the emblem of all humanity's cause, 
 has a stronger appeal even than the 
 stars and stripes, the sacred banner 
 of freedom. 
 
 Now, what is our situation? i 
 will not attempt any digest of inter- 
 national law, or summing up of dip- 
 lomatic practice. I think in a very 
 few words we can outline the situa- 
 tion, and ask the question which we 
 are called upon to answer. 
 
 Several months ago the German 
 Empire in its war with the Allies 
 began some practices of which the 
 United States did not approve and 
 which we said were violations of oar 
 rights. So we protested to the Ger- 
 
 11 
 
mans, and they said they were sorry 
 and wouldn't do it again. Then, dur- 
 ing the month of January we receiv- 
 ed notice that on the first of February 
 they would renew the objectionable 
 w^arfare, and institute other prac- 
 tices which w^e had declared w^ere 
 inimical to the rights of the United 
 States. As soon as they declared that 
 purpose the President of the United 
 States recalled oar Ambassador from 
 Germany and sent the German Am- 
 bassador home, thus breaking off re- 
 lations with that country. 
 
 Just as this page goes to press re- 
 ports come of the loss of American 
 lives, and announcement that Ger- 
 many took into consideration our 
 possible entry into the war, soliciting 
 the aid of Mexico and Japan against 
 us. 
 
 What are w'e to do? No man ever 
 had more responsibility upon his 
 shoulders than our peace-loving, 
 honor-loving President. No people 
 ever faced more vital issues than the 
 honor-loving, peace-loving people of 
 America. The proposed courses of 
 action may be divided into three gen- 
 eral groups. 
 
 First. Declare war against Ger- 
 many. Avenge the insults to a great 
 
 12 
 
people. Maintain our rights. Fight 
 for the cause of humanity. 
 
 The second course is to maintain 
 an armed neutrality — sending armed, 
 or even convoyed, merchantmen to 
 trade with our customers among the 
 allies. Not to be aggressors; not to 
 attack any German boat, or destroy 
 German lives or property; but to re- 
 sist attack, and defend themselves 
 against interference with their 
 rights. 
 
 Our third possibility is to stay out 
 of the war zone; to accept the Allied 
 and German blockades, and surren- 
 der for the present the enforcement 
 of our rights. 
 
 I wish, for reasons which will be 
 set forth, to declare myself in favor 
 of the last-mentioned way — the way 
 of calm, self-controlled, peace. 1 
 will try to show that this course 
 iiolds more of honor, of success, of 
 liberty, of human rights, than the 
 others. The objection to the policy 
 of armed, forced neutrality is that its 
 inevitable battles will inflame the 
 country and destroy our reason. If, 
 however, that course is chosen, let 
 us oppose unalterably the declara- 
 tion of war. 
 
 The New York Tribune said last 
 week that the utterances and agita- 
 
 13 
 
tion of those whom we call the Peace 
 Party, some of them at least, wei'e 
 financed by the Germans, and Rep- 
 resentative Gardner of Massachu- 
 setts went so far as to intimate that 
 William Jennings Bryan had receiv- 
 ed some of that German money. They 
 say "Whoever is a Pacifist is playing 
 himself right into the hands of the 
 German war party, and perhaps the 
 fellow^ he believes in and follows re- 
 ceives money from the German Em- 
 pire for making his utterances." 
 When I read that I said, "Well, I 
 don't want to do that. I 
 don't want to take sides with 
 the Germans and play into their 
 hands. I w^ant to be very careful. 
 It isn't my wish to take sides in the 
 great conflict over there." 
 
 Then I picked up the current Col- 
 lier's Weekly and read an editorial 
 a column and a half in length which 
 said that Germany wanted to drag 
 America into war with the Allies in 
 order to have her in their counsels 
 when it came to deciding the terms 
 of peace; that we cannot do very 
 much damage, because we cannot 
 send any more ammunition than we 
 have been and we couldn't get our 
 soldiers over there; that we are fall- 
 ing into a German trap by going into 
 
 14 
 
the war on the side of the Allies." 
 Thus do they befuddle the issue on 
 both sides. I do not know who i£ 
 right and I do not care. Here is the 
 fact. There is a stand and a policy 
 which is right for this country, and 
 it makes no dilference what any na- 
 tion wants us to do, nor what advan- 
 tage commercially or politically, it 
 will bring to any country. The thing 
 for us to do is to take the right policy 
 and follow it up, clinging to it in 
 the face of all outcries. 
 
 Now, why should we go to war? 
 Why should we fight? It is a terri- 
 ble thing to enter a war, especially 
 one like this that has no end as far as 
 w^e can see. Into the turmoil once, 
 we shall go deeper and deeper. Two 
 or three reasons are advanced. 
 
 One is — we have been insulted. 
 The flag of America, which stands 
 for the ideals of the people, has been 
 insulted and, therefore, we should 
 avenge it. Yes, it has been insulted. 
 H^or two vears and a half we have 
 been insulted as much as any nation 
 can insult us, and our flag has been 
 insulted as much as it can be by ano- 
 ther people — but no stain is yet upon 
 Old Glory. For two and a half years 
 thev have bluffed, scorned, threaten- 
 ed, mistreated, offended and tempted 
 
 15 
 
lis — all of them. But the banner ot 
 the Stars and Stripes waves yet over 
 a land that is free and at peace, and 
 floats the seas the one honored en- 
 sign of the earth. No stain is upon 
 that banner, because Freedom has 
 given the keeping of its insignia into 
 the hands of her chosen people, and 
 no other people under the sun can 
 draw the mark of shame across the 
 Stars and Stripes. No stain will be 
 there until we, ourselves, unneces- 
 sarily dip it in the blood of our fel- 
 low man. 
 
 To avenge an insult! Will war 
 avenge an insult? It only bares our 
 breasts for the sting of a million 
 more. If a man insults me, am I 
 avenged when I slap him in the face, 
 punch his nose, and black his eye? 
 If I know the essence of real man- 
 hood and character will I be drawn 
 down to the level of a physical strug- 
 gle? This idea of avenging an in- 
 sult by physical warfare, either for 
 the individual or for the state, is a 
 dead relic of the dead -ideals of a dead 
 age. 
 
 Well, we should protect our rights. 
 
 We have been denied the right to 
 
 trade with England and some of the 
 
 other Allied countries. We should 
 
 protect that right. Very well, will 
 
 16 
 
war do it? We do have a right to 
 insist that German submarines per- 
 mit our commerce to cross the dead 
 line, but from the minute we declare 
 war against Germany we have no 
 right to demand anything of her. We 
 shall then have no right to have our 
 commerce go from North America to 
 South America. We shall have no 
 right to have a vessel leave New York 
 for Philadelphia. We cannot say, 
 "Hands off" when a fishing smack 
 puts out to sea. 
 
 What rights do we have when we 
 declare war? We protect and keep 
 for ourselves the right to fight, and 
 nothing more. We have a right to 
 take all our civilization and its won- 
 derful organization and to train 
 them for one end — to destroy hum- 
 anity. We have the right to make 
 our sons fight, and bleed, and die on 
 European soil, or in European wat- 
 ers to help settle a European quar- 
 rel. We will have the right to make 
 our mothers and sisters weep and 
 tremble in anxiety. Those are the 
 rights we have in war. To enter war 
 is to surrender rights. Seated at the 
 banquet table, when some relish is 
 taken from us. we would rush out 
 to dig in the garbage bins. 
 
 When world conditions are like 
 
 17 
 
they are today and there is some 
 question to be settled with another 
 nation, some right to be demanded, 
 tlie only reasonble thing is to wait 
 until that struggle over there is set- 
 tled, and they come to the 
 making of terms of peace. We 
 will have far more power then 
 than we can have now. Thac 
 is not surrendering the right. 
 "It is no surrender of a right to post- 
 pone enforcement of it,'" as Bryan 
 said, "For instance,, if I am on the 
 sidewalk and here comes a drunkcTi 
 chauffeur running his car toward me 
 it is better to wait and settle with 
 him when he's sober, instead of 
 standing on my rights and leaving 
 my widow to settle with him." 
 
 We have said in the last few years, 
 over and over, in a dozen kinds of 
 ways, that the United States will not 
 go to war until it is forced upon us. 
 Now, mark you, no war is being forc- 
 ed upon us. No enemy threatens at 
 our doors. No foreign foe treads our 
 soil. The only thing threatened is one 
 littleright of intercourse. The injured 
 are the ghouls who have licked their 
 lips at the profits to be made from 
 the world's suffering. There are oth- 
 ers in the war party,but if it were not 
 for the moneyed ])owers, rasping un- 
 
 18 
 
der the loss of blood-stained gold, 
 we would not now be in danger of 
 the great disaster. There is no com- 
 pelling reason for us to go to war. If 
 we go, we are the aggressors. We 
 cannot claim one iota of the advan- 
 tage and justification of defensive 
 warfare. 
 
 We think the United States should 
 stand as a protector of the rights of 
 neutrals. 
 
 It should. Some countries are 
 
 small and have not much power or 
 
 influence. It behooves the United 
 States of America as a big brother. 
 
 the friend of all humanity, to stand 
 for the rights of neutrals and for the 
 rights of all peoples. Now, we say. 
 the rights of neutrals are being vio- 
 lated. They are, and the United 
 
 States ought to defend them. And 
 how? Plunge into war? 
 
 If the United States of America 
 enters the war of Europe, the world 
 loses its great brother. From being a 
 people that can influence both sides 
 and neutrals, a people all the world 
 honors, great and impartial friend of 
 humanity, we become a prejudiced, 
 impassioned, warring nation. From 
 the one great, free, neutral we be- 
 come a minor ally. The earth loses 
 that which is now its best, and gives 
 
 19 
 
tatattm^m 
 
 it up simply for the vengeance of war, 
 and the only good we can do to the 
 world in the war is the good of our 
 blood and of our guns and of our 
 money in warfare. Gone the art of 
 persuasion. Gone the benefit of love, 
 of free leadership. Gone all save 
 the right to suffer and bleed and 
 make others bleed. God pity a na- 
 tion that for such a vengeance will 
 surrender its position as the worlds 
 great, big, loving, helpful friend and 
 brother. 
 
 The world needs America to defend 
 its rights, and it needs America af 
 peace. It needs America now, and it 
 needs America when there shall 
 come a time of settlement. I plead 
 for no surrendering of American 
 rights, no limitation of the rights or 
 humanity. I plead for the best means 
 for their defense — a power to bring 
 our influence to l)ear upon all the 
 world. I plead for the rights of hu- 
 manity. 1 plead for the only thing 
 that will save them from being 
 swamped in human blood. 
 
 The war in Europe will not last 
 forever. It will end some day and 
 the world will be full of distrust. 
 Those who have fought on one side 
 will distrust those who have fought 
 on the other. If we stay out of it 
 
 20 
 
there will be one country and one 
 people whom they can all trust. 
 There will be one voice that will be 
 heard and it will be the voice of 
 friendship, the voice of democracy, 
 the voice of brotherhood, the voice of 
 
 peace. America's conscience will be 
 \vritten into the laws of nations. 
 
 And America, foregoing for a time 
 a privilege which might be hers, suf- 
 fering for a time while the world 
 suffers, clinging to the greater right 
 rather than the minor, to the better 
 and not the poorer,- -America, thus 
 
 giving herself to the cause of human- 
 ity and to the upholding of her ideals, 
 true to the hopes of the waiting 
 world, — America shall be glorified in 
 the hearts of people everywhere. 
 
 America shall be glorified on 
 
 the pages of history, and verily, 
 1 believe, America shall be glorified 
 
 in the eternal councils of the Prince 
 of Peace. 
 
 21 
 
TW 
 
I 
 
LITTLE SERMONS FOR TO-DAY 
 
LITTLE SERMONS 
 FOR TO-DAY 
 
 BY 
 
 CLYDE SHEPARD 
 
 Minister of the Mount Hollywood Congregational Church, 
 
 Los Angeles; Elditor of Christian Heahh 
 
 Magazine 
 
 QiristiaB Health Magazbe 
 Los Aagelei 
 
Copyrisht 1916 
 
 By Clyde Shepard 
 
 Lot Angelet, California 
 
TO THB MEMORY OF 
 
 "Whose consecrated life was to me ample evidence 
 of God's dwelling- in humanity, and whose 
 prayers followed me through many wind- 
 ing ways until they drew me into the 
 work of the ministry, to live the 
 life of sacrifical service, and 
 to be a bearer of the 
 Good News; 
 
 AND TO 
 
 Whose triumph over almost insuperable diffi- 
 culties, whose success under heavy handi- 
 caps, and whose firm adherence to the 
 right, even in the face of personal 
 loss, are a challenge to his son's 
 fidelity and devotion; 
 
 HatiittglQ firbiratrb 
 
 O n' r" i\ '^ ^' 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Introduction, by Dr. Charles Edward Lockcll 
 
 To-Day— Poem 13 
 
 The Church For To-day 15 
 
 The National Spirit of To-day 20 
 
 Vanishing Opportunities 23 
 
 The Awakening of the Masses — Poem 26 
 
 Half-Baked Goodness 27 
 
 Is the World Content? 30 
 
 Is There a Simple Gospel? 33 
 
 Religious Bosses 36 
 
 The Christian a World-Citizen 38 
 
 Worry 41 
 
 Making Good in a Pinch 56 
 
 God in Business 59 
 
 "Git To Laffin"— Poem 62 
 
 A Universe Without God 63 
 
 The Secret of Power „ 66 
 
 The Survival of the Fittest 69 
 
 The Unseen Battle Line — Poem 73 
 
 The Church and The Social Evil 74 
 
 Great Measures for Great Needs 90 
 
 The Helmsman 92 
 
 A Good Place to Live 95 
 
 "My Pal"— Poem 98 
 
 The Heart of Your Neighbor 99 
 
 Living To-Day 101 
 
Little Sermons for To-day 11 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 There is a perennial demand for good 
 sermons and good preachers. The preach- 
 er deals with subjects in which the soul 
 of man is increasingly interested and con- 
 cerned. The studious, sincere, consecrat- 
 ed, and practical preacher will never lack 
 for a good hearer. Having first gotten 
 his theme into himself, it will not be diffi- 
 cult to get his theme into his audience. 
 The individuality of the preacher will fix 
 the frontiers of his influence. He must 
 not be too dogmatic and never opinion- 
 ated; he should be modest but sure of 
 himself; always gentlemanly but tenaci- 
 ous of his convictions ; he should believe 
 intensely what he preaches, and ingrati- 
 ate his gospel with a pleasing personality. 
 If his message is made to apply to the 
 needs of a living people and a living age, 
 then his living gospel will attract the peo- 
 ple. Life should be his subject, life as in- 
 terpreted by the Christ who came that 
 
12 Little Sermons for To-day 
 
 they might have life and that they might 
 have it more abundantly. 
 
