,,sermons ,,on ,,biblical ,,characters ,,by ,,rev4 ,,clovis ,g4 ,,chappell1 ,d4,d4 ,,richard ,r4 ,,smith1 ,,inc4 ,,new ,,york #aicj ,,copyright1 #aibb1 ,,by ,,george ,h4 ,,doran ,,company ,,sermons ,,on ,,biblical ,,characters4 ,,ii ,,printed ,,in ,,the ,,united ,,states ,,of ,,america ,,contents ,i ,,the ,,missing ,,man--,,thomas ,,ii ,,the ,,great ,,refusal--,,jonah ,,iii ,,the ,,romance ,,of ,,faith--,,peter ,,iv ,,love',s ,,longing--,,paul ,v ,,going ,,visiting--,,jonathan ,,vi ,,the ,,woman ,,of ,,the ,,shattered ,,romances--,,the ,,woman ,,of ,,sychar ,,vii ,a ,,good ,,man--,,barnabas ,,viii ,,the ,,inquest--,,pharaoh ,,ix ,a ,,son ,,of ,,shame--,,jephthah ,x ,a ,,case ,,of ,,blues--,,elijah ,,xi ,,the ,,supreme ,,question--,,the ,,philippian ,,jailer ,,xii ,,the ,,mother-,,in-,,law--,,naomi ,,xiii ,,confessions ,,of ,a ,,failure--,,the ,,busy ,,man ,,xiv ,a ,,mother',s ,,reward--,,jochebed ,,xv ,a ,,good ,,man',s ,,hell--,,manasseh ,,xvi ,a ,,shrewd ,,fool--,,the ,,rich ,,farmer ,,sermons ,,on ,,biblical ,,characters ,i ,,the ,,missing ,,man--,,thomas ,john #bj3bd ,thomas1 one of the twelve1 called ,didymus1 was not with them when ,jesus came4 ,did you notice the name of this man who was missing8 ,who was it when the little company met after the crucifixion that was not there8 ,there was a man expected who failed to come4 ,who was this man8 ,when the little company gathered in the upper room behind shut doors there was one chair that was vacant4 ,who should have occupied that chair8 ,well1 in the first place1 it was not ,judas4 ,he was missing4 ,he was not there1 it is true1 but he was not expected4 ,judas had already betrayed his ,lord4 ,judas had already been whipped and scourged by his remorse of conscience clean out of the world4 ,judas had gone to his own place in the great ,unseen ,country4 ,judas was not there1 but he was not expected to be there4 ,who was the missing man8 ,it was not ,pilate4 ,we no more expected ,pilate than we expected ,judas4 ,pilate had had his chance at ,jesus4 ,pilate had had an opportunity of knowing1 of befriending ,him1 of serving ,him4 ,but ,pilate had allowed his own interests to get the better of his conscience4 ,pilate had chosen the friendship of ,caesar and had spurned the friendship of the ,king ,eternal4 ,so we did not expect ,pilate to be present in this little company of the friends of ,jesus who met on the resurrection side of the cross4 ,who was the missing man8 ,it was not ,caiaphas4 ,he1 too1 had stood in the presence of ,jesus1 but his envy had made him blind4 ,and he shouted ,blasphemy6 so loud that he drowned the voice of his conscience and the gentle whisperings of the ,spirit of ,god4 ,no1 it was not ,caiaphas1 nor any of the indifferent or hostile crowd that we miss in this meeting4 ,then1 who was this missing man8 ,and we read the text again and we find his name was ,thomas4 ,that is a very familiar name4 ,oh1 yes2 we remember ,thomas quite well4 ,it was ,thomas who was missing4 ,now1 ,thomas was expected1 for he was a member of the little band of disciples4 ,he was one of the ,twelve4 ,he belonged to the ,inner ,circle4 ,his fellow ,christians had a right therefore to expect him4 ,yet ,thomas was not with them4 ,it is a sad day ever for any congregation when its own membership begin to absent themselves from its services4 ,it is a sad day for any congregation when those who compose it can be counted on to be there at the social function1 there at the place of business1 but cannot be counted on when the interests of the ,kingdom are at stake and when the ,son of ,god goes forth to war4 ,believe me1 no community ever loses respect for a congregation till that congregation loses respect for itself4 ,and did you notice when it was that ,thomas was absent8 ,thomas was not with them when ,jesus came4 ,what an unfortunate time to be away6 ,what a great calamity to have missed that service of all others6 ,there was the little despondent1 despairing company of ten meeting behind closed doors4 ,they were sorrow-burdened and fear-filled4 ,but ,jesus came1 and ,thomas1 the saddest and bitterest man of them all1 was not there4 ,of course he would have gone if he had had any idea what a wonderful service it was going to be4 ,if he had even dreamed that ,jesus would be there1 of course he would not have missed it2 but he expected the meeting to be a very dull affair4 ,he felt confident that whoever else was there that there would be no ,christ4 ,he expected that ,peter and ,james and ,john and the rest would meet there and talk of a glorious past that had gone forever4 ,he would have said1 ,yes1 ,i know what they will say4 ,they will tell how ,jesus called them at the beginning4 ,they will tell how they forsook all to follow ,him4 ,they will tell of the great dreams that they dreamed1 of the high hopes that they cherished4 ,they will tell of all the glad1 radiant days that have 'dropped into the sunset4' ,but they will have nothing to say to relieve the bitterness of to-day or to fling a bow of hope upon the black skies of to-morrow4 ,so ,i will not go to the meeting to-day4 ,but the meeting was not dull4 ,the meeting was not sad4 ,the meeting was not a lament for a glory that was passed1 for a glad day that had slipped behind them forever more4 ,it was a service that thrilled with present joys4 ,it was a meeting that made the future to glow with glorious possibilities4 ,it was wonderful1 because ,jesus came4 ,he came then1 and ,he comes still4 ,wherever hungry hearts come together who yearn for ,him and make ,him welcome1 there comes the blessed ,christ to stand in the midst4 ,and therefore ,i would not absent myself from the meeting together of the people of ,god4 ,i would not because ,i want to be there when ,jesus comes1 when the ,king comes in to see the guests4 ,thomas was not with them when ,jesus came4 ,i wonder why it was that ,thomas was missing4 ,i wonder how it came about that he1 the neediest man among the apostles1 was not there to receive the inspiration and the uplift that came from this service4 ,why was he not there8 ,it was not1 ,i am sure1 because he was indifferent4 ,there are many to-day who have separated themselves from the services of the church1 from the fellowship of the saints1 because of a deadening indifference4 ,they have become absorbed in a thousand other matters till they have become doubly uninterested in the things of the church and in the affairs of the ,kingdom4 ,thomas was not missing because he had found satisfaction elsewhere4 ,thomas was not satisfied4 ,thomas was not happy4 ,i doubt if there was a sadder man in all ,jerusalem than ,thomas4 ,i doubt if there was a more wretched man in the wide world at that time than was ,thomas4 ,thomas had not turned aside from ,jesus to satisfy his soul on husks4 ,he had not left ,christ because his needs had been met and his thirst satisfied at some other fountain4 ,why was ,thomas missing8 ,he was missing because he had lost hope4 ,he believed that ,christ was dead4 ,he believed that the cause for which he had stood was lost and lost forever more4 ,he believed that right was forever defeated2 that wrong was forever enthroned4 ,over his head was a blackened sky4 ,for him there was not one single ray of light nor one single gleam of hope4 ,if ,i had met ,thomas on the streets of ,jerusalem on that day and said1 ,thomas1 ,i saw your friends going together to the ,upper ,room4 ,aren't you going8 ,jesus might come while they are there1 ,thomas would have answered1 ,no1 ,i'm not going4 ,jesus will not be there4 ,he is dead4 ,don't you know if ,i thought ,i would see ,him ,i would go8 ,don't you know that ,i loved ,him and love ,him still better than life1 but ,jesus is dead4 ,dead6 ,dead6 ,i was in the garden when ,judas kissed ,him4 ,i saw them lead ,him away4 ,i saw the soldiers scourge ,him4 ,i saw ,him crowned with the crown of thorns4 ,i was out on ,calvary when the black night came on at midday and ,i heard that wild1 bitter cry4 ,oh6 ,i will hear it forever more3 ',my ,god1 my ,god1 why hast thou forsaken me8' ,i saw ,his head bowed and ,i saw the brute of a soldier thrust the spear into ,his side4 ,don't talk to me about seeing ,jesus again4 ,jesus is dead4 ,the very bitterness of the sorrow of ,thomas had driven him to despair4 ,he found it hard to believe always4 ,here he found it impossible4 ,now1 there are some folks who are sweetened by sorrow and made better4 ,there are others that are made bitter and morose and despairful4 ,i heard a man cry one day1 an awful cry ,oh1 ,i could curse ,god1 he said1 if ,i knew there was a ,god1 for letting little ,mary die6 ,for ,thomas everything had collapsed4 ,there was not a star in his sky4 ,there was not a horizon in his life in which he might hope for a dawn4 ,so that he1 the neediest man of them all1 was not there when ,jesus came4 ,and now1 will you see what he missed4 ,truly1 the man was right who did not wonder what people suffered1 but wondered at what they missed4 ,and just see what this man ,thomas missed by not being in the little meeting among the ten4 ,first1 he missed the privilege of seeing ,jesus4 ,he missed the privilege of seeing ,him who had throttled ,death and hell and the grave and had brought life and immortality to light through the ,gospel4 ,he missed seeing ,him1 one vision of whose face would have changed his sobbing into singing and his night into marvelous day4 ,he missed seeing ,jesus1 and failing to see ,him1 he missed the glorious certainty of the after life4 ,it is ,christ1 my friends1 that makes ,heaven and the eternal life sure for us4 ,it is ,he who enables men to go down into the great silence without a doubt and without a fear4 ,it is ,he who makes us absolutely confident that there is a ,home of the ,soul1 that-- ,there is a land of pure delight ,where saints immortal reign4 ,having seen ,him once dead and alive forever more1 we have no slightest doubt of the truth of ,his promise that1 because ,he lives we shall live also4 ,by staying away that day ,thomas missed the thrill of a great joy4 ,had he been there he might have seen the ,lord4 ,this is not a possibility in every service1 possibly1 but it ought to be4 ,it is a possibility in every successful service4 ,i heard of a preacher once who thought that what his congregation wanted was beautiful epigrams4 ,he thought that they were more hungry for bejeweled verbiage than for the ,bread of ,life4 ,he thought they were thirsting more for a stream of eloquence than for the ,water of ,life4 ,but he was mistaken4 ,and once he came into the pulpit to find a card lying before him on which was written this word3 ,sir1 we would know ,jesus4 ,at first it angered him a bit and then it made him think4 ,and then it sent him to his knees4 ,and then it sent him into the pulpit with a new message4 ,and one day he came again into his pulpit to find a second card before him4 ,picking it up1 he read these words3 ,then were the disciples glad when they saw the ,lord4 ,of course they were4 ,their gladness was the gladness of the ten that met in the ,upper ,room4 ,their gladness was the gladness that might have been experienced by ,thomas4 ,it was intended for him1 for he was the saddest and most wretched man in ,jerusalem4 ,but ,thomas was not there4 ,thomas missed also the gift of peace4 ,jesus said to those present1 ,peace be unto you4 ,and how ,thomas needed that gift6 ,thomas was in a fever of restlessness and wretchedness4 ,he was whipped by a veritable tempest of doubt and utter unbelief4 ,and all the while he might have had the peace that passeth understanding4 ,he might have had the vision of ,him who stood then1 and still stands1 the central figure of the ages1 saying1 ,come unto me1 all ye that labor and are heavy laden1 and ,i will give you rest4 ,those present that day were blessed with the gift of peace4 ,they had fervor without fever4 ,they had motion without friction4 ,but ,thomas missed it because he was not with them when ,jesus came4 ,the disciples who were there were re-commissioned that day4 ,jesus said to them1 ,as the ,father hath sent me1 even so send ,i you4 ,with ,his death everything seemed at an end4 ,the great program that ,he had given them seemed to have lapsed forever4 ,a man said a few years ago1 ,life doesn't seem worth living since ,i found that ,christianity is not true4 ,it was so with these men4 ,they were men without a goal4 ,but ,jesus came and recommissioned them1 laid upon them again the high task of conquering the world4 ,and ,thomas missed that great blessing because he was not there4 ,last of all1 ,jesus breathed upon them and said1 ,receive ye the ,holy ,ghost4 ,these men were not only recommissioned4 ,they received the ,holy ,ghost4 ,he breathed on them4 ,how close they came to ,him that day6 ,how their hearts were warmed6 ,how their hopes were revived6 ,he breathed on them and said1 ,receive ye the ,holy ,ghost4 ,and poor ,thomas missed also this benediction because he was not with them when ,jesus came4 ,it may be that you were once active in the church4 ,it may be that you were once a live and enthusiastic ,christian4 ,but little by little you have slipped back4 ,you have moved to strange places4 ,your life has been thrown in great cities4 ,and you have missed the fellowships of yesterday out of your life4 ,it may be that to-day you are no longer found regularly among the worshipers in ,god's ,house4 ,you are missing something4 ,don't deceive yourself4 ,as the saints of ,god meet together ,jesus still manifests ,himself4 ,and seeing ,him1 there comes to us a new joy and peace1 a new sense of the purpose and worthfulness of life4 ,seeing ,him there comes to us a new power for battle and for conquest4 ,but if we have missed ,him1 whatever else we have won1 we have missed about all that is worth while4 ,oh1 there is one thing of which ,i am absolutely sure1 and that is that if ,i have ,jesus1 if ,his presence is a gladsome reality to my heart1 nothing else matters much4 ,but if ,i miss ,him everything goes wrong and everything is disappointing4 ,darius is in the palace and ,daniel in the den of lions1 but there is restlessness and wretchedness in the palace and peace and joy in the lions' den4 ,it is the presence of ,god that makes the difference4 ,thomas1 because he missed receiving1 also missed the privilege of giving4 ,when the other disciples came from that meeting1 how radiant were their faces6 ,what a spring they had in their step6 ,what joy bringers they were6 ,what a marvelously thrilling story they had to tell6 ,freely had they received and freely did they give4 ,but ,thomas4 ,he had received nothing1 therefore he had nothing to give4 ,he was a disappointment to his ,master4 ,for a whole week he went doubting ,him1 mistrusting ,him1 when it was his privilege to have walked into ,his fellowship and been as sure of ,his reality and of ,his nearness as he was of his own existence4 ,in the second place1 he missed the privilege of helping his fellow disciples4 ,what an encouragement he might have been to them6 ,how it would have strengthened the faith of those ,christians who had not yet seen the vision of their risen ,lord to have seen the light even upon the gloomy face of ,thomas6 ,but ,thomas missed the privilege of giving4 ,i cannot rob myself without robbing you4 ,i cannot starve myself spiritually without helping to starve you4 ,i cannot sin alone4 ,if ,i do that which lowers my spiritual vitality1 by that very act ,i help to lower yours also4 ,thomas was not with them when ,jesus came1 and he missed a double blessing1 the privilege of receiving and the privilege of giving4 ,but ,thomas1 in spite of his failure1 succeeded in the end4 ,tradition tells us that he died a martyr for his love and devotion to his ,lord4 ,how was he saved8 ,how was he brought to the joy and usefulness that are born of certainty8 ,thomas1 you know1 was a doubter4 ,a very thoroughgoing doubter he was4 ,how then1 in spite of his doubts1 did he find his way into the fulness of the ,light8 ,first1 ,thomas was not proud of his doubts4 ,he did not look upon them as blessings or as treasures4 ,there is a type of doubter to-day who does4 ,i have heard men speak of my doubts as if they were very priceless things4 ,but no man is of necessity the richer for his doubts4 ,i know that doubt may become a doorway to a larger faith4 ,still1 ,i repeat1 no man is of necessity the richer for them4 ,for instance1 no man is the richer because of his social doubts4 ,the man who does not believe in his fellow man is poor indeed4 ,the man who has doubts about the inmates of his home suffers something of the pangs of hell4 ,and the man who doubts ,god can hardly consider himself the possessor of a prize to be coveted4 ,thomas doubted1 but he was not proud of his doubts4 ,thomas was not only not proud of his doubts1 but was thoroughly wretched on account of them4 ,and being thoroughly wretched because of them1 he was willing to be set right4 ,he wanted to believe4 ,it seems to me that any man would4 ,thomas was eager to be made sure that the ,christ he loved was really alive4 ,he yearned for certainty4 ,thomas was not only willing1 but ,thomas was reasonable4 ,when he sought to be sure of ,jesus he put himself in the best possible position to learn the truth4 ,when he wanted to be made sure of ,christ he did not seek knowledge at the hands of the enemies of ,christ4 ,he did not ask information of those who were confessed strangers to ,christ4 ,so often we do4 ,we get in the grip of doubt and straightway we turn from the fellowship of those who know the ,lord to the fellowship of those who confessedly do not know ,him4 ,we read those books that strengthen our doubts rather than those that strengthen our faith4 ,but ,thomas was wiser4 ,thomas1 we have seen the ,lord4 ,that is what ,peter and ,james and ,john and the rest said to ,thomas after this wonderful service that ,thomas missed4 ,and what was the answer of this doubter8 ,did his face light up as he said1 ,i am glad to hear it8 ,not a bit of it4 ,he said1 ,except ,i see in ,his hand the print of the nails and put my finger into the print of the nails and thrust my hand into ,his side ,i will not believe4 ,and what ,thomas meant by this answer was simply this3 ,there is nothing that you can say or do that will make me believe at all4 ,i simply cannot believe and cannot be made to believe that ,jesus has risen4 ,now ,i do not think that his fellow disciples argued ,with him4 ,really it would have done no good4 ,they simply left him to his own thoughts4 ,and ,i fancy that those thoughts ran something after this fashion3 ,what they say is not true4 ,they are mistaken4 ,of course they are4 ,they must be4 ,and yet they certainly believe in the truth of what they say4 ,god grant that they are right4 ,there is nothing that ,i would not give to know4 ,then what did this honest and earnest doubter do8 ,listen6 ,and after eight days again the disciples were within and ,thomas with them4 ,yes1 ,thomas is a doubter4 ,but he is an honest and hungry-hearted doubter4 ,he is willing to give himself every opportunity to know the truth4 ,he says1 ,i will turn my face toward the east4 ,then if there is a dawn ,i will see it4 ,and what happened8 ,the dawning came4 ,the sun rose1 even the ,son of righteousness with healing in ,his wings4 ,then came ,jesus1 the doors being shut1 and stood in the midst1 and said1 ,peace be unto you4 ,then saith ,he to ,thomas1 ,reach hither thy finger and behold my hands1 and reach hither thy hand1 and thrust it into my side2 and be not faithless1 but believing4 ,and ,thomas answered and said unto ,him1 ,my ,lord and my ,god4 ,thomas became absolutely certain4 ,it is my firm conviction that that same certainty is your privilege and mine4 ,i believe that ,jesus spoke the simple truth when ,he said1 ,if any man is willing to do ,his will1 he shall know4 ,however little you may believe at this present moment1 if you will be loyal to what you do believe1 if you will follow the light that you have1 it will bring you into the brightness of the day4 ,you remember how ,horace ,bushnell1 while a student at ,yale1 felt that he was in the way of a great revival that was sweeping through the ,university4 ,he did not want to stand in the way of this revival and yet he was an unbeliever4 ,he did not feel that he could come out on the side of ,jesus ,christ for he did not believe in ,christ4 ,what then do you believe8 a voice within him seemed to ask4 ,i believe there is an absolute difference between right and wrong1 was the answer4 ,have you ever put yourself on the side of the right to follow it regardless of consequences8 was the next question4 ,i have not1 was the answer1 but ,i will4 ,so ,horace ,bushnell kneeled there in his room and dedicated himself to the service of the right4 ,and what was the result8 ,after he had been a preacher of the ,gospel in ,hartford1 ,connecticut1 for forty-seven years he said1 ,better than ,i know any man in ,hartford ,i know ,jesus ,christ4 ,when ,i was a lad ,i was overtaken by darkness while some eight or ten miles from home4 ,the night was intensely black1 so much so that ,i lost my way absolutely4 ,i found myself after some hours in a dense forest4 ,i made up my mind to dismount from my horse and sleep on the ground1 as ,i saw no chance of finding my way home4 ,but ,i had no sooner dismounted than the lightning began to flash and the thunder to roar and ,i was warned of an approaching storm4 ,a little later the storm burst upon me4 ,and ,i mounted and rode on through the dark1 not knowing whither ,i went4 ,at last1 far past midnight1 ,i saw a speck of light in the distance4 ,that light did not look at all like a sunrise4 ,it was as small as a needle point4 ,and yet ,i followed it because it was all ,i could see on the black bosom of the darkness4 ,a little later ,i found that that light was shining from a window in my own home4 ,a little later still ,i found my anxious mother behind that light waiting for the home-coming of her boy4 ,now1 ,i did not have much light to begin with4 ,it was pathetically meager4 ,but as ,i followed it it led me home4 ,thomas had but little4 ,bushnell had but little4 ,but they were willing to be true to the light that they had4 ,and being true to it1 they found the fullness of the light4 ,for it was true then as it is true to-day1 if any man is willing to do ,his will1 he shall know4 ,,ii ,,the ,,great ,,refusal--,,jonah ,jonah #a3a-c ,there is doubtless not another book in the literature of the world that has suffered more at the hands of men than the book of ,jonah4 ,it has been tortured by its enemies and wounded in the house of its friends4 ,we have been so prone to give our attention to the non-essential in the book rather than the essential4 ,we have had such keen eyes for the seemingly ridiculous and the bizarre4 ,for this reason it has come to pass that you can hardly mention the name of ,jonah to a modern audience without provoking a smile4 ,thus ,jonah1 coming to us as an evangelist1 is mistaken by many for a clown4 ,now this is a calamity4 ,it is a calamity in the first place because the book of ,jonah is one of the gems of literature4 ,there is not another book in the ,old ,testament that is more fragrant with the breath of inspiration4 ,there is not another book more radiant with the light of the divine love4 ,it is a wonderful gospel in itself4 ,therefore it is a great pity that we have turned from its winsome wealth to give ourselves to the unedifying task of measuring the size of a fish's throat4 ,did you ever hear of the hungry men that were invited to a feast8 ,when they came within the banquet hall they found the table spread with the viands of a king4 ,but the table was a bit out of the ordinary4 ,therefore1 there arose a discussion over the material out of which it was made4 ,these guests began heated arguments also over the method of its carpentry4 ,and they argued so long and learnedly and well that the food went utterly to waste and they went away more hungry than when they had come4 ,there is a story of a prince who loved a beautiful peasant girl4 ,in spite of his royal blood he determined to marry her4 ,to seal his pledge of marriage he sent her a wonderful engagement ring4 ,it was a gem so marvelous that it was said the stars shut their eyes in its presence and even the sun acknowledged it as a rival4 ,but the girl was more interested in the beautiful box in which it was packed than she was in the ring4 ,and when the prince came he was humiliated and disappointed to find her wearing the box tied upon her finger while the jewel had been neglected and forgotten and utterly lost4 ,now there is real jewelry here4 ,let us forget the rather queer casket in which this jewel comes while we examine the treasure4 ,the word of the ,lord came unto ,jonah the son of ,ammittai1 saying1 ,arise1 go to ,nineveh1 that great city1 and cry against it2 for its wickedness has come up before me4 ,the word of the ,lord came unto ,jonah4 ,there is nothing crude about that statement4 ,there is nothing in that to excite our ridicule4 ,that is one of the blessed and thrilling truths of the ages4 ,to this man ,jonah1 living some time1 somewhere1 ,god spoke4 ,to this man ,god made known ,his will and holy purpose4 ,and ,god is speaking still4 ,the word of ,god is coming to men and women to-day4 ,there is not a single soul listening to me at this moment but what at some time in your life there has come a definite and sure word from ,god4 ,you have felt the impress of ,his ,spirit upon your own spirit4 ,you have felt the touch of ,his hand on yours4 ,you have seen ,his finger pointing to the road in which you ought to walk and to the task that ,he was calling upon you to perform4 ,how this word came to ,jonah we do not know1 nor do we need to know4 ,it may have come to him through the consciousness of another's need4 ,it may have come to him through a study of the ,word4 ,it may have come to him through the call of a friend4 ,how it came is not the essential thing4 ,the one thing essential and fundamental is this1 that the word did come4 ,that is the essential thing in your case and in mine4 ,god does speak to us4 ,god does move upon us4 ,god does call us1 command us4 ,god does stir us up4 ,the word of the ,lord came unto ,jonah1 and it comes this very moment to you and to me4 ,what was it that the ,lord said to ,jonah8 ,he gave him a strange and unwelcome command4 ,he said1 ,arise and go to ,nineveh1 that great city1 and cry against it1 for its wickedness has come up before me4 ,it was hard for ,jonah to believe that he had heard aright4 ,was it possible that ,nineveh was a great city in spite of the fact that it was a heathen city8 ,was it possible that ,nineveh grieved ,god because of its wickedness8 ,could it be possible that ,god really loved ,nineveh1 though it was outside the covenant8 ,jonah did not want to believe this1 but he had to believe it4 ,he had to realize that ,the love of ,god is wider than the measure of man's mind ,and the heart of the ,eternal is most wonderfully kind4 ,jonah did not want to undertake this mission4 ,his objection1 however1 did not grow out of the fear that ,nineveh would refuse to repent4 ,his reluctance was not born of the conviction that there was nothing in the people of ,nineveh to which his message would appeal4 ,i know we are often hampered by that conviction4 ,we feel that it is absolutely useless to preach to some folks4 ,there is no use in trying to christianize ,africa4 ,there is no use even in trying to christianize some of our next door neighbors4 ,we so often forget that there is in every man an insatiable hunger and an unquenchable thirst that none but ,god can satisfy4 ,but to ,jonah this call was unwelcome because he feared that ,nineveh might repent4 ,and that he did not want ,nineveh to do4 ,jonah believed that ,god was the ,god of ,israel only4 ,he believed that ,god blessed ,israel in two ways4 ,first1 ,he blessed her by giving her gifts spiritual and temporal4 ,and ,he blessed her1 in the second place1 by sending calamities upon her enemies4 ,an abundant harvest in ,israel was a blessing from the ,lord4 ,a famine in ,nineveh was also a blessing from the ,lord4 ,jonah was firmly convinced that the prosperity of a nation other than his own meant calamity to ,israel4 ,it is a pity that this selfish belief did not perish with ,jonah4 ,but when we face the facts we know that it did not4 ,it is a very human trait in us to feel that another's advancement is in some way a blow to ourselves4 ,it is equally a human trait to feel that another's downfall and disgrace in some way adds a bit of luster to our own crowns4 ,of course1 nothing could be more utterly false1 but in spite of this fact we cling to that faith through all the passing centuries4 ,on the whole this duty1 then1 that ,god had put upon ,jonah was so distasteful that he made up his mind that whatever it might cost him he would not obey4 ,therefore1 we read that he rose up to flee unto ,tarshish from the presence of the ,lord4 ,ordered to ,nineveh he sets out for ,tarshish4 ,there were two cities on his map and only two4 ,there was ,nineveh1 the city to which he might go in the fellowship of ,god and within the circle of the will of ,god4 ,there was also ,tarshish1 the city that lay at the end of the rebel's road1 the city whose streets1 if ever he walked them at all1 he would walk without the fellowship of the ,god whom he had disobeyed4 ,and there are just two cities on your map4 ,the ,nineveh of