 These little sermons are like sparks 
 from the anvil of a bright and busy 
 young preacher. They are a credit to his 
 spirit and to his genius. They have come 
 from the forge of studious endeavor. They 
 are little only in quantity, and are large 
 in quality and purpose, and will be read 
 with enjoyment and profit. I bespeak for 
 this dainty volume a cordial welcome 
 from those who can easily detect the 
 worth and achievement of a diligent 
 young minister of the Gospel. 
 
 Charles Edward Locke. 
 
Little Sermons for To-day 13 
 
 TODAY. 
 
 Thank God for Today! 
 
 V/hen this morning's rising sun 
 
 Burst the Orient bars of night, 
 
 He sent his scouting rays afar, 
 
 In file and troop and myriad horde. 
 
 To spy the land — to look 
 
 What evil had been wrought 
 
 Under darkness' blighting pall — 
 
 Whether, crouching 'neath the shadowy night, 
 
 Man had marred the days' advance, 
 
 While sun and sunbeam shone 
 
 In the land that somewhere lies 
 
 Between all yesterdays and all todays. 
 
 The marshalled forces heeded well. 
 
 In mist and haze of struggling dawn 
 
 They fought. 
 
 Till with golden shaft 
 
 And conq'ring, bright'ning tread 
 
 They routed from the king's domain 
 
 The last black remnant, 
 
 Stubborn, but forewarned by premonition's 
 
 sign. 
 Sneaking into a dank, secluded corner; 
 Hoping against hope 
 That the messengers of day 
 Might not see; 
 Or, seeing, would not enter. 
 But into every nook and cranny 
 And hiding quarter 
 They pried and peeped. 
 Then possessed. 
 And Today was king o'er all the land. 
 
14 Little Sermons for To-day 
 
 And when, in the first fair flush of victory, 
 
 Capering the conqueror's dance 
 
 In every dewdrop, in all the flowers and trees, 
 
 On dull housetops now made to gleam, 
 
 They brought report to the waiting sun 
 
 Who, with smile of one who knows. 
 
 Lifted his head 
 
 Just over the brim of yesterday. 
 
 They chanted: 
 
 "It was but play, O Lord of Day, 
 
 At thy inspired command. 
 To win the fray and chase away 
 
 The night from out the land. 
 
 "Our best, O Sun, today we've done. 
 
 Of all the trophies gay 
 That we have won, since time begun. 
 
 Today's the fairest day!" " 
 
Little Sermons for To-day 15 
 
 THE CHURCH FOR TODAY 
 
 As Paul declared his purpose to become 
 all things to all men that he might save 
 them, so the institutions of organized 
 Christianity must adjust themselves to the 
 needs of succeeding years. Fishers of 
 men cannot catch book-lover students 
 and uncouth illiterates with one bait. The 
 perch and the bass do not bite the same 
 hook. Likewise the church cannot do its 
 work in exactly the same way in the ninth 
 century and the nineteenth. 
 
 While the fundamentals of religion re- 
 main identical in every generation and 
 country, peculiar conditions and problems 
 demand different emphases, and varying 
 manners of presentation. In Luther's re- 
 bellion against the abuse of forms and 
 rites, his emphasis on justification by 
 faith was the needed reform. When the 
 Wesleyan revival found the theater and 
 all amusement life immoral and degrad- 
 ing, the logical application of moral 
 teaching was to demand their elimination. 
 In every age Jesus, the universal teacher 
 
16 Little Sermons for To-day 
 
 and prophet, has the message that the 
 time needs. 
 
 Now what is the word of God to this 
 decade? We find the world in turmoil. 
 Bloody war triumphs over home and 
 church and state in Europe and parts of 
 Asia and Africa. The rest of the world 
 is unsettled — class pitted against class, 
 man against man. There must be some 
 message of the Christ that will reach the 
 heart of today, and but waits for the 
 prophets to declare it. 
 
 Certain religious needs stand out boldly 
 in the foreground of twentieth century 
 thought and activities. They may be seen 
 to some extent in current criticisms of 
 the church; but more surely in the ad- 
 vancing movements within the church. 
 The groanings and travailings in the 
 church of today are not from defeat, but 
 from growth. Her life is a response to the 
 new opportunities of the new century. 
 
 Let me mention some points of the 
 challenge of Jesus to this hour. And 
 when I do you who read will say, "Why 
 those are the universal things, the most 
 important in every time and clime." True. 
 They are. For always a crisis drives a 
 man back to fundamentals, and he is 
 
Little Sermons for To-day 17 
 
 ashamed for his neglect of them in the 
 basking days of ease, when he might have 
 incarnated them in his Hfe. 
 
 In this day of acid tests a church must 
 have the spirit of service, even to its own 
 destruction. God be praised for a church 
 that recognizes the kingdom of God as 
 bigger than itself, and grasps a greater 
 task than adding to its own rolls and fi- 
 nances. Thank God for a church that 
 knows its purpose is not to advance itself, 
 but to serve others. Church activities 
 and funds driven to denominational suc- 
 cess are too often antagonistic to the 
 spirit of Him who commissioned his 
 church not to be ministered unto, but to 
 minister. Some figures of progress will 
 acquire a new meaning when the great 
 book of the kingdom is unfolded and the 
 light of eternity falls across its tabula- 
 tions. 
 
 Only the church which is willing to 
 serve the kingdom at its own expense can 
 be freed from the charge of hypocrisy 
 and insincerity when it lifts its voice to 
 proclaim the ringing challenge of Jesus 
 to this self-strangled generation — that in- 
 dividuals, institutions and nations live and 
 exist for service. Two thousand years 
 ago Jesus flung this revolutionary torch 
 
18 Little Sermons for To-day 
 
 at humanity, and we have been loath to 
 take it up. Individuals seem to live for 
 selfishness, our institutions are organized 
 for profit, nations exist for aggrandize- 
 ment, conquest and self-honor. The pres- 
 ent failure of a civilization builded on this 
 basis calls for a new venture — a launch- 
 ing out into the deep of social life, sailing 
 only on the teachings of Jesus. 
 
 No sect can meet the needs of modern 
 life unless it have within itself a basis for 
 individual freedom. The days of coercion 
 in doctrinal belief passed with the thumb- 
 screw and the whipcord. The world cries 
 aloud for an understanding fellowship 
 that will receive and help without stereo- 
 typing. A stereotyped soul is worse than 
 a stale speech or a copy-cat book. 
 
 The trials of society's institutions and 
 men's hearts demand that we converge on 
 the great central truths of Christianity. 
 This is no time for quibbling. Every re- 
 ligious teacher who opens his mouth to 
 browbeat and dogmatize ought to be sil- 
 enced as a relic of the eighteenth cen- 
 tury. It is certain that in his purpose for 
 this sad, uncertain age Jesus has abso- 
 lutely no place for the hair-splitter. 
 
 The greatest need of all is a splendid, 
 
Little Sermons for To-day 19 
 
 broad, mature faith. A faith which can 
 see the mantle of glory fall from beloved, 
 institutions, that can hear the successful 
 attack upon old ideas, and yet consecrate 
 itself to the eternal verities, confident that 
 the good shall never pass away. In our 
 time, when old established walls are fall- 
 ing, only the magnificent faith of a 
 prophet will suffice — a faith which knows 
 the foundations do not crumble, and in 
 the maelstrom still will cry "Thus saith 
 the Lord." 
 
 No dogmatism or empty, high-sounding 
 phrases will attract the ears of the bleed- 
 ing world. Whoever has anything to say 
 to this sick year must bring with him a 
 promise of power. Not theory, philos- 
 ophy or platform, but power. The Chris- 
 tian brings the only adequate power — 
 that of the Christ reincarnate in his fol- 
 lowers. This is the great redemptive 
 theme, the hope-song of all the ages, and 
 the only thing big enough in challenge to 
 arrest the attention of this mad civiliza- 
 tion, and great enough in power to do 
 that which it proclaims. 
 
20 Little Sermons for To-day 
 
 THE NATIONAL SPIRIT OF TODAY 
 
 The people who live between the At- 
 lantic and the Pacific from Canada to 
 Mexico are glad today for their dwelling- 
 place. There is a deep patriotism run- 
 ning undereurrent through all our think- 
 ing and our doing. The preparedness pa- 
 rades of 1916 were misnamed. They 
 were demonstrations of national spirit, 
 as much greater than the policy of pre- 
 paredness as the flag is more than its staff, 
 as the country is nobler than its theories, 
 as the people are greater than a platform. 
 
 It is a new thing in the world for a na- 
 tion's eyes to watch while a nation's feet 
 are at march, and no enem}^ in view. No 
 man in all this year's enthusing crowds 
 had aught to think of England or Ger- 
 many, of foe on land or sea. Our thought 
 was of peace, and of the land we love. 
 
 The Spirit of 1916 in America is new. 
 Or is it the Spirit of 1776 reincarnated in 
 twentieth century form? I am constrained 
 to find familiar features as I scan the 
 
Little Sermons for To-day 21 
 
 spirit of Today, with my memory in the 
 birth-chamber of Freedom. 
 
 Battle-flags and battle-tales have arous- 
 ed human fervor in other days. This is a 
 year that witnesses a people aroused to 
 shouting and doing when a new hope 
 flashes an old word to us, and we dedicate 
 ourselves to the cause of peace. When 
 master and man, white and color, male 
 and female, culture and crudeness, wealth 
 and labor, forget their apparent differ- 
 ences and unite under the sacred banner 
 of the stars and stripes to perpetuate its 
 ideals, we are learning the meaning of 
 democracy. 
 
 Preparedness as a policy may or may 
 not be correct. We may blunder in many 
 ways, economic, political, diplomatic. But 
 so long as the heart of America beats 
 with the love of American ideals, and 
 thrills at the thought of a world at peace 
 in brotherhood, we cannot fail in our duty. 
 
 We have learned in this bloody year the 
 significance of the Banner of Liberty. We 
 know it was not made to wave in battle, 
 and to drip wath blood. It stands for the 
 ideals of a nation, the heart-beats of a 
 people. In the red, white and blue are 
 written democracy, brotherhood, liberty. 
 
22 Little Sermons for To-day 
 
 peace. And when our thousands have 
 thrilled at the sight of the colors this 
 year, this new sight under the sun was a 
 proclamation that America shall be true 
 to herself and to humanity, and that the 
 Star Spangled Banner shall forever wave 
 over the Home of the Brave and the Land 
 of the Free. 
 
Little Sermons for To-day 23 
 
 VANISHING OPPORTUNITIES 
 
 There is a time when the clay in the 
 potter's hands is just right for the mould- 
 ing. Then he may give it any shape he 
 desires. If he attempt too early to do his 
 work the form will not abide. Should he 
 wait too long he cannot fashion it to his 
 ideal. . 
 
 In the life of childhood there comes a 
 day when the moulder of character may 
 design its future. As the twig is bent 
 so is the tree, and the grown tree is hard- 
 ly changed. The church today recognizes 
 that in the Sunday School is its supreme 
 opportunity. The man who calls the Sun- 
 day School "sissy" is a back number. The 
 Church School is the most scientific, up- 
 to-the-minute thing in civilization. Not 
 that it has yet attained unto perfection of 
 scientific principle and application, but 
 that it fits more perfectly into the needs 
 of this very hour than anything else under 
 the flag. It prevents more crime than the 
 courts. It builds more character than the 
 schools. It saves more souls than the 
 
24 Little Sermons for To-day 
 
 church. It makes a nation greater than 
 commerce or learning or war. 
 
 Plastic periods appear in the life of 
 every person — days when the soul is open 
 to impression. I may not lead my neigh- 
 bor to a light that I have seen when he 
 will not open his eyes. He cannot hear 
 the music I would bring to his attention 
 while his ears are stopped. But when his 
 heart craves sympathy, I may lead him to 
 love. When his soul feels the demand for 
 goodness, I may take him to God. When 
 he sees his own weakness and meanness, 
 I may point the way to the cross where 
 sin is taken away and weakness is changed 
 to strength. 
 
 Let me not, then, neglect the privileges 
 of the plastic moments. These are the op- 
 portunities which, slipping by today, are 
 forever gone. In pottery, in childhood, 
 in man's great moments, let appear forms 
 and fashions of things to be. 
 
 Our time is a period of plasticity in 
 the whole world. The supreme challenge 
 of the centuries comes now to him who 
 believes in good and God. While the clash 
 of earth's material forces are led by the 
 demons of strife, and the mind of heath- 
 endom aches with the pains of growth 
 into civilization, let him who believes in 
 
Little Sermons for To-day 25 
 
 the power of things spiritual use the 
 chance to drive home his truth. Let him 
 not now shirk, or else forever call him- 
 self a traitor to the right. 
 
 The world is "up in the air." Its mind 
 reels, its heart trembles in uncertainty. 
 We must have a world-sympathy, a world- 
 vision, a world-work. We must cling 
 fast to the faith that is within us, and 
 shout aloud to our American civilization 
 that it must trust in the unseen powers of 
 love and peace and righteousness. We 
 must go, and send the ambassadors of 
 faith, into every unsettled country to say 
 to the plastic peoples, *'You must be 
 moulded into manhood and womanhood 
 for God." 
 
26 Little Sermons for To-day 
 
 THE AWAKENING OF THE 
 MASSES 
 
 The pregnant sky o'er a busy age 
 
 Holds beauty we ne'er have seen; 
 And threatening portents there engage, 
 
 To dim the glorious sheen. 
 The sordid time hath not a mind 
 
 To see the grandeur burn, 
 Nor meaning-laden signs divine. 
 
 Their storms' effects to turn. 
 
 There stirs a power from its sleep — 
 
 The prophets saw the hand 
 Of cloud that led their rousing sweep — 
 
 The oppressed of every land. 
 But the busy, seeking, scheming world 
 
 Cannot presage import. 
 Till all its cherished plans are whirled 
 
 In the tumult's frenzied sport. 
 
 Where late was streaked the shining gleam 
 
 Now purple forms are heaped. 
 And, wierd, portentous, dark, they seem 
 
 To gather for the leap. 
 Fiery streaming brands begin 
 
 To dart and flash and dance — 
 *Tis the storm of the waking world akin 
 
 Levelling lightning lance. 
 
Little Sermons for To-day 27 
 
 HALF-BAKED GOODNESS. 
 
 One way of determining the character 
 of a person is to ascertain the nature of 
 the things to which he gives first place. 
 Their attributes will reveal his own. 
 
 All attempts to level human qualities 
 must fail. That 
 
 "There is so much good in the worst of us, 
 And so much bad in the best of us, 
 
 That it hardly behooves any of us 
 To talk about the rest of us," 
 
 may be true, but its implied thrust at per- 
 sonal excellence is false. True, all have 
 within them some good, and every one has 
 some defects. But there those who aban- 
 don themselves to evil, while others eter- 
 nally strive to attain the best. No man 
 can wisely endeavor to put them in the 
 same category. 
 
 A great danger of our time, when all 
 organizations and businesses are claiming 
 to do good, is that we shall be satisfied 
 with half-baked goodness, with service 
 done in selfishness. I know a man who 
 hesitated for a long time among several 
 
28 Little Sermons for To-day 
 
 lines of professional work because in each 
 there was traceable a possibility of doing 
 good and of rendering service. The fact 
 was that one of these contemplated pro- 
 fessions had service as its own aim. That 
 was all there was in it. The others had 
 merely the possibility — their aims were 
 wealth, position, power. The young man 
 came to see that this seemingly small dif- 
 ference is the most vital consideration, 
 and he gave himself to the work which 
 was pre-eminently good. 
 
 Many businesses, organizations and pro- 
 fessions do work of a Christian character 
 as a sort of by-product. Or, ministering 
 to selfish ends and in doubtful ways, they 
 leave trace of work which the Master 
 would do. Some organizations feel free 
 to claim support in competition with the 
 church because occasionally and to some 
 degree they do work of a Christian nature. 
 
 Countless lives make decisions on the 
 same basis. Following their own desires, 
 going the easy way, people are content 
 that there shall be a little by-product of 
 love and service somewhere. Such lives 
 will not save the world, nor go far in its 
 aid. The life which counts is the one in 
 which service, goodness, Christ are pre- 
 eminent. When William Booth was asked 
 
Little Sermons for To-day 29 
 
 how it was that the Salvation Army under 
 his guidance had done such marvelous 
 work he answered, "Because I have 
 sought only to serve God and humanity. 
 Because God has all there is of me." 
 
 Millions of men and women are chas- 
 ing the selfish desires of their own lives. 
 The suffering, aimless world does not 
 need you and me if we are going to fall 
 in with the mad millions. It does need 
 us sorely, if we will make service first, 
 put humanity ahead of ourselves, let 
 Jesus have the place He claims — the 
 head. 
 
 The best prayer for a Christian is that 
 of Paul — that among all things Christ 
 should have pre-eminence. Not that we 
 shall do His will when it can be done as 
 we go about our own ways. Not that we 
 shall do a little good if it can be done while 
 we seek self-aggrandizement. No. A 
 hundred institutions do that. A thous- 
 and half-hearted, long-distance followers 
 of the gleam are ahead of you. No. But 
 that we put Him FIRST ; that we do His 
 will whether or no; that we serve hu- 
 manity with whom He identified Himself 
 regardless of what it does to us ; that our 
 lives be truly Christ on earth. 
 
30 Little Sermons for To-day 
 
 IS THE WORLD CONTENT? 
 
 'This is a pretty good world, and the 
 preachers should let it alone. If the peo- 
 ple are satisfied with themselves why 
 shouldn't they be left to their satisfac- 
 tion?" This high-sounding slur has been 
 hurled at every man who has tried to 
 call an Israel from the flesh-pots. But 
 the only leader who can justify his occu- 
 pation of the position is one who will 
 arouse people into new and loftier desires. 
 
 The answer to this criticism however, 
 lies deeper than that. The world is not 
 satisfied. Nothing is settled until it is 
 settled right. And so long as an individ- 
 ual chases a false phantom of life, so long 
 Avill his better hours upbraid and unsettle 
 him. The world is not content, because 
 it is so often condemned of itself. 
 
 The world could not do without its 
 preachers, prophets of righteousness, call- 
 ing unwilling people to heights of char- 
 acter they are loath to climb. Every one 
 in his best hours sees a vision of devotion 
 to righteousness; he needs some one to 
 keep that light burning in his darker mo- 
 ments. That is the preacher's function. 
 
Little Sermons for To-day 31 
 
 It is his to proclaim the eternal strife be- 
 tween right and wrong, and to enlist men 
 to battle on the right side. 
 
 Do you not know he is right? You 
 will not deny that tomorrow you will re- 
 fuse to become a murderer. You will not 
 steal. No lie shall cross your lips to give 
 you advantage over your neighbor. Why? 
 Because your soul has answered that some 
 ways are wrong, and some right. Where, 
 then, will you draw the line? What is it 
 that makes murder wrong and service 
 right? Why is it beneath you to steal, 
 and a best part of you to give? Why 
 should you refuse to lie, and strive for 
 truth? Why is love beter than hate? An- 
 swer, Why? There can be no reason at 
 all, except that God has drawn the line 
 sharply between good and evil. The 
 world needs to learn that, and to be filled 
 with prophets leading it into the truth. 
 As the individual halts between the two 
 courses there can be no final solution of 
 his perplexity until he gives himself un- 
 reservedly to the right. Any other de- 
 cision is a makeshift that will not stand 
 the storms. 
 
 Now when we go a step farther and say 
 that in allegiance to the right one must 
 give his allegiance to the Man of Galli- 
 lee, we are met by the query, *Ts He the 
 
32 Little Sermons for To-day 
 
 Way, the Truth, the Life?" And bless- 
 ings on the honest query. Know this, 
 everything good in life has first been met 
 by doubt. Galileo met nothing but doubt 
 with his discovery. Men tried to laugh 
 the early telephone out of endeavor, but 
 yesterday men talked across the continent. 
 We said an airship would not fly, and a 
 submarine would not swim, but today 
 they are the terror of the war. 
 
 Doubt is good, it is a saviour, when it 
 is the honest doubt of which Tennyson 
 wrote, which demands and seeks the 
 truth. Jesus recognized this when He 
 said, "If any man will do His will, he shall 
 know of the doctrine, whether it be of 
 God, or whether I speak of myself." In 
 other words, 'Tf you have honest doubts, 
 try me and you shall know." If any man 
 will follow the gleam of light which is 
 his, in the distinction between right and 
 wrong, in his knowledge that service is 
 the best end of life, that Jesus is the 
 world's greatest teacher, he shall arrive 
 at the sun, and know that Jesus is God. 
 The world knows these things. It needs 
 but to follow them earnestly. Seek right- 
 eousness, give yourself to service, sit at 
 the feet of this Great Teacher, and your 
 doubts shall be resolved, and you shall 
 know that He is God. 
 
Little Sermons for To-day 33 
 
 IS THERE A SIMPLE GOSPEL? 
 
 Occasionally some one breaks forth in 
 a self-righteous demand for a preaching 
 of the simple gospel. It seems to me his 
 contention can be disposed of in short or- 
 der and with simple statements. Usually 
 he is speaking in criticism of another who 
 is preaching in a fashion of which the com- 
 plainer does not approve. 
 
 There is a kernel of the Christian mes- 
 sage. It is that there is a way of salva- 
 tion through Jesus Christ. But there is 
 no such thing as the ''simple gospel" de- 
 manded by those who forbid the universal 
 application of this message. What they 
 desire is for a man to repeat over and 
 over certain verses of Scripture, to know 
 all their firsts, secondlies, etc., and to use 
 a group of antiquated religious expres- 
 sions that meant much to the worship- 
 pers of another day, but are almost empty 
 to the modern mind, and entirely out of 
 place in modern terminology. 
 
 When a man lifts his voice against so- 
 cial and industrial injustice, the oppres- 
 sor raises a cry for the "simple gospel.'* 
 
34 Little Sermons for To-day 
 
 When the church is militant against the 
 legalized liquor traffic, its supporters, ar- 
 dent enemies of the gospel message, are 
 disturbed about the decay in the spirit of 
 the church which is evidenced by such a 
 harmful departure from the "simple gos- 
 pel." When the gospel is made plain and 
 meaningful to some stranger to the 
 church who cannot think in its old terms, 
 some Godly critic places his narrow big- 
 otry between the hungry soul and God, 
 crying out, "That is not the 'simple gos- 
 pel. 
 
 5 )} 
 
 The gospel is as varied as human be- 
 ings, as deep as life, as broad as man's in- 
 terests. There is no narrow, restricted, 
 holy field. God is God of all life. The 
 message of Jesus is for the regeneration 
 and purification of every man. Its ^im is 
 to make him clean in word, holy in deed, 
 pure in thought, strong in soul, such a 
 man as God can delight in. It aims to 
 fill society with a new spirit, so that 
 everywhere men will practice the princi- 
 ples of love, and the kingdom of God will 
 come on earth. 
 
 Who can conceive of the innumerable 
 realms of presentation yet untouched by 
 evangels? Let the holy fire of inspiration 
 light up man's heart to find ways to God 
 
Little Sermons for To-day 35 
 
 in paths yet unknown, and by all thoughts, 
 all words, all deeds, by every glimmering 
 spark that may draw a longing or a stub- 
 born soul, let men be led to walk in the 
 way that leads to life now and life ever- 
 lasting. 
 
36 Little Sermons for To-day 
 
 RELIGIOUS BOSSES 
 
 Bossism is a destestable pollution 
 wherever it is found. In politics it means 
 corruption, in industry its fruit is oppres- 
 sion, in the church it breeds stagnation, 
 and in religious life it cannot exist with- 
 out bigotry and hypocrisy. 
 
 But the boss is not only the one who 
 has the name. Often the meanest, meas- 
 liest dictatorial spirit hides in the man 
 who yells loudest about the bosses who 
 have power. I have heard lamentations 
 and groanings, with vengeful curses, 
 come from the lips of one whose narrow- 
 ness and bigotry are to the autocrat's as 
 the ocean to the bucket. All he required 
 to become the hardest, most over-bearing 
 man-driver was the opportunity. Remem- 
 ber that the pot called the kettle black. 
 Most rulers are better than the complain- 
 ing ruled would be. Half the loud-yell- 
 ing critics of the over-lords are good be- 
 cause they have to be. 
 
 The spirit of bossism manifests itself 
 in the despicable condemnation of those 
 who live or believe a little differently 
 
Little Sermons for To-day Z7 
 
 from the critics. We cannot all have the 
 same type of religious experience. We 
 are different. In all Southern California's 
 resplendent groves no two golden oranges 
 have been sun-kissed into the same beauty 
 of form and color. When the Divine 
 Sculptor of the human face gave form 
 to the beauty of the baby's countenance, 
 he put aside the pattern, never to be used 
 again. Just so, no two spiritual natures 
 are exactly alike. Our experiences can- 
 not be identical. When God grips us with 
 his power, he deals with us as individu- 
 als. 
 
 Do not demand that every one come to 
 the throne by the path that you took. Nor 
 be dissatisfied that your way was differ- 
 ent from another's. Suffice it that God 
 dwells with each ; that you have both 
 found the way to Him. 
 
38 Little Sermons for To-day 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN A 
 
 WORLD-CITIZEN 
 
 The man who has not the world-reach 
 is out of date. The trouble with Europe 
 now is that it is living in another age. 
 They have not passed the ideals of the 
 Feudal Lords. They have toyed with the 
 sacred words, "Brotherhood of Man," but 
 never learned their meaning. Narrow, 
 provincial citizenship today bears fruit in 
 hideous enmity. 
 