obedience and the ,tarshish of disobedience4 ,you are going to ,nineveh or to ,tarshish4 ,i do not claim to know where your ,nineveh is4 ,it may be a distant city4 ,it may be a city across the seas whose streets you will crimson with the blood of your sacrifice4 ,it may be a city as near to you as the home in which you live1 as the child that nestles in your arms4 ,but wherever it is1 if you walk its streets you will walk them in the joy of the divine fellowship4 ,on the other hand1 you may go to ,tarshish4 ,tarshish is the city of ,have-,your-,own-,way4 ,it is the city of ,do-,as-,you-,please4 ,it is the city of ,take-it-,easy4 ,it is the city with no garden called ,gethsemane without its gates and no rugged hill called ,calvary overlooks its walls4 ,it is a city without a cross and yet it is a city where people seldom sing and often sob4 ,it is a city where nobody looks joyously into ,god's face and calls ,him ,father4 ,i met ,jonah that day on the wharf4 ,he looked like he had passed through a terrible spell of sickness4 ,his cheeks were hollow4 ,his eyes were red with sleeplessness4 ,he had a haggard1 worn1 hounded look about him4 ,are you on the way home1 ,jonah8 ,and he shook his head and said1 ,no4 ,i am going to ,tarshish4 ,tarshish was the most far away place of which the ,jew had any conception4 ,tarshish6 ,i say in astonishment4 ,what are you going to do over at ,tarshish8 ,oh1 he said1 ,i hadn't thought about that4 ,i do not know what the future has in store for me4 ,what ,i am trying to do is to get away from ,god4 ,and ,jonah arose to flee unto ,tarshish from the presence of the ,lord4 ,i wonder why the text did not say ,and ,jonah arose to flee unto ,tarshish from the presence of his duty instead of from the presence of the ,lord4 ,the writer of this story had real spiritual insight4 ,he was far clearer in his thinking than many of us4 ,he knew that to flee from duty was to flee from ,god4 ,whenever you make up your mind to refuse to go where ,god wants you to go and to do what ,god wants you to do1 you must make up your mind at the same time to renounce the friendship of ,god4 ,you cannot walk with ,him and at the same time be in rebellion against ,him4 ,god has no possible way of entering into fellowship with the soul that is disobedient to ,his will4 ,believe me1 it is absolutely useless1 it is mere mockery1 to say ,lord1 ,lord and then refuse to do the things that ,he commands you to do4 ,now1 when ,jonah saw the spaces of water growing wider between him and the shore a kind of deadly calm came upon him4 ,a man with his mind made up to do wrong is far more at rest than the man whose mind is not made up at all4 ,so when ,jonah had fully decided that he would rebel against ,god and give up all claim to ,god1 a dreadful restfulness came to his troubled spirit4 ,he went down into the sides of the ship and went fast asleep4 ,the days before had been troubled days4 ,the nights had been restless nights4 ,but the battle was over now1 even though it had been lost1 and he was able at last to sleep4 ,this period marks1 ,i am sure1 the period of greatest danger in the life of ,jonah4 ,jonah had been a rebel before1 but he had been a restless rebel4 ,he had been disobedient before1 but his disobedience had tortured him4 ,it had put strands of gray into his hair and wrinkles upon his brow4 ,but now he is not only in rebellion1 but he is content to be so4 ,he is not only without ,god1 but he is1 in a measure1 satisfied to be without ,him4 ,no greater danger can come to any man than that4 ,as long as your sin breaks your heart1 as long as your disobedience makes you lie awake nights and wet your pillow in tears there is hope for you4 ,but when you become contented with your wickedness1 when you come to believe that it is the best possible for you1 then you are in danger indeed4 ,now1 ,i am fully convinced that ,jonah's danger is the danger of a great many1 both in the ,church and out4 ,you who are listening to me at this moment are kindly and cultured men and women4 ,you are full of good will toward the ,church4 ,you love it and desire its prosperity4 ,yet many of you are doing practically nothing to make its desired prosperity a reality4 ,one of the most discouraging features about the ,church to-day is the large number of utterly useless people within its fold4 ,and these are not only useless1 but saddest of all1 they are content with their uselessness4 ,they seem to feel that it is ,god's best for them2 that it is all that ,god expects or has a right to expect4 ,did you ever make out your religious program and look at it8 ,what does discipleship cost you8 ,what is involved in your allegiance to the ,lord8 ,coming to church once or twice a month on ,sunday mornings and making a small contribution4 ,only this and nothing more4 ,the ,sunday ,school is not your burden4 ,the prayer meeting is not your burden4 ,visiting the new members that have recently come into our ,church and into the ,kingdom and need your help is not your responsibility4 ,helping by your presence and by your prayers to give spiritual fervor to all the services1 is not your responsibility4 ,yours is to make your way up to the doors of the ,house of ,many ,mansions by and by without ever having made one single costly sacrifice in order to follow the ,lord4 ,are you running away from your duty this morning8 ,you know what it is4 ,at least you may know it4 ,this is a needy world4 ,this is a needy ,church4 ,it has an opportunity to touch the uttermost parts of the earth if it is spiritually alive and spiritually mighty4 ,are you making your contribution8 ,are you accepting your responsibility or have you turned your back upon it for no other reason than just this1 that it is too much trouble8 ,if that is true of me and if that is true of you1 may the ,lord wake us up this morning and give us to see our deadly danger4 ,so ,jonah turned his back on his duty and turned his back on ,god4 ,he took ship for ,tarshish and went to sleep4 ,surely his situation is critical indeed4 ,but though he has forgotten ,god1 ,god in ,his mercy has not forgotten him4 ,god still loves ,jonah1 still longs for him and still hopes for him4 ,and so in mercy ,he sends a storm after him4 ,that was dangerous cargo that that ship had on board4 ,it had better have had gasoline or ,t ,n ,t than a rebellious prophet4 ,it was in mercy1 ,i say1 that the ,lord sent the storm after ,jonah4 ,coverdale translates it1 ,the ,lord hurled a storm into the sea4 ,let us thank ,god for the storms that rouse us1 that wake us up1 that keep us from sleeping our way into the pit4 ,may the ,lord send us any kind of storm rather than allow us to fling ourselves eternally away from ,his presence4 ,i am so glad ,god will never allow a man to go comfortably and peacefully to eternal death4 ,he never allows any man to be lost until ,he has done ,his best to save him4 ,i read some years ago of a ,new ,england farmer who was driving to town on a cold winter's day4 ,he overtook a woman on the way who was walking and carrying a baby in her arms4 ,he took her up on the seat beside him4 ,the cold became more bitter4 ,he noticed after a while that the woman replied to his questions drowsily4 ,a little later he saw that she was asleep4 ,ho knew that unless awakened she would sleep the sleep of death4 ,so he did what at first seemed a cruel thing4 ,he sprang from the wagon1 dragged her out into the snow and took the child from her clinging arms4 ,with the child he sprang into the wagon and started his team down the road at a trot4 ,the woman roused herself and began to totter feebly forward4 ,a little later she quickened her pace4 ,at last she broke into a run4 ,and as she caught up with the wagon a little later and the farmer put the baby back into her arms1 life had come back to the mother4 ,a temporal loss was a blessing to this woman4 ,let us thank ,god for any losses that may come to us that will keep us from sleeping our way to ruin4 ,so ,jonah was down in the sides of the boat asleep4 ,meanwhile the tempest was raging4 ,meanwhile the fear-filled crew was rubbing elbows with death4 ,then a hand is clapped on ,jonah's shoulder and he is being given a vigorous shaking and a voice is calling to him4 ,and though it is a heathen voice it is full of rebuke4 ,what meanest thou1 ,o sleeper8 ,how is it that you can sleep amidst all the agony1 amidst all the danger that is about us8 ,when the situation is as it is1 how is it that you are not on your knees8 ,else and call upon thy ,god4 ,i wish through this message that ,i might take some of you who are sleeping so soundly and peacefully and shake you awake4 ,i wish that ,god might speak through my voice to my heart and yours and say to us1 ,what meanest thou1 ,o sleeper8 ,what do you mean by sitting idly and stupidly in the ,house of ,god ,sunday after ,sunday and never doing anything8 ,what do you mean by having children growing up about you and not being enough interested in their spiritual welfare to even have a family altar8 ,how is it that amidst the tremendous issues of moral life and moral death that you can be as complacent and as undisturbed as the dead8 ,why in the name of all that is reasonable will you continue to 'lie like huge stones across the mouth of the sepulcher where ,god is trying to raise some ,lazarus from the dead8' ,that shake and that message got ,jonah awake4 ,he sprang out of his berth and rushed upon the deck4 ,and the sight that met him there made a new man out of him4 ,it changed him from a provincial ,jew into a world citizen and a missionary4 ,what did he realize as he looked into the pallid faces of those death threatened men about him8 ,he forgot all about their being heathen4 ,he only remembered that they were one with himself in their common danger and their common need4 ,they were all threatened with death4 ,they all needed somebody to save4 ,and1 men and women1 that is true still4 ,we folks differ in many respects1 but we are all alike in this3 ,we have all sinned and we all need a ,savior4 ,he not only saw that they were one in their needs but that they were also one in their hopes4 ,he realized what we have been so long in realizing1 and that is the oneness of the race4 ,he came to know1 even in that distant day1 that since we are one body1 one member could not suffer without all members suffering with it4 ,he faced the fact that his own wicked rebellion against ,god had not only brought wretchedness upon himself1 but that it was bringing it upon all that sailed with him4 ,no man ever flees from duty without incalculable hurt1 not only to himself1 but to others as well4 ,but1 thank ,god1 the reverse is also true4 ,if my disobedience hurts my obedience helps4 ,if my sin carries a curse my righteousness brings a blessing4 ,here is another vessel lashed by a tempest4 ,but the preacher on board this time is on good terms with his ,god4 ,therefore he puts one hand into the hand of his ,lord and with the other he saves the whole company of two hundred and seventy-six souls that sail with him4 ,be of good cheer3 for there shall be no loss of any man's life among you1 but of the ship4 ,for there stood by me this night the angel of ,god1 whose ,i am1 and whom ,i serve1 ,saying1 ,fear not1 ,paul2 thou must be brought before ,caesar3 and1 lo1 ,god hath given thee all them that sail with thee4 ,how may the sea become calm for us1 is the question4 ,jonah does not offer an easy suggestion4 ,cast me overboard1 is the reply4 ,the man who a few days ago despised the heathen is now ready to die for them4 ,that shows that ,god had made him a new man4 ,i know he backslides a bit later1 but he comes out all right in the end4 ,and1 my brethren1 ,god has no other method for stilling seas than that employed by ,jonah4 ,when the tempest of this world's sin was to be stilled there was no cheaper way than for ,christ to allow himself to be thrown overboard4 ,when ,livingstone wanted to still the tempest of ,africa he did not undertake the task from long distance4 ,he allowed himself to be thrown overboard4 ,and that is the price you and ,i have to pay for real service4 ,except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die1 it abideth alone2 but if it die1 it bringeth forth much fruit4 ,so ,jonah was cast into the sea4 ,but by losing his life he found it4 ,a friend of mine told recently of an experience of his in dealing with a ,british soldier in ,india4 ,this soldier was seeking salvation4 ,they prayed together4 ,but as they were about to separate1 the soldier was not satisfied4 ,he staggered against the wall and prayed after this fashion3 ,lord1 my sins are many4 ,i am unworthy of thy salvation4 ,i am unworthy of a vision of thy face4 ,but if there is any place that you want some man to die for you ,i would count it as a great favor if you would let me be that man4 ,and then suddenly1 said my friend1 the light came into his face and he was conscious of the presence of ,christ4 ,if you will do this to-day1 stop running from ,god and turn and walk with ,him1 you will find that ,nineveh is not a city of restlessness and wretchedness4 ,but you will find that it is a city rich in fellowship with ,god and in the blessed experience of that peace that passeth all understanding4 ,which way are you going to travel from this hour8 ,out of that door you will go in a moment facing toward ,nineveh or toward ,tarshish4 ,which way will you face8 ,may ,god grant that every step you take from this hour may be toward ,nineveh4 ,,iii ,,the ,,romance ,,of ,,faith--,,peter ,matthew #ad3bh ,lord1 if it be thou1 bid me come unto thee on the water4 ,i could not tell you how many times ,i have read this fascinating story4 ,i have turned to it again and again4 ,but in spite of its familiarity it always grips me4 ,i can never read it thoughtfully without a thrill4 ,i can never expose my soul to the vital truth of it without being helped and made a little bit more hopeful and ,i trust a little bit better4 ,look at the picture4 ,here is a little ship in the midst of a storm at sea4 ,a dozen men are manning the oars1 battling with the tempest1 fighting through the long hours of the night with the storm-whipped sea1 fisticuffing with death1 and yet getting nowhere4 ,it has been long hours since they left the shore4 ,it is now three o'clock in the morning1 but they have made very little progress4 ,i have a fancy that they have become very tired and very discouraged4 ,and more than once has one said to the other1 ,i wish the ,master were here4 ,if ,he were here ,he would know what to do4 ,and then1 to add to their terror1 they suddenly see their master walking from wave to wave toward them across the sea4 ,but he is not recognized4 ,they take him for a ghost and they cry out in fear4 ,this is not an altogether unique experience4 ,many times ,jesus comes to us in a way that makes us rather dread than welcome ,his approach4 ,sometimes ,he comes with demands for the giving up of certain sins or certain pleasures that we do not wish to give up4 ,sometimes ,he asks us for services that we do not wish to render4 ,he demands surrenders that we do not at all desire to make4 ,sometimes ,he comes to us in the guise of a great disappointment4 ,he comes in the garb of a heartache that wets our faces with tears4 ,the disciples1 ,i say1 were at first afraid4 ,but ,jesus calmed their fears by saying1 ,it is ,i4 ,be not afraid4 ,the ,bible seems to have been written in large measure just to still the fears of our timid hearts4 ,over and over again is that message directed to us1 ,fear not4 ,and at once fear was driven from these hearts4 ,and in the place of fear came1 to one at least1 a glorious and buoyant faith4 ,lord1 if it be thou1 shouted ,peter1 bid me come to thee on the water4 ,you see the effect the presence of ,christ had upon ,peter4 ,as soon as he recognized ,jesus he ceased to fear and began to hope4 ,as soon as he realized the presence of ,christ he gave up doubt and despair and began to believe4 ,the presence of ,christ always makes for faith4 ,peter was gripped by a firm conviction that now that ,christ had come impossibilities were transmuted into possibilities4 ,bid me come to thee on the water4 ,peter had no disposition to climb out of that boat before ,jesus came4 ,he had no desire to undertake this seemingly mad task while ,christ was yonder on the mountain side and the little boat was being battered by the storm4 ,but ,christ had begotten within him a beautiful and seemingly utterly reckless faith4 ,that which a moment ago was an impossibility is now altogether capable of being accomplished4 ,christ always inspires such faith in the hearts of those who really know ,him4 ,in such faith ,he takes the keenest delight4 ,there is nothing that so pleases ,him as the most daring and reckless and romantic faith4 ,he is never so joyed as when men trust ,him with mad abandon4 ,never once did ,he praise a prudent and conservative faith4 ,all ,his encomiums are for those who trust ,him with a romantic recklessness4 ,did you happen to meet the woman with the issue of blood as she set out to see ,jesus8 ,well1 it is good that you did not or you would have done your best to have discouraged her4 ,of course you would and so would ,i4 ,sarah1 ,i would have said1 are you going to ask ,jesus to help you8 ,are you going to seek him out and fall on your face before ,him in prayer8 ,no1 she would have answered1 ,i am not going to pray4 ,i am not going to ask the ,master to do anything for me at all4 ,i am simply going to slip up behind ,him when the crowd is thronging ,him1 and touch ,his garment4 ,i have a shamefaced disease4 ,i want as little attention as possible4 ,hence ,i am not going to say a single word to ,jesus4 ,then1 ,i would have answered with conviction1 ,you will never be cured4 ,the ,master has made no promise that ,he will honor a mad faith like yours4 ,when did ,he say ,he would heal if you merely slipped up in a mob and touched the fringe of ,his garment8 ,but ,i was not there to throw dashes of cold water upon the fire4 ,she went on her reckless way4 ,and wonder of wonders1 she was healed4 ,lord1 bid me come1 said ,peter4 ,and what was the reply of ,jesus8 ,did ,he say1 ,peter1 ,i am astonished at you4 ,why do you want to do this foolish and insane and impossible thing8 ,don't you know that the storm is against you8 ,don't you know that the law of gravitation is against you8 ,don't you know that the whole experience of the race is against you8 ,you have been about the sea all your life4 ,when did you ever see anybody walk on the waves8 ,why do you request1 then1 to do this absurd and ridiculous and impossible thing8 ,but ,jesus did not say that4 ,i never read where ,he told a single trusting heart that his request was impossible4 ,i do read where ,he said the very opposite4 ,he said1 ,all things are possible to him that believeth4 ,he makes all things possible4 ,that is what he is for4 ,he ever attacks men at the point of their impossibilities4 ,he calls on the selfish man to love his neighbor as himself4 ,he calls on the paralytics to rise and walk4 ,and never does ,he have a rebuke for the man who dares to fling himself blindly upon ,his power4 ,and instead of rebuking ,peter ,he approved him4 ,he encouraged him4 ,he set ,his sanction upon his request4 ,he said to him1 ,come4 ,i am sure if you or ,i had been there we would have wanted ,him to have said far more4 ,we would have wanted ,him to explain to us how ,he would hold us and enable us to walk4 ,but the invitation1 ,come1 that one word was enough for ,peter4 ,come1 said ,jesus4 ,what would you have done under those circumstances8 ,what would ,i8 ,i suppose ,i know4 ,i would have said1 ,lord1 ,i'd like to4 ,i wish ,i could4 ,i've always wanted to do something magnificent4 ,it has occurred to me again and again as ,i have read the record of thy dealings with thy saints that the ,christian life is not to be a dull and drab and unromantic thing4 ,i have felt a thousand times that the faith of the saints ought to have far more of buoyancy and enthusiasm and daring and romantic adventure in it than it has4 ,so since you have bid me come1 ,lord1 ,i'd like to come4 ,i'll think it over4 ,who knows but that ,i may try it some day8 ,but ,peter was made out of more heroic stuff4 ,the spirit of adventure had not died within him4 ,his faith is full of the finest romance4 ,come1 said ,jesus and immediately ,i see ,peter drop his oar and begin to climb down out of the boat to go to ,jesus4 ,some of the commentators are very hard on ,peter for his boldness and seeming foolhardiness here4 ,but ,i am frank to say that ,i like ,peter here very much4 ,i suppose most of the critics would have sat very still in the boat4 ,i shouldn't wonder if they would not have put a restraining hand upon ,peter4 ,in fact1 it would not surprise me if some of his fellow disciples did not do that very thing4 ,i can imagine that ,andrew might have gripped him and said1 ,peter1 sit where you are4 ,you can hardly stay on top of the water now4 ,and ,thomas would have said1 ,man1 are you mad8 ,nobody ever walked on the water before4 ,but ,peter said1 ,by the help of ,christ ,i will4 ,and with the storm light in his face and the spray in his hair and with faith in ,christ in his heart he pushes the boat from under his feet4 ,there is something great about that4 ,there may be much base alloy in ,peter1 but there is something fine in him also4 ,he is to be admired if he never takes a step4 ,he is worthy of praise if he sinks into the sea as a piece of lead4 ,at least he has dreamed of doing the supernatural4 ,at least he has dared in the presence of ,christ to undertake what others were afraid to undertake4 ,he has ventured to stake his life on the power of ,christ to make good ,his promise4 ,if he fails utterly he is still worthy of respect4 ,it is better to make a thousand failures than to be too cowardly to ever undertake anything4 ,so he steps out upon a stormy sea4 ,it does look a bit mad1 doesn't it8 ,and yet it only looks mad because of our blindness and dullness and stupid unbelief4 ,what did ,peter have under him when he was in the ship8 ,upon what were his fellow disciples trusting to keep them from the bottom of the sea8 ,just two or three planks1 that is all4 ,upon what was ,peter trusting8 ,he was trusting upon the sure word of ,god4 ,when he let himself down from the side of the boat at ,christ's invitation he did not drop into the sea4 ,he dropped into ,god's arms4 ,he dropped into the arms of ,him who holds every sea in the hollow of ,his hand4 ,he dropped into the arms of ,him whose power kindled every sun and flung every world into space4 ,before ,peter can sink he must break ,god's arm4 ,and mad as seemed his act ,peter was never so safe in his life4 ,pile upon him1 if you will1 all the mountain systems of all the worlds and he will never sink low enough to wet his sandals if he keeps his feet planted upon the promise of ,christ4 ,jesus said1 ,come4 ,peter did the same that you and ,i may do4 ,he responded in the affirmative4 ,he said1 ,yes1 ,lord1 and made the venture4 ,and what happened8 ,let me read it to you4 ,he walked on the water to go to ,jesus4 ,he did what was humanly impossible4 ,he accomplished what was absolutely beyond the reach of any human being except for the power of ,christ4 ,he walked4 ,it must have been a thrilling experience4 ,it was a joy to himself4 ,it was a joy to his ,master4 ,it was a benediction to his fellows4 ,i can see the terror in their faces give way to wonderment and gladness as they say1 ,well1 well1 well6 ,he is doing it after all4 ,yes1 ,peter walked4 ,let us not let any subsequent failure blind us to this blessed fact4 ,i know that he did not walk far4 ,i know1 too1 that that was his own fault4 ,it was not the fault of his ,lord4 ,peter might have walked the whole distance but for one fatal mistake4 ,he might have won a complete triumph but for one tragic loss4 ,what happened to ,peter8 ,he saw the wind boisterous4 ,what does this mean8 ,it means that ,peter ceased giving his attention and his confidence to ,christ4 ,he fixed upon the difficulties4 ,in other words1 he lost his faith4 ,he came to believe in his hindrances more than in his help4 ,he believed in ,christ a great deal1 but he believed more in waves and wind and lightning and thunder4 ,he believed in ,jesus1 but he believed more in weakness and death4 ,looking at the wind he stepped right off ,god's promise and it wasn't a second till he was up to his neck in the raging water4 ,there was absolutely no failure possible so long as he stood firm upon the promise of ,christ4 ,come unto me1 all ye that labor and are heavy laden1 ,jesus is saying to you that are troubled and sin burdened4 ,that means that you can come4 ,that means that ,he is eager for you to come4 ,and however far you have gone from ,god and however stiff may be the tempest that blows about you1 if you get this promise under your feet all the storms that hell can let loose against a human soul will leave you unshaken4 ,but you must keep a firm stand on the promise4 ,if you are here with some great yearning in your heart1 some special prayer for usefulness or for deliverance from a peculiar temptation1 lay hold on ,god's ,word and cling to it and you will never be put to confusion4 ,a saintly old friend of mine told me on one occasion about praying for his child4 ,and he said he got the assurance that his baby was going to recover4 ,she was suffering from membranous croup4 ,that very night he was awakened by the mother and the nurse4 ,and he heard the mother say to the nurse1 ,is she dead8 ,and he turned and went to sleep with never a question and never a doubt4 ,he refused to look at the waves4 ,peter got too interested and too absorbed in difficulties4 ,it is so easy to do that4 ,peter took counsel of his fears4 ,i have done the same and you have done the same a thousand times over4 ,we are not going to be harsh and critical with him4 ,by so doing we would be too hard upon ourselves4 ,but this ,i say3 ,it is a great calamity4 ,it is a great shame4 ,oh1 that we might get upon the higher ground of the psalmist who said1 ,wherefore will we not fear though the earth be removed and though the mountains be cast into the midst of the sea4 ,but looking at the boisterous wind and taking counsel of our fears1--these are not the only things that work our ruin4 ,we might be persuaded1 and often are1 to take our eyes off ,christ as much by our advantages as by our disadvantages4 ,had ,peter said within himself1 ,the law of gravitation is not so invariable as ,i thought1 or ,i am a much superior man to what ,i dreamed ,i was4 ,if ,peter had fixed his confidence in self or in circumstances he would have gone down just the same4 ,anything that turns our eyes away from a steadfast gaze of faith upon ,christ spells disaster4 ,what happened to ,peter when he began to look at the boisterous wind8 ,you know4 ,he began to sink4 ,peter sinking right in the presence of ,christ1--that is pathetic4 ,he can help nobody now4 ,he could not have saved his own child if he had been there4 ,unbelievers seated smugly in the boat said1 ,ah6 ,i thought so4 ,i knew something like that would happen4 ,i do not know that ,peter would ever have noticed the boisterous wind unless somebody had called his attention to it4 ,i can imagine ,thomas might have shouted to ,peter and said1 ,look out1 ,peter4 ,there comes a tremendous wave4 ,anyway1 ,peter is sinking4 ,did you ever have that experience8 ,do you know what it is to feel that soul sickening sensation that comes to one who is sinking8 ,do you know what it means to be losing your grip on ,god1 losing your power in prayer1 losing your grip of things spiritual8 ,did you ever sink8 ,are you sinking to-day8 ,i think ,i know something of the experience of ,peter4 ,i have an idea that you know something of it4 ,young man1 away from home for the first time1 are you sinking8 ,little by little are you giving up your faith8 ,little by little are you flinging away the fine ideals that were the strength of your earlier years8 ,young woman1 are you sinking8 ,business man1 cumbered with many cares1 living your life in the thick of the fight1 are you keeping straight and clean or are you losing your vision8 ,are you sinking8 ,what was the matter with ,lot in ,sodom8 ,he led a sinking life4 ,that was it and it cost him every one that was dear to him4 ,it will prove expensive to you4 ,oh1 ,christian worker1 you will not count as long as you are living a defeated and failing and sinking life4 ,but even in his failure ,peter has a message for us4 ,in his defeat he is his own straightforward1 sincere and honest self4 ,when ,peter realized that he was sinking he did not try to conceal the matter4 ,he did not say1 ,i'll fight it out in my own strength4 ,he threw himself at once on the infinite strength of ,christ4 ,he prayed4 ,that was a wise thing4 ,that was a big and manly thing4 ,peter prayed4 ,have you forgotten the art8 ,and listen to that prayer4 ,it was white hot with earnestness4 ,lord1 save me4 ,it is short1 too4 ,notice that4 ,when you do not want anything1 when you have no burden1 when you are careless and indifferent and listless1 you can get down on your knees and pour out whole hogsheads of mere words4 ,when you are spiritually asleep and morally stupid you can utter platitudes in the form of prayer endlessly4 ,but when the sword of genuine conviction has passed through your soul1 when you are doing business in great waters1 then you