 And yet the powers that be will not 
 learn the lesson that the fruit is war be- 
 cause the tree is of Hell. Every time 
 peace is mentioned and we hope to catch 
 a glimpse of human brotherhood, they set 
 themselves to planning ways to cut the 
 enemy's throat after the war is over. That 
 is, they plan to make war, and call it 
 peace. They forget humanity in pride 
 and hate. The scheming men of Europe, 
 planning peaceable destruction of war- 
 time enemies, are dwarfed, shrunken cari- 
 catures of manhood when seen in the light 
 of world-citizenship. 
 
 The bed-rock of truth, and of things as 
 
Little Sermons for To-day 39 
 
 they should be in our hearts, was reach- 
 ed the other day when a French soldier 
 gave his last ounce of life to save a wound- 
 ed German lying by his side. The German 
 had lost one arm and the other hand, and 
 was bleeding to death. The Frenchman 
 tore off his shirt and with it staunched 
 the flow of his enemy's blood. Then fall- 
 ing back exhausted he died from his own 
 wounds ; but the man whom he had re- 
 lieved was saved. When telling the story 
 to his friends the German soldier said, *Tf 
 I get to heaven, the first man I want to 
 meet is that Frenchman." Yet, with hu- 
 man vision stifled in the grip of war's hy- 
 pocrisy, they go forth to kill that French- 
 man's friends and brothers. Thus do they 
 all make liars of their hearts. 
 
 Christian love and sympathy reach 
 around the world. Men are trying to 
 squeeze God down into their narrow big- 
 otry. They endeavor to ally him against 
 a great mass of mankind. They cry out, 
 not to the father of all, but to some clan- 
 nish God, hating other men. And they 
 will discover that such prayers, failing to 
 find the God of love, fall back upon their 
 hearts, galling venom, deadly to the spirit 
 of man. 
 
 Away with it! What think they? Is 
 
40 Little Sermons for To-day 
 
 Jesus dead? Did he speak for naught? 
 Have twenty centuries but swept us back- 
 ward with their passing current? Can the 
 Saviour of humanity be coaxed or threat- 
 ened into bigotry, partiaHty, provincial- 
 ism and hatred? Not so. His love em- 
 braces all. None are without its scope. 
 The follower of Jesus is a world-citizen, 
 with brothers and interests wherever there 
 is a human aspiration. 
 
Little Sermons for To-day 41 
 
 WORRY 
 
 Text: "Let not thy thoughts trouble 
 thee." Dan. 5:10. 
 
 The king, to whom these words were 
 spoken was manifesting a characteristic 
 later seen in a people who pride them- 
 selves on great advances over his knowl- 
 edge and attainment. But, even yet, they 
 have not learned to take the simple advice 
 of the text. 
 
 The king was sore troubled; his 
 thoughts bothered him ; he was worried. 
 Now comes the queen to him with these 
 words, ''Let not thy thoughts trouble 
 thee." I have not seen a better definition 
 of worry than is suggested in this text. 
 All the harm it brings to us comes from 
 within ourselves, and when we worry we 
 submit ourselves to an infliction which 
 might be avoided. 
 
 Everybody kaows it is no fun to worry. 
 No one would think of paying subscrip- 
 tions to a periodical that contained only 
 news or articles that would make him 
 worry. You wouldn't pay admission to a 
 concert for the purpose of being worried. 
 
42 Little Sermons for To-day 
 
 It doesn't do any good. You may worry 
 until your cheeks are white, your hair 
 gray, your eyes black, and your system 
 blue; and it won't do as much good as 
 one good yawn. But worry does do 
 things to the person whose mental house 
 it inhabits. Here are some of those 
 things. 
 
 Worry gets its hold on the mind, and 
 makes itself supreme. It soon weakens 
 the will, and the power of decision. A 
 man who will let himself worry, and dilly- 
 dally between possible courses of action, 
 will soon come to the place where dilly- 
 dallying is about the best he can do. Valu- 
 able assets in this age of strenuous activ- 
 ity are the power of quick decision, and 
 strength of will to carry out the course 
 decided upon. Of these assets worry will 
 rob every person who lets it get a hold 
 in his mental habitation. 
 
 Another thing it does is to poison pleas- 
 ure. He who will worry about his work 
 cannot get much pleasure from it. I 
 worked in a mill by a man who dreaded 
 criticism so much that at every difficult 
 task he trembled, and wondered if his 
 work would please the foreman; so that 
 tomorrow's possible chagrin hung like a 
 cloud over today's work. What he should 
 
Little Sermons for To-day 45 
 
 have done was to say to himself, ''This 
 is my work, and I have a certain ability 
 to meet it. I will do my best," then gc 
 at it, and leave tomorrow to care for it- 
 self. 
 
 You can't get any pleasure out of your 
 w^ork, or your religion, or your frolics if 
 you worry about them all the time. I 
 have gone out to skate upon the frozen 
 surface of the lake after a dozen admoni- 
 tions to be careful and a few tales of boys 
 that were drowned sometime ; and every 
 creak of the ice sent a shiver through me. 
 I have been in a boat upon the rippling 
 waters of a gentle river, and worried 
 about a ducking or wet feet or other 
 things until most of the fun was gone. 
 
 And physically there is something done 
 to you by this, your subtle enemy. It 
 takes appetite. A young man was asked 
 by his physician how his appetite was,, 
 and he seemed to remember that it had 
 not be so good lately. And he worried 
 about it. Next meal he worried about it^ 
 and he could eat less. At night he didn't 
 want a bite, and the next day his food 
 choked in his throat. Perfectly natural. 
 
 And sleep ! What troublesome thoughts 
 do to sleep. They run away with it,. 
 
44 Little Sermons for To-day 
 
 dump it into a bottomless pit, or murder 
 it before your eyes. Let them get one 
 chance at you when you lie down for your 
 rest, and the coveted sleep is gone. All 
 of these influences mean that worry opens 
 the way to disease. Worry about it, and 
 you'll get it. There was typhoid in a cer- 
 tain community where two men roomed 
 together. They were duly informed and 
 from that moment all one of them thought 
 of was typhoid. He ate and drank and 
 read and slept with typhoid in his mind 
 until the way was open for any germ that 
 came along singing its little song of poi- 
 son, and he got some. The other took all 
 precautions that he could, cleaned up the 
 surroundings, and cleared out the mind 
 as well; and they couldn't find a place to 
 stop. Two weeks ago a girl became so 
 excited because of the possibilities of hy- 
 drophobia that she got it without being 
 near a dog. If you don't believe it try 
 it yourself. 
 
 Now worry works upon one's religion 
 in the same way. If you will show me a 
 woman who worries most of the time 
 about the home, or the bills, or the chil- 
 dren, I'll show you a lady whom you must 
 approach gently, or she'll snap your head 
 off. That poor fellow, play-fellow and 
 
Little Sermons for To-day 45 
 
 yoke-fellow of worry, will soon be so self- 
 ish he can't think of any one else. 
 
 Faith and peace fly out of the window 
 when you open the door of your heart to 
 distrust and troubled thoughts. Faith im- 
 plies a trust that will not waste itself in 
 useless wondering and puzzling. Peace 
 cannot be where time and energy are 
 spent in bothering about things as they 
 are. Joy and faith and peace are of the 
 fruits of religion, and worry robs the soul 
 of these rich fruits as soon as it can get 
 into the orchard where they grow. 
 
 We can permit some evil if there is a 
 recompense in good. A painful operation 
 will be wise if it spare more pain in the 
 future. Hard work we will do because 
 there is a payment in results and in char- 
 acter. But search from the dawn of his- 
 tory until tomorrow; wander in every 
 realm where men have lived ; study physi 
 ology; bring forth the vague possibili- 
 ties of psychology and you will return 
 empty-handed if you have sought for a 
 good result that worry has to ofifer. It is 
 like kicking against the weather — per- 
 fectly useless. 
 
46 Little Sermons for To-day 
 
 Waintin' foh de sunshine, 
 
 When de sky is gray; 
 Whinin' an' a-pinin' 
 
 Foh de blues to go away; 
 See de water trickle 
 
 Down de window pane, 
 Wish dat it would hurry 'long 
 
 An' neber come again. 
 
 Wishin' foh de rain storm 
 
 When de drought comes roun' 
 Wonder why dat sunshine keep 
 
 A-dryin' out de groun'; 
 Better stop dis kickin', 
 
 Doesn't help a bit; 
 Kin' o' weather what you has 
 
 Is all you's gwinter git. 
 
 Now if all this be true; if worry's of- 
 ferings are all of evil and none of good, 
 what should we do about it? The answer 
 is, ''Condemn, outlaw, banish, kill; do 
 anything that can be done to rid the land 
 of man's mind of this traitor." 
 
 How shall we do it? The first thing 
 to do is to be determined to be rid of it. 
 There must always be a starting point, 
 and this is a good one. During our most 
 recent panic a man of large business was 
 in difficulty and could not see how to save 
 his business. He was gloomy and de- 
 spondent, when he went into an office up- 
 
Little Sermons for To-day 47 
 
 on the wall of which was hanging a card 
 with these words : ''If everything is black, 
 hold on. Don't give up. It is in the dark- 
 est hour that the sun's dawning rays 
 gleam." And he said, as he gritted his 
 teeth, "I believe that's so," and went out 
 of there with head and chest up, and the 
 new determination carried him to victory. 
 
 The determination to win ; to clean out 
 the mental hostelry, and make ready for 
 new guests will go a long way toward the 
 victory. Resolution, purpose, persist- 
 ence are hard workers for whomsoever 
 commands. "I will" is the master of des- 
 tinies. 
 
 "I Will" has a spirit that nothing daunts; 
 
 Once he gets his eye on the thing he wants 
 He rolls up his sleeves, and he pitches in 
 
 With a splendid zeal that is bound to win. 
 
 "I Will" never hesitates lest he fail — 
 
 In his heart he's sure that he will prevail. 
 
 No mountain can halt him, however high; 
 There's no task so hard but he'll have a try. 
 
 "I Will" sets his teeth when things start off 
 wrong; 
 
 He just grins, and mutters: "This can't last 
 long. 
 
 I'll take a fresh start; and Adversity 
 
 Will be going some if he catches me." 
 
48 Little Sermons for To-dav 
 
 ^'I Will" has a punch hid in either hand; 
 
 He has training, strength, and a heap of 
 sand; 
 
 He swings his hard fists in the world's grim 
 face, 
 
 And he bangs away until the world gives 
 place. 
 
 *'l Will" understands in his ov/n strength lies 
 
 The one chance he'll get at the things men 
 prize. 
 
 Discouragement, failure — nothing can chill 
 
 The stout heart of him who declares, "I 
 Will!" 
 
 To make the determination to rid the 
 life of worry does not mean that you will 
 refuse to take proper forethought and use 
 sufficient care to meet with intelligent ac- 
 tion the tasks of the day. He would be 
 foolish who would throw discretion and 
 investigation to the wind, and say idioti- 
 cally, "Let things take care of them- 
 selves." 
 
 But it does mean that you refuse to let 
 useless, unfruitful pondering and wonder- 
 ing have the time of your mind. Said the 
 old Quaker, "Two things thee must not 
 worry about; the things thee can help, 
 and the things thee cannot." And he 
 spoke wisely. 
 
 If the thing that threatens to bring 
 worry to you, or has already taken its 
 
Little Sermons for To-day 49 
 
 hold, be of the things you cannot help, 
 then stop the worry. God did not give 
 you the universe to carry, and the im- 
 possibilities are not your burdens. If 
 there be nothing you can do, then let not 
 the burden rest upon your mind and heart. 
 The answer which a prosaic editor sent 
 to a certain lady of poetic bent may have 
 its lesson for us all. The lady wrote, in- 
 quiring: 
 
 "Dear Editor: What shall I do ? Each 
 morn when I visit my henyard, as the 
 beams of the rising sun flash upon it, I 
 find two or three fowls lying upon their 
 backs, their feet pointing to the empyrean 
 blue and their souls wandering through 
 fields Elysian. What is the matter?" 
 
 The answer came to her by return mail. 
 
 "Dear Madam: The principal trouble 
 with your hens seems to be that they are 
 dead. There isn't much that you can do, 
 as they will probably remain in that con- 
 dition for some time." 
 
 If, on the other hand, the troublesome 
 thoughts be concerning something you 
 can remedy, and ought to remedy, get at 
 it. Look the situation over carefully, ex- 
 amine it from every view-point, find just 
 what can be done, and what cannot be 
 
50 Little Sermons for To-day 
 
 done. Then decide upon your course of 
 action, and get at it. Work, dig, sweat; 
 do what it demands. But once your line 
 of action is decided upon, do not waste 
 your energy wondering if you have made 
 the right decision ; never ponder over what 
 might have been. Take care of the pos- 
 sibilities of the now and the to be. 
 
 Be sure that your life has a task worth 
 while ; let it be so busy really doing things 
 that it will have no time to run round in 
 rings. The best way to get clear of a 
 harmful thought is to fill the mind with 
 helpful ones. If you would keep the bit- 
 ter from your heart, fill all its corners with 
 the sweet. 
 
 Now another task for him who worries 
 is to do what he can to change out- 
 ward circumstances that induce the un- 
 lovely mental attitude. Perchance it is 
 an association with the furniture of the 
 home, or the home itself, or some friends, 
 and these associations should be changed 
 for awhile. Perhaps the source of men- 
 tal attitude may be in tender grief for 
 some dear ones who are waiting on the 
 other shore ; and every flower they loved, 
 each room they used, and the pieces of 
 furniture that they touched bring to mind 
 the suffering that is for those who remain 
 
Little Sermons for To-day 51 
 
 on this side. Let us be sure of this, that 
 the best memory of a dear one is a life of 
 kindness and love to those who walk now 
 the earthly way. It is a duty of every 
 person whose life is losing its sweetness 
 and cheer because of even so dear a thing 
 as sorrow for a lost loved one, to change 
 conditions. 
 