fling aside your platitudinous petitions and call out in solemn earnestness for help4 ,that prayer was a confession4 ,it was a confession of failure1 a confession of defeat4 ,it was also a confession of need4 ,some men would have been too proud to have made it4 ,what a terrible thing is pride1 that damning pride that makes us unwilling to confess our sin even to ,god4 ,for he that covereth his sin shall not prosper4 ,but if we confess our sins1 ,he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness4 ,peter was different4 ,that was his salvation4 ,he blurted out the whole pitiful story and threw himself on the mercy of ,jesus4 ,and what happened8 ,that which always happens when men thus pray4 ,immediately ,jesus stretched forth ,his hand and caught him4 ,and ,peter1 who had walked and had sunk1 rose and walked again4 ,and so may you and so may every single sinking and floundering and failing soul here4 ,all you need to do is pray as ,peter prayed and to believe as ,peter believed4 ,and now1 my brethren1 do you not agree that we need more of the faith that made ,peter undertake his mad enterprise8 ,isn't the tragedy of the ,church to-day just this1 that the average ,christian is not walking by faith1 but by sight8 ,that is the reason we have so little of that high spirit of daring that marked the early ,church4 ,that is the reason that life for many of us is so dull and prosaic4 ,what we need is faith4 ,for faith is not a tame and spineless thing that dares nothing4 ,real faith dares something1 something big and brawny1 beyond the human4 ,hence it brings into life the thrill of finest romance4 ,come1 said ,jesus1 and ,peter gave an instant obedience4 ,may you and ,i be as wise4 ,for our ,lord is inviting us just as ,he invited ,peter4 ,are you thirsty8 ,he says1 ,come to me and drink4 ,are you hungry8 ,he says1 ,come and dine4 ,are you tired and burdened8 ,he says1 ,come and ,i will give you rest4 ,are you eager to be of service8 ,he says1 ,come1--and out of your inner life shall flow rivers of living water4 ,brethren1 all our needs are met in ,him4 ,he is our sufficiency4 ,he is summoning us even now to venture upon ,him4 ,will you make the venture8 ,out of my shameful failure and loss1 ,jesus1 ,i come1 ,jesus1 ,i come2 ,into the glorious gain of ,thy cross1 ,jesus1 ,i come to ,thee2 ,out of the depths of ruin untold1 ,into the peace of ,thy sheltering fold1 ,ever hereafter ,thy face to behold1 ,jesus1 ,i come to ,thee4 ,,iv ,,love',s ,,longing--,,paul ,philippians #c3aj ,that ,i may know 4 4 4 the fellowship of ,his sufferings4 ,weymouth gives this translation3 ,i long to share ,his sufferings4 ,paul is here leading us into the very innermost sanctuary of his heart4 ,he is revealing to us the supreme passion of his life4 ,he is letting us know what is his one great ambition4 ,i long1 he says4 ,and knowing what a mighty man he was we lean eagerly forward that we may hear the word that comes from his lips4 ,for we are keen to know what is the dearest desire of this brave heart4 ,and as we listen this is the perplexing word that comes to us3 ,i long to share in ,his sufferings4 ,how startlingly strange that longing is4 ,we are half ready to wonder if we have heard aright4 ,and when we realize that we have1 we instinctively think of the words of the ,roman governor1 ,festus3 ,paul1 thou art beside thyself4 ,much learning doth make thee mad4 ,we wonder if ,festus was not right after all4 ,isn't ,paul a bit insane8 ,i long to share in ,his suffering4 ,it sounds like madness to many of us because it is so foreign to our own deepest desires4 ,had ,paul said1 ,i long for a place of honor2 ,i long that my presence should elicit the applause of the world and call forth the crowns of the world2 had he said this1 we could easily have understood him4 ,had he expressed a longing for a place in the hall of fame1 had he said1 ,my one desire is that the world shall keep sacred my memory1 he would have been easily understood by us4 ,we would have said ,this is very natural and very human4 ,but that is not what he says4 ,this is his strange language3 ,i long to share in ,christ's sufferings4 ,had ,paul said that he longed to escape pain and anguish and sorrow we might also have understood him4 ,had he said1 ,i long to escape the penalty of sin even though ,i live in sin1 many of us could have appreciated this desire4 ,for there are always those who1 while they do not yearn especially for deliverance from sin1 do yearn to be saved from its penalty4 ,they do not desire to be saved from the sowing of tares1 but they want to be saved from the reaping of the harvest4 ,they do not pray for deliverance from the broad road1 but they desire that this broad road terminate at the gate of ,heaven instead of at the gate of destruction4 ,had this man said that he desired to escape hell everybody could have sympathized with him4 ,but that is not his desire4 ,what he said was entirely different4 ,i long1 he says1 to share in the sufferings of ,christ2 ,i long to weep as ,he wept2 ,i long to sympathize as ,he sympathized2 ,i long to travel life by ,his road2 ,i long to pass through ,his ,gethsemane and to climb ,his ,calvary and to share in my finite way in ,his ,cross4 ,it is an amazing desire4 ,what is its secret8 ,why could ,paul truly say such a word as this8 ,in the first place1 he could not say it because it was natural for him4 ,there had been a time when he had given utterance to such a statement it would have been grossly false4 ,when ,paul rode out from ,jerusalem on his way to ,damascus1 for instance1 he longed for anything else more than he longed to share in the sufferings of ,christ4 ,it required a marvelous change4 ,it required an absolute transformation to bring ,paul to the place where he was able to give utterance to this high and heroic sentiment4 ,he was not possessed of such a longing by nature4 ,nor did ,paul long to share in the sufferings of ,christ because he looked upon these sufferings as trivial4 ,few men have ever understood the sufferings of ,christ as did ,paul4 ,he had an appreciation of their intensity and of their bitterness far beyond most other men4 ,he understood as few have ever understood the physical agonies of the ,cross4 ,paul was a great physical sufferer himself4 ,but he knew what we sometimes forget1 that infinitely the deepest pain of ,jesus was not physical4 ,had there been nothing involved in ,his crucifixion but physical agony then we are forced to acknowledge that many of ,his followers have endured the same kind of pain with a fortitude to which ,he was a stranger4 ,his agony was from another source4 ,he suffered because ,he was made to be sin for us1 who knew no sin4 ,he suffered in that he was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities4 ,it was this fact that wrung from ,him that bitterest of all cries1 ,my ,god1 my ,god1 why hast thou forsaken me8 ,nor did ,paul possess this desire because he longed for pain in itself4 ,paul was not a calloused soul4 ,few men have ever been more sensitive to pain4 ,he had no more fondness for being shipwrecked than you and ,i have4 ,he had no more pleasure in being stoned1 in being publicly whipped1 in being thrown into dark dungeons and stenchful prison cells than you and ,i have4 ,he no more delighted in being ridiculed and ostracized than you and ,i would delight in these things4 ,paul took no more pleasure in hunger and cold1 in peril and nakedness1 in agony and tears than you and ,i would take in them4 ,yet we find him longing to share in the sufferings of ,christ4 ,why did he long for this strange privilege8 ,there are two reasons4 ,he longed to share in ,christ's sufferings1 first1 because he genuinely and passionately loved ,christ4 ,if you have ever at any time truly loved anybody you will be able to understand this longing of ,saint ,paul4 ,it is the nature of love to always seek either to spare or to share the pain of the loved one4 ,one of the sweetest stories in our ,american literature1 ,i think1 is that of ,the ,wife told by ,washington ,irving4 ,you remember it4 ,it has been re-enacted a thousand times over4 ,a man of wealth has lost his fortune4 ,he is heart-broken over it1 not on his own account but on account of his wife4 ,she has been tenderly nurtured4 ,he is sure that poverty will break her heart4 ,but he has to tell her4 ,the lovely home in the city must be given up4 ,they must move to a cottage in the country4 ,he enters upon the hard ordeal4 ,it is his ,gethsemane4 ,but to his utter amazement he finds his wife more joyous1 more genuinely happy in the midst of this trying experience than he has ever known her to be before4 ,what is the secret8 ,she is in love with her husband and loving him1 it is her keenest joy to be able to share his sorrow with him4 ,the wife of the southern poet1 ,sidney ,lanier1 was just such a one as ,irving's heroine4 ,you will recall what a long hard fight ,lanier had with sickness and poverty and what a tower of strength through it all was the gentle and tender woman who loved him4 ,in the heart of the ,hills of ,life1 ,i know ,two springs that with unbroken flow ,forever pour their lucent streams ,into my soul's far ,lake of ,dreams4 ,not larger than two eyes1 they lie1 ,beneath the many-changing sky ,and mirror all of life and time1 --,serene and dainty pantomime4 ,shot through with lights of stars and dawns1 ,and shadowed sweet by ferns and fawns1 --,thus heaven and earth together vie ,their shining depth to sanctify4 ,always when the large ,form of ,love ,is hid by storms that rage above1 ,i gaze in my two springs and see ,love in his very verity4 99 99 99 99 ,o ,love1 ,o ,wife1 thine eyes are they1 --,my springs from out whose shining gray ,issue the sweet celestial streams ,that feed my life's bright ,lake of ,dreams4 ,oval and large and passion-pure ,and gray and wise and honor-sure2 ,soft as a dying violet-breath ,yet calmly unafraid of death4 99 99 99 99 ,dear eyes1 dear eyes and rare complete-- ,being heavenly-sweet and earthly-sweet1 --,i marvel that ,god made you mine1 ,for when ,he frowns1 'tis then ye shine6 ,now1 what was there in the seeming frown of ,god to make the eyes of love shine8 ,it was just this3 they were alight with the joy that comes when love is privileged to share the pain of the beloved4 ,i heard a grizzled old soldier who was an officer in the ,civil ,war tell of a raw recruit who came into his regiment4 ,this recruit was awkward and uncouth and unattractive4 ,he seemed to be little more than an incarnate blunder4 ,he would stumble and fall down over his own musket4 ,naturally he was the butt of many jokes4 ,he was the laughing stock of all his comrades4 ,but this officer said that he tried to befriend him4 ,but if the uncouth fellow appreciated his efforts to help him he never said so4 ,he seemed as awkward in expressing himself as he was in all other respects4 ,one night1 said this officer1 we were sleeping without tents and it was bitter cold4 ,i shivered under my blanket till ,i went to sleep4 ,when ,i waked in the morning1 however1 ,i was warm4 ,then ,i noticed1 to my astonishment1 that ,i was sleeping under two blankets instead of one4 ,i looked about me for an explanation4 ,a little way off was this gawky1 green1 uncouth soldier striding back and forth with the snow pelting him in the face4 ,he was waving his thin arms as he walked to keep from freezing to death4 ,that soldier died a few days later4 ,he died from the exposure of that night4 ,but a smile was on his face as ,i sat beside him4 ,now1 why did the soldier smile8 ,you know4 ,he was rejoicing that he was able to spare and to share the suffering of his friend4 ,i long to share in ,his sufferings4 ,that is the language of love4 ,to one who does not know love it will forever be a mystery4 ,but to the lover it is easily comprehensible4 ,any real mother can understand it4 ,down in ,tennessee a few years ago a mother was out riding with her little boy4 ,the horse took fright and ran away4 ,the buggy was wrecked4 ,the mother escaped without injury4 ,but the little lad was so crippled that he was never able to sit up again4 ,now1 before this tragic accident the mother of this little wounded boy had been very active in the life of her ,church and community4 ,but with the coming of this great sorrow she had to give up all outside work4 ,she gave herself instead night and day to the nursing of her boy4 ,at times she would hold the little fellow in her arms for almost the whole night through4 ,at last1 after three years1 the angel of release came and the patient sufferer went home4 ,and there were those in the community who said1 ,i know that his mother will grieve4 ,yet his home-going must be a bit of a relief4 ,but what said the mother when the minister went to see her8 ,she met the preacher at the door and as love's sweet rain ran down her face she did not say anything about being relieved at all4 ,but this is what she said3 ,oh1 ,brother1 my little boy is gone and ,i can't get to do anything for him any more4 ,why1 it was the grief of her heart that the little fellow had gone out beyond the reach of her hand where she could no longer have the joy of offering herself a living sacrifice upon the altar of his need4 ,she longed to continually share in his suffering4 ,so ,paul wanted to share in the sufferings of ,christ because he loved ,christ4 ,then he wanted to share in the sufferings of ,christ1 in the second place1 because he knew that suffering was involved in being like ,christ4 ,you may suffer and yet be un-,christlike1 but no man can be ,christlike and fail to suffer4 ,if you ever1 by the grace of ,god1 become a partaker of the divine nature you must also inevitably become a partaker of ,his sufferings4 ,to be ,christlike is to suffer for the very simple reason that ,christ cannot be what ,he is and fail to suffer in and for a world like ours4 ,what is the nature of ,christ8 ,christ is like ,god4 ,christ is ,god4 ,he that hath seen me hath seen the ,father4 ,but what is ,god8 ,there are many definitions4 ,there is only one all comprehensive and all inclusive definition4 ,that is that sentence of pure gold that fell from the lips of the apostle that leaned upon the bosom of his ,lord4 ,what is ,god8 ,i ask this man who had such a wonderful knowledge of ,him4 ,and he answers1 ,god is love4 ,now since ,god is love ,he must suffer4 ,he cannot look upon the lost and ruined of this world without grief4 ,he cannot behold the tragic quarrel of man with ,himself without taking it to heart4 ,there is nothing more true nor1 in the deepest sense1 more reasonable than this tender sentence3 ,in all their afflictions ,he was afflicted4 ,our afflictions must afflict ,him because ,his nature and ,his name is love4 ,j4 ,wilbur ,chapman tells how he one night explored the slums of ,new ,york with ,sam ,hadley4 ,about one o'clock in the morning they separated to go to their own homes4 ,dr4 ,chapman said he had not gone far before he heard ,mr4 ,hadley saying1 ,oh6 ,oh6 ,oh6 ,and he looked back to see his friend wringing his hands in deepest agony4 ,he hurried to his side thinking that he had been taken suddenly ill4 ,what is the matter8 he asked4 ,and the great mission worker turned his pain-pinched face back toward the slums out of which they had come and said1 ,oh1 the sin6 ,oh1 the heartache6 ,oh1 the wretchedness6 ,it will break my heart4 ,it has broken my heart4 ,now1 just as ,christ cannot be ,christ and not suffer in a world like ours1 so ,he cannot be ,himself and fail to make a sacrificial effort to save this world4 ,what says the gem of the ,gospel8 ,god so loved the world that ,he gave4 ,what was the song that abidingly made ,paul's heart to pulsate with heavenly hallelujahs8 ,just this3 ,he loved me and gave ,himself for me4 ,love grieves4 ,it does more4 ,it serves4 ,love beholds the city and weeps over it4 ,but it is not satisfied with that4 ,it also goes to the ,cross for that city over which it weeps4 ,sam ,hadley wrings his hands in grief over the wretched in ,new ,york's slums1 but he does more4 ,he goes to their rescue4 ,so when ,paul said1 ,i long to share ,his sufferings he meant1 ,i long to be1 in the truest sense1 like ,him4 ,i long to see the world through ,his eyes4 ,i long to feel toward men as ,christ feels toward them4 ,i long to sacrifice for them in my finite way as ,he sacrificed for them4 ,and what was the outcome of this longing8 ,there are some ambitions that ,god cannot gratify4 ,to do so would only mean our impoverishment and our ruin4 ,but such is not the case here4 ,god graciously granted the satisfying of this longing of ,saint ,paul4 ,listen to the testimony to the truth of that fact from his own lips4 ,i am crucified with ,christ1 nevertheless ,i live4 ,yet not ,i1 but ,christ liveth in me4 ,again he says1 ,for to me to live is ,christ4 ,that is1 ,for to me to live is to reproduce ,christ4 ,for to me to live is for ,christ to live over again in me4 ,in a most profound and vital sense he has come to share in the divine nature4 ,having come to share in the divine nature he is privileged also to share in ,his sufferings4 ,his ministry is a daily dying4 ,he is a man of great heaviness and continual sorrow4 ,the secret of his pain is this3 ,i fill up that which is behind of the sufferings of ,christ in my body4 ,in sharing thus his ,master's sufferings he shared with him in ,his work of bringing salvation to men4 ,to-day we could better spare many a nation than we could spare this one single man4 ,and now we are going to gather about this altar where we shall remember together the suffering love of ,jesus ,christ4 ,as we take the bread and wine we are going to be reminded of the broken body and shed blood of our ,lord4 ,and ,i trust that as we think upon ,his love and upon ,his sacrifice for ourselves we shall come to be possessed with the holy longing of this great apostle4 ,may we too be able to say1 ,i long to share in ,his suffering4 ,this high longing is possible for every one of us through the riches of ,his grace4 ,and it is possible in no other way4 ,therefore1 let us gather round this table with this song within our hearts3 ,thy nature1 gracious ,lord1 impart2 ,come quickly from above1 ,write thy new name upon my heart1 ,thy new1 best name of ,love4 ,v ,,going ,,visiting--,,jonathan ,i ,samuel #bc3af ,and ,jonathan1 ,saul's son1 arose and went to ,david into the wood and strengthened his hand in ,god4 ,going visiting is a very commonplace occurrence4 ,oftentimes the visits we make are thoroughly trivial and unimportant4 ,but there are other times when our visits take on a profound significance4 ,there are times when they mark a crisis4 ,there are times when they set in motion influences that tell on the entire future of those whom we visit4 ,there are times when they mean the making or the marring of a human soul4 ,now1 this visit about which we are to study to-day is no ordinary visit4 ,i think it is one of the most beautiful stories to be found in literature4 ,this visit was made many centuries ago4 ,it was made in an obscure corner of the earth1 and yet it has never been forgotten4 ,it never will be4 ,the ,inspirer of the ,word saw in it too much of worth and winsomeness to allow it to slip out of the memories of men4 ,it is remembered to-day1 not because ,jonathan left his calling card on ,david's center table4 ,it is remembered because the visit was so blessedly beautiful4 ,it is a great privilege that ,god has given us in allowing us to visit each other4 ,we can help so much by it if we will4 ,wasn't that a lovely visit that the old school master made to ,marget that time in ,beside the ,bonny ,briar ,bush when he came to tell her that she had a laddie of parts8 ,and wasn't it still more beautiful when he came later1 rugged old ,scotchman that he was1 to burst into tears of wild joy over the good news he brought her that her son had won first prize in the great university8 ,wasn't that a lovely series of visits that a kindly old man made to the room of the little laddie who had swept the street crossing before he had been crippled in the discharge of his duty8 ,a city missionary went in to see him and asked him if he had had anybody to visit him4 ,oh1 yes1 was the answer4 ,a good man comes every day and talks to me1 and sometimes he reads the ,bible to me and prays4 ,what is his name8 asked the missionary4 ,and the little fellow studied a moment and said1 ,i think he said his name was ,gladstone4 ,england's grand old man appears to us in many a charming role1 but in none is he more manly and commanding than in this of visiting a little crippled waif in a ,london attic4 ,florence ,nightingale was a lovely visitor4 ,do you recall that exquisite bit of poetry in conduct on the field of ,crimea8 ,a soldier was to go through a painful operation4 ,an anaesthetic could not be administered and the doctor said the patient could not endure the operation4 ,yes1 ,i can1 said the patient1 under one condition3 if you will get the ',angel of the ,crimea' to hold my hand4 ,and she came out to the little hospital at the front and held his hand4 ,glorious visit4 ,no wonder the man went through the operation without a tremor4 ,but the visit of our text1--to me it is more wonderful still4 ,the truth of the matter is1 ,i know of but one other visit that ever took place that is finer and more beautiful4 ,you know what visit that was4 ,it was the visit that ,one made to a manger in ,bethlehem nineteen centuries ago4 ,that was a visit that remade the world4 ,it was so wonderful that a star pointed it out with finger of silver1 and our discordant old earth was serenaded with the music of that land of eternal melody4 ,but aside from that one visit1 ,i think this the most beautiful one ever recorded4 ,what is the secret of its beauty8 ,first1 it was beautiful in its courageous loyalty4 ,you know who ,jonathan was4 ,he was the ,king's son4 ,he was popular1 handsome and courageous4 ,so lithe1 athletic and graceful he was that they called him the gazelle4 ,he was a prince4 ,he was heir-apparent to the throne of ,israel4 ,and you know1 also1 who ,david was4 ,he was at that time in disgrace4 ,he was under the frown of the ,king4 ,he was being hunted from one refuge to another like a wild beast4 ,to be his friend was to be the enemy of the ,king4 ,to smile upon him was to meet the frown of the ,king4 ,but notwithstanding the fact that these men were so far apart1 one a favorite prince and the other an outcast peasant1 yet we find the prince visiting the peasant4 ,you say they were friends4 ,yes1 that is true1 deeply true4 ,but their friendship had started in other days4 ,when ,david and ,jonathan first met they met under altogether different circumstances4 ,you know when ,jonathan first saw ,david4 ,it was when ,david returned from his fight with ,goliath1 with the bloody head of the giant in his hand4 ,he met him amidst the hurrahs and the wild enthusiasm of the people4 ,he met him on one of the great red letter days of ,david's life1 when he sprang suddenly from obscurity to be a national hero4 ,it does not seem so surprising1 therefore1 when we read that on this day the soul of ,jonathan was knit to the soul of ,david4 ,david was courageous4 ,david had shown himself a hero4 ,david was a favorite with the ,king and a favorite with the people4 ,it took no great effort to love him then4 ,it took no great courage to be his friend4 ,but all is changed now4 ,the ,king no longer loves him1 but hates him and seeks his life4 ,the sun of his popularity has gone into eclipse4 ,we wonder if ,jonathan's friendship will stand the test4 ,and again we turn and read the text3 ,and ,jonathan1 ,saul's son1 arose and went to ,david into the wood and strengthened his hand in ,god4 ,what beautiful loyalty4 ,what fine fidelity4 ,how blessed is ,david in the friendship of a man who can love him in the sunshine and who can love him no less in the midst of the shadows4 ,how blessed he is in the friendship of one who can stand by him when many lips praise him and who can also stand by him when many abuse him1 and many criticise him and many lift their hands against him4 ,truly this man loves ,david for himself alone4 ,second1 this visit is beautiful because of its fine and costly sympathy4 ,jonathan really sympathized with ,david in his trials and his difficulties4 ,he did not express that sympathy in any cheap and distant way4 ,he might have sent ,david word that if he needed anything just to let him know4 ,he might have dispatched a servant to comfort ,david in his sore trials4 ,but he did not try to express his sympathy at long distance4 ,he went to ,david4 ,he came to handclasp with the man that he wished to help4 ,now1 ,i am perfectly aware of the fact that much of our sympathy must be expressed at a distance4 ,for instance1 we cannot all go to the foreign field4 ,we must express our interest in those who have not had our opportunities by our gifts4 ,much of the service we render in our own land must be rendered in the same way4 ,but when that is said1 the fact still remains that there is nothing that will take the place of our hand-to-hand dealing with those who need us4 ,we cannot perform all our charities by proxy4 ,we must come in personal contact with those whom we would help4 ,there is one poem ,i think that we have a bit overworked3 ,let me live in my house by the side of the road1 ,where the race of men go by4 ,they are good1 they are bad1 they are weak1 they are strong1 ,wise1 foolish--and so am ,i4 ,so why should ,i sit in the scorner's seat1 ,or hurl the cynic's ban8 ,let me live in my house by the side of the road1 ,and be a friend to man4 ,i see from my house by the side of the road1 ,by the side of the highway of life1 ,the men that press on with the ardor of hope1 ,and the men who are faint in the strife4 ,but ,i turn not away from their smiles nor their tears1 ,both parts of an infinite plan4 ,let me live in my house by the side of the road1 ,and be a friend to man4 ,i know there are brook gladdened meadows ahead1 ,and mountains of wearisome height4 ,and the road passes on through the long afternoon1 ,and stretches away to the night4 ,but still ,i rejoice when the travelers rejoice1 ,and weep with the strangers that moan1 ,nor live in my house by the side of the road1 ,like one who dwells alone4 ,now that is good1 but after all1-- ,it's only a half truth the poet has sung ,of the house by the side of the way4 ,our ,master had neither a house nor a home1 ,but ,he walked with the crowd day by day4 ,i think when ,i read of the poet's desire ,that a house by the road would be good1 ,but service is found in its tenderest form ,as we walk with the crowd in the road4 ,so ,i say let me walk with the men in the road1 ,let me seek out the burdens that crush2 ,let me speak a kind word of good cheer to the weak ,who are falling behind in the rush4 ,there are wounds to be healed1 there are breaks we must mend1 ,there are cups of cold water to give1 ,and the man in the road by the side of his friend1 ,is the man who has learned how to give4 ,then tell me no more of the house by the road1 ,there is only one place ,i can live4 ,it is there where the men are toiling along1 ,who are needing the help ,i can give4 ',tis pleasant to dwell in the house by the road1 ,and be a friend1 as the poet has said1 ,but the ,master is bidding us1 ,bear ye their load1 ,your rest waiteth yonder ahead4 ,so ,i can not remain in the house by the road1 ,and watch as the toilers pass on1 ,their faces beclouded with pain and with shame1 ,so burdened1 their strength nearly gone4 ,i will go to their side1 ,i will speak in good cheer1 ,i will help them to carry their load4 ,and ,i'll smile at the man in the house by the way1 ,while ,i walk with the crowd in the road4 ,out there in the road that runs by the house ,where the poet is singing his song1 ,i'll walk and ,i'll work midst the heat of the day1 ,and ,i'll help falling brothers along4 ,too busy to dwell in the house by the way1 ,too happy for such an abode1 ,and my glad heart will sing to the ,master of all1 ,who is helping me serve in the road4 ,and the beauty and glory of this lovely visit that ,prince ,jonathan made to ,david1 the outcast1 was that he walked with him in the road4 ,he did not dwell in his princely palace and send him some money4 ,he did not allow him1 as ,dives allowed ,lazarus1 to gather up the crumbs4 ,he went to him4 ,and because he went to him he helped him4 ,oh1 heart1 that is the secret of the salvation wrought by our ,lord4 ,he came to us4 ,had ,he merely come for the day and gone back to ,heaven at night1 ,he would never have saved us4 ,he came into personal contact with us4 ,that is how ,he lifts us4 ,this visit was beautiful1 in the third place1 because of its high and holy purpose4 ,i see ,jonathan as he is turning his face toward the forest where ,david is hiding4 ,i say to him1 ,prince ,jonathan1 you are going down to see ,david1 ,i understand4 ,why are you going8 ,this is his answer3 ,i am going down to strengthen his hand in ,god4 ,you know ,david has had a hard time recently4 ,he has been sorely tried4 ,he has been bitterly disappointed4 ,he has passed through one great sorrow after another4 ,i am afraid his faith is going to be destroyed4 ,i am afraid he will lose his grip of ,god unless ,i go to see him and help him and strengthen his hand in the ,lord4 ,and that is why ,i am going4 ,and so ,jonathan hurries on4 ,and the angels must have crowded the windows of heaven to behold him as he walked upon this glorious