 A good thing to do is to get away as 
 much as possible from the associations 
 that are most sombre. If possible get 
 away from the house for awhile. If not, 
 change the setting of the furniture, the po- 
 sition of pictures and rugs. Get a new 
 atmosphere. This will help in conquering 
 any morbid influence that is too weighty 
 in the life. Break the physical ties which 
 bind you to the mental conditions, and 
 the way is opened to the freedom to be at- 
 tained when other things are done. 
 
 Suggestion seems to some to be a weak 
 word, and to others a dangerous one. It 
 is both strong and safe if properly used. 
 And every one has the privilege of using 
 it on himself. To many it seems silly to 
 try to fool one's self into an easy condi- 
 tion of mind. But it is not nearly as silly 
 as fooling one's self into a diseased and 
 troubled condition, as many do. If you 
 worry, get quiet, relax body and mind, and 
 
52 Little Sermons for To-day 
 
 tell yourself it will be all right. Say to 
 yourself that you will be full of peace and 
 power. Do it over and over. This is 
 sound psychology — that one may help 
 himself by suggestion. 
 
 And then, dwell upon the good and 
 happy things. Get all the good there is 
 for you. There is too much good in the 
 world; too much blue in the sky, and 
 brightness in the sunlight; the men and 
 women are too full of goodness, for us to 
 go through the world dwelling with tlie 
 ugly things. Many folks seem to run from 
 the bright things of life. They are like a 
 tramp who applied to a lady for work, 
 and when she told him she had a cord of 
 wood to be cut up and she was just going 
 to send for a man to do it, he replied, 
 "That so, mum? Where does he live? 
 I'll go and get him." 
 
 But we should run to the good things; 
 we should see them, and live them. If 
 we think the world is all full of evil and 
 blackness, the trouble may be with the 
 glasses through which we look. 
 
 Some people are a-growlin' an* a howlin' day 
 
 an' night 
 An' a-rantin' an* a-railin* 'cause the world ain't 
 
 goin' right. 
 
Little Sermons for To-day 53 
 
 They are weepin' o'er its sorrows an' they keep 
 its woes in view, 
 
 An' they never note the sweetness o' the roses 
 drippin' dew. 
 
 Some people in their frettin' are forgettin' bless- 
 ings rare, 
 
 They fail to breathe the fragrance that is float- 
 in' on the air. 
 
 They keep the thorn an' thistle an' the nettles 
 aye in view. 
 
 They pass the blushin' roses in their haste to 
 pluck the rue. 
 
 This world may have its failin's, but there's 
 good enough for all, 
 
 An' we may choose the sweetness or bitterness 
 an' gall. 
 
 An' if we seek the shadows, an' if we shun the 
 light, 
 
 'Tis we, an' not the world, friends, that ain't 
 a-goin' right. 
 
 These are all sane, scientific means one 
 may use to conquer a powerful enemy of 
 the peace of mankind. There remains the 
 most potent of the remedies to be men- 
 tioned. That which can do most to rid 
 the life of worry, and fill it with peace, 
 is a firm, trustful, religious faith. A faith 
 that will not let go, that trusts when it 
 does not see, and calmly rests in its strong 
 belief, will conquer many of the ills that 
 flesh is heir to. 
 
 Hear the words of the psychologist, 
 
54 Little Sermons for To-day 
 
 William James, who speaks from the sci- 
 entific standpoint : "Of course the sover- 
 eign cure for worry is religious faith. The 
 turbulent billows of the fretful surface 
 leave the deep parts of the ocean undis- 
 turbed, and to him who has hold on vaster 
 and more permanent realities the hourly 
 vicissitudes of his personal destiny seem 
 relatively insignificant things. The really 
 religious person is accordingly unshak- 
 able and full of equanimity, and calmly 
 ready for any duty that the day may 
 bring forth." 
 
 This kind of test would give a low score 
 to the faith of some of us ; but it tells what 
 the faith should be. Oh, for a faith that 
 is worthy of the name ! Who can believe 
 truly, and then let the life doubt that in 
 which he believes? O ye of little faith! 
 Let him who has faith open the heart in 
 prayer for the needed things — for peace, 
 for quiet, for power — and then trust. Just 
 lean upon the arms of Jesus, then leave 
 all to Him. 
 
 It is the Creator of the world that rules 
 it, and it will run according to His pur- 
 pose. It is the Father of us who guides 
 our lives, and they will be cared for ac- 
 cording to His love. We will, then, trust 
 through all the way. In the hour of un- 
 
Little Sermons for To-day . 55 
 
 certainty we will believe with Browning 
 that, *'The best of life is yet to come; the 
 last for which the first was made. Our 
 times are in His hand, who says, *A whole 
 I planned ; youth sees but half.' 
 
 > }) 
 
 Faith and peace which are of the fruits 
 of religion are incompatible with worry, 
 and when they fill the heart, no room is 
 for rent or occupancy by worry. Here, 
 as in many another place, faith is the vic- 
 tory. Worry cannot harm the life that 
 yields itself to God, knows His love en- 
 compasses it, and lets His will be done. 
 
 "I know not where His islands lift their frond- 
 
 ed palms in air, 
 I only know I cannot drift beyond His love 
 
 and care." 
 
56 Little Sermons for To-day 
 
 MAKING GOOD IN A PINCH 
 
 Life is a struggle, and it is the emerg- 
 encies that bring out real differences in 
 men. Roosevelt compared life to a foot- 
 ball game, and said, "Hit the line hard." 
 Like life again, in every football game 
 where there is a real struggle the test 
 comes in the pinch. The winning team is 
 not the one that can gain five yards on 
 the first down, but the one that can make 
 good on the fourth down with one yard 
 to go. On Thanksgiving Day I witnessed 
 a game between two splendidly matched 
 teams. My favorite, with three minutes 
 to play, and two points behind their op- 
 ponents, swept magnificently down the 
 field to the enemy's five-yard line. The 
 supreme test of the tense two hours came 
 when the twenty-two men lined up for 
 those final plunges. And when they piled 
 up into the unmoving mountain of strain- 
 ing flesh we knew that the weight and 
 muscles of the enemy had made good in 
 the pinch. 
 
 Pinches and emergencies bring out the 
 real qualities of life and character. Men 
 grind along day after day in the course of 
 
Little Sermons for To-day 57 
 
 employment. None advance over the 
 others, and the studious, earnest work- 
 man questions whether his honesty and 
 industry are worth while. But one day 
 an emergency arises — the men are thrown 
 suddenly on their own resources in a sit- 
 uation demanding knowledge, skill, pow- 
 er, decision. With the manhood and abil- 
 ity he has developed, the earnest plodder 
 rises to the occasion and masters the sud- 
 den problem. Then he has passed his fel- 
 low-workers, and they call it fortune, be- 
 wailing their own hard luck. 
 
 There was a soul-baring time out upon 
 the icy Atlantic when the blow of the ice- 
 berg made the giant Titanic tremble from 
 bow to stern. Men ran to and fro like 
 mad. Guards had to stand over some with 
 revolvers, to prevent them from crushing 
 women and children. Other men stood 
 back calmly, or guided weaker ones to 
 places of safety, while they waited for 
 the swoop of the ship that would send 
 them into the sea. The emergency brought 
 out the finer points of character. Of men 
 who looked alike ordinarily, some behaved 
 like devils, and some acquitted them- 
 selves like gods. 
 
 All of us desire to show true colors 
 when a pinch pulls off the robes of con- 
 
58 Little Sermons for To-day 
 
 vention and pretense. But we remember 
 that it is not in the moment of struggle 
 that power is developed. That is done 
 long before in the common, dreary, every- 
 day grind of life. Victories may be won 
 in an hour; they are prepared for only in 
 a life-time. 
 
 The Christian will use the power of God 
 in the stresses of life. When threatened 
 by sickness, failure, sin, he will abide in 
 the Most High. But he cannot do it un- 
 less through the common days he has kept 
 in touch with God. Many cry, ''Lord, 
 Lord," unavailingly because they have 
 forgotten how to talk with Him. But 
 when the storm breaks. He never fails 
 those who have walked with him in the 
 sun and shadow of the quiet days. 
 
Little Sermons for To-day 59 
 
 GOD IN BUSINESS 
 
 To some, this phrase will seem to ex- 
 press a contradiction, to others, an anom- 
 aly. They will think, either that the mes- 
 sage of the presence of God, while applic- 
 ble, is impossible of realization in the 
 hard, grinding struggle of twentieth cen- 
 tury industrial and commercial life, or 
 that only a fantastic imagination can sug- 
 gest any relation between the two. 
 
 "I cannot understand," says one, *'how 
 religion can have any connection with the 
 exhausting, exasperating work of my of- 
 fice. Business is business. And if religion 
 is religion it belongs in the atmosphere of 
 the service and the sanctuary." 
 
 Happily we are growing beyond this 
 conception of religion. We have remem- 
 bered that the religion of the Holy-Day 
 cannot be divorced from the life of the 
 holiday and the work-day. A man may 
 not pass the plate to receive the offerings 
 of his fellows on Sunday, and filch from 
 their pockets on Monday. We have even 
 gone so far in the recognition of the rights 
 of morality and religion in the business 
 
60 Little Sermons for To-day 
 
 world that the Department of Weights 
 and Measures of the progressive State of 
 California has this for its slogan : "Hon- 
 esty in business should be a principle, not 
 a policy.'* Let him who says religion has 
 no place in modern business life be re- 
 minded that such an assertion relegates 
 him from modern ranks to a prominent 
 position among those antiquated minds 
 who have not yet caught up with the 
 modern spirit. 
 
 Religion, law and society have brought 
 the message of religious principles to bus- 
 iness. Let me bring to the business man 
 an offering of power that will not only 
 make possible the application of these 
 principles, but will add joy and strength 
 to him who uses it. 
 
 It is not the useful work and rush of 
 modern life that kills, but the needless 
 doubt, worry and dissatisfaction. If the 
 twentieth century man can connect with 
 the power of God for strength and peace 
 in his business, he will do more work and 
 better work than he ever did before, and 
 there will be more happiness wherever 
 he is. 
 
 Ask what made possible the calm 
 strength of the Father of our Country, 
 
Little Sermons for To-day 61 
 
 and his equally calm self-surrender for 
 the good of that country. Then find your 
 answer as you see George Washington up- 
 on his knees at Valley Forge in the dark- 
 est hour of the Revolution. Seek in the 
 next century the source of power of the 
 country's martyred saviour, and find it in 
 the earnest, constant prayer-life of Abra- 
 ham Lincoln. To these men whom the 
 world justly calls great God's peace was 
 real and sustaining. The secret is God. 
 
 Let the man whose burdens are too 
 heavy, whose work or worry is killing 
 him, who is despondent, morose, irritable, 
 invite God's presence — in the office, the 
 store, the factory, the street — and he will 
 find it an inspiration to his heart, a light 
 to his mind, and a staff to his strength. 
 
62 Little Sermons for To-day 
 
 GIT TO LAFFIN'. 
 
 When you git an ornery thump 
 
 Go to laffin'. 
 When you hit a stubborn stump 
 
 Git to laffin'. 
 'Taint no use to grouch and cry 
 Like you thought you'z gona die. 
 Hit hard; don't stop to sigh; 
 
 Start to laffin'. 
 
 When your money slips away 
 
 Git to laffin'. 
 When you see your poorest da^ 
 
 Keep a laffin'. 
 If your dreams caint allers be, 
 Remember laffin's allers free. 
 Wade right in to what you see, 
 
 An' keep on laffin'. 
 
 When you think that you're all in, 
 
 Git to laffin'. 
 Bein' down and out sure ain't no sin. 
 
 Go to laffin'. 
 Meet everv job with lifted chin, 
 Shout in the pessimistic din. 
 When you feel like cryin', grin, 
 
 An' keep on laffin'. 
 
Little Sermons for To-day 63 
 
 A UNIVERSE WITHOUT GOD 
 
 We live in the sort of world we choose. 
 We have the choice of living in a Godless 
 universe, or dwelling where he makes the 
 springs of life flow sweet and pure. 
 
 From the worlds of some people God is 
 driven out. They exile him because they 
 wish to acknowledge no authority, or be- 
 cause they let doubt vanquish faith, or 
 for selfishness, laziness, pride or hate. 
 And what have they left? What sort of 
 world is theirs? 
 
 Without God existence itself is an en- 
 igma. Whence came the world? Why 
 do we live anyway? Why did not the 
 world stop in its development before man 
 was produced? Without God, we trace 
 life and the world back toward their source 
 as far as we can and come to — what? 
 Matter, blind force, some sort of imagin- 
 ary unthinking element of law. Then we 
 trust this blind, unthinking, unfeeling 
 thing, this dark, cold monster, without 
 mind or heart, to go forth and make a 
 world where beauty and fullness shall 
 
64 Little Sermons for To-day 
 
 dwell in the land, where birds and moth- 
 ers and children shall sing, where men 
 shall love and build and grow, where 
 visions of snowy purity shall flash across 
 human souls and instill aspirations 
 worthy of God himself. As well ask an 
 alligator, pulling himself out of his slimy 
 bed, to come into your drawing-room and 
 teach your children to play the piano. 
 