errand4 ,i would go a bit out of my way any time to get to see a man who is going to see his friend1 not to ask for help1 but going for the one big purpose of making the man whom he is to visit a little stronger1 a little better1 a little more loyal to his ,lord4 ,and not only did ,jonathan go for that purpose1 but he succeeded in it4 ,when he left ,david1 he left him a stronger man4 ,i do not know what he said to him4 ,that is not recorded4 ,i do not know that he quoted scripture to him or even prayed with him4 ,he may have4 ,he may not have4 ,it is not absolutely necessary to have prayer always in order to strengthen our friend in the ,lord4 ,sometimes all we need to do is just to talk to him and let him talk1 and convince him that we sympathize with him1 that we are interested in him4 ,and having done that1 somehow he comes more and more to believe in ,god's interest4 ,but whatever ,jonathan said1 ,david was stronger and better and braver after he had gone4 ,i think ,i can hear him as he looks after the retreating figure going through the forest4 ,and what he is saying to himself is this1 ,bless the ,lord1 ,o my soul1 and all that is within me1 bless ,his holy name4 ,and ,i think when the books are balanced in ,heaven that ,jonathan will get quite a bit of credit for ,david's exquisite music4 ,there are terrible clashes in his songs4 ,he that did eat of my bread hath lifted up his heel against me4 ,jonathan did not inspire that4 ,but there is many a blessed passage that might never have been written but for the loyal and loving and constant friendship of ,prince ,jonathan4 ,and last of all1 this visit was beautiful in its self-forgetfulness4 ,its beauty reached its climax here4 ,just think of the circumstances4 ,samuel1 the prophet1 has declared that ,david is to be king4 ,but in everybody's mind1 the throne by right belongs to ,jonathan4 ,david is in perplexity4 ,he is on the point of losing his faith4 ,if he loses it he never will be king4 ,this will give ,jonathan his chance4 ,now1 why1 ,i wonder1 didn't ,jonathan feel about this matter as many of us would8 ,why did he not hold aloof and say1 ,if ,david fails and loses his chance it is no fault of mine4 ,if he fails it will only mean that he will not take away the throne that by right belongs to me4 ,no attitude would have been more human than this4 ,i do not know how many nights ,jonathan spent in prayer to be delivered from the bondage of his selfishness4 ,but ,i do know this1 that he was delivered4 ,and ,i want you to watch him as he goes down into this forest to see ,david to-day to strengthen his hand in ,god4 ,i said we do not know his conversation with ,david4 ,we do know a bit of it1 and that is this1 that he encouraged ,david to believe ,god1 to believe this one particular promise at least1 that ,god was going to see to it that ,david was king4 ,and when you see ,jonathan going thus into the woods he is going for the deliberate purpose of taking the crown off his own brow and putting it upon the brow of another4 ,he is abdicating the throne in behalf of this outcast friend of his who is hiding here in the forest4 ,you will doubtless agree1 therefore1 that this old world has not been blessed with many visits so beautiful as this4 ,watch this ,prince as he goes into the wood4 ,his stride is like that of another3 ,into the woods my ,master went1 ,clean forspent1 forspent2 ,into the woods my ,master came1 ,forspent with love and shame4 ,but the olive trees were not blind to ,him1 ,and the little gray leaves were kind to ,him1 ,and the thorn tree had a mind to ,him1 ,when into the woods ,he came4 ,out of the woods my ,master went1 ,and ,he was well content2 ,out of the woods my ,master came1 ,content with death and shame4 ,when death and shame would woo ,him last1 ,from under the trees they drew ,him last1 ',twas on a tree they slew him--last ,when out of the woods ,he came4 ,yes1 ,jonathan went into the woods to uncrown himself6 to empty himself for his friend6 ,truly the spirit and mind was in him that was also in ,christ ,jesus1 who being in the form of ,god thought it not a thing to be clung to to be equal with ,god1 but emptied ,himself and became obedient unto death1 even the death of the cross4 ,but the practical man stands aside and looks on and says1 ,jonathan1 you have made a great mistake4 ,you never wore a crown and you never wielded a scepter4 ,you took your opportunity for earthly greatness and threw it away4 ,it was a great mistake4 ,and we take the words of ,judas and say1 ,why this waste8 ,but after all1 was it a mistake8 ,he lost his crown1 but he won his friend4 ,he helped banish the discord and increased the melody of the world4 ,he threw aside his scepter of temporal power to lay hold on an eternal scepter4 ,he threw aside the crown that he might have worn for a day to lay hold on a crown that will last forever more4 ,if ever ,i get to ,heaven ,i expect to give particular attention to the ,visitors' ,gallery4 ,i think there is going to be an especial place1 a very choice place in ,heaven for the visitors4 ,not1 you will understand1 for those who are visiting ,heaven1 but those who were good at visiting here4 ,for mark you1 the ,lord has spoken of a special reward that ,he is going to give to those of whom ,he could say1 ,ye visited me4 ,and about the handsomest1 the loveliest face ,i expect to find among the immortal and blood-washed visitors is the face of this man ,jonathan4 ,and now1 will you hear this closing word8 ,jonathan uncrowned himself for his friend4 ,and he won his friend and he won an immortal crown4 ,but there was another who gave up infinitely more than ,jonathan4 ,and ,he came to you and me when we were in an infinitely worse plight than that in which ,david was4 ,he came to us when we were dead in trespasses and in sin4 ,and what ,he says to us this morning is this1 ,i have called you friends4 ,ye are my friends4 ,the ,prince who did that for us was not the son of ,saul1 but the ,son of ,god4 ,through ,his renunciation ,he was crowned4 ,by ,his stooping ,he was forever elevated4 ,wherefore ,god has highly exalted ,him and given ,him a name that is above every name4 ,but what ,i ask is this3 ,have you responded to ,his friendship as ,david responded to that of ,jonathan8 ,he has been a friend to you4 ,have you1 will you be a friend to ,him8 ,that is what ,he is seeking4 ,that is what ,he is longing for to-day as for nothing else in earth or ,heaven4 ,you know why ,he came4 ,you know why ,he is here now4 ,why did ,jonathan visit ,david in the gloomy wood that day and uncrown himself for him8 ,it was just this reason3 ,it was because he loved him4 ,again and again the story had said that ,jonathan loved ,david as his own soul4 ,i thought it was a mere hyperbole at first4 ,i thought it might be a kind of poetic way of putting it1 but it was only sober truth4 ,and ,david spoke sober truth in that noble and manly lamentation when he said1 ,thy love was wonderful to me1 passing the love of women4 ,and it is love that seeks you and me to-day4 ,it is a love that longs to gain our friendship4 ,it is a love that had been told to us1 but at last was shown to us in the death of the cross4 ,and we know it is true4 ,david responded to the love that was shown him4 ,he did not disappoint his friend4 ,may the ,lord save you and me from disappointing our ,friend4 ,for ,he is a ,friend that sticketh closer than a brother4 ,,vi ,,the ,,woman ,,of ,,the ,,shattered ,,romances--,,the ,,woman ,,of ,,sychar ,john #d3d-bf ,look1 will you1 at this picture4 ,there sits a man in the strength and buoyancy of young manhood4 ,he is only thirty or thereabouts4 ,about him is the atmosphere of vigor and vitality that belong to the spring-time of life4 ,but to-day he is a bit tired4 ,there is a droop in his shoulders4 ,his feet and sandals are dusty4 ,his garment is travel stained4 ,he has been journeying all the morning on foot4 ,and now at the noon hour he is resting4 ,the place of his resting is an old well curb4 ,the well is one that was digged by hands that have been dust long centuries4 ,this traveller is very thirsty4 ,but he has no means of drawing the water1 so he sits upon the well curb and waits4 ,his friends who are journeying with him have gone into the city to buy food4 ,soon they will return and then they will eat and drink together4 ,as he looks along the road that leads into the city he sees somebody coming4 ,that somebody is not one of his disciples4 ,it is a woman4 ,as she comes closer he sees that she is clad in the cheap and soiled finery of her class4 ,at once he knows her for what she is4 ,he reads the dark story of her sinful life4 ,he understands the whole fetid and filthy past through which she has journeyed as through the stenchful mud of a swamp4 ,as she approaches the well she glares at the ,stranger seated upon the curb with bold and unsympathetic gaze4 ,she knows his nationality at once4 ,and all her racial resentment is alive and active4 ,a bit to her surprise the ,stranger greets her with a request for a favor4 ,give me a drink1 he says4 ,christ was thirsty4 ,he wanted a draught from ,jacob's well4 ,but far more ,he wanted a draught from this woman's heart4 ,she was a slattern1 an outcast4 ,she was lower1 in the estimation of the average ,jew1 than a street dog4 ,yet this weary ,christ desired the gift of her burnt out and impoverished affections4 ,so ,he says1 ,give me to drink4 ,there is no scorn in the tone1 and yet the woman is not in the least softened by it4 ,she rather glories in the fact that she has ,him at a disadvantage4 ,oh1 yes1 she doubtless says to herself1 you ,jews with your high-handed pride1 you ,jews with your bitter contempt for us ,samaritans--you never have any use for us except when you need us4 ,how is it1 she says1 that you being a ,jew ask drink of me who am a woman of ,samaria8 ,you don't mean that you would take a drink at the hand of an unclean thing like me1 do you8 ,but this charming ,stranger does not answer her as she had expected4 ,he makes no apology for ,his request4 ,nor does ,he show the least bit of resentment or contempt4 ,he does not answer scorn with scorn1 but rather answers with a surprising tenderness3 ,if thou knewest the gift of ,god and who it is that saith unto thee1 ,give me to drink1 thou wouldest have asked of ,him and ,he would have given thee living water4 ,mark what the ,master says4 ,it is one of those abidingly tragic ifs--,if thou knewest4 ,the trouble with you1 ,he says1 is that you do not know the marvelous opportunity with which you now stand face to face4 ,your trouble is that you are unaware of how near you are to the ,fountain of ,eternal ,life4 ,you do not realize how near your soiled fingers are to clasping wealth that is wealth forever more4 ,if thou knewest--if you only knew how ,he could still the fitful fever of your heart4 ,if you only knew the message of courage and hope and salvation that ,he could speak through your lips1 you would not be so listless and so careless and so indifferent as the preacher is trying to preach4 ,if you knew the burdens that are ahead of you--if you knew the dark and lonely places where you will sorely need a friend1 you would not lightly ignore the friendship and abiding companionship that is offered you in ,christ ,jesus1 our ,lord4 ,if thou knewest4 ,do you not hear the cadences of tenderness in the voice of our ,lord8 ,do you not get a glimpse of some bit of the infinite compassion that looks out from those eternal eyes8 ,if you only knew the gift of ,god1 if you only knew who ,i am1 instead of my having to beg you1 instead of my having to stand at the door and knock--you would be knocking4 ,you would be asking of me4 ,now1 isn't that a rather amazing thing for ,christ to say about this fallen woman8 ,there she stands in her shame4 ,once1 no doubt1 she was beautiful4 ,there is a charm about her still in spite of the fact that she is a woman of many a shattered romance4 ,five times she has been married1 but the marriage relationship has had little sacredness for her4 ,her orange blossoms have been dipped in pitch and to-day she is living in open sin4 ,who would ever have expected any marked change in this woman8 ,who would ever have dreamed that underneath this cheap and tarnished dress there beat a hungry heart8 ,who would ever have thought that this outcast heathen had moments when she looked wistfully toward the heights and longed for a better life8 ,i suppose nobody would ever have thought of it but the kindly ,stranger who now sat upon the well curb talking to her4 ,he knew that in spite of her wasted years1 in spite of her tarnished past1 in spite of the fact that the foul breath of passion had blown her about the streets as a filthy rag--there still was that within her that hungered and thirsted for goodness and for ,god4 ,and1 my friend1 you may assume that that thirst belongs to every man4 ,there is not one that is not stirred by it4 ,it belongs to the best of mankind4 ,it belongs to the elect company of white souled men and women that have climbed far up the hills toward ,god4 ,it belongs to the great saints like ,david who cries1 ,my soul thirsteth for ,god1 for the living ,god1 who sobs out in his intensity of longing1 ,as the hart panteth after the water brook1 so panteth my soul after thee1 ,o ,god4 ,and thank ,god it does not belong to the saints alone4 ,it belongs also to the sinners4 ,it does not belong simply to those who have climbed toward the heights1 but also to those who have dipped toward the lowest depths4 ,about the only difference between the saint and the sinner in this respect is that the saint knows what he is thirsting for4 ,he knows who it is that can satisfy the deepest longings of his soul1 and the sinner does not know4 ,but both of them are thirsting for the living ,god4 ,jesus ,christ knew men and women4 ,he knew the human heart1 and knowing man at his deepest1 ,he knew what we sometimes forget4 ,he knew that in every man1 however low1 however degraded he may be--that in every woman1 however soiled and stained she may be1 there is an insatiable longing for ,god4 ,they do not always realize that for which they are thirsting4 ,but ,i am absolutely sure that ,augustine was right when he said that ,god has made us for ,himself and we never find rest till we rest in ,him4 ,every human soul that is in the ,far ,country is in want1 is hungry for the ,bread of ,life and thirsty for the ,water of ,life4 ,do you remember what the ,greeks said to ,andrew that day at ,jerusalem8 ',sir1 we would see ,jesus4' ,we would have a vision of the face of ,god's ,son4 ,and this is a universal longing4 ,it is a thirst that has burned in the heart of man from the beginning of human history4 ,it is older than the pyramids4 ,it is a cry that is the very mother of religion4 ,as we sit by our ,lord and see this unclean woman coming with her earthenware pot upon her shoulder we would fain warn ,him4 ,we would whisper in ,his ear1 ,look1 ,master1 yonder comes a degraded woman1 yonder comes that creature that in all the centuries has been the most loathed and the most despised and who has been regarded as the most hopeless4 ,yonder comes an outcast4 ,but ,jesus said1 ,you see and know only in part4 ,your knowledge is surface knowledge4 ,you do not know her in the deepest depths of her soiled soul4 ,yonder comes one1 who in spite of her sin longs to be good and pure and holy4 ,yonder comes an immortal soul with immortal hungers and thirsts4 ,yonder comes a possible child of mine that longs ignorantly but passionately for the under-girding of the ,everlasting ,arms4 ,and believe me1 my friends1 when ,i tell you that this longing is universal4 ,you have feared to speak to that acquaintance of yours who seems so flippant1 who seems so utterly indifferent to everything that partakes of the nature of religion4 ,but that is not the deepest fact about him4 ,whoever he is and wherever he is1 there are times when he is restless and heartsick and homesick4 ,there are times when he is literally parched with thirst for those fountains that make glad the city of ,god4 ,dare to speak to him as if he wanted ,jesus ,christ4 ,for he does want ,him1 though he may not know it and may be little conscious of it4 ,if thou knewest the gift of ,god 4 4 4 thou wouldest have asked of ,him4 ,that was absolutely and literally true1 though ,i seriously doubt if the woman herself would have believed it of herself4 ,if you knew the gift of ,god1 if you knew what ,god could do for you1 how much he could mean to your wasted and burnt out affections--you would ask ,him4 ,you would seek for ,him4 ,you would change this well curb into an altar of prayer4 ,you would change this noon-tide glare into an inner temple1 into a holy of holies where the soul and ,god would meet and understand each other4 ,this reply of the ,stranger awakens the interest of the woman while at the same time it mystifies and bewilders her4 ,he is evidently sincere1 and yet what can ,he mean8 ,and in puzzled wonderment she asks ,him1 ,whence then hast thou living water8 ,you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep4 ,are you greater than our father ,jacob who gave us the well and drank thereof himself and his sons and his cattle8 ,jacob was a great prince1 a man of power with ,god and man4 ,do you know a secret that he did not know8 ,can you do what he could not do8 ,and this winsome ,stranger does not hesitate to say that ,he can4 ,will you listen to the claim that ,he makes to this woman4 ,no other teacher however great and however egotistical ever made such a claim before or since4 ,yes1 ,he replies1 ,i am greater than your father ,jacob4 ,i am greater because ,i can give a gift that is infinitely beyond his4 ',every one that drinketh of this water shall thirst again1 but whosoever drinketh of the water that ,i shall give him shall never thirst4 ,but the water that ,i shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life4' ,did you notice here the two-fold declaration of the ,master8 ,he said in the first place that this old well would not satisfy permanently4 ,and what is true of that well is true of all wells that have ever been digged by human hands4 ,what is wrong with them8 ,for one thing1 they never satisfy4 ,they never slake our thirst4 ,to drink from them is like drinking sea water--we become only the more parched and thirsty as we drink4 ,do you remember ,the ,ancient ,mariner8 ,he is on a ship in the ocean and he is parched and dying with thirst4 ,what is the matter8 ,has the sea gone dry8 ,no-- ,water1 water everywhere ,and all the boards did shrink2 ,water1 water everywhere1 ,nor any drop to drink4 ,there is water1 but it is not water that will satisfy4 ,and so men have digged their wells4 ,they have been real wells4 ,they had held real water of a kind1 but it has been water that was utterly powerless to slake the thirst of the soul4 ,here is a man who has digged a well of wealth4 ,treasure is bubbling up about him like the waters of a fountain4 ,he is rich beyond his hopes1 but is he satisfied8 ,listen6 ,soul1 thou hast much good laid up for many days1 eat1 drink and be merry4 ,but his soul has no appetite for that kind of bread4 ,his soul has no thirst for that brackish and bitter water4 ,it is hungry and thirsty for the living ,god1 and nothing else can satisfy4 ,here is another who has made the same tragic blunder4 ,i'm an alien--,i'm an alien to the faith my mother taught me2 ,i'm an alien to the ,god that heard my mother when she cried2 ,i'm a stranger to the comfort that my ',now ,i lay me' brought me1 ,to the ,everlasting ,arms that held my father when he died4 ,i have spent a life-time seeking things ,i spurned when ,i had found them2 ,i have fought and been rewarded in full many a winning cause2 ,but ,i'd yield them all--fame1 fortune and the pleasures that surround them2 ,for a little of the faith that made my mother what she was4 ,when the great world came and called me ,i deserted all to follow1 ,never knowing1 in my dazedness1 ,i had slipped my hand from ,his-- ,never noting1 in my blindness1 that the bauble fame was hollow1 ,that the gold of wealth was tinsel1 as ,i since have learned it is-- ,i have spent a life-time seeking things ,i've spurned when ,i have found them2 ,i have fought and been rewarded in full many a petty cause1 ,but ,i'd take them all--fame1 fortune and the pleasures that surround them1 ,and exchange them for the faith that made my mother what she was4 ,here is one who has dug a well of fame1 but he cannot count up twelve happy days4 ,and though he has drunk draughts that might have quenched the thirst of millions1 he is dying of thirst because there is no more to drink4 ,oh1 could ,i feel as once ,i felt1 ,and be what ,i have been1 ,and weep as ,i could once have wept ,o'er many a vanished scene4 ,as springs in deserts found seem sweet1 ,all brackish though they be2 ,so midst the withered waste of life ,those tears would flow to me4 ,oh1 what is fame to a woman1 said another4 ,like the apples of the ,dead ,sea1 fair to the sight and ashes to the touch4 ,here is another and he has digged wells of wealth and fame and power and pleasure4 ,he seems afloat upon a very sea in which all the streams of human power and glory and wisdom mingle4 ,he tastes them all only to dash the cup from his lips in loathing and disgust as he cries1 ,vanity of vanities6 ,all is vanity and vexation of spirit4 ,and so ,jesus says to this woman1 ,this well can never permanently satisfy you4 ,no well of this world can4 ,but if you are only willing1 ,i can give you a well that will satisfy4 ,i can impart that which will meet every single need and every single longing of your soul4 ,what a claim is this6 ,how marvelous1 how amazing6 ,and yet this tired young man1 sitting here by the well1 makes this high claim1 and through the centuries ,he has made it good4 ,i can give you1 says ,he1 a well that will satisfy you now4 ,i can touch the hot fever of your life into restfulness now4 ,i can satisfy the intensest hunger of your starved soul even now4 ,and not only can ,i do this for the present1 but ,i can satisfy for all eternity4 ,i can give you a fountain that will never run dry4 ,i can bless your life with a springtime where the trees will never shed their leaves and the petals of the rose will never shatter upon the grass4 ,if you will allow me1 ,i will give you that which will enrich and satisfy your life to-day and to-morrow and through all the eternal to-morrow4 ,in all world feasts there comes a time when we have to say1 ,there is no wine4 ,there comes a time when the zest is gone1 when the wreaths are withered4 ,there comes a time when joy lies coffined and we have left to us only the dust and ashes of burnt out hopes4 ,but ,christ satisfies now and ever more4 ,and this ,he does in spite of all circumstances and in the presence of all difficulties4 ,for ,his is not an external fountain to which we have to journey again and again and from which we may be cut off by the forces of the enemy4 ,his is a fountain within4 ,it is that which makes us independent of our foes and even1 when need be1 of our friends4 ,dr4 ,jowett tells how he visited an old1 ruined castle in ,england and found far in the inner precincts of that castle a gurgling and living spring4 ,what a treasure it was to the man who lived in that castle6 ,his enemies might besiege him and shut him in1 but they could never cut off his water supply4 ,no foes however great were able to overcome him by starvation for water because he had a fountain within4 ,there was within the castle a well of water springing up1 and he was independent of all outside sources4 ,now1 when ,jesus had told this woman of the wonderful gift that ,he had the power of imparting it is not at all strange that she answered1 ,sir1 give me this water that ,i thirst not1 neither come all the way here to draw4 ,and that is just what ,jesus desires above all else to do for her4 ,but there is one something in the way4 ,before ,christ can impart ,his saving and satisfying gift the woman must be brought face to face with her need4 ,she must be made to face her own sin eye to eye and to hate it and confess it4 ,she must be willing to turn from it to ,him who is able to cleanse from all sin by the washing of ,his blood4 ,and how tactfully does ,christ bring her face to face with her past6 ,nothing could be more tenderly delicate than ,his touch here4 ,go call thy husband1 ,he says4 ,i have no husband1 is the ready response4 ,and then ,he compliments her4 ,if you are to be successful as a soul winner1 if you are to be successful as a worker anywhere--it is fine to have an eye for that which is praiseworthy4 ,there is something commendable about everybody if we only seek for it and find it4 ,a disreputable dog came to our house the other day4 ,my wife looked at him and said1 ,what a horrible looking dog6 ,but our small boy looked at him with a different eye and found something good about him and remarked that he could wag his tail well4 ,there was not much in this woman to compliment4 ,but ,jesus picked out one thing that was commendable4 ,he complimented her on the fact that she had told ,him the truth4 ,he said1 ,you have been honest in this4 ,you have no husband4 ,you have had five husbands1 but the man that thou now hast is not thy husband4 ,in that saidst thou truly4 ,and now the woman stands looking her soiled and stained past eye to eye4 ,she does not like it4 ,she would like to get away from it4 ,she wants to start a theological discussion4 ,she is ready to launch out into an argument over the proper place to worship ,god4 ,but ,christ holds her face to face with her sin till she loathes it1 and utters that deepest cry of her inner nature1 the longing for the coming of the ,messiah4 ,and then it is that ,christ made the first disclosure of ,himself that ,he ever made in this world4 ,he seems to lift the veil from the face of the infinite as ,he says1 ,i that speak unto thee am ,he4 ,and this woman has found the ,living ,water4 ,she forgot her old thirst4 ,she forgot the errand that brought her to the well4 ,she left the empty water pot by the curbstone and bounded away like a happy child into the city4 ,she is under the compelling power of a marvelous discovery4 ,she has a story infinitely too good to keep4 ,and in spite of the fact that her past had been a shameful and sordid past--she would not let it close her lips4 ,she gave her testimony1 and as a result we read these words1 ,many believed because of the saying of the woman4 ,heart1 this woman never had your chance and mine4 ,she was placed in a bad setting4 ,she wasted the best years of her life4 ,she never found ,jesus till the sweetest and freshest years of her life had been squandered in sin4 ,she only met him in the last lingering days of autumn or maybe in the winter time of life4 ,though she met ,him so late1 when she stood in ,his presence a little later in glory she had her hands full of sheaves4 ,you have had a great chance4 ,is there anybody that believes because of what you have said8 ,has any life been transfigured and transformed by the story that you have told8 ,will you not give a little more earnestness and a little more thought and a little more prayer and a little more effort to the doing of this work that ,jesus ,christ did not think was beneath ,himself as the ,king of ,heaven and the ,savior of the world8 ,and if you have never found the fountain that satisfies1 if you know nothing of the spring that flows within--will you not claim that blessed treasure now8 ,will you not do so1 first of all1 because of your own needs8 ,then will you not do so not only because of your own needs but because of the needs of those about you8 ,you are thirsty men and women1 and this is a thirsty world4 ,you need ,god and ,god needs you4 ,will you give ,him a chance at you8 ,remember that this well of water is not to be yours on the basis of merit4 ,it is not to be bought4 ,it is not to be earned4 ,it is not found in the pathway of the scholar or of the rich or of the great or of the gifted4 ,it is ,god's gift4 ,if you want wages serve the devil1 for the wages of sin is death4 ,but the gift of ,god is eternal life through ,jesus ,christ1 our ,lord4 ,in oriental cities1 where water is often scarce1 water carriers go through the streets selling water at so much per drink4 ,and their cry is this3 ,the gift of ,god1 who will buy8 ,who will buy8 ,and sometimes a man will buy the whole supply1 and then allow the water carrier to give it away4 ,and as he goes back down the street1 he no longer says1 ,the gift of ,god1 who will buy8 but ,the gift of ,god1 who will take8 ,the gift of ,god1 who will take8 ,that is my message to you3 ,the gift of ,god1 who will take8 ,it is yours for the taking4 ,may ,god help you to take it now4 ,,vii ,a ,,good ,,man--,,barnabas ,acts #aa3bd ,this is the text3 ,he was a good man4 ,doubtless you think me daring to the point of rashness to undertake to interest and edify a modern congregation by talking about a virtue so prosaic as goodness4 ,he was a good man4 ,we do not thrill when we hear that4 ,it is not a word that quickens our pulse beat4 ,we do not sit up and lean forward4 ,we rather relax and stifle a yawn and look at our watches and wonder how soon it will be over4 ,we are interested in clever men1 in men of genius4 ,we are interested in bad men1 in courageous men1 in poor men and rich men1 but good men--our interest lags here1 nods1 drowses1 goes to sleep4 ,the truth of the matter is that the word good is a bit like the poor fellow that went down from ,jerusalem to ,jericho4 ,it has fallen among thieves that have stripped it of its raiment and have wounded it and departed1 leaving it half dead4 ,it is a word that has a hospital odor about it4 ,it savors of plasters and poultices and invalid chairs4 ,its right hand has no cunning4 ,its tongue has no fire4 ,its cheeks are corpse-like in their paleness4 ,it seems to be in the last stages of consumption4 ,if people say we are handsome or cultured we are delighted1 but who is complimented by being called good8 ,what has wrecked this word8 ,what is the secret of its weakness and utter insipidity8 ,answer3 bad company4 ,the ,book says1 ,the companion of fools shall be destroyed4 ,and this word is an example of the truth of that statement4 ,it has been forced to rub elbows with bad company till it has come into utter disrepute4 ,its evil companions have been of two classes4 ,first1 it has been made to associate with the gentleman about town whose greatest merit was that he would smoke a cigar with you1 if you would furnish the cigar1 or take a drink with you1 if you would furnish the liquor4 ,he also graced a dress suit1 even though it were a rented one with the rent unpaid4 ,and he looked well in pumps4 ,he was a graceful dancer and good at poker4 ,he also was very skilled in never having a job4 ,and his friends all said that he was a good fellow4 ,and1 of course1 being forced to keep company with said fellow was enough to ruin the reputation of the word forever more4 ,but as if that were not enough calamity to befall any innocent and inoffensive word1 it was forced into another association that was but little less disreputable4 ,there was an individual--sometimes a man1 sometimes a woman--who did not swear1 nor lie1 nor steal1 nor dip snuff2 whose conduct was as immaculate as that of a wax figure in a show window2 who never made a mistake1 nor did he ever make anything else4 ,he was as aggressive as a crawfish and as magnetic as a mummy4 ,he was faultily faultless1 icily regular1 splendidly null4 ,and one day we felt called upon to clothe this colorless insipidity1 this incarnate nonentity1 with some sort of an adjective1 and so we threw around its scrawny shoulders this once glorious robe good4 ,we said1 ,yes1 he isn't much account1 it is true1 but he is a good fellow4 ,and the garment fit him as the coat of ,goliath would fit a pigmy4 ,but little by little the once great cloak seemed to draw up and to come to fit the figure of the dwarf4 ,thus the word good lost its reputation1 fell1 as many words and many folks do fall1 through bad company4 ,but let me remind you that1 in spite of popular misconception1 good is not after all a weak word4 ,it is a strong1 brawny1 masculine word4 ,it has the shoulders of a ,samson4 ,it has the lifting power of a ,hercules4 ,and the reason ,god employed it here to describe this man ,barnabas was not because ,he had to say something about him and could not find anything else decent to say4 ,it was not a word to cover up the deformity of uselessness or the glaring defect of a moral minus sign4 ,he used the word because there was none other that would fitly describe the fine and heroic man of whom ,he was speaking4 ,it means here all that ,christian means4 ,he was a good man4 ,that was what ,god said about him4 ,that was how he looked when seen through the microscope of ,calvary4 ,he had matriculated in ,god's school1 and after faithful and patient study1 his ,master gave him a degree4 ,and what was that degree8 ,barnabas1 the genius8 ,no4 ,barnabas1 the gifted8 ,no4 ,it was a higher degree than either of these4 ,it was the highest degree that ,heaven itself can confer4 ,he gave him the degree of good4 ,barnabas1 the good4 ,for he was a good man4 ,now1 why did ,god call him good8 ,or1 in other words1 what are the characteristics that go to make up a good man8 ,when is a man good in the sight of ,him who sees things clearly and sees them whole8 ,in what branches must a man show himself proficient in order to receive this degree8 ,i ask these questions with the hope that some of us who are here to-day may want to matriculate in ,god's school to receive the high degree that was conferred upon ,barnabas4 ,the first branch in which ,barnabas showed himself proficient in his preparation for this degree was the branch of ,christian ,stewardship4 ,and ,i make bold to say that no man will ever receive the degree that ,barnabas received who is not proficient in the grace of stewardship4 ,here is the story4 ,barnabas is in ,jerusalem at the time of ,pentecost4 ,the ,church is in the early spring-time of its power4 ,many ,jews1 both home-born and foreign-born1 have been brought into the fold4 ,they have thereby broken with their kindred1 and many of them are without any means of support4 ,then ,barnabas comes forward4 ,he is a wealthy land owner4 ,he sells his land and puts every dollar of it upon the altar of his ,lord1 for the saving of the church in its hour of crisis4 ,what does this mean8 ,it means that when ,barnabas became a ,christian1 that when he gave himself to ,christ1 he gave his money also4 ,now1 stewardship for you may not mean that you1 as ,barnabas1 sell what you have and give it all away4 ,god does not call upon all men to do that1 but what ,he does do is to call upon every man to put both himself and his money at ,his disposal4 ,he calls upon every man to recognize ,god1 and not himself1 as the owner4 ,that is the first step in ,christian ,stewardship3 that ,god owns all2 ,he owns me2 ,he owns my home2 ,he owns my children2 ,he owns my property4 ,i have called your attention before to the fact that the modern idea of ownership is pagan4 ,the ,christian idea is this3 that ,god is the absolute owner of all things4 ,i am sure that we are as ready as was ,barnabas to acknowledge this fact4 ,we nod our heads and agree1 but a truth like this demands something more than simply a nod of the head4 ,if ,god owns everything1 then ,i am to acknowledge that ownership4 ,how was ,god's ownership acknowledged throughout all the ,old ,testament days8 ,by the devoting of a tenth to ,his service4 ,that was required of the rich and of the poor4 ,no man was exempt4 ,christ never at any time set that law aside4 ,i do not see how any man dare do less than that to-day4 ,the ,jews1 without one thousandth part of our light1 were cursed because of their failure to do this very thing4 ,since when has it come to pass that the greater the light the less the responsibility8 ,there is nothing more needed to-day than a ,christian attitude toward money4 ,there has been a reaction from the altruism that prevailed during the war1 and the world is more money mad than ever before4 ,and men are making money as scarcely ever before1 and the man who is making money is the man who stands in the position of a peculiar danger4 ,for the men who can rapidly accumulate money and at the same time be loyal to ,jesus ,christ are few indeed4 ,while ,i was in ,dallas the other day ,i talked to a friend who was a man of wealth4 ,he said without enthusiasm1 ,i have made more money this year than ,i ever made before4 ,and then ,i questioned him regarding his work in the ,church4 ,at one time he had been the teacher of a very large class of boys4 ,he told me that he had given up his ,sunday ,school work1 that he had given up all his religious work4 ,then ,i said1 ,if you had a thermometer for registering happiness1 ,i suppose your thermometer would register lower to-day than at any other time since you came into the ,church4 ,and with sadness he acknowledged that such was the case4 ,yes1 ,barnabas was sound in the doctrine of stewardship4 ,and ,i am fully persuaded that the man who is genuinely ,christian in his attitude toward money will be ,christian in every other relationship of life4 ,and ,i am likewise fully persuaded that the man who fails here1 who falls short of the standard of goodness here1 will fall short everywhere4 ,a man may be a liberal man and fail to be a good man1 but no man can be a good man and at the same time be a gripping1 grasping1 covetous man4 ,it is an utter impossibility4 ,barnabas got a degree in goodness1 and the first course he mastered was a course in ,christian ,stewardship4 ,second1 ,barnabas was proficient in that difficult branch that we call faith4 ,he had acquired faith till he was full of it4 ,faith in ,god8 ,yes1 he had faith in ,god4 ,that lies back of all that he did and all that he became4 ,but the faith that shows itself most in his life1 as we see it1 is his faith in men4 ,how he did believe in folks6 ,confidence in men is an essential to true goodness4 ,i do not believe that any cynic was ever a really good man4 ,i know we sometimes pride ourselves on being hard to fool4 ,we congratulate ourselves at times on being able to see more through a key-hole than other folks can see through a wide-open door4 ,we boast of our ability to read character and to see behind the scenes and to detect sham where other folks dreamed there was sincerity4 ,and ,i am not arguing for blindness or stupidity1 but what ,i do say is this3 that the really good men are the men who believe in their fellows4 ,you have met the man who says that every fellow has his price4 ,but whenever you hear a man say that you may know that there is at least one man who does have his price1 and that is the man who is making the statement4 ,you can compromise till you come to persuade yourself that compromise is the law of life4 ,you can play with honesty till you come to believe in the dishonesty of the whole world4 ,and the man without confidence in his brother is a man who personally knows that he himself would not do to trust4 ,barnabas believed in men4 ,one of the greatest enemies that the ,church ever had returned one day from a tour of persecution in ,damascus4 ,he declared that he had been converted on the way1 but nobody in ,jerusalem believed him4 ,yes1 there was one glorious exception4 ,that exception was ,barnabas4 ,he believed in ,paul1 staked his reputation1 his life1 his ,church1 which was dearer to him than his life1--he staked all these upon his faith in ,paul's sincerity4 ,but for that1 ,paul might have been lost to the ,church4 ,and here is another instance3 ,paul and ,barnabas are on their first missionary tour4 ,with them is a young man named ,mark4 ,he has been tenderly nurtured4 ,he finds the missionary life harder than he expected4 ,he proves a coward and goes home4 ,years after1 when the faces of ,paul and ,barnabas are again set to the battle front1 ,mark once more offers his service4 ,but ,paul will not accept him4 ,he knows that the mission field is no place for parlor soldiers4 ,and so he flatly refuses to allow him to become a part of the army of invasion4 ,but ,barnabas1--somehow he cannot bring himself to give him up4 ,he believes that even if a man failed once he may succeed at a second trial4 ,he believes that a coward may become a hero1 that a deserter may yet become a trusted and faithful soldier4 ,and so he stands by ,john ,mark even at the great price of parting company with ,paul4 ,and his confidence was gloriously justified1 as our confidence so often is4 ,who wrote the second ,gospel--one of the choicest pieces of literature in the world8 ,it was written by ,john ,mark1 the deserter4 ,then years later1 when bitter days of persecution have come1 ,paul is in prison4 ,he especially needs men about him now on whose loyal courage and devotion he can count absolutely4 ,for whom does he now ask8 ,listen6 ,take ,mark and bring him with thee1 for he is profitable to me for the ministry4 ,mark has come back4 ,he has been saved to ,christ and to the ,church4 ,and the one to whom we are mainly indebted for his salvation is none other than the good man ,barnabas4 ,and ,barnabas won because of his sturdy1 persistent faith4 ,now to some this virtue may seem a bit of a weakness1 but if weakness1 how like it is to the weakness of ,christ ,himself6 ,for certainly one of the most marvelous characteristics of ,jesus is ,his faith in men4 ,how ,jesus could expect that the poor slattern who was dragged into ,his presence taken in adultery could be utterly different from that hour1 ,i do not know4 ,i certainly would not have expected it of her1 but ,he did4 ,and ,i hear ,him saying to her1 ,go and sin no more4 ,how ,jesus could expect that twelve faulty1 unlearned1 self-seeking men1 such as ,his disciples were1 would ever be the means of remaking the world1 ,i cannot for a moment see4 ,they failed ,him in ,his hour of supremest need4 ,they slept in the garden and ran like frightened sheep when ,he was arrested4 ,and yet1 knowing their cowardice and their weakness1 ,he tumbles the responsibility of world conquest upon their frail shoulders with the declaration that the gates of hell should not prevail against them4 ,certainly the wildest faith that was ever exercised is the faith that ,god exercises in men4 ,and the faith of this man ,barnabas was a quality born of a goodness that was close akin to the goodness of ,god4 ,that is the way1 ,i think1 that this man got his name4 ,you know they did not always call him ,barnabas4 ,the folks over in ,cypress knew him as ,joses4 ,they named him ,barnabas because that was the word that best described him4 ,it was a verbal picture of the man4 ,what does it mean8 ,a son of consolation4 ,isn't that fine8 ,james and ,john were called the sons of thunder4 ,that speaks of power1 might1 dash1 the lightning's flash1 the thunder's crash4 ,there is storm wrapped up in their personalities4 ,but ,barnabas is the peaceful sunset after the storm4 ,he is the light at eventide4 ,he is a son of consolation4 ,now1 if there is anything finer than that ,i do not know just what that something might be4 ,to be incarnated encouragement1 embodied comfort1 flesh and blood consolation1--it would be hard to find a better vocation than that4 ,this man had the tongue of the learned that he might be able to speak a word in season to him that was weary4 ,he delivered men from the bondage of their self-despisings1 from the burden of their self-contempt4 ,he brought hope where there had been despair and turned the westward gaze toward the east4 ,he pointed out the streaks of dawn that were lighting the sky4 ,he made men hear the bird's song within the voiceless egg and to catch the perfume of flowers under the snow4 ,he was a son of consolation4 ,be pitiful1 says ,dr4 ,watson1 for every man is having a hard time4 ,there are some folks who depress us4 ,there are some wet blanket personalities who stifle us4 ,and there are others like ,barnabas who refresh us1 and when they come and knock at our doors we pass out of the stuffy atmosphere of a mental prison into a flower garden where the air is fresh and sweet with perfume and musical with the morning song of birds4 ,third1 this man was thoroughly missionary4 ,he had taken a course in ,god's doctrine of evangelism4 ,he believed that the ,gospel was for all mankind4 ,some ,christians of that day were trying to keep it a ,jewish sect4 ,when they heard that folks were actually being converted down in ,antioch there seems to have been not the least bit of joy in the fact4 ,but under the leadership of the ,spirit they sent ,barnabas to investigate4 ,he came and saw the same light in their faces down in ,antioch that was in the faces of those who were ,spirit-baptized up in ,jerusalem4 ,and the story says that when he saw the work of the ,lord he was glad4 ,and not only was he glad1 but he threw himself at once into the work of evangelizing that foreign city4 ,then he did another big thing4 ,seeing the great opportunity that was there1 he went and sought ,paul out over at ,tarsus and brought him over as his helper4 ,and it was there as they labored together and ministered to the ,lord and fasted that the ,holy ,ghost said1 ,separate me ,barnabas and ,saul1 for the work whereunto ,i have called them4 ,and they went forth as the world's first foreign missionaries4 ,an army has gone forth since that day1--the choicest spirits that this world has ever seen4 ,and those who have gone have consecrated the soil of every continent by their prayers1 their tears and their sacrifices4 ,their ashes rest to-day upon every shore and the songs of the redeemed are sung to-day under every sky because they have labored4 ,who was the vanguard of that great army whose going forth was as the going forth of the morning8 ,the vanguard was made up of two men4 ,one of them was ,paul1 the other ,barnabas1 a man not marvelously clever1 not greatly gifted4 ,his supreme merit was just this1 that in a real and genuine sense he was a good man1 full of faith4 ,and last of all1 ,barnabas was a spiritual man4 ,the inspired writer says that he was full of the ,holy ,ghost4 ,and that implied1 of course1 that ,barnabas was a man fully given up to ,god1 ,there can be no deep spirituality apart from that4 ,our surrender is the condition of our being full of the ,spirit4 ,for we are ,his witnesses of these things1 as is also the ,holy ,ghost1 whom ,god hath given to them that obey ,him4 ,so you can readily see why ,barnabas has a right to the fine compliment that is paid him here by the writer of the ,acts4 ,barnabas was generous with his possessions4 ,he had the ,christian attitude toward money4 ,barnabas was generous in his judgments4 ,he had a brother's attitude toward his fellows4 ,he was thoroughly missionary4 ,he made ,christ's program for world conquest his own4 ,he was profoundly and genuinely spiritual4 ,and because of these fine qualities one who knew him well said of him1 ,he was a good man4 ,now1 there are compliments more flashy than being called good4 ,there are encomiums that are much fuller of glitter1 but in spite of that1 ,i am convinced that nothing greater or better could possibly be said about any one of us living to-day or any one that ever has lived than just this that is written about ,barnabas3 ,he was a good man4 ,i had rather my boy would be able to say that about me when he stands by my grave1 sunken and grass-grown1 than to say anything else in all the world4 ,brother1 let us covet goodness4 ,let us seek that rare treasure4 ,for there is nothing better or finer or more beautiful or more useful4 ,goodness4 ,it is the fairest flower that can ever bloom in your soul garden4 ,it is the sweetest music that even ,god's skilled fingers will ever be able to win from your thousand stringed heart harp4 ,it is the virtue in those we love that grips us tightest and holds us longest4 ,and wonderful to say1 it is within reach of every one of us4 ,there are certain fine things that you and ,i can never possess4 ,we know that4 ,genius1 greatness1--they are high and forbidding mountain peaks4 ,their sides are rugged and precipitous4 ,they have pulled iron hoods of snow and ice upon their brows4 ,but goodness1--that is a peak that may be scaled by the tender feet of little children and by the tottering feet of old age4 ,it may be scaled by the reluctant feet of those in life's prosaic middle passage4 ,let us address ourselves then to this high task4 ,let us matriculate this morning in ,god's school for this degree1 the degree of goodness4 ,and one day it may be written of us as it was written of ,barnabas1 ,he was a good man4 ,,viii ,,the ,,inquest--,,pharaoh ,exodus #ad3cj and #i3af ,in ,exodus #ad3ai we read these words3 ,and ,israel saw the ,egyptians dead upon the seashore4 ,it is rather a ghastly and grewsome sight4 ,there they lie1 the soldiers of the once proud army of ,egypt4 ,they are in all sorts of positions1 these dead men4 ,some have their heads pillowed peacefully upon their arms as if in sleep4 ,others have their hard faces half buried in the sand4 ,others still lie prone upon their backs with bits of seaweed in their hair and their sightless eyes staring in terror at nothing4 ,they are very much alike1 these corpses4 ,but here is one that is different4 ,look at the rich costume in which it is dressed4 ,look at its bejewelled fingers4 ,there is no crown upon its brow4 ,there is no sceptre in that nerveless hand4 ,yet it is easy to guess that this corpse1 this pocket that death has turned inside out and emptied was once a king4 ,yes1 this is the body of ,pharaoh1 the one time ruler of ,egypt4 ,but here he lies to-day among the meanest of his soldiers4 ,he is sprawled in unkingly fashion upon his face as if the sea had spit him out in sheer nausea and disgust4 ,and now comes the big question that we want to consider4 ,how came this famous ,egyptian here8 ,he was once a king1 you remember4 ,he was ruler over the proudest nation in the world4 ,and here we find him dead4 ,he died away from home4 ,he died a violent death4 ,let us hold an inquest over him for a moment and see how he came to die4 ,he did not leave ,egypt and march into the ,red ,sea for that purpose4 ,he never intended that life should end thus4 ,nor is he here because his enemy ,israel has proven stronger than himself4 ,what is the cause8 ,and the question is answered by the voice of ,god4 ,we read it in ,exodus #i3af1 ,for this cause have ,i raised thee up that ,i might show forth my power in thee4 ,will you notice what this strange text says4 ,without the least equivocation it says that ,god raised this man ,pharaoh up that ,he might show forth ,his power in him4 ,and that purpose ,he accomplished4 ,this ghastly piece of royal rottenness has not been thrown upon this shore by the hand of man4 ,as we look at him we see in him a monument of the power of ,god4 ,and strange to say1 he is not a monument of ,god's power to save and to keep and to utilize1 but of ,god's power to thwart and to disappoint and to wreck and to utterly destroy4 ,and in his destruction ,god tells us that ,he has achieved ,his purpose4 ,you will agree with me that this is an amazing statement4 ,the teaching seems to be that ,god has raised this man up that ,he might glorify ,himself by making a complete and utter wreck of him4 ,i wonder if that can be true4 ,we agree1 ,i suppose1 all of us who believe the ,bible1 that ,god has a plan for every life4 ,all nature tells of a planning ,god4 ,all revelation teaches it also4 ,we have the message direct from the lips of the ,lord1 ,as my ,father hath sent me1 even so send ,i you4 ,but in admitting that ,god plans every life1 can we believe that ,he plans for some to go wrong and for others to go right8 ,can we believe that ,he plans for one to become a ,judas and the other a ,st4 ,john8 ,is it the purpose of ,god that one shall develop into a ,moses and the other right at his side shall grow up into a miserable and distorted wreck that we call ,pharaoh8 ,in other words1 is ,judas as much a part of the plan of ,god as ,john8 ,if so we are of all men most miserable because we have a wicked ,god4 ,but we know that such is not the case4 ,god never planned that any man should go wrong4 ,he is not willing that any should perish1 but that all should come to repentance4 ,he is the eternal lover4 ,he loved ,moses1 but ,he loved ,pharaoh no less4 ,and ,judas was as dear to ,god's heart as ,john4 ,and whatever failure they made of their lives1 and whatever failure you and ,i make of our lives1 we do not make because ,god forces us to do so4 ,in whatever way we go wrong1 we do not do so because ,god planned that we should4 ,we do it because of our own willfulness and wicked rebellion against ,god4 ,in other words1 though ,god plans your life and mine1 ,he cannot in the very nature of things1 force us to enter into ,his plan4 ,you who are fathers and mothers realize that4 ,many parents have made beautiful plans for their children only to have those plans despised4 ,our children are not ourselves4 ,they have independent wills4 ,they have the capacity for entering into our purposes for them and thus bringing us joy unspeakable4 ,they have also the capacity for despising those purposes and breaking our hearts4 ,how1 then1 do we explain this strange text1 ,for this cause have ,i raised thee up that ,i might show forth my power in thee8 ,because it is a fact that this death in the ,red ,sea was not an accidental death4 ,it is a fact that this corpse here upon the beach is not here by mere chance4 ,this king was flung here by the power of a disappointed and grieved and rejected ,god4 ,he lies here dead upon the shore according to the deliberate plan and purpose of ,god4 ,but while this is true1 we need to keep this big fact in mind3 ,though ,pharaoh lies here according to the purpose of ,god1 this was not ,god's first and highest purpose for him4 ,but ,pharaoh resisted and rejected every noble and worthy purpose that ,god had in his life4 ,by his own rebellion he made it impossible for ,god to realize any purpose in him at all save the last and the worst4 ,do you remember that story in ,jeremiah8 ,one day the word of the ,lord came unto the prophet ,jeremiah saying1 ,arise and go down to the ,potter's house and there ,i will cause thee to hear my word4 ,and ,jeremiah went down and heard the message4 ,arrived within the ,potter's house1 three objects at once drew his attention4 ,there was a man working1 the ,potter4 ,there was the instrument with which he worked1 the wheel4 ,and there was the substance upon which he worked1 the clay4 ,in the ,potter's hand the clay was misshapen and unsightly4 ,the cup was not yet finished in the ,potter's hand4 ,but there was a place where it was finished1 and that was in the mind of the ,potter4 ,the ,potter could already see the finished product4 ,he was trying to make the cup according to the ideal that he had in his mind4 ,but we read that the cup was marred in the making4 ,that is1 there was something in the clay that resisted the ,potter4 ,now1 what did he do with the marred cup8 ,we would have expected him to throw it away1 but he did not4 ,he made it again4 ,what a gospel that is for failing and sinning men like ourselves4 ,how glorious that1 when we resist ,god's purpose and all but wreck ourselves1 ,he will make us again4 ,truly we would be a hopeless race but for the fact that we have a mighty ,god who is able to remake us even when we have rebelled against ,him and have thwarted ,his blessed plans for us4 ,he made it again4 ,yes1 but notice this4 ,he made it again another vessel4 ,he changed his plan for this latter vessel4 ,he realized that he could not make it according to the fine ideal that was in his mind for the first vessel4 ,that one refused to realize the best1 therefore he made it into another vessel4 ,he sought to make it realize the second best4 ,there is a truth here of tremendous importance that we are prone to forget1 and that truth is this1 that having rejected and resisted ,god for days and months and years1 ,god cannot make of us what ,he could have made if we had entered into ,his plans from the beginning4 ,if you reject ,god's best for you1 then ,he tries to get you to realize ,his second best4 ,if you reject this1 then ,he seeks to bring you to the next best4 ,but remember this1 ,god cannot1 in the very nature of things1 make as much out of a fraction of a life as ,he can out of the whole of a life4 ,now1 suppose1 the clay upon which the ,potter was working had been marred again4 ,again he would have undertaken to have made it into another vessel4 ,but all the while that clay would have been becoming less and less plastic4 ,all the while it would have been becoming more and more difficult for the ,potter to shape it according to his purpose4 ,thus the time would inevitably come when it would no longer be capable of being shaped by his hand at all4 ,then what would be the result8 ,step outside the ,potter's house and you are in the ,potter's field4 ,about you lie broken crockery and shattered earthenware4 ,why is it there8 ,not because the ,potter made vessels for the stupid purpose of breaking them to pieces4 ,they are there because there was something in the clay that so resisted the hand of the ,potter that he was able to make nothing of them but these shattered and misshapen and broken wrecks4 ,now this is the story of ,pharaoh1 king of ,egypt4 ,god had a noble purpose in this man's life to begin with4 ,he gave him every opportunity4 ,he brought to bear all that infinite love and mercy could bring to bear to get ,pharaoh to be a good man4 ,the reason ,pharaoh ended as he did end was not because ,god did not love him and did not do ,his infinite best to save ,him4 ,it was because ,pharaoh resisted and resisted1 rebelled and rebelled till at last he threw himself a corpse upon this distant seashore4 ,and the message we hear from his clammy lips this night is this1 ,look at me and see what a terrible thing it is to rebel against ,god4 ,behold me and see the tragic failure of the man that persistently throws himself in wicked madness against the bosses of the buckler of the ,lord ,almighty4 ,look now how hard ,god tried to make something of ,pharaoh4 ,in the first place1 ,he gave to him a great and faithful minister4 ,pharaoh had the privilege of knowing ,moses4 ,he had an opportunity of hearing about the greatest individual that the world has ever seen4 ,he threw himself away1 did ,pharaoh4 ,he chose ,god's worst instead of ,god's best1 but he did not do it because he did not know better4 ,neither are you wasting your life because you do not know better4 ,if you have not had a teacher great as ,moses1 you have yet been faithfully warned1 and in your sin you are without excuse4 ,god gave ,pharaoh a chance to cooperate with ,him1 to help ,him in saving ,israel and making her into a great nation4 ,moses' first word to ,pharaoh was this1 ,the ,god of ,israel saith1 ,let my people go4 ,now1 ,pharaoh's answer to this demand was haughty enough4 ,he answers1 ,who is the ,god of ,israel8 ,i do not know him4 ,and he didn't1 though he might have known ,him4 ,but ,god did not throw him away after this one chance4 ,on the contrary1 ,he gave him ample opportunity to know ,him4 ,with this end in view ,god brought ,his infinite energies into play4 ,wonder after wonder ,he worked in the presence of ,pharaoh by the hand of ,moses4 ,at first these wonders were imitated by the magicians4 ,these fakes1 by their cunning1 made it easy1 at least for a while1 for ,pharaoh to resist ,god4 ,they helped the ,king to close his royal eyes to the truth4 ,they helped him to start with decision on his course of rebellion4 ,but the magicians were soon outdone4 ,moses began to perform wonders that they could not imitate4 ,and they themselves were forced to believe in the presence and might and reality of ,god4 ,and they who had helped their king to go wrong1 turned to him with this acknowledgment on their lips1 ,it is the finger of ,god4 ,but it is easier to lead a man astray than it is to lead him back4 ,it is easier for you1 by your godless and worldly life1 to lead your children to despise ,christ and the ,church than it is to lead them back after they have gone astray4 ,pharaoh listened to the magicians when they counseled him to do wrong1 but he turned a deaf ear to them when they counseled him to do right4 ,then followed that series of plagues upon ,egypt that were always preceded and always followed by this demand of ,god spoken through the lips of ,moses1 ,let my people go that they may serve me4 ,you see what ,god was demanding of ,pharaoh4 ,it is the same that ,he demands of you and me1 obedience--that is all4 ,he is commanding us to surrender ourselves to ,him1 to enter into ,his purpose4 ,and the one thing that ,god wanted was the one thing that ,pharaoh did not want4 ,but he was becoming afraid and so he proposed to compromise4 ,in his fright he tells ,moses that he will obey4 ,he will let the people go4 ,that is1 he said1 ,i will let part of them go4 ,i will let the men go4 ,leave the children here4 ,pharaoh knew that just so long as he kept the children in ,egypt1 just so long would ,israel remain in bondage4 ,and the devil knows to-day just so long as our homes remain unchristianized1 just so long will the world remain unchristianized4 ,we will never bring in the ,kingdom by simply seeking to save an adult generation4 ,we must give ,god a chance at the children or the cause of righteousness is going to be defeated4 ,but if we will save the child1 we will surely save the world4 ,then ,pharaoh offered a second compromise4 ,he said1 ,i will let you and the children go1 but you must leave your cattle and your sheep4 ,you must leave all your flocks and your herds4 ,that is1 you may go into ,canaan if you must1 but leave your business in ,egypt4 ,and the devil to-day is perfectly willing that you and ,i be just as pious and prayerful as we want to be on ,sunday1 provided we forget all about such things on ,monday4 ,he is willing for you to be devoutly religious if you will only confine your religion to the church4 ,but a religion that does not permeate and purify and uplift and sanctify business and business relations is not the religion of ,jesus ,christ4 ,and then ,pharaoh offered a third compromise4 ,he said1 ,i will let the people go1 but they must not go far4 ,why was that8 ,for the very human reason that he wanted the privilege of getting them back4 ,he said1 for instance1 ,i will obey ,god1 but ,i do not want to promise to make my obedience permanent4 ,you have seen plenty of instances of that4 ,here is a man who has decided to be a ,christian1 but he won't join the church4 ,he wants to see how he gets along first4 ,such a man is already making provision for going back4 ,take up thy bed1 said the ,master to the paralyzed man whom ,he had healed4 ,he ever wants us to make a complete break with the past4 ,but the plagues grow worse4 ,pharaoh is becoming more and more frightened4 ,while the scare is on he promises again and again that he will obey the ,lord unconditionally4 ,there was a terrible storm1 you remember4 ,the hail stones fell like shrapnel and the lightning dropped from the clouds and fairly played along the earth1 and terror gripped the ,king's heart4 ,and he sends for ,moses4 ,when ,moses comes he tells him1 all atremble1 ,i have sinned this time4 ,i will let the people go4 ,but when the storm ceases and the sun shines out he is quite ashamed of his weakness4 ,he is so ashamed that he forgets altogether the promise that he made when the fear of death was upon him4 ,this is a side of human nature that is a bit disgusting1 yet we dare not shut our eyes to it4 ,there are scores listening to me at this very moment who have acted for all the world as ,pharaoh acted4 ,and you have done so with all the light that he had and far more4 ,i do not know of a man that is in greater danger of being ultimately lost than that man who never cares for religion except when he is scared4 ,because the truth of the matter is that a man of that kind does not care for goodness or for ,god at all4 ,not even in his moments of most abject terror does he want to be truly saved4 ,he simply wants to escape the results of his sin4 ,he does not want to pay the penalty for wrong doing4 ,he wants to defeat the ends of justice4 ,he is not interested in being good and pure and true4 ,he is simply interested in keeping out of hell4 ,how patient ,god was with ,pharaoh4 ,we are amazed at it till we think how infinitely patient ,he has been with ourselves4 ,by storm1 by black night1 by adversity after adversity1 ,god is doing ,his best to fight ,pharaoh back from the ,bed ,sea4 ,he is doing all ,he can to turn him away from committing suicide in body and suicide in soul4 ,but ,pharaoh1 as some of ourselves1 seemed absolutely greedy for damnation4 ,he seemed completely bent on working out his own utter destruction4 ,after the king had broken one vow after another and lied and lied and lied again1 ,god brought the last dark providence into his life4 ,he made one final effort to save him from his ruin4 ,pharaoh was called to kneel by the coffin of his first born4 ,and his hard heart seemed softened at last4 ,by the grave of the ,crown ,prince he made a solemn vow that he would obey ,god4 ,and he set about putting the vow into execution at once4 ,and the children of ,israel were not only allowed to go1 but they were hurried out of ,egypt4 ,at last1 at last1 we say1 with what infinite expense the man is brought to obey4 ,but would you believe it the grass had not yet grown green upon the grave of his boy till he forgot his vow and turned back to the old life again4 ,oh1 what a grip sin gets on us4 ,oh1 how blind we become if we persistently refuse to follow the light4 ,so ,pharaoh brushed his tears out of his eyes1 gathered his army and set out after the departing children of ,israel4 ,i see the bustle and hurry of the setting out4 ,i see the look of hate on the king's face as he comes within sight of his one time slaves4 ,he laughs a mirthless laugh as he sees their predicament4 ,they are shut in on either side4 ,the sea is in front and he and his army in the rear4 ,what a sweet revenge he is going to have4 ,but look4 ,something has happened4 ,there is a path through the sea4 ,these hunted slaves are marching in4 ,but it doesn't matter4 ,wherever ,israel can go1 the ,egyptians can go4 ,so he and his army march in behind4 ,they keep the ,israelites in sight4 ,now in the distance they see that the last ,israelite has reached dry land4 ,and then there is a great shriek that is quickly choked4 ,the waters have come together again4 ,the sea waves roar about these struggling soldiers like liquid hate4 ,the ,king is forgotten4 ,his men are madly trying to save themselves4 ,a jeweled hand flashes in the light for a moment4 ,there is an oath1 a cry for help1 a gulp1 and silence4 ,and the hungry sea has its prey4 ,pharaoh1 why are you here8 ,and if those dead lips could speak he would say1 ,i am here because ,i persistently refused to obey ,god4 ,he offered me the best and ,i spurned it and spurned it again till at last ,he threw me here4 ,he did it because ,i made it impossible for ,him to do anything else4 ,and as ,i look at this wreck ,i think how different the story might have ended4 ,this man might have had a part in the making of a great people4 ,he might have been associated with ,moses in giving to the world a new nation4 ,he might even now be in the fellowship of ,moses among the tall sons of the morning4 ,for the difference between this man and the great man ,moses is not in the fact that ,god purposed evil for the one and good for the other4 ,it is in this1 that one was obedient unto the heavenly vision1 that one could say1 ,the grace that was bestowed upon me was not in vain1 and the other resisted and kept resisting till he ran by every blockade that ,god could put in his path and plunged headlong into destruction4 ,,ix ,a ,,son ,,of ,,shame--,,jephthah ,judges #aa3ce ,i have opened my mouth unto the ,lord and ,i cannot go back4 ,i like these big words4 ,there is a ring of sterling strength in them4 ,they have a robust masculinity that grips my heart4 ,they are not the words of a weakling4 ,they have absolutely no savor of softness or moral flabbiness4 ,they are not cheap4 ,they are high priced words4 ,they are words made costly by a plentiful baptism of tragedy4 ,they are words literally soaked in blood and tears4 ,this man ,jephthah has made a vow4 ,and now the hour is upon him in which it is his duty to make the vow good4 ,his vow involves far more than he ever expected4 ,but that fact does not cause him to be untrue4 ,he has given his promise4 ,pay day has come4 ,his promise involves measureless sacrifice4 ,to keep it is to put out every star in his sky4 ,it is to pluck up every flower in his garden4 ,it is to change life's music into discord4 ,it is to take from him the one he loves far better than he loves his own life4 ,but even though the price is big1 he will not refuse to pay it4 ,even though his promise is hard1 he will keep it4 ,i have opened my mouth unto the ,lord and ,i cannot go back4 ,jephthah has had many hard things said about him4 ,he has been wronged since before he was born4 ,i do not think that justice has been done to his memory4 ,frankly1 ,i think he is one of the most heroic souls of ,old ,testament history4 ,it is true that he would not fully measure up to all our modern ideals1 but remember this1 he lived in the morning of human history4 ,he lived when the light was dim4 ,and he was true to the light that he had4 ,he was true with a rugged fidelity that will cause him to rise up in the day of judgment and condemn many of us4 ,jephthah1 ,i say1 has been greatly wronged4 ,he never had a fair chance4 ,he was wronged in his very birth4 ,he was the son of a father who was unfaithful to his marriage vows4 ,jephthah was a child of shame4 ,his father had chosen to sacrifice upon the wayside altar4 ,his father had had his fling4 ,he had sown his wild oats1 and of necessity there was a harvest4 ,his father suffered1 but sad to say1 he was not the only sufferer4 ,how we need to be reminded again and again that no man ever sins alone4 ,no man ever walks from the path of virtue without he walks upon bruised and bleeding feet4 ,he himself suffers1 but what is sadder still1 he causes somebody else to suffer4 ,i cannot go to hell alone4 ,i cannot plunge out into the dark without involving another soul1 at least in some measure1 in my tragedy4 ,this father sinned4 ,it meant suffering for him4 ,it also meant suffering for one who was altogether blameless4 ,it meant suffering for his boy4 ,not only did ,jephthah have as part of his life tragedy an unclean father1 but he had an unclean mother as well4 ,jephthah's mother was not one of those unfortunate souls1 more sinned against than sinning1 who had made one false step for the sake of the man she loved4 ,she was a professional outcast4 ,she was a woman who made it her business day by day to sell herself over the counters of iniquity4 ,she was one of those whose feet in all ages take hold on hell4 ,so ,jephthah had a bad chance4 ,he was the fragment of a home that never was4 ,he had no father that dared to own him4 ,and the first eyes into which he looked were the eyes of an unclean woman4 ,and the first lips that kissed him were lips soiled and stained by years of sinful living4 ,poor little baby4 ,poor little foundling4 ,poor little outcast4 ,how much he missed4 ,what are the most precious memories in your life to-night8 ,what are the scenes to which you look back with deepest love and tenderness8 ,i know4 ,they are the scenes of your childhood's home4 ,how dear to my heart are the scenes of my childhood1 ,when fond recollection1 presents them to view2 ,the orchard1 the meadow1 the deep tangled wildwood1 ,and every loved spot that my infancy knew4 ,but the secret of the fascination of those dear scenes is this1 that we saw them by the glow of the light of love4 ,we think tenderly of our early homes because they were presided over by a father and mother who knew ,god4 ,and the one cord that has failed to snap between us and a good life is the cord that ties us still to the faith of our fathers and our mothers4 ,but ,jephthah missed all this4 ,his father was unfaithful4 ,his mother was an unclean woman4 ,there were no tender and holy associations that made it easy for him to be good4 ,there were no memories to come in after years and whisper old half forgotten prayers4 ,there were no fond recollections to lay their hands upon him with angelic tenderness and lead him away from his ,city of ,destruction4 ,he was a child of sin1 a child of blackness and of night1 a child bereft of the inspiration of a good mother's life and the sweet uplift of a pious home4 ,and not only was this man wronged in what he missed1 he was equally wronged in what he suffered4 ,early he was branded with a shame not his own4 ,i know of few places where society has been so unjust and unkind as it has in its condemnation of those innocent ones who are the victims of another's sin4 ,we forget that every child comes into the world with the ,father's kiss upon its clean soul regardless of the circumstances of its birth4 ,we forget also that that child is no more to blame for those circumstances than it is to be blamed for the currents of the sea or for the darkness of the night4 ,but ,jephthah was blamed4 ,ugly names were flung at him before he was old enough to know their dark and sinister meaning4 ,he was forbidden to go to the big house of his father before he knew why he was not allowed to go4 ,he was excluded from the games of those more fortunately born than he1 when he could no more understand why he was excluded than he could keep back the bitter tears of childish disappointment4 ,i can see him as he watches his half brothers and sisters play in the distance1 and his little heart is lonely and he is hungry for a playmate4 ,and the gate is shut in his face1 the gate of a shame not his own4 ,by and by youthhood comes1 and early manhood4 ,the parental estate is to be divided4 ,jephthah is disinherited4 ,he is driven from among his people4 ,he is forced to flee for his life4 ,and he goes to take refuge in ,tob with its mountain fastnesses and with its rude heathens who are less unkind than those kinsmen of his who claim to be worshippers of ,jehovah4 ,so we have here the material out of which this young man is called on to build a life4 ,he has no parentage4 ,he has no kindred4 ,he has no friends4 ,nobody believes in him4 ,everybody expects him to go wrong4 ,it seems even at times as if everybody wanted him to go wrong4 ,they said1 ,oh1 yes1 ,i know him4 ,i used to know his mother4 ,she died in the gutter4 ,you can't expect anything of him4 ,and it is not at all difficult to go down when everybody expects you to go down4 ,it is a great thing to have somebody to trust you4 ,that is a tremendous help4 ,as long as you feel that there is somebody who counts on you1 who believes in you1 you are not without an anchor4 ,i read the other day of a little newsboy who was given a quarter that he might get change4 ,and on his way back he was run over and crushed by an auto4 ,and the last word he said was1 ,be sure and hunt him up and give him back the change4 ,he trusted me4 ,but here is a young fellow exiled1 robbed1 persecuted and mistrusted4 ,and out of this charred and ugly material he is called upon to build a life4 ,and what is the result8 ,well1 he refused to surrender4 ,he said1 ,if nobody else will believe in me ,i will believe in myself4 ,since nobody else will help me1 ,i will help myself4 ,if ,i am to be robbed of my inheritance ,i will make a way of my own4 ,and so he set to work4 ,he did not spend his time hunting up his neighbors to tell them of his misfortunes4 ,he did not put in his time boasting of what he would do if he were as well off as his half brothers down in ,israel4 ,he went to work to build his fortune in the here and now4 ,and little by little he won4 ,and then one day a runner came to him in the field and said1 ,jephthah1 you have company at your house4 ,and the man looked up in surprise and said1 ,company6 ,who is it8 ,a committee of elders from ,israel4 ,and ,jephthah is astonished4 ,he is filled with wonder4 ,he is trying to guess why they came4 ,and with the problem unsolved he goes to meet his guests4 ,these elders greet him like a long lost son4 ,they tell him how they rejoice in his prosperity4 ,they informed him how they had always known that he would make good4 ,they let him know that they would never have sent him out of ,israel if they had had their way about it4 ,and then at last they gather courage to tell him their errand4 ,and they say1 ,israel is being besieged by the ,ammonites and we want you to come and be the commander-in-chief of our armies4 ,well1 now that was a shock4 ,here was a young fellow who began with nothing1 and worse than nothing4 ,but instead of whining1 instead of quitting1 instead of complaining that he had no chance1 instead of putting in his time wishing that he was somewhere else1 he did his duty where he was4 ,and folks found it out and came to kneel at his feet and ask him for help4 ,and ,i am not saying1 young man1 that every man gets his just deserts1 but ,i do say that in the overwhelming majority of cases1 if a man is really any account1 sooner or later somebody will find it out4 ,it may be true that ,full many a gem of purest ray serene ,the dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear4 ,full many a flower is born to blush unseen1 ,and waste its sweetness on the desert air4 ,but ,i doubt if any gem of real human worth ever lies permanently concealed4 ,i seriously question if any radiant flower of human character ever wastes its sweetness on the desert air4 ,learn to do something that the world needs to have done and men will make a path to your door even if you live in a desert4 ,they came and asked ,jephthah for help4 ,it is a humiliating experience4 ,now1 ,i suppose those half brothers of ,jephthah's down in ,israel1 those fellows who had scorned him in his childhood1 those fellows who had robbed him of his share in the estate1--,i suppose they did some loud talking about the general being a kinsman of theirs4 ,oh1 they are very much like we are4 ,we seldom boast of our relationship to an outcast1 but if we are one hundred and first cousin to somebody who is prominent we are mighty apt to go about telling it4 ,jephthah heard their request and promised to help them4 ,i think that was fine of him4 ,it would have been so easy for him to have said1 ,oh1 yes1 you kicked me out when ,i was a little helpless waif4 ,when ,i needed help you would not give it4 ,when ,i needed help you laughed at my childish tears4 ,now you need help1 ,i will laugh at you4 ,but there was nothing of revenge in him4 ,wronged as he had been1 he would not nurse his wrongs4 ,he would not allow his bitter treatment to make him bitter4 ,i wish we all were so wise4 ,you were injured years ago by somebody4 ,that somebody perchance was in the church4 ,and so you have never had any use for the church since4 ,you have never had any use much for anybody since4 ,you have been snarling and snapping4 ,do you remember ,miss ,harrisham in ,great ,expectations8 ,she was to be married4 ,all arrangements were made4 ,the wedding cake was on the table4 ,but at twenty minutes to nine a cruel note came telling her that the groom was not coming4 ,therefore1 the clocks were all stopped at twenty minutes to nine4 ,the cake stood upon the table till it rotted4 ,the blinds remained drawn and no sunlight was ever allowed in the house again4 ,and life for her stopped at twenty minutes to nine4 ,one disappointment wrecked her1 embittered her1 made her throw her life away4 ,but ,jephthah refused to be embittered4 ,he consented to go4 ,but before he undertook the campaign he stood beside the altar of ,god4 ,this man had lived for years among heathens1 but they had not heathenized him4 ,he still stood true by the altar4 ,circumstances were against him1 but religion is not simply for the easy situations in which we find ourselves4 ,your test1 as one has said1 is not how good you can be if you have a devoted saint on either side of you down at the office4 ,your test is what your religion can do for you in the midst of a godless crowd4 ,daniel's ,god was tested not in the pleasant situations of his early home life4 ,the test was among his foes4 ,it is amidst the horrors of a lion's den that the king's question echoes1 ,oh1 ,daniel1 servant of the living ,god1 is thy ,god whom thou servest continually1 able to deliver thee8 ,jephthah went to battle from the altar of prayer4 ,as he went he made a vow4 ,it is the vow for which he has been most severely criticized4 ,it is a vow that has caused his name among some to be branded with shame4 ,he vowed that if ,god would give him the victory he would offer to ,him whatever first came out of the door of his house to meet him on his return4 ,it was a rash vow1 ,i am ready to admit4 ,yet rash as it was1 ,i do not find it in my heart to be severely critical of him4 ,i rather join with ,dr4 ,peck in my admiration4 ,you know what is the matter with a great many of us smug church members8 ,we are so prudent4 ,we have such admirable possession of all our faculties4 ,we are in danger of dying of self-control4 ,this man in the white heat of his enthusiasm made a solemn pledge to the ,lord of that which was destined to be infinitely the most precious thing in his life4 ,but some of us in our prudence will not even make a pledge of a few dollars4 ,we say we do not know how well we will be fixed next week or next month or next year4 ,you have heard of the man who subscribed #ej and refused to pay it1 saying that he was too religious that day to look after his own interests4 ,some of us never get that religious4 ,but all the encomiums throughout the ,word of ,god are uttered upon those who are utterly rash in their giving4 ,the widow foolishly gave away all that she had4 ,and ,mary squandered a whole box of ointment when a few drops would have been amply sufficient4 ,but it was their mad recklessness that made them immortal4 ,jephthah made his vow and went to battle4 ,he went confidently4 ,he went believing that inasmuch as he had put himself and what he had at ,god's disposal1 that ,god would put ,himself at his disposal4 ,and ,god did not disappoint him4 ,he won the fight4 ,and now the victorious army is marching home4 ,the soldiers are rejoicing4 ,but there is a strange tenseness and anxiety in the general's face that the soldiers do not understand4 ,nobody understands but ,god and ,jephthah4 ,at last they round the bend in the road and the general comes in sight of his own home4 ,and then suddenly his bronze face goes deadly pale4 ,he reels upon his horse4 ,for out from the door of his home has come a lovely girl with dark hair and sunny face1 and she is singing a song of welcome4 ,father and daughter come face to face4 ,the girl is perplexed1 and the general strains her hard to his heart4 ,he is father and mother to her at once1 and she is all he has4 ,and the cup is bitter almost beyond the drinking4 ,and he says1 ,alas1 my daughter1 you have brought me very low4 ,and he tells her his story4 ,and the girl with sweet resignation understands1 and the great sacrifice is made4 ,jephthah was a hard man1 you say4 ,do not judge him in the light of the twentieth century4 ,judge him in the light of the day in which he lived4 ,and remember this1 that he had the manhood to keep his promise4 ,remember that he had the sturdy courage to pay his vow4 ,i have opened my mouth unto the ,lord1 and ,i cannot go back4 ,oh1 the world is saved by the cannot men1 by the men who have big impossibilities in their souls4 ,joseph says as he faces the temptation of his life1 ,i cannot do it4 ,the apostles ordered to keep silent1 say1 ,we cannot4 ,and ,jephthah with breaking heart and tear-wet face1 tempted to break his vow1 says1 ,i cannot go back4 ,oh1 ,i know what we would probably have done4 ,we would have said to ourselves1 ,nobody knows that ,i made that vow anyway1 nobody but ,god4 ,i made it in the secrecy of my own heart4 ,i never breathed a word into any human ear4 ,if ,i go back on it1 it will not matter so much4 ,it is simply a promise that ,i made to ,god4 ,this man had not told his vow4 ,it was a secret between himself and his ,lord4 ,he was not driven to the performance of it by public opinion4 ,he was not urged to it1 as flabby ,herod1 for the sake of those that sat with him4 ,he was urged to it by his own unstained conscience and his sterling manhood4 ,or he might have said1 ,i made the vow1 it's true1 but ,i made it under pressure4 ,a great danger was threatening and a man is not to be held responsible for a vow he makes in the presence of danger4 ,did you ever get frightened when a storm was on and promise ,god things1 and then go back on it8 ,of course you have4 ,we have been false to one another1 some of us4 ,how many of us have been false to ,god6 ,how far is this old hero ahead of ourselves6 ,think of the vows that you have made as members of the church4 ,you have not even fulfilled the vow you made to your groceryman4 ,some of you have not paid for the clothes that you have on1 and never will4 ,some of you have made pledges to the church and have forgotten them4 ,and just because the church won't sue you1 you are going to break the promise that you have made1 not simply to men1 but to ,god4 ,and what have you done with your church vows8 ,you have promised to renounce the devil and all his works1 the vain pomp and glory of the world4 ,have you kept your vow8 ,you have promised to obediently keep ,god's holy will and commandments4 ,have you been honest with ,god in this matter8 ,you have promised to be subject to the rules of the church and to attend upon its services1 and some of you have trampled on those rules flagrantly1 openly1 knowingly4 ,and remember that when you took that vow it was not a pledge that you made to me4 ,you opened your mouth that day unto the ,lord4 ,and you that are here outside the church1 may the lord help you to pay your vows unto the ,most ,high4 ,for there is hardly a single one of you but that at some time has opened your mouth unto the ,lord4 ,what about that promise you made to ,god when you were sick8 ,i do not say you made it into any human ear1 but you breathed it in prayer into ,his ear4 ,what about the promise you made to ,god by the coffin of your baby8 ,what about the promise of consecration you made by the bedside of your dying mother8 ,may the ,lord help us to make this day a pay day4 ,may the ,lord give us the courage to say1 ,i have opened my mouth unto the ,lord1 and ,i cannot go back4 ,x ,a ,,case ,,of ,,blues--,,elijah #a ,kings #ai3d ,one day you were reading in the ,new ,testament and you came to that surprising word from ,james3 ,elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are4 ,and if you were reading thoughtfully you stared at that sentence in wide-eyed amazement4 ,and then in your heart you said1 ,it isn't true4 ,elijah's story doesn't read a bit like mine4 ,then you thought of how he came and put his finger in ,ahab's face and made that face go white4 ,you thought of how he carried ,heaven's key in his pocket for three years and six months4 ,you thought of his lifting the dead boy into life2 of his victory on ,carmel2 of his quiet walk to the little station beyond the ,jordan where the ,heavenly ,limited met him and took him home4 ,and again you felt like saying that ,james was altogether mistaken4 ,to fortify yourself more fully you reread his story4 ,then you came to this passage and you read it with a gasp3 ,and he came and sat down under a juniper tree1 etc4 ,and down by the print of your foot you saw the big footprint of the old prophet and you said1 ,after all1 we are very much alike4 ,after all1 he got in the dumps1 fretted and broke his heart with the blues1 even as ,i4 ,now1 what was the matter with ,elijah8 ,he was not a natural and deliberate pessimist4 ,there are some folks that are1 you know4 ,there are some people who study to be pessimistic4 ,they are the self-appointed inspectors of warts and carbuncles1 the self-elected