 There is no meaning to life without 
 God. It is not worth the burning of its 
 candle. We carry loads, we face sorrow, 
 we walk in uncertainty. Just as we have 
 learned to know father and mother and to 
 love them as they deserve, they slip from 
 us, and the only answer to our cries of 
 anguish is the dull thud of the sod as the 
 words are said, ''Ashes to ashes, dust to 
 dust." Our friends tear loose from the 
 grips of our hearts in the same way. And 
 we, too, are headed toward the meaning- 
 less grave. After all our struggle, aspira- 
 tion and growth, only to return to the 
 earth as food for the worms. What a 
 a lot ! Poor humanity ! Better there had 
 never been life ! Better we had never 
 lived or loved or dreamed! 
 
 No, life was not given by an unthink- 
 ing, unplanning force. Unless it came 
 from God, who gave us the upward glance 
 
Little Sermons for To-day 65 
 
 that we might be true to the best, it was 
 inflicted upon us by some evil, calculating 
 power. Giving us minds and hearts, it 
 holds temptingly before us the baits of 
 love and hope and growth, only in the end 
 to tear them all away, and as we reach 
 out toward heaven, for which it gave us 
 eyes, to murder our souls. You take your 
 choice. Either the light of God's love 
 shines warmly across life, or you feel the 
 poisonous breath of a dragon, blighting 
 every flower of hope that dares to lift its 
 weary head. 
 
 And with God? Why, with God per- 
 plexities dissolve into meaning. The best 
 is best after all. Life's values are im- 
 measurably increased by projection into 
 eternity. And God's presence is visited 
 upon us in peace and power. Like barren 
 Egypt bounding into plenty at the flow- 
 ing of the replenishing Nile, life springs 
 into beauty and power at the coming of 
 God. 
 
66 Little Sermons for To-day 
 
 THE SECRET OF POWER 
 
 One of the new things which Jesus 
 brought to the world was the power by 
 which he sought to do things. His new 
 commandment was, "Love." This was 
 the power by which he proposed to con- 
 quer, and it was a new weapon. Men 
 had heard of prayer and worship as the 
 way to reach God and to touch the world. 
 They knew of the place of the ritual in 
 their religious life. Prophets had shouted 
 over the land the cry of reform, and ex- 
 pected results. The waving banner of the 
 battle-line, the blare of the bugle and the 
 shout of conflict were familiar to men. 
 And by all these means they knew that 
 the world had tried to obtain the things 
 which it desired. 
 
 But here was something new. A man 
 stood in their midst prophesying a king- 
 dom that should reach around the world. 
 He proclaimed that every knee would bow 
 to him, and all empires own his sway. 
 
 But where is his army? What is his 
 battle-sign? How will he win such glory 
 and power in this world of mighty things? 
 
Little Sermons for To-day 67 
 
 Mark you now, he speaks to answer. In 
 the face of so great a task; in the midst 
 of such mighty powers; facing so many 
 foes ; this man quietly announces that he 
 will win his enipire by force of love. 
 
 And the world would not believe ! 
 
 In twenty centuries the gentle power 
 of love has carried his ensign around the 
 v,-orld, and 3'et we will not believe. So- 
 ciety forgets love to use force upon its 
 offenders. We dare not trust the power 
 of love, but make ready our gunboats and 
 store away balls and powder. We stand 
 to-day bewildered, unable to choose be- 
 tween the power of brute force and the 
 power of love. May the world-reaching 
 effects of others' mistaken choices give us 
 guidance ! 
 
 Europe has chosen brute force, and like 
 a brute she wallows to-day in ill-spent 
 blood. Still we hesitate. This is not a 
 plea for disarmament upon the part of a 
 single nation, but it is a clarion call that 
 trust in guns and battle can lead only to 
 bloody misery. 
 
 Love may lift the w^hip, and love may 
 cry, "Woe !" But love cannot trust in the 
 instruments of hate. Forget not that love 
 is more than a motto or a course of con- 
 
68 Little Sermons for To-day 
 
 duct. Love is a vital, living, conquering 
 force. It heals disease, subdues enemies, 
 makes progress. We have come to the 
 century of our Lord when nations' great- 
 est powers are moral. We must center 
 where Christ centered, and win our way 
 by love, by being brotherly to all nations, 
 by standing for national character. 
 
 Paul signed the death-warrant of slav- 
 ery by writing the names of slaves in the 
 record of the Christian Church. Jesus 
 broke the power of caste when he made 
 brothers of twelve different kinds of men. 
 The man who loves one woman supreme- 
 ly is the only man fit to protect woman- 
 hood. He who loves a home is the only 
 one we can trust to defend the nation's 
 firesides. The church which has love with- 
 in itself is the only church that can do 
 the work of God. 
 
 Love is the force that will conquer the 
 world. Love, warm within our throbbing 
 hearts, and pulsating through our national 
 life, will give to time its noblest nation, 
 and to the unsettled world a leader who 
 can point the way to abiding peace. 
 
Little Sermons for To-day 69 
 
 THE SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST 
 
 It is not always the fit that survive, but 
 those that are fit TO survive. Jesus said 
 the way to find and save your life is to 
 give it away. The effort should be not to 
 live, but to be fit to live. Not many have 
 believed him, and we have gone on striv- 
 ing to survive, forgetting to estimate our 
 fitness. 
 
 Nations have not believed him. They 
 have said that whoever would save his 
 life must be careful of his own interests. 
 He must hug tight his privileges. He 
 must keep his grip on power. 
 
 Now who is right? Look to Europe and 
 see. There they have been keen in com- 
 petition. Every nation has saved its po- 
 sition, its money, its pride. And to what 
 end? That it might be as Jesus said, 
 "Whosoever will save his life shall lose 
 it!" 
 
 And America? Our choice is before us. 
 We must choose to be selfish or helpful. 
 It cannot be that the whole world bleed 
 and we sit in comfortable peace. We can- 
 not imagine that out of the world's misery 
 
70 Little Sermons for To-day 
 
 America can reap money and prosperity, 
 and hold it to a selfish heart. 
 
 We too must be spent. And unless we 
 spend our money and ourselves now for 
 the cause of humanity, we will some time 
 spill blood on the battle-field. Unless 
 America gives her life she, too, will lose it. 
 The fitness that will save us is the heart 
 and will to be worth saving. Unless we 
 demonstrate our worthiness to survive as 
 the greatest nation, we will find that in 
 the struggle for existence no selfish grasp- 
 ing can avail. 
 
 Peoples who do not fi^ght for the help 
 of others and for the advancement of 
 righteousness eventually fight for their 
 self-preservation. America, pure and giv- 
 ing herself to humanitarian activities, will 
 never be caught in the maelstrom of 
 greedy, bloody war. But America, rotten 
 and indolent, will some time fight to the 
 spilling of her degenerate blood. Let us 
 hear the battle-cry of peace, and lift up 
 the banner of righteous warfare. Let us 
 not be too selfish or lazy or self-satisfied 
 to enter in. Let America be the battle- 
 ground where injustice, cruelty, legalized 
 sin, intolerance, and all their evil allies, 
 vanquished by the onslaught of a patri- 
 otic people, shall crawl away to die. 
 
Little Sermons for To-day 71 
 
 This is our glorious hour. Not like 
 ghouls to lick our lips over the bloody 
 prosperity that may be ours, Rather, like 
 men to say that we too are capable of the 
 great sacrifice. But it will not be in the 
 name of battle and blood ; not for slaugh- 
 ter and misery. It will be for service and 
 love; for man and God. And if we thus 
 give our national life, from the horrors of 
 war, into which selfishness would some- 
 time plunge us, we shall be saved. 
 
 There are many varied opinions con- 
 cerning the meaning of the vast world- 
 movements of this day. Some believe in 
 preparedness ; others demand disarma- 
 ment. Some look for the triumph of 
 Jesus' Gospel of Love ; others foresee the 
 failure of this dispensation in the catas- 
 trophe before the millenium. There are 
 those who prophesy universal peace, and 
 their opposites who sense the coming of 
 world war. 
 
 But all are agreed upon this one thing : 
 These days are laden with tremendous 
 significance to the material and spiritual 
 welfare of humanity. Nobody doubts that 
 out of to-day's clouded uncertainty will 
 spring some immeasurable change in 
 world-life. 
 
72 Little Sermons for To-day 
 
 What will the change be? Only 
 America can determine. With Europe 
 weak and bleeding, and Asia pouring, 
 molten soft, into the mould of its most 
 significant generation, the light of Ameri- 
 ca's spirit will give color to the civiliza- 
 tion of the world. The world needs 
 America to-day. It needs her material 
 resources, her leadership in industry, com- 
 merce, education, general advancement. 
 But more than all, this century needs 
 America in spirit. America must save 
 the nations, as herself, by a spirit of 
 brotherhood and love. This is the most 
 vital point in a cross-section of the life^ 
 processes of the hour, and no institution 
 is so near it as the Church of Jesus Christ, 
 proclaiming and demanding a Christian 
 America. 
 
Little Sermons for To-day 73 
 
 THE UNSEEN BATTLE LINE 
 
 The crashing roar of the war of the world 
 
 Has driven the nations mad. 
 Now here, now there, in the gory whirl 
 
 Victorious blood makes glad. 
 
 Exiled in her far-off sad retreat, 
 
 Under frightful ban, 
 Cowers there on the anxious seat 
 
 The guardian angel of man. 
 
 "Which wins?" she cries in quiv'ring notes. 
 Groaning from the deadly work. 
 
 And answer floats from battle-throats, 
 "Teuton!" or "Saxon!" or "Turk!" 
 
 "No! No! Not that I fain would learn, 
 
 Not by flag or race 'tis told. 
 Only by the fires in the heart that burn, 
 
 To make or mar the soul. 
 
 "Oh, tell, if the battle goes to hate 
 And blood and war and hell, 
 
 While madness storms the passion gate 
 Where hope and goodness dwell! 
 
 "Spirits war behind the deed. 
 
 The fight for man's control 
 Is hating, monstrous self and greed 
 
 'Gainst home and love and soul. 
 
 "Mothers and childhod— all good of life — 
 
 Range now in battle-line. 
 They come victorious from this strife, 
 
 Or ever leave mankind. 
 
 "Free your hearts of the black'ning sin! 
 
 Be true in the passing fray! 
 Till pity, love and peace come in 
 
 To bring the better day!" 
 
74 Little Sermons for To-day 
 
 THE CHURCH AND THE SOCIAL 
 
 EVIL 
 
 When Jesus Christ confounded the 
 hypocrites by saying to them, ''Let him 
 that is without sin among you cast the 
 first stone," and startled the world by 
 saying to her of the scarlet, ''Go, and sin 
 no more," He gave His church warrant 
 to deal with this g-eat problem of sin and 
 shame and sorrow. Indeed, the church 
 has an interest in every condition which 
 afifects the morals of the individual, the 
 purity of society, the sanctity of the home. 
 These are the things for which the church 
 stands, the things human for whose ex- 
 istence its energies must be spent, and it 
 is directly interested in opposing what- 
 ever tends to destroy them. 
 
 Though the mention of this vice, and 
 of everything connected with it, has been 
 avoided by the church, as by all of soci- 
 ety, it has not been because of lack of 
 interest. We have believed in purity, 
 have advocated it, but have simply kept 
 at long distance from an avoided subject, 
 and that mayhap wisely. 
 
 From some sources the blows of criti- 
 
Little Sermons for To-day 7S 
 
 cism fall heavily upon people and min- 
 isters for failure to solve this problem. 
 There are many critics of the clergy who 
 think that a man may preach a series of 
 sermons, and within a season change the 
 heritage of his denomination and the 
 thought of his congregation. They forget 
 that the minister deals with men and 
 women, inside and outside of the churchy 
 with deep-set ideas and opinions, — just as 
 the critic is so filled with his own that he 
 cannot, appreciate any other position. 
 
 But the fundamental point of misunder- 
 standing of those who condemn the church 
 is the fact that they have not appreciated 
 the church's high aim for building char- 
 acter, and its reliance upon the happy, 
 holy, religious life as the greatest pre- 
 ventive of immorality. And has it not 
 been justified? Some months ago, a lead- 
 ing magazine printed a statement of an 
 Eastern Judge, who startled even the 
 church by proving that the ranks of the 
 criminal class find practically no recruits 
 from the active church members. True ! 
 True ! And rare are the instances when 
 the studying and teaching, and the seek- 
 ing, of the life of the Nazarene have not 
 kept the feet from the wayward path. 
 The life that is full of positive goodness, 
 
76 Little Sermons for To-day 
 
 that is moved by the spirit of service and 
 not selfishness, that strives always for 
 the highest character, has a set of soul 
 strong enough to determine the way it 
 shall go, and it is not wafted by the winds 
 of circumstance far from its course. 
 
 So the church has felt that it was deal- 
 ing with the social evil, and every evil, 
 most effectually when it gave attention 
 to the buildi::g and setting of character, 
 and to instilling into institutions the 
 purity of the Master's teachings. And 
 has it not done wonderful things ! I 
 shudder to think what this civilization 
 might be without the continuous, labori- 
 ous, consecrated effort in Sunday School 
 and church and other Christian activities 
 to make the Christian ideal of purity, holi- 
 ness and happiness the world's ideal and 
 aim. 
 
 But ignorance, misunderstanding, in- 
 capability of adjusting principle to in- 
 stance, disregard of Christian teachings 
 by those who oppress and shame ; all these 
 things creep in to leave their blemish, and 
 the church of this age is awaking to an 
 increased appreciation of its vast mission 
 in dealing directly with humanity's great 
 problems. It is this new realization that 
 has sent the Church of Christ into politics, 
 
Little Sermons for To-day 77 
 
 there to insist upon the principles of 
 Christian ethics in the relation of gov- 
 ernment to individual, and in the lives of 
 the people's servants. This new awaken- 
 ing has put the Social Service Secretaries 
 of the church into the field, representing 
 the church organized to fight down in- 
 dustrial injustice and to extend the spirit 
 and practice of brotherhood so as to in- 
 clude in reality all men. It is again this 
 new spirit that has given to ministers and 
 Christian workers a vision of a new hope 
 — a solution of the problem of the social 
 evil — and has set them to work to find 
 the way. We are convinced that this 
 menace causes too much sorrow, that it 
 is too dangerous, to be of those things 
 which we may not touch. The church has 
 found itself ever arrayed against every 
 form of vice and degradation, but in this 
 generation she finds herself possessed of a 
 new spirit of attack, a fresh inspiration 
 of activity, and a fuller wisdom which 
 furnishes the many ways of proceedure. 
 
 The overwhelming conviction forced 
 upon me is that the most vital part in the 
 struggle of humanity for purity is to be 
 played by the Christian church. The task 
 is not one for the prosecutor's office 
 primarily; nor for legislative halls; it 
 
78 Little Sermons for To-day 
 
 concerns not principally the economic 
 world ; not even in the school is the point 
 of attack of greatest value. The solution 
 must come from an institution which can 
 deal sanely with the phases legislative, 
 economic and educational ; but which re- 
 members that this is fundamentally a 
 moral question, and which has something 
 positive to ofifer the world as a hope for 
 its solution. 
 
 Most prominent in the attiude of the 
 church is the self-evident fact that it can- 
 not accept the idea that this is a necessary 
 evil. Having heard the gospel of the com- 
 ing kingdom ; having as its light the life 
 of Him who was perfect man; knowing 
 to-day the countless lives of spotless 
 purity; it cannot be brought to believe 
 that anything low and vile in humanity 
 is a necessity. The church with all its 
 doctrine of sin believes that sin is not 
 necessary. Here it is, in almost over- 
 whelming strength, but there is a powder 
 which will overcome it. We will not be- 
 lieve that that which does most to pollute 
 society, which undermines the morality of 
 individuals, that this thing so laden with 
 misery and sin, is among the eternal. So 
 he who comes with his first word the 
 statement that this is with us always can- 
 
Little Sermons for To-day 79 
 
 not hope to find much sympathy from 
 the unconquerable optimism of Jesus 
 Christ and his followers. There is a solu- 
 tion of the problem. It may be, nay it 
 must be, that it will not come in its full- 
 ness until the problem of life and hu- 
 manity has been solved by man reaching 
 up to God, and the kingdom of love and 
 service and brotherhood is nearer than 
 now; but somehow it must come. 
 
 There are many who say that the church 
 and its ministers know nothing of the 
 scientific side of the problem, and they 
 say that the church's unalterable opposi- 
 tion to segregation and protection comes 
 from this fact. We feel impelled to reply 
 to him who boasts of his scientific spirit 
 that he has largely lost sight of the most 
 important phase of the question — the 
 moral basis from which it must be ap- 
 proached. We can hardly believe that 
 science without moral sense is better than 
 the moral spirit without scientific knowl- 
 edge. Some things are writ deeply on 
 the fabric of man's heart, and that soul 
 instinctively turns toward the right. 
 
 Be that as it may, the church could 
 not be consistent and be favorable to 
 regulations which recognize the greatest 
 vice of man as legitimate business, and 
 
80 Little Sermons for To-day 
 
 place it under peculiar protection of the 
 law. We are convinced that nothing is 
 gained by such proceedure, in safety 
 either physical or moral, and we are un- 
 alterably sure that much is lost whenever 
 we compromise and degrade society by 
 making such an institution a legitimate 
 and protected part of its activities. 
 
 We have seen, says the church of to- 
 day, that a prolific source of the evil under 
 consideration is the unjust industrial and 
 economic condition, and we have thrown 
 ourselves into the struggle to right it. 
 Every measure and method which has as 
 its aim the bettering of these conditions, 
 the lifting of him who is oppressed, and 
 the opening of the door to full life to men 
 and women and children everywhere, finds 
 as its strongest non-partisan ally the 
 church in action. But thorough study 
 convinces that this is not the greatest 
 cause of the prevalence ,of the vice. 
 
 Of the white slave traffic the same may 
 be said. It exists in all its pictured 
 horror. But the records of the women 
 concerned show that it is not of major 
 importance in the causes. To be sure the 
 most horrible form in which we know this 
 thing is the story of absolute, uncom- 
 promising innocence plunged into degra- 
 
Little Sermons for To-day 81 
 
 dation ; and the spirit of the church is with 
 every attempt to throttle the diabolical 
 business. But it believes we must go 
 deeper than that to find the fundamental 
 cause of the existence of the social evil. 
 
 Then comes some one with his theory 
 that the cause of all is the perversity of 
 the women who fall. They tell us that 
 reform is impossible because there is in 
 the character an unchangeable bias toward 
 this sort of life. The burden upon the 
 woman again ! Now we do not doubt — 
 it seems impossible that it should be 
 otherwise — that this kind of life of sin and 
 depravity should so eat out the character 
 as to leave nothing but hollow emptiness. 
 We know, too, that many find their way 
 here because of perverse tendencies, and 
 some because of rejoicing in the life which 
 it affords. We are aware also that many 
 taken out find their way back. But once 
 more the church is unwilling to accept 
 the dictum, "impossible." Reform may 
 be impossible, but the church does not 
 know nearly so much about reform as it 
 does about regeneration, and regeneration 
 is not impossible. "Go, and sin no more," 
 does not mean that there is no hope for 
 the fallen. The church has to offer what 
 none else can offer to her who is in the 
 depths : 
 
82 Little Sermons for To-day 
 
 "There is a fountain filled with blood 
 Drawn from Immanuel's veins, 
 
 And sinners plunged beneath that flood 
 Lose all their guilty stains." 
 
 And she who is friendless and ruined 
 will find in the new spirit of the church 
 the uplifting hand of real fraternity. 
 Hatred of sin and love of sinner is ever 
 the beauty of our Christ, and must be the 
 spirit of His church. To those who have 
 gone low, the church says, *'Come up ;" to 
 lives shrouded in blackness, the church 
 brings a ray of light; to those who have 
 no hope it says that all may be gained in 
 the glory of Jesus Christ. The door swings 
 open wide. ^ 
 
 But reform does not assuage the action 
 of causes. What, then, are the causes 
 which seem to be most fundamental 
 among the many? There seem to be two 
 or three deep-set sources of evil against 
 which the church can turn a broadside 
 directly. Of only one of them can it be 
 be said that the church of the past has 
 neglected it. That is the dangerous source 
 of disaster — ignorance. Ignorance of con- 
 ditions which exist, ignorance of bodily 
 functions, ignorance of the life which the 
 highest standard of purity demands of 
 the individual. Pitifully comes the cry 
 
Little Sermons for To-day 83 
 
 from a saddened soul, "Oh, if I had only 
 known !" Somebody's is the responsibility 
 if the erring did not know that which 
 they should have known, and Christian 
 workers everywhere are setting them- 
 selves the task of giving to those who 
 come under their care proper knowledge 
 and guidance. 
 
 This does not mean that we look with 
 favor upon the cheap, melodramatic, mis- 
 leading plays, films and stories which have 
 been made possible by an aroused con- 
 science. For the most part these produc- 
 tions are merely commercial schemes, 
 sensing the new interest in social prob- 
 lems and prostituting this concern for 
 mercenary purposes. They are not reli- 
 able, generally not helpful. They deal 
 with that phase of the situation which 
 lends itself most easily to dramatic and 
 heart-rending presentation, hardly ever 
 conveying knowledge which gives any aid 
 in solving the problem. 
 
 While information as to dangerous 
 social conditions and concerning bodily 
 processes is necessary, it is not the funda- 
 mental element of combative education. 
 That basic part is a knowledge of the 
 purity of life and thought demanded by 
 the highest standards. Our youth know 
 
84 Little Sermons for To-day 
 
 too much about the last fatal step of im- 
 purity ; we are now telling them at least 
 enough about themselves ; but how many- 
 children have instilled into them the de- 
 sire for perfect purity? What numbers 
 there are who, while dodging the coarser 
 sins, step lightly on the way to destruc- 
 tion, because we have not let them know 
 that every violation of purity of thought 
 and deed is wrong. 
 
 Another virulent cause of the social evil 
 is the double standard of morals. This is 
 the cancer of immorality which eats its 
 way surely to the heart of society. We 
 know too well the punishment visited 
 upon the girl who offends, while the more 
 guilty man continues gaily on his es- 
 capades, and counts them experiences to 
 gloat over. It is only a few hours in the 
 life of many a young man from the brothel 
 to the parlor of his lady friends. As long 
 as this systemic disease exists society can- 
 not cure itself by treating symptoms. So 
 long as honored married men can make 
 approaches to young ladies ; while we ex- 
 pect a man to make certain advances 
 which a girl must repulse; so long as 
 g-u-i-1-t spells guilt for one party and not 
 for the other; just so long will the social- 
 ly developed lax morals of a sex vent 
 
Little Sermons for To-day 85 
 
 themselves in practices inimical to society. 
 One or two things is true : Either there 
 should be one code of morals for the sexes, 
 or our society is organized on the wrong 
 basis. If society is properly organized, if 
 the Creator is wise and beneficent when 
 He creates us male and female, each for 
 each, then the only logical principle is 
 the single standard which gives life for 
 life, character for character, purity for 
 purity. 
 
 The church recognizes no sex in moral- 
 ity. If there be one place where equal 
 opprobrium falls upon both for known 
 offenses, that place is the Christian 
 church. And there to both is held out 
 the tender hand of forgiveness. The stir- 
 ring demands of Jesus come to man and 
 woman alike, and one of the tasks of the 
 church of to-day is to create in manhood 
 a Christlike passion for purity. Unto this 
 end have we lifted up our voices and en- 
 tered the struggle. Some men's ideas must 
 be changed ; society must alter its direc- 
 tion ; but the end must come — that man 
 shall demand of woman the spotless 
 purity of his ideals, and shall place him- 
 self beside her in her highest stand. 
 
 The other potent cause which the 
 church can combat is the lack of ideals of 
 
86 Little Sermons for To-day 
 
 purity, and the willingness to compromise 
 with impurity when the danger is small. 
 Since Christ set the ideal by saying, 
 "Blessed are the pure in heart," and Paul 
 gave us the word, "Whatsoever things are 
 true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good 
 report, think on these things," the church 
 has fought for the ideal of purity in the 
 heart. 
 
 With rare exceptions the stories of those 
 who have entered the life of the pariah 
 show gradual sauntering down the broad 
 and easy way. Even in cases where girls 
 have been led by slavers, not often are 
 they snatched at one move from their in- 
 nocence; but the process involves a series 
 of easy steps, which go smoothly until 
 the one step which society unequivocally 
 condemns brings sorrow and shame. 
 
 The solution is an ideal of purity for 
 individuals and society. A see not, say 
 not, think not of that which is impure ; a 
 purity which is not content merely to 
 steer clear of the rock of condemnation, 
 but has an upward, forward impulse of 
 heart. This the church preaches with the 
 words of Christ Jesus as no other insti- 
 tution can. Purity of act, purity of mind, 
 purity of heart; this is the purity which 
 conquers, and is the antidote for the 
 
Little Sermons for To-day 87 
 
 poison which gives us the dread social 
 disease. 
 
 This is where the church does the great- 
 est work in combatting the evils of the 
 day. Not neglecting to fight the organized 
 traffic in women, never failing to seek to 
 remedy economic conditions, trying to im- 
 part the knowledge necessary for protec- 
 tion, we dig deeper and build for higher. 
 Jesus Christ challenged and staggered 
 humanity with his ideals of strength and 
 purity. His challenge the church takes 
 up for itself and passes on to society. Far 
 in advance shall we go; higher must in- 
 dividual standards raise; and purer need 
 the ideals of society to become. The 
 church says this, not alone because of 
 the need of the hour, not solely because 
 we see about the drift of moral wreck- 
 age, but because from the beginning of 
 its existence it has the command of its 
 Leader, and the upholding of the banner 
 of purity and righteousness was com- 
 mitted to its hands. 
 
 The church is awake. If any have 
 thought that she has neglected some of 
 the struggles tearing at the heart of man 
 let him be at peace. The church has not 
 forgotten that her chief end is regenera- 
 tion in the name of Jesus Christ, and she 
 
88 Little Sermons for To-day 
 
 can never take her emphasis from that 
 one thing. Following that, though, she 
 cannot read the utterances of her Master 
 without being filled with a zeal for their 
 spread through all of society; she cannot 
 dream of the kingdom of brotherhood and 
 love without going out to make way for 
 it; she cannot remember the life of the 
 lowly one without, through the inspira- 
 tion of his example, plunging into every 
 phase of life to bring relief and uplift 
 and happiness and holiness. 
 
 So the church is in action. She has in- 
 vaded new territory; she has made un- 
 accustomed challenges and demands; she 
 is armed for fresh conflicts in the name of 
 her Leader. Wonderful visions of service 
 have opened before her as the strength of 
 activity is renewed, adding richer glories 
 to the name of Him whom she delights to 
 honor. 
 
 But the consciousness abides that all 
 the time her aim has been true in going 
 to the unrighteousness of man for the 
 fundamental cause of wrong and unhappi- 
 ness. With all the minor methods she 
 may marshall at her command, she still 
 clings to the holy, positive, happy, religi- 
 ous life as the surest antidote for immoral- 
 ity of every kind, and to the social teach- 
 
Little Sermons for To-day 89 
 
 ings of Jesus as the only corrective for 
 unwholesome conditions. The life fired 
 with Christian zeal, having for its chief 
 aim honor to God and service to man is 
 the most potent contribution to the cause 
 of purity, and its reach is unbounded. 
 So in His name we work against all odds, 
 while the sun of life shines, looking in 
 faith to that time when the little seed shall 
 become the strong tree of spreading 
 branches. 
 