supervisors of sewers and street gutters4 ,they pride themselves on being guides to the ,slough of ,despond and on holding a pass key to the cave of ,giant ,despair4 ,one such woman1 being asked how she felt1 said1 ,i feel good to-day4 ,but ,i always feel the worst when ,i feel the best because ,i know how bad ,i am going to feel when ,i get to feeling bad again4 ,two buckets went to a well one day4 ,one sobbed and said1 ,oh1 me6 it breaks my heart to think that however full we go away from the well1 we always come back empty4 ,and its companion laughed outright and said1 ,why1 ,i was congratulating myself on the fact that however empty we come to the well1 we always go away full4 ,one morning when the world was brimming with spring1 two little girls ran out into a garden where the dewdrops and the sunlight and ,god had wrought the miracle of a hundred full-blown roses4 ,they looked at the lovely scene and one went back and said tearfully1 ,oh1 mother1 the roses are blooming1 but there is a thorn for every rose4 ,the other looked and went back singing and said1 ,mother1 the roses are blooming and there is a rose for every thorn4 ,no1 this man was not a deliberate pessimist4 ,had he been his name and memory would have rotted long ago1 for the men that bless us are the hopeful men1 the forward-looking men4 ,i read of a man who was put in jail during the ,boer ,war simply because he was always prophesying disaster4 ,he was a discourager4 ,he refused to see anything hopeful4 ,and a man of that kind ought to be in jail because he is as harmful as a man with the small-pox4 ,he who steals my purse steals trash1 but he who filcheth from me my sunny outlook1 my expectation of the dawn of a to-morrow1 takes that which not enriches him1 but makes me poor indeed4 ,what was the matter with ,elijah8 ,well1 in the first place1 he was tired4 ,he was utterly spent4 ,he had just passed through a very trying and exacting ordeal4 ,we can well imagine that the days just preceding the test upon ,carmel were toilsome days and the nights were sleepless nights4 ,then came the great day of contest and victory4 ,there was1 of course1 no rest that day4 ,and1 in the exhilaration of victory1 you know how he ran before the chariot of ,ahab from ,carmel to ,jezreel1 a distance of seventeen miles4 ,arrived there1 he got a message from ,jezebel threatening his life4 ,he had expected1 of course1 that the men who had shouted ,the ,lord ,he is ,god would stand by him4 ,but they did not4 ,he had expected that even ,jezebel would be afraid to lift her voice in defense of the old defeated heathenism of the past4 ,but here again he was much mistaken4 ,in fact1 instead of tamely acknowledging defeat she sends him this word3 ,so let the gods do to me1 and more also1 if ,i make not thy life as the life of one of them by to-morrow about this time4 ,jezebel's threat totally upset the prophet's sense of victory4 ,he came to feel that he had not won after all4 ,for the first time he gave way to fear4 ,cowardice rushed upon him and drove him1 without rest1 down the road that led into the wilderness4 ,the terminus of this road was1 quite naturally1 the juniper tree4 ,so one source of his discouragement1 one secret of his being in the blues1 was that he was utterly tired4 ,it is hard indeed for a man to be hopeful when his nerves are on edge4 ,it is hard for him to keep out of the blues when he is completely exhausted4 ,as a tired body yields at such times far more readily to physical disease1 so does it yield more readily to the exquisite torture of discouragement and depression4 ,a second reason for his collapse was a lost sense of the divine fellowship4 ,up to this time ,elijah's every step had been ordered of the ,lord4 ,he had a sense of the ,divine ,presence that was continuous4 ,but ,jezebel's threat had made him believe that he must look out for himself4 ,so he took his case into his own hands4 ,and that is the road that must always lead to the juniper tree4 ,such a collapse is next to impossible as long as we keep on intimate terms with ,god4 ,yonder is man named ,paul on a ship that is going to pieces4 ,the sea curls its lips and lies in wait with lifted teeth as if to bite4 ,the sailors' faces are ghastly with hunger and panic4 ,but while despair grips every other heart and while death laughs with hollow laughter amidst the popping timbers of this wrecking ship1 this man steadies himself and shouts1 ,be of good cheer4 ,what is the secret of his cheer8 ,there stood by me this night the angel of ,god whose ,i am4 ,he was saved by an intimate and personal sense of the ,divine ,presence4 ,elijah had lost this sense of the ,divine4 ,hence the deep1 dark night of utter discouragement was upon him4 ,thus utterly wearied and his old intimacy with the ,lord gone1 the worst naturally followed4 ,all his hopes seemed to fall about him4 ,there came to him a heart-breaking sense of personal failure4 ,he sobbed out the complaint3 ,i am no better than my fathers4 ,they allowed ,israel to drift into idolatry4 ,i have not been able to bring it back4 ,i have accomplished nothing4 ,i toiled long and hard1 dreaming that at the end ,i would clasp the warm1 radiant hand of success and victory1 but in reality ,i only clasp the skeleton hand of failure4 ,have you ever had a feeling that you were of no account and never would be2 that in spite of all that ,god had done for you1 you were a failure8 ,there are few things more fraught with heartache and bitterness and discouragement than that4 ,that is something that makes you want to sob and give over the fight utterly4 ,and there are a lot of folks that allow themselves to come to that dismal conviction4 ,they work1 and nobody seems to appreciate it4 ,they toil1 and nobody compliments them4 ,then they decide that they do not amount to anything1 and they feel like giving over the fight4 ,i read the other day a fascinating essay from ,frank ,boreham4 ,in this essay the author spoke of a certain discouraged friend of his4 ,he declared it his purpose to help this friend by sending him a present4 ,and the strange present that he was going to send him was an onion4 ,yes1 he was going to wrap this onion in lovely tissue paper and put it in a beautiful candy box and tie it with pink ribbon and post it to his friend at once4 ,now1 why send him an onion8 ,well1 for the simple reason that though an onion is one of the most valuable of all vegetables1 though it is the finest of relishes1 though it has added piquancy to a thousand feasts1 yet nobody praises the onion4 ,of course you know the author is right here4 ,you may have read some great poetry in your time1 poems on daffodils1 violets1 roses1 daisies4 ,even you have known a great poet who could write about a louse and a field mouse1 but where do you find a poem about an onion8 ,what orator waxes eloquent in its praise8 ,what bride ever carries a bouquet of onions as a bridal bouquet8 ,this is true1 of course1 but why is it true8 ,not because the onion is useless4 ,the real reason is because it is so strong4 ,it is harder to grow sentimental over great strong things1--though tears have been shed over onions1 as our essayist has pointed out4 ,there are some we praise1 you know1 because we think that they need it to keep them going4 ,they are weak4 ,there are others we do not praise because they are so strong1 or because1 being strong1 we expect strong things of them4 ,the football hero receives an ovation when he makes a touchdown1 but no greater than the baby receives when it takes its first step4 ,there was more noise in the former case1 but only because there was a larger crowd of spectators4 ,so it is not wise to conclude that because nobody is praising you1 you are of no account in the world4 ,not only did ,elijah for the moment lose faith in himself1 but he lost faith in others as well4 ,he thought there was not a good man in all ,israel4 ,and if you want a short cut to wretchedness1 get to a place where you do not believe in anybody4 ,some people seem to cultivate this disposition as if it were an asset4 ,it is not an asset4 ,it is the worst possible liability4 ,if you want to make a hell for yourself in the here and now1 cultivate the habit of seeing a selfish motive back of every seemingly unselfish act4 ,school yourself to believe that all men and all women have their price4 ,say not in haste1 but deliberately1 that ,all men are liars4 ,that is the leading characteristic of the devil4 ,hast thou considered my servant1 ,job1 the ,lord asked1 that there is none like him8 ,yes1 replied the devil1 ,i have considered him4 ,i know him through and through4 ,i know him better than you do4 ,he is deceiving you4 ,he is putting it over on you4 ,you think he loves you for yourself1--,i know that he loves you simply1 because you are feeding him bonbons4 ,let me touch him and he will curse you to your face4 ,that is the devil's habit4 ,that is what makes him such a success as a devil4 ,if you do not believe in people no wonder you are miserable4 ,if you do not believe that a fluctuating ,simon can be changed into a rock2 if you do not believe that a ,magdalene can1 through the grace of ,god1 become a herald of the resurrection2 if you do not believe that this world of men is a salvable world2 then it is not to be wondered at that you are blue4 ,if you do not believe in the honesty and goodness and purity of at least a few1 ,i do not see how you can be in any other place than a veritable perdition4 ,there are bad men1 vicious men1 godless men1 but they are not all so4 ,do not believe that they are4 ,there are loyal hearts1 there are spirits brave2 ,there are souls that are good and true1 ,then give the world the best you have ,and the best will come back to you4 ,give love1 and love to your heart will flow ,and strength for your utmost need4 ,give faith and a score of hearts will show ,their faith in your worldly deed4 ,give truth and truth will be paid in kind1 ,and honor will honor meet2 ,and a smile that is sweet is sure to find ,a smile that is just as sweet4 ,for life is the mirror of king and slave2 ,it's just what we are and do4 ,then give the world the best you have ,and the best will come back to you4 ,but if you frown at the world the world is going to frown at you1 and if you mistrust it1 it will mistrust you4 ,i used to stand as a boy on the river bank on my father's farm and shout at the great rugged cliff across the silver ,buffalo ,river4 ,if ,i spoke kindly to the grim old cliff1 its answer would be in the same kindly tone4 ,if there was harshness and menace in my voice1 it came back the same way4 ,and life is a big echo4 ,it speaks to us in the tone of our own voice4 ,it gives us the faith or the unbelief that we ourselves give4 ,and with faith in self gone and also faith in men1 it is not to be wondered at that ,elijah requested for himself that he might die4 ,but though he made this request1 it is not the real sentiment of his heart4 ,it is not the real ,elijah speaking4 ,a man ought never to make an important decision when he is in the blues4 ,he is not himself any more than is a man under the influence of drink4 ,elijah is not himself here4 ,how do we know8 ,he really doesn't mean what he is saying4 ,how do we know that8 ,well1 he is requesting for himself here that he1 might die4 ,now1 if he was really in earnest about dying1 ,jezebel would have attended to that for him without any prayer on his part1 if he had just stayed round ,jezreel for a while4 ,the truth of the matter is that the love of life is strong in him4 ,the truth of the matter also is that he still believes somewhat in himself and in ,god and in men4 ,he is just in the blues now and is not saying what he really believes when he is at his best4 ,when you get in the dumps and fret and fume and wish you were dead1 just stop right there and tell yourself that you are a liar4 ,you do not wish anything of the kind4 ,i heard of a man once who was always threatening to commit suicide4 ,he had a good friend who was a pious man and who was grieved by such threats4 ,but he heard them till he knew they meant nothing1 so one day he stepped into this man's room at the hotel1 laid an ugly looking revolver down on the dresser and said1 ,john1 old man1 you have been threatening to take your own life for some time4 ,i do not want you to do it4 ,it is murder and you will have no chance to repent4 ,i love you as ,i love myself4 ,for this reason ,i have decided to kill you4 ,i will live long enough to repent4 ,so get over there at the table and make your will4 ,and the man's face went white and he wanted to wait till to-morrow4 ,how did ,god cure this man who was in the blues8 ,first1 ,he used a very commonplace remedy4 ,he put him to sleep4 ,he let him rest4 ,rest is a very religious thing for a tired man4 ,now1 a man who has overworked himself needs to rest from his work4 ,a lot of blue people need rest from idleness4 ,one big reason they are blue is because they have nothing else to do4 ,god gave this man a rest4 ,that was the first step4 ,in the second place1 ,he showed him his sin4 ,he showed him where he was wrong and brought him to repentance and thus restored the old relationship of the past4 ,he asked him this question3 ,what doest thou here1 ,elijah8 ,the emphasis is on the doest4 ,elijah must have blushed at that question4 ,and he said1 ,oh1 ,i am whining4 ,i am complaining4 ,i am trying to keep books1 to add up a few columns of figures and test by that as to whether ,i am a success or a failure4 ,now1 what the ,lord wanted ,elijah to learn is just what ,he wants you and me to learn1 that our job in this world is not bookkeeping4 ,it is not for us to try to sum up the amount of good we have done4 ,it is not for us to test whether we have succeeded or whether we have failed4 ,the truth of the matter is that we are not always competent to tell the difference between success and failure4 ,there are some seeming successes that in reality are failures and there are some of the supreme failures that have turned out to be the most glorious successes4 ,the greatest failure in the eyes of men that was ever made1 was the failure on ,calvary1 and yet it came to pass that the world's darkest night was in reality the mother of its brightest day2 that its grimmest desert became its sweetest flower garden4 ,do not break your heart and tear your hair keeping books4 ,one of the sanest things ,i ever heard was spoken by an able preacher who came one day to preach in my town4 ,there was almost nobody out to hear him4 ,and he preached a wonderful sermon and closed with this most sensible word3 ,i don't know what ,i have accomplished by coming to this town4 ,i only know that ,i have come with ,god in my heart and have done my best4 ,i am not keeping books4 ,god is doing that4 ,some day on the other side of the ,river ,i am going to take down my book and look at it1--,god will let me1--and ,i am going to see just what ,i accomplished when ,i came to your town4 ,that is sensible and that is religious4 ,and so the ,lord was saying to ,elijah3 ,it is not your business to keep books4 ,you do not know how to keep them1 in the first place4 ,you added up a column of figures and got zero4 ,i added it up and got #g1jjj4 ,yes1 there are #g1jjj that have not bowed the knee to ,baal4 ,you have been a help4 ,you have been an inspiration4 ,you have not been a failure1 because you have walked with me4 ,god doesn't fail and the man who walks with him will not fail4 ,he may not accomplish his ambition4 ,he may not realize many of the great hopes of his life1 but if he lives in the secret place of the ,most ,high his life will never be a failure4 ,i read not long ago of a young woman who consecrated her life to ,god for mission work in ,india4 ,she was ready for the great enterprise1 but just before she was to set sail for that far country1 her mother was taken sick with a lingering disease4 ,she had to stay and nurse her for some three years4 ,then the ,angel of ,release came and the mother went home4 ,preparations were made a second time for her setting out to ,india4 ,but from a little home in the distant west there came a call for help4 ,a widowed sister of this would-be missionary was sick and there were three little children to be cared for4 ,she went to her sister's bedside4 ,in a short time the sister died and the three little orphans were left on her hands1 and the one big hope of her life had to be given up4 ,it seemed strange4 ,it seemed hard4 ,yet she remained true to the task that lay nearest4 ,at last all three children were able to look after themselves4 ,but by that time she herself was too old to go to her loved mission field4 ,then one day one of those orphans for whom she had given up her life's dream put her arms around her neck and told her that she was going to be a missionary and that the field that she had chosen was ,india4 ,and in later days the other two told the same story4 ,so they all three went away to ,india to which she had so longed to go4 ,and as they passed out to the land of her love and her prayers this heroic soul knew that she had not failed4 ,and so ,god's call to ,elijah1 to you and to me is to leave off our heart-breaking bookkeeping1 to put our hands in ,his and to resume the journey4 ,and as we go we shall in some way shake off our discouragement as a hampering garment and we shall find ourselves in the sunlight once more4 ,and we shall come to know for ourselves that ,thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on ,thee4 ,,xi ,,the ,,supreme ,,question--,,the ,,philippian ,,jailer ,acts #af3cj1 #ca ,what must ,i do to be saved8 ,that question was asked by a startled jailer4 ,he was amidst strange and perplexing happenings4 ,he had just seen wonderful sights4 ,he was being shaken by unfamiliar terrors4 ,for these terrors he sought relief and so he asked this infinitely wise question3 ,what must ,i do to be saved8 ,but this jailer is not the only man that has ever asked that question4 ,he is not the first man that asked it4 ,this is a universal question4 ,men of all times and of all climes have asked and sought an answer to this question4 ,the cultured ,greeks tried to answer it by building altars to many gods4 ,then realizing that they had missed it1 they sought further by building an altar to the ,unknown ,god4 ,it was in an effort to answer this question that children were once sacrificed to the fire god1 ,moloch4 ,and it is the struggle to answer the same question that causes the ,indian mother to-day to cast her baby into the ,ganges and to come home with empty arms and with an empty heart4 ,i heard a missionary from the heart of ,africa say some years ago that he used to live among the savage tribes of the far interior4 ,they were people of the lowest type4 ,they wore no shred of clothing4 ,but in their wild and barbarous religious dances they would swing round and round till they frothed at the mouth and fell down rigid4 ,it was their way1 said the missionary1 of asking the supreme question3 ,what must ,i do to be saved8 ,this was a dramatic moment in this jailer's life4 ,it was a moment big with blessing4 ,look at the picture4 ,two strange preachers have come to this ,roman city of ,philippi4 ,their preaching has brought them into conflict with the authorities4 ,they are drawn before the magistrates4 ,their clothing is torn from them and they are severely beaten4 ,it seems that this would have been shame enough and pain enough1 but it was not4 ,they were then turned over to a callous and cruel ,roman jailer with the order that he should keep them fast4 ,so he threw them into the inner dungeon and made their feet fast in the stocks4 ,the place was foul and cold and dark4 ,their backs were lacerated and bleeding4 ,and this wag their reward for seeking to bring to men the unsearchable riches of ,christ4 ,now it was dark enough for these two4 ,but they did not lose heart4 ,first they prayed4 ,i can imagine they prayed secretly and then they prayed aloud4 ,and those people in prison heard the voice of prayer for possibly the first time in their lives4 ,now1 real prayer always makes things different4 ,it brings us a consciousness of ,god4 ,and so as these men prayed their hearts grew warm and joyous till by and by prayer gives place to praise and they begin to sing4 ,i have wondered what these people sang that night4 ,it might have been the ,twenty-third ,psalm4 ,or they might have sung1 ,i will bless the ,lord at all times4 ,his praise shall continually be in my mouth4 ,my soul shall make her boast in the ,lord4 ,the humble shall hear thereof and be glad4 ,or the ,thirty-seventh ,psalm would have sounded well in the darkness of that hideous dungeon1--,fret not thyself because of evil doers1 neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity4 ,for they shall soon be cut down like the grass and wither as the green herb4 ,but ,i think the most likely of all is the ,forty-sixth3 ,god is our refuge and strength1 a very present help in trouble4 ,therefore will we not fear though the earth be removed and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea4 ,whatever they sang it was great singing4 ,i think the angels opened the windows when they heard it4 ,i think it made the very heart of our ,lord glad4 ,what a surprise it was to those in that gloomy old prison4 ,they had heard the walls ring with groans and shrieks4 ,they had heard bitter oaths in the night1 but songs with the lilt of an irrepressible joy in them--they had never heard anything like that before4 ,now as the melody rang through the gloomy cells something else happened4 ,the old building seemed to be shaking with the very power of the music4 ,an earthquake was on and ,god took this petty prison in ,his hand and shook it as a dicer might shake his dice box1 and all its doors were thrown open and the fetters were shaken from the feet of those that were bound4 ,and the old jailer is shaken out of his complacency and out of his bed and a great terror grips him4 ,i can see him as he picks himself up and looks about him in dismay4 ,the doors are open4 ,he is sure that the prisoners are gone4 ,he knows that his life will be to pay4 ,he will not face the shame of it4 ,he will inflict justice upon himself4 ,he draws his sword and prepares to thrust it through him1 but ,paul's eyes were upon him1 and knowing his purpose he shouts at him1 ,we are all here1 ,jailer4 ,do thyself no harm4 ,there is love in that cry1 tenderness in it1 longing in it that the jailer could not understand4 ,neither could he fail to realize the might of it4 ,it touches him deeply4 ,he is gripped by another terror1 the terror that has come through the presence of these strange men who have brought the things of eternity to seem real to him4 ,and urged on by that new terror he rushes to these men of bleeding backs and tattered garments and throws himself at their feet with this great question in his heart and upon his lips1 ,sirs1 what must ,i to do be saved8 ,now1 ,i am aware of the fact that this jailer was a heathen and ,i am not accusing him at all of being a great theologian4 ,i do not know how learned he was4 ,i do not know whether he could read or write or not4 ,i do not know whether he was widely traveled or not4 ,he may have never been beyond the precincts of his own city4 ,but what ,i do know is this1 that he asked the biggest question that ever fell from human lips4 ,there can be no greater4 ,it was the greatest for him4 ,it is the greatest for you4 ,it is the greatest for me4 ,what must ,i do to be saved8 ,there is no question quite so big as that4 ,and ,i am wondering now if it is a big question to you4 ,remember1 it is not3 ,what must ,i do to be decent8 ,it is not3 ,what must ,i do to be respectable8 ,these things are all right1 but they are not supreme4 ,it is not3 ,what must ,i do to get rich8 ,millions of us are asking that question as if it were the one question of eternal importance4 ,but you know that it is not4 ,it is not3 ,what must ,i do to be beautiful8 ,some of us are asking that question too1 and some of us1 ,i am sorry to say1 are missing the answer to it very much4 ,but that is not the big question4 ,the supreme question is3 ,what must ,i do to be saved8 ,what is implied in this question when it is asked intelligently8 ,there is implied first of all that there is an absolute difference between being saved and lost4 ,there is implied in it that there are two classes of people1 not the cultured and the uncultured1 not the learned and the unlearned4 ,they are the saved and the lost4 ,they are those that have life and those that do not have life4 ,i am perfectly aware that we of to-day do not like such dogmatic divisions4 ,but ,i call your attention to the fact that they are the divisions that are made in the ,new ,testament4 ,they are the divisions that ,jesus made4 ,he puts folks into two classes1 and only two4 ,there were two gates1 one was broad and the other narrow4 ,there were two foundations on which a man might build1 one was of sand and the other of rock4 ,mark you1 ,he did not divide men into the perfect and the imperfect1 but into those that had life and those that did not have it4 ,and it was ,he that said1 ,he that hath the ,son hath life1 and he that hath not the ,son hath not life4 ,so this question1 if it means anything1 means that there is such a thing as being saved and there is such a thing as being lost4 ,that fact is recognized throughout the entire ,bible4 ,this question implies1 in the second place1 a consciousness of being lost4 ,what must ,i do to be saved8 ,when this man asked that question there were many things about which he was uncertain4 ,he was uncertain as to how he was to get out of his darkness4 ,he was uncertain as to how he was to be saved1 but of one thing he was sure--he was dead sure that he was lost4 ,he did not try to dodge that fact4 ,he did not shut his eyes to it4 ,he did not try in any way to deny it4 ,and1 if you are here without ,god ,i hope you will not deny it4 ,for if you have not taken ,jesus ,christ as your personal ,savior you are lost4 ,then the best thing you can do1 the first step to be taken in the direction of getting saved1 is to realize your lostness4 ,a man will not send for the physician unless he believes himself sick4 ,he will not try to learn unless he realizes his ignorance4 ,neither will he turn to ,god for salvation unless he realizes that he is lost4 ,oh1 it is a good day for a man when he gets a square look at himself4 ,it is a great day when he has a glimpse of himself as ,god sees him4 ,it is a great hour when1 conscious of his guilt1 he bows himself in the presence of ,him who alone can save and says1 ,god1 be merciful unto me a sinner4 ,this question implies1 in the third place1 not only that the man is lost who asked it1 but that there is a possibility of his being saved4 ,what must ,i do to be saved8--and here was a man conscious of being lost1 conscious of being sin scarred and stained and guilty1 yet he believes1 and he is right in believing1 that salvation is possible for him4 ,he believes that even he can be saved unto the uttermost4 ,there is such a thing as salvation and it is possible for me1 even me1 to lay hold of it4 ,and you too must realize that1 otherwise it will do you no good to realize the fact that you are a sinner4 ,it is not enough to know yourself lost4 ,you must also believe that you may be saved4 ,it is not enough to realize that you are weak3 you must believe that is possible for you to be strong4 ,you must believe that even a fluctuating ,simon can be made into a rock4 ,you must believe in the power of ,god to remake men1 otherwise for you the question is only a question of black despair4 ,this question implies1 in the fourth place1 a willingness to be saved4 ,what must ,i do to be saved8 ,this man is not asking this question to gather material for a future argument4 ,he is no speculator4 ,he is no trifler4 ,he is not even asking it because he is intellectually curious4 ,he is not simply asking that he may know the conditions of salvation4 ,he is asking with the earnest purpose in his heart to meet those conditions4 ,this question implies1 in the fifth place1 that while salvation is a possibility for you1 you must do something in order to obtain it4 ,what must ,i do to be saved8 ,what sort of an answer would you expect to a question like that8 ,what did the apostle say8 ,did he say1 ,do nothing4 ,let the matter alone4 ,forget it4 ,drift8 ,that is what many of us are doing4 ,no1 sir1 he said nothing of the kind4 ,he told this man to do something4 ,and this man knew1 as you and ,i know1 that if we are ever saved we have got to do something in order to get saved4 ,i say every one of us knows that1 and yet too few of us act as if it were really true4 ,we seem to think that salvation is something that we are going to stumble upon by accident4 ,we seem to think it is something that we are going to receive with absolutely no effort on our own part4 ,we act as if we thought it might be slipped into our pockets while we sleep or dropped into our coffins when we die4 ,ask the question intelligently1 heart1--,what must ,i do to be saved8 ,then you will realize that you must do something4 ,this question implies1 in the first place1 that the conditions of salvation are not optional1 that it is not up to you and it is not up to me to decide just what we will do in order to be saved4 ,you can accept salvation or you can refuse it4 ,you can meet the conditions or you can refuse to meet them4 ,but one thing you