90 Little Sermons for To-day 
 
 GREAT MEASURES FOR 
 GREAT NEEDS 
 
 Your remedy must be commensurate 
 with your disease. Soothing-syrup will 
 not kill snake-bites. You cannot cure 
 diphtheria with a gargle. Medicine alone 
 will not take away tuberculosis. 
 
 The monstrous war of the world did 
 not give way to the urging of neutrals^ 
 nor to the clamoring of enthusiasts. There 
 can be no end of war in the world until 
 there is the essence of peace in human 
 hearts. As men are, so is man. 
 
 War and social injustice and industrial 
 inequality and political corruption, deep- 
 set diseases of the social system, cannot 
 be cured by the salve of the optimist, the 
 friction of the pessimist, nor the skin- 
 treatment of reformers. One of the en- 
 thusiasts who went to Europe to stop the 
 war with a plan came back with this con- 
 fession, "I have learned the things I knew 
 very well before. * * * Only I have 
 learned them better. I have learned them 
 in disappointment and pain, in humilia- 
 tion and defeat and the battlement oi. 
 
Little Sermons for To-day 91 
 
 great endeavor. And the lesson abides. 
 I have learned that there is no short cut 
 to the millennium. * * * I have learned 
 that a good movement must be steeped in 
 prayer and saturated with devotion, that 
 the peace propaganda must be baptized 
 into Christ. * * * You cannot buy peace. 
 A multi-millionaire cannot buy peace. He 
 cannot with all his wealth buy the 'fruits 
 of the spirit.' " The only remedy is a new 
 humanity and the only means is Jesus 
 the Christ. 
 
 Human ills may not be reached by easy 
 methods. Good resolutions make plausi- 
 ble the way to Hell. His own boot- 
 straps never yet lifted the straining fool. 
 Man's ills result from sin. Only God can 
 conquer sin. That is why Jesus, and he 
 alone, will cure the diseases of humanity, 
 and meet all its needs. 
 
92 Little Sermons for To-day 
 
 THE HELMSMAN 
 
 The man at the helm is the force which 
 gives guidance to the ship. Great engines, 
 twin screws, twenty knots an hour, drive 
 only to destruction unless the man at the 
 helm be on duty. No one could find fault 
 with the Titanic. She rode the seas like 
 a queen secure upon a throne. But the 
 pilot forgot his duty, or his vision was 
 not as keen as the danger demanded. 
 
 This magnificent civilization of ours 
 glories in its power and speed. Nowhere 
 in annals of history is written story like 
 to-day's making. The past is a child to 
 our power, a snail to our pace. 
 
 And individuals are seeking to embody 
 within themselves these age-characteris- 
 tics. The school-boy cannot be content to 
 wait for wisdom before entering business 
 or profession; the fond parent must send 
 her daughter into society before she is 
 through with dolls. To exercise power, 
 and to do it now, is a passion with us. 
 
 Now our grave danger is that of the 
 Titanic — lest we forget that power, glory, 
 speed, success, unless rightly directed, are 
 
Little Sermons for To-day 93 
 
 but engines of destruction. Witness the 
 bloody glory of Europe's material 
 progress to-day — condemned as a curse 
 by the common voice of man. The power 
 is there, the attainment. But the helms- 
 man guided wrongly. 
 
 The man at the helm in an individual's 
 life is the motive that dwells within him 
 — the spirit of his actions. It is the rea- 
 son for all his movements, and it will 
 send him to the natural result of its direc- 
 tion, as surely as the Titanic's rudder sent 
 her crashing into the iceberg. 
 
 Oh how we need to learn that what 
 comes out of the heart purifies or defiles 
 a man ! Let a man pile up the biggest bil- 
 lion of fortune in America — if his heart 
 and aim be selfish he is miserable and 
 selfish still. Put upon the hypocrite the 
 most solemn cloak of religion and pro- 
 fession — within he is as rotten as dead 
 men's bones. Set any ship of life at sea 
 with a wrong motive at the helm, and its 
 eternal port will be named failure. 
 
 What helmsman is worthy of a position 
 at the steering-wheel of a life? Is it 
 greed? The beasts may surpass him. Is 
 it power? He will never know as much 
 as the King of the Forest. Is it glory? 
 
94 Little Sermons for To-day 
 
 It fadeth like the mist. Is it love? Yea, 
 that is the greatest thing in the world. 
 
 Damned is the power which drives to 
 destruction because love is not at the 
 helm. Cursed is the speed which plunges 
 upon the rocks because service is not the 
 goal. Whatever may be the profession, 
 or business, or station, the ship of life is 
 not worthy to sail the seas unless it put 
 out with a good pilot. And there is no 
 helmsman worthy to stand up where life's 
 powers are given direction, except that 
 sent forth from God — sacrificing, serving, 
 saving lovt 
 
Little Sermons for To-day 95 
 
 A GOOD PLACE TO LIVE 
 
 Railroad companies know how strong 
 is the tendency of modern folks to change 
 residence. We seem always to see greener 
 pastures in the distance, more desirable 
 dwelling-places in other climes. But you 
 do not tell me where you live when you 
 say Los Angeles, or San Francisco, or 
 New York. There are a hundred cities 
 within every municipal boundary — the 
 cities of finance, of sin, of society, of 
 friendship, of Godliness, with many others. 
 
 I am not informed as to the abiding- 
 place of your soul when told that you live 
 in wealth, or in poverty ; in ease, or in 
 strife; in leisure, or in hurried activity; 
 in social prominence, or in home quiet- 
 ness. 
 
 To be sure, these items give some 
 knowledge of the conditions which sur- 
 round you ; but they cannot disclose 
 the real nature of the world in which you 
 live. It cannot be said how you permit 
 them to color your life, or what trans- 
 forming rays your soul throws across 
 them. 
 
96 Little Sermons for To-day 
 
 We live only in that which we recog- 
 nize and accept. A group of three stood 
 before a painting of rare beauty of form 
 and color. They were an artist, a sensu- 
 ous voluptuary, and a dog. In the same 
 surroundings the artist lived in a world 
 of beauty and inspiration, the sensualist 
 in an atmosphere of lustful desire, and the 
 dog was oblivious of it all. 
 
 So, in Los Angeles or elsewhere, in 
 favorable conditions or otherwise, people 
 live in different worlds according to their 
 souls. The abundance of life is in the 
 inhabitant, and not the habitation. In 
 the contest as to the relative greatness of 
 heredity and environment, remember that 
 the living soul, created in the image of 
 God, and endowed with his power, is 
 greater than both. 
 
 The abode of the soul may be changed 
 at any time. Are you tied down to an 
 ugly house, an unsightly neighborhood, 
 an uninspiring city, a miserable world? 
 Then get out. Move on. Not in vans and 
 trucks, but in spirit. Fill the old house 
 with a new desire to beautify; look upon 
 your neighborhood as the home of hu- 
 manity whom you may love ; find in your 
 city of streets and boundaries the city of 
 purity and goodness and service ; move 
 
Little Sermons for To-day 97 
 
 over into the new world of victory by let- 
 ting into your heart the Spirit of God. 
 With faith, peace and love within, any 
 spot on the footstool is a good place to 
 live. 
 
98 Little Sermons for To-day 
 
 MY PAL 
 
 I don't go much on the'ry, 
 An' I can't p'raps explain 
 Fit to put 'n a philosophy 
 What's in my heart and brain. 
 
 But I do know, 
 
 Whare'er I go 
 
 I've got a Pal. 
 
 When I tackle sumpen high, 
 Too big a job fer me, 
 I call on Him to draw anigh 
 And bring the thing to be. 
 
 We work and sing, 
 
 And do the thing, 
 
 My Pal and me. 
 
 When the skies are dark and gray 
 'N things are goin' wrong, 
 I raise my head and then I say, 
 "He'll bring the light along." 
 
 The darkness goes 
 
 With all its woes. 
 
 When He is near. 
 
 Some say that it ain't right 
 To call Him such a name. 
 You call Him anything you like — 
 He'll help you just the same. 
 
 But sure to rne 
 
 He seems to be 
 
 A constant Pal. 
 
 Ef He is allers nigh, 
 
 'N helps me on the way; 
 
 Ef He brings abundant life and high 
 
 Why cain't I truly say, 
 
 Fer me and you 
 
 In all we do 
 
 There is a Pal. 
 
Little Sermons for To-day 99 
 
 THE HEART OF YOUR NEIGHBOR 
 
 The poet cried for some power to give 
 us the gift of seeing ourselves as others 
 see us. It would truly save us from many 
 a blunder and foolish notion. But a 
 greater gift would be the power to see 
 our fellow as he is. Abounding love and 
 overflowing sympathy would drown our 
 envy and suspicion. To get down to his 
 heart is to find warmth. 
 
 Men seem to be worse than they are. 
 You pass a man on a lonely road ; you 
 wish to speak to him, and do not know 
 whether he desires the address of a 
 stranger. You feel embarrassed ; he looks 
 unconcerned and stern. You pass on, 
 wishing that men were more genial and 
 friendly. Did you ever stop to consider 
 that perhaps his thoughts and emotions 
 are akin to yours? So is the roadway of 
 life. We pass and look, and see only the 
 surface. 
 
 A good question to ask us, "Have I 
 looked for the good spot in my brother's 
 heart?" It is there. Black with sin, 
 bruised by the v^orld^ unlovely it seems, 
 
100 Little Sermons for To-day 
 
 but somewhere there is that which would 
 bring tears to your eyes. If you could 
 see the heart of your enemy, your anger 
 would give way to pity, your revenge to 
 sympathy. If you knew your neighbor as 
 he is you would be more gentle and lov- 
 ing, and you w^ould know that the world 
 is better than it seems. 
 
Little Sermons for To-day 101 
 
 LIVING TO-DAY 
 
 No wonder life is sometimes called a 
 grind. Such a ceaseless, monotonous 
 repetition of the same old things! "Fore- 
 noon and afternoon and night; forenoon 
 and afternoon and night!" 
 
 What a never-ending task is the neces- 
 sity of arising, bathing and dressing 
 daily. To think that every morning, one 
 year after another, hundreds and thou- 
 sands of days, one must get out of bed, 
 make his toilet and dress for the day. 
 Think of the work of walking — to pick up 
 one foot and put it in advance of the 
 other, only to lift the second to make it 
 lead the first. And then the car-rides, 
 office-routine, shop and factory wear and 
 tear, dishes, meals and mops — What an 
 array of terrifying little grinding duties 
 marshalled out on the road in front of us ! 
 It is not surprising that thoughts like 
 these lead to grouchiness, melancholy, 
 suicide. 
 
 Now a lot of our time must be given 
 to these little nerve-racking necessities. 
 But they are not worthy of first place. 
 
102 Little Sermons for To-day 
 
 When we worry about them and make 
 life consist of these lesser elements we 
 become like the centipede who walked 
 easily until he was asked which foot he 
 moved first, and in what order they 
 worked. Then he could not move an 
 inch for trying to ascertain how to do it. 
 
 Satisfaction and contentment come 
 from adjusting the terrors of every day 
 in their proper relation to a great life- 
 purpose. For Jesus every town in Gali- 
 lee was on the road to Jerusalem ; each 
 miracle and prayer was a preparation for 
 the cross and the resurrection ; every 
 man and woman and child was an element 
 in the kingdom. For the Christian, all 
 duties are necessary parts in the pattern 
 of life ; every day is a helpful, happy, holy 
 division of the Kingdom of God, fitting 
 into the Divine purpose with harmony and 
 beauty. 
 
 The End. 
 
Little Sermons for To-day 
 
 By 
 Rev. Clyde Shepard, A. M., LL. B., B. 0. 
 
 with an Introduction by 
 
 Rev. Charles Edward Locke, D. D.,LL. D. 
 
 Interpretations of the Message of Jesus 
 to the Twentieth Century. A book that leaves 
 its readers with a surer, maturer faith, and 
 with wholesome, confident attitude toward life. 
 
 "The Sermons are little only in quantity 
 and are large in quality and purpose, and will 
 be read with enjoyment and profit. I bespeak 
 for this dainty volume a cordial welcome." 
 Dr. Charles Edward Locke, Pastor of the First 
 Methodist Episcopal Church, Los Angeles. 
 
 75c Per Copy, Post Paid 
 
 Christian Health Magazine 
 
 Edited by 
 Rev. CLYDE SHEPARD 
 
 Distinctly a Periodical For To-Day 
 PSYCHOLOGY-PHYSICAL CULTURE- RELIGION 
 
 The only Health Magazine with the 
 Evangelical, Scientific Emphasis. It makes 
 the Church more attractive and helpful to 
 many, and it will save to the Church some 
 who are going astray. 
 
 For the Happy, Healthy, Successful 
 Religious Life. 
 
 $L00 Per Year 
 
 Christian Health Magazine 
 
 Station P, Los Angeles, Cal. 
 
14 DAY USE 
 
 RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED 
 
 LOAN DEPT. 
 
 This book is due on the last date stamped below, or 
 
 on the date to which renewed. 
 
 Renewed books are subject to immediate recall. 
 
 r WW \J j 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 • 
 
 
 
 
 
 « 
 
 
 
 ' 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 LD 21A-60m-3.'65 Uni^eS^iSSrma 
 ( F2 3 3 6sl0 ) 47 6B ^^^"^glrkeley 
 
VA 01 
 
 /oo 
 
 355047 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CAUFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
■k