cannot do4 ,you cannot decide upon the terms upon which you will surrender4 ,if you are saved at all you must surrender unconditionally4 ,so the question is1 ,what must ,i do to be saved8 ,it is not1 ,what is the expedient thing or what is the respectable thing or what is the popular thing to do in order to find salvation8 ,the conditions are not of your choosing and they are not of mine4 ,god has made them and you and ,i dare not change them4 ,therefore1 if you are ever saved there is not something simply that you ought to do1 but there is something that you absolutely must do4 ,last of all1 this question implies that salvation is an individual matter4 ,what must ,i do8 ,it is not a question of what must ,god do4 ,he has made full provision for the salvation of the whole world4 ,it is not what must the ,church do4 ,it is not what must the preacher do4 ,it is not what must this man that is beside me and this man that is behind me or in front of me do4 ,the question comes to my own heart--,what must ,i do8 ,what must ,i do to be saved8 ,you must do something1 but there are many things that we are doing that will not save us4 ,if you expect to be saved1 in the first place1 do not depend on your own goodness4 ,all your righteousnesses are but as filthy rags4 ,do not count on your own decency4 ,no man was ever saved that way4 ,i challenge you to find one single one4 ,i was holding a meeting some years ago and ,i met a young fellow who told me he was good enough without ,jesus ,christ4 ,of course he was not saved4 ,a man who says that virtually tells ,christ that ,he has misunderstood his case altogether and that ,calvary was a wasted tragedy so far as he himself is personally concerned4 ,neither will you be saved trusting in the other man's badness4 ,i know what some of you are saying to yourselves as ,i preach4 ,you are telling yourselves one of the oldest lies that was ever told4 ,you are saying1 ,i would be a ,christian but there are so many hypocrites in the ,church4 ,how many men give that as a reason1 but it is no man's reason4 ,and ,i never knew one man to be saved by it4 ,believe me1 the shortcomings and the sins of my brother are mighty poor things to depend on for my own personal salvation4 ,again1 you will not be saved by seeking an easy way4 ,you will never win by catering to your own pride and cowardice4 ,i was conducting a revival in a ,texas city some years ago4 ,at the close of one of the services a young lady came forward to shake hands with the preacher4 ,as she did so she said1 ,i am going to become a ,christian4 ,i congratulated her upon her decision1 but she answered1 ,oh1 ,i do not mean right now4 ,i mean ,i am going to be very soon4 ,you see1 she continued1 it is like this3 ,i am going in a few days to visit some of my relatives that live way back in the country4 ,there is going to be a revival nearby4 ,it will be easy for me to make the decision there because nobody knows me4 ,but here it is different4 ,everybody knows me here and ,i simply haven't the courage to come out and take an open stand for ,jesus ,christ4 ,she went into the country as she planned but she was not saved4 ,of course not4 ,nobody ever found salvation by catering to his own cowardice and pride and seeking an easy way4 ,what must ,i do to be saved8 ,there is an answer to this question4 ,it is an answer that is absolutely dependable4 ,there is nothing in all the world of which ,i am more sure than ,i am of the correctness of the answer to this question4 ,i am as sure of it as ,i am of my own existence4 ,i am as sure of it as ,i am of the fact of ,god4 ,i wonder if you are interested to know the answer4 ,remember that it is the answer to your supreme question4 ,it is the answer to the most important question that was ever asked4 ,it is the most important that you will ever be called to act upon in this world4 ,does the prospect of an answer quicken your heartbeat8 ,does it shake you out of your lethargy into intensest interest8 ,it ought to if it does not4 ,for the answer that ,i give is not the answer of a mere speculator or dreamer4 ,it is the answer of inspiration and it is an answer whose truth has been tested by the personal experience of countless millions4 ,what must ,i do to be saved8 ,answer3 ,believe on the ,lord ,jesus ,christ and thou shalt be saved4 ,what is it to believe on the ,lord ,jesus ,christ8 ,it is to believe that ,jesus ,christ can do what ,he claims to do and what ,he has promised to do and to depend on ,him to do it4 ,mr4 ,moody tells us how that he was in his cellar one day when he looked up and saw his little girl making an effort to see him4 ,she could not because it was dark in the cellar4 ,jump1 said ,mr4 ,moody1 ,daddy will catch you4 ,and instantly the little girl jumped4 ,now1 that was faith4 ,that was believing on her father4 ,so the jailer believed on the ,lord ,jesus ,christ4 ,he depended upon ,him then and there for salvation4 ,and what happened8 ,he was saved4 ,that very moment ,christ came into the man's heart and he became a new creation4 ,he became possessed of a new joy4 ,he became possessed of a new tenderness4 ,did you notice what he did8 ,he took water and washed the stripes of the preachers4 ,paul and ,silas were bleeding when they came to the prison but the jailer did not care4 ,but now that he had found ,christ he has already begun to be a partaker of the divine nature4 ,a new love has come to him4 ,he has become tender where he was cruel before4 ,even so does the power of ,jesus ,christ make men over4 ,now1 this question3 do you want to be saved8 ,if you do you can be4 ,it's the surest thing in all the world4 ,it is as sure as the fact that night follows day4 ,it is more sure than the fact that if you sow wheat you will reap it1 that if you believe on the ,lord ,jesus ,christ you shall be saved4 ,test the matter now and you will know the blessed fact in your own experience4 ,,xii ,,the ,,mother-,,in-,,law--,,naomi ,it is thoroughly refreshing to come upon this exquisite bit of literature called ,ruth4 ,it follows1 as you know1 immediately after the bloodstained stories we read in ,judges4 ,it shows that while there was war and confusion and hate there was also friendship and love and romance4 ,it is a bit of exquisite beauty elbowed on either side by ugliness4 ,this delightful story comes to us like a glad surprise4 ,it is like finding a spring bubbling up in the desert4 ,it is like plucking roses amidst ice bergs4 ,it is like finding a violet in the very crater of a volcano4 ,i hope you have read the ,book of ,ruth and are familiar with it4 ,if you haven't you have slighted one of the sweetest and tenderest stories ever told4 ,if you haven't you have neglected about the most delicate and winsome idyl to be found in ancient or modern literature4 ,i have read some good literature1 first and last4 ,i have read poetry that lifted the heart and set the soul to dreaming4 ,i have read prose strong as granite and songful as a mountain brook4 ,but ,i confess to you1 if ,i wanted to find a finer piece of literature than the book of ,ruth1 ,i would be at a great loss to know where to search4 ,the author sets you down at once amidst strange scenery4 ,and the characters1 while genuinely human1 are also full of the witchery of romance and poetry4 ,here is the story4 ,the rains have failed in the ,bethlehem country and the harvests have been exceedingly meager4 ,a certain little family composed of husband1 wife and two children1 is having a hard fight to keep the wolf from the door4 ,elimelech1 the husband1 can find no work and ,naomi1 the wife and mother1 kneads hunger in an empty bread tray1 and goes through the daily torture of being asked for bread that she is not able to supply4 ,then one dark day the husband comes home utterly discouraged4 ,he takes up the discussion where it was left off the day before4 ,yes1 he says1 there is nothing else to do4 ,there is no bread in the land4 ,there has been rain in ,moab4 ,we can go there4 ,i do not know how they will receive us1 but at any rate1 they can only kill us and that is better than starvation4 ,and ,naomi's sad face becomes a shade sadder and she says1 ,the will of the ,lord be done4 ,but ,i had so hoped that we might be able to remain in the land of our fathers4 ,you see1 my dear1 it is not of myself that ,i am thinking4 ,we have two boys4 ,we do not want to rear them in ,moab4 ,moab1 ,i know1 is not far off physically1 but it is a long way morally4 ,if we go there we may lose our children4 ,the time may even come when they will break the law of ,moses and marry among the ,moabites4 ,but1 hard as it was for her to consent1 at last she was driven into it by sheer starvation4 ,and we see the pathetic little family scourged by hollow-eyed hunger from the land of their fathers into the land of the heathen ,moabites4 ,just what their reception was there we are not told4 ,however1 ,i am quite sure that they were received more kindly than they had expected4 ,their want and their own kindness seemed to have opened the hearts of the strangers among whom they went to live4 ,certain it is that the husband and father was able to find sufficient work to keep from actual starvation4 ,by and by times grew better4 ,the pinch of poverty let up1 and they began to feel somewhat at home in the land of their adoption4 ,but the boys were playing with the children of the ,moabites4 ,of course they were4 ,all children are alike4 ,they know no barriers of kindred1 of class or of religion4 ,a child is the true democrat4 ,sad to say1 we soon train him out of this4 ,but he is a thorough democrat by nature4 ,he plays as gladly with the son of a scrub woman as with the son of a queen4 ,he lavishes his love as freely upon a pickaninny as upon a prince4 ,so these ,jewish boys were playing with the heathen children4 ,then a few years went by and the pious father and mother came to realize with horror that their two boys were actually in love with two ,moabitish girls4 ,not only did they love them1 but they even wanted to marry them4 ,this was a calamity indeed4 ,i can hear the protests of the father and mother4 ,they warn them of the danger of such marriages4 ,they plead the law of ,moses4 ,but all in vain4 ,and we are not surprised4 ,you might as well get in front of ,niagara ,falls and say ,boo6 and expect it to flow back the other way1 as to try to reason with the average young fellow who is in love4 ,both boys married ,moabitish women4 ,and then what did this wise and godly father and mother do8 ,they did not do what is so usual in cases of an unwelcome marriage4 ,our boy or our girl makes what seems to us a foolish and ruinous marriage4 ,then what do we do8 ,we declare that we will never speak to them again1 that they shall never darken our doors4 ,and we thereby help on a disaster that might never have come4 ,naomi and her husband had better sense4 ,they took the wives of their two sons1 heathens though they were1 into their home and into their hearts4 ,they felt sure that that was the one way that promised a remedy4 ,then one day disaster came to the little home of the strangers4 ,the husband and father died1 and ,naomi was left with the whole responsibility of the family upon her lone shoulders4 ,her daughters-in-law had seen her in her joy4 ,they marked her also in her sorrow4 ,they were impressed1 no doubt1 by her calmness and her strength4 ,she walked with the sure and quiet step of one who felt underneath her and round about her the ,everlasting ,arm4 ,then the final disaster came4 ,both the boys died4 ,naomi was not only a widow1 but she was childless4 ,there were now no bonds that held her longer from the land of her fathers4 ,she decides1 therefore1 to return4 ,her two daughters-in-law are to accompany her as far as the border of ,moab4 ,there they are to bid her farewell and then go each her own way4 ,they make the journey1 these three women1 to the borders of ,moab4 ,here ,orpah tells ,naomi good-bye4 ,she parts from her with real grief and regret1 for she loves her genuinely4 ,i think ,i can hear her sobbing as she takes her lone way back to her own people4 ,then it is ,ruth's time to say good-bye4 ,i see her as she flings her arms about the neck of ,naomi and there she clings4 ,there1 there1 says the older woman1 you must be gone now4 ,your sister is going4 ,she will turn the bend of the road in a minute4 ,go after her and ,god grant that you may find rest each in the house of her husband4 ,but ,ruth clings only the tighter4 ,and then she makes a confession4 ,it is a confession of love4 ,and nothing finer in point of tenderness and beauty was ever uttered by human lips4 ,i hope you are not too old to thrill over a love story4 ,john ,ridd's devotion to ,lorna ,doone still stirs my heart4 ,and there is the confession of a heroine in another story that we can never forget4 ,tell him ,i never nursed a thought that was not his2 that daily and nightly on his wandering way pour a woman's tears4 ,tell him that even now ,i'd rather work for him1 beg with him1 walk by his side as an outcast1 live on the light of one kind smile from him1 than wear the crown that ,bourbon lost4 ,that is a beautiful confession4 ,it is made by a woman to a man4 ,but this was made by a woman to a woman4 ,and strangest of all1 it was made by a daughter-in-law to a mother-in-law4 ,ruth has this distinction1 if none other1 that she loved her mother-in-law4 ,her mother-in-law1 mind you1 that creature who has been the butt of evil jokes in all languages2 the one who has proved the dynamite for the wrecking of not a few homes4 ,this confession is the confession of a daughter-in-law to a mother-in-law4 ,it is the confession of youth to age4 ,it is spring-time clinging to winter4 ,it is ,june flinging its arms in a passionate tenderness around the neck of ,november4 ,it is time you were going1 said ,naomi4 ,and ,ruth's arms clung all the closer and this exquisite bit of poetry fell from her lips1 ,entreat me not to leave thee1 or to return from following after thee3 for whither thou goest1 ,i will go2 and where thou lodgest1 ,i will lodge3 thy people shall be my people and thy ,god my ,god3 where thou diest1 will ,i die1 and there will ,i be buried3 the ,lord do so to me1 and more also1 if aught but death part thee and me4 ,you cannot beat that4 ,no confession of love has ever surpassed it4 ,but it is more than a confession of love4 ,it is also a confession of faith4 ,it is the declaration of a strong woman's choice4 ,as ,ruth clings to the woman she loves she announces her decision1 a decision to which she remained true through all the future years4 ,thy people shall be my people and thy ,god my ,god4 ,and the people of the little village of ,bethlehem had something interesting to talk about a few days later4 ,two strange women had come their way1 women who were poverty-stricken and homeless4 ,one of them was a ,jewess4 ,the other was a ,gentile4 ,neither of them was welcome4 ,naomi had lost her place in the life of the community4 ,ruth1 the ,moabitess had never had any place4 ,the days that immediately followed their arrival were sad and bitter days4 ,but the younger woman1 with a fine courage1 refuses to be a burden4 ,instead1 she will be the support of the mother of her dead husband4 ,so she takes upon herself the menial task of a gleaner4 ,it is harvest time and she goes out into the fields to glean4 ,now1 it happens in the good providence of ,god1 that the field in which she went to glean belonged to a very rich and prosperous man named ,boaz4 ,and to that very field where ,ruth was gleaning ,boaz came that day4 ,he was a young1 vigorous1 and positive man4 ,he was accustomed to command4 ,there was a dignity about him that made him seem older than his years4 ,everybody respected him4 ,he was just and generous and religious4 ,no sooner was he among the workers than his attention was attracted by the winsome young stranger from ,moab4 ,i do not know why he should notice her at once1 but ,i have a fancy that ,ruth was attractive1 that she had personality and charm4 ,i feel confident that she had that superior beauty that is born of superior character4 ,anyway1 the great landlord saw her and was interested4 ,and he spoke kindly to her1 and when ,ruth got home that evening she had an interesting story to tell4 ,and ,naomi--wasn't she interested8 ,i can see the flush of her face and the sparkle of her eye across the centuries4 ,she is a woman1 too1 every ounce of her4 ,and being a woman1 she is by instinct and by nature a match maker4 ,she guesses at once what is going on in the hearts of these two young people4 ,and she sets about with delicate good sense to help them to understand each other4 ,by her wise advice things turn out just as they ought to turn out1 and 4 4 4 they lived happy ever after4 ,who is the heroine of this exquisite story8 ,i know that first place is given to ,ruth4 ,and ,i am in no sense disposed to try to put her in an inferior position4 ,she cannot be honored too highly4 ,she is so absolutely lovable4 ,but ,i am going to give first place to ,naomi4 ,i do not do this because she is more winsome than ,ruth4 ,i do it because she accounts for ,ruth4 ,if it had not have been for ,naomi1 ,ruth would have lived and died a heathen in the land of ,moab4 ,now1 what are some of the lessons that we learn from the beautiful life of this ancient woman1 ,naomi8 ,were we privileged to sit down beside her in the ,father's house to-day1 she could teach us many wonderful lessons4 ,but one truth she would impress upon us would be this3 that life's greatest losses may1 through the grace of ,god1 become its richest gains4 ,she would tell you then of the black despair of those days when she was being driven from her home by the cruel hand of poverty4 ,she would not hesitate to say that it was very difficult for her to keep up faith in ,god in those dark days4 ,but the ,lord was sending me then to find ,ruth4 ,you know ,he had to have her4 ,the world could not keep house without her at all4 ,yet ,i would never have found her but for my terrible poverty4 ,then1 ,i think she would tell how she was beginning to feel at home in ,moab4 ,my life was taking root in that foreign soil4 ,i was about making up my mind to live my life there4 ,then death came4 ,one by one ,i buried my loved ones till not one of my own flesh and blood was left4 ,then it was that ,i resolved to come back home4 ,it was my bitter loss that sent me back4 ,i would never have come back but for that4 ,and had ,i not come back the marriage of ,ruth with its blessed outcome would never have been possible4 ,this woman learned the fine art of capitalizing her calamities4 ,in the midst of all her poverty and heartache she kept firm her faith in ,god4 ,and she came thus to realize the sufficiency of ,his grace4 ,she came to know1 even in that distant day1 the truth of ,paul's great word1 ,all things work together for good to them that love ,god4 ,there are times1 ,i know1 that it is hard for us to believe this1 just as there were times when it was hard for ,naomi to believe it4 ,but there came a day when she was privileged to know the truth of it in her own experience4 ,and if you cling to your faith you1 too1 will come to know1 if not here1 then by and by4 ,then we learn from ,naomi1 as another has pointed out1 the power for blessing that may be in one consecrated life4 ,naomi was a very hidden and obscure woman4 ,had you walked by her side as1 hunger driven1 she left her native land1 she would not have told you anything of the great destiny that was ahead4 ,she never dreamed of enriching the world as she did4 ,it never occurred to her that she was to be one of the great light bringers of all the centuries4 ,and yet such was to be the case4 ,the world simply could not get on without ,naomi4 ,it could not for the simple reason that ,naomi led ,ruth into the knowledge of ,god and into the fellowship of the people of ,god4 ,thy people shall be my people and thy ,god my ,god4 ,that is ,ruth's confession of faith4 ,how did she come to make it8 ,how did this lovely heathen ever come to fall in love with ,naomi's people8 ,she had never even seen them4 ,she made up her mind1 however1 that they were the people1 of all others1 that were most worth knowing4 ,she made up her mind that they must be very winsome and very lovable people4 ,how did she come to that conclusion8 ,answer3 ,by association with her mother-in-law4 ,that is also how she came to fall in love with ,god4 ,she was led to the realization of the charm of ,him through the ,god-possessed personality of ,naomi4 ,so it was ,naomi who won ,ruth to ,god4 ,it was ,naomi who made possible ,ruth's successful marriage4 ,then one day the sweet angel of suffering came to the home where the one-time-stranger lived and ,ruth held her first-born in her arms4 ,and the years went by and there was another child born among the ,judean hills and the sunshine was tangled in his hair and countless songs were pent up in his heart4 ,and he so sang and battled and sinned and repented that everybody loved him and we thank ,god still for ,david4 ,and ,david was ,ruth's grandbaby4 ,then other years went by and there was a burst of light upon those ,judean hills4 ,and there was music from a choir that came from that country where everybody sings4 ,there were shepherds abiding in the fields1 keeping watch over their flocks by night4 ,and the angel of the ,lord came upon them and the glory of the ,lord shone round about them and they were sore afraid4 ,and the angel said1 ',fear not1 ye1 for behold1 ,i bring you glad tidings of great joy which shall be to all the people2 for there is born unto you this day1 in the city of ,david1 a ,savior who is ,christ the ,lord4' ,and that ,savior was another one of ,ruth's grandbabies4 ,but in the purpose of ,god1 neither ,david nor ,david's ,greater ,son would have been possible without ,naomi4 ,and so one woman remaining true to ,god became a roadway along which the ,almighty walked to the accomplishment of ,his great purpose1 even the salvation of the world4 ,,xiii ,,confessions ,,of ,a ,,failure--,,the ,,busy ,,man #a ,kings #bj3dj ,in #a ,kings #bj3dj you will find the text4 ,as thy servant was busy here and there1 he was gone4 ,this is part of a parable that was spoken by a certain prophet to ,king ,ahab4 ,this prophet was seeking to rebuke the king for his leniency in dealing with ,benhadad1 whom he had overcome in battle4 ,it is not our purpose1 however1 to discuss this parable in relation to its context4 ,we are going to consider it altogether apart from its surroundings4 ,we will rather study it as it is related to ourselves4 ,here then1 is the story of this man's failure from his own lips4 ,thy servant went out into the midst of the battle2 and1 behold1 a man turned aside and brought a man unto me1 and said1 ,keep this man3 if by any means he be missing1 then shall thy life be for his life1 or else thou shalt pay a talent of silver4 ,and as thy servant was busy here and there1 he was gone4 ,i imagine ,i meet this soldier immediately after he has been put in charge of his important captive4 ,he walks with the purposeful stride of one who knows his task and who is setting seriously about doing it4 ,he seems to appreciate the honor that has been conferred upon him4 ,he seems also to have a sense of the serious responsibilities involved4 ,and when he takes his position before the cell of his prisoner he watches with all diligence4 ,but when ,i pass his way again next day ,i am greatly shocked4 ,my soldier is no longer on guard4 ,another had taken his place4 ,and when ,i look about for the important prisoner that has been captured at the price of blood and conflict he is no longer to be seen4 ,upon inquiry ,i find that he has escaped4 ,in his place1 bowed down with shame and dressed in chains1 is the man who yesterday was a guardsman4 ,i cannot pass him by without a question4 ,how did this come about8 ,i ask4 ,were you surprised and overcome8 ,did your fellow soldiers allow a strong company to break through their lines and to overpower you and take your prisoner from you8 ,did a strong hand strike you down from behind in the dark8 ,how is it that your prisoner had escaped8 ,and the man1 without being able to look me in the eye1 answers1 ,no1 he did not escape because ,i was overpowered4 ,he did not escape because ,i was surprised4 ,he escaped because ,i was too busy to watch him4 ,too busy1 ,i answer in amazement1 too busy doing what8 ,what task did you find more important than saving your country and saving your own home and saving your own honor8 ,oh1 no task in particular1 he answers4 ,i was just busy here and there4 ,that is his confession4 ,as thy servant was busy here and there1 he was gone4 ,and the man is sentenced to death4 ,and we must admit that the sentence is just4 ,not that he has committed any aggressive crime4 ,he has not cut anybody's throat4 ,he has not stabbed anybody in the back4 ,he has not stolen anything4 ,he is not being punished for what he has done4 ,he is being punished for what he has failed to do4 ,and that kind of sin1 let me warn you1 is just as dangerous and just as killing as positive and aggressive sin4 ,how foolish are they who think they are pious simply because they do no wrong4 ,how absurd it is to get it into your minds that a man is a ,christian by virtue of what he does not do instead of by virtue of what he does4 ,now1 ,i know that there are certain sins that are damaging and damning1 but in order to be lost now and ever more it is not necessary to be guilty of any of them4 ,all that is necessary is that you do what this man did1 and that is fail in your duty4 ,this is what our ,lord taught us again and again4 ,what was wrong with the fig tree that ,he cursed it8 ,it was not loaded with poison4 ,it simply had nothing but leaves4 ,what charge is brought against ,dives8 ,no charge at all4 ,we are simply made to see him neglect the man at his gate who needed his help4 ,he does not drive the man away4 ,he simply lets him alone4 ,and over his neglected duty he stumbles out into a ,christless eternity4 ,what was wrong with the five foolish virgins8 ,it was not that they had water in their lamps4 ,it was simply the fact that they had no oil4 ,what was the matter with those to whom the judge said1 ,depart from me8 ,only this1 they had failed in their duty4 ,the charge is1 ,inasmuch as ye did it not4 ,so this man failed in his duty4 ,that is what wrecked him4 ,why did he fail8 ,first1 he did not fail through ignorance4 ,he did not fail because he did not know his duty4 ,he understood perfectly what he was to do4 ,he understood also the great importance of his doing it4 ,he knew it was a life and death business with him4 ,i know that he failed4 ,he failed miserably4 ,he failed to his own ruin4 ,but it was not because of his ignorance4 ,and that is not the secret of your failure4 ,we need to know more1 all of us1 but our greatest need in the moral realm is not for more knowledge4 ,our greatest need is the will to live up to what we already know4 ,the reason you are selfish1 the reason you are unclean1 the reason you are godless is not because you do not know better4 ,you have known better through all these years4 ,it is because you are unwilling to do better4 ,there is not a man here that does not know enough to do his duty4 ,it may be that you do not know the exact niche that the ,lord wants you to fill4 ,it may be that you do not know the exact task to which ,he is calling you4 ,but you do know this1 you know that there is an absolute difference between right and wrong1 and that you ought to be enlisted on the side of the right4 ,you know that it is your part to help and not to hinder1 to bless and not to curse1 to lift up and not to drag down4 ,and while you may not know your particular task1 yet it is your privilege to know even that4 ,i am confident that ,god has a particular task for every single soul of us4 ,and ,i am equally confident that ,he will let us know what that task is if we will only make it possible for ,him to do so4 ,he tells us how we may know4 ,in all thy ways acknowledge ,him and ,he shall direct thy path4 ,there are many misfits in the world1 and you know a misfit is the cheapest and most useless thing known4 ,if you want a cheap suit of clothes go to the misfit establishment4 ,i remember when ,i was a young fellow just getting grown ,i decided to quit wearing the crude hand-me-down suits such as ,i could purchase at the village store4 ,i decided that ,i must have a genuine tailored suit4 ,so with this idea in mind ,i wrote for the catalogue of ,montgomery ,ward ,company4 ,i might have used ,sears ,roebuck1 but ,i liked ,montgomery ,ward better4 ,i found the suit ,i wanted1 read his directions1 took my own measure and ordered the suit4 ,in due time it came4 ,and ,i pledge you my word that you might have tried that suit on every form of man and beast that the whole ,roman ,empire could furnish and it would not have fit a single one of them4 ,the legs of the pants were large enough to keep house in4 ,they would have made admirable wheat sacks1 but as trousers they were a failure4 ,to me the suit was worthless because it was a misfit4 ,and there are many men just as worthless to-day4 ,but they need not have been so4 ,if they did not know their task they might have known it4 ,they did not fail1 as this man did not fail1 through ignorance4 ,second1 this man did not fail for lack of ability4 ,if he could have said that he was overpowered1 if he could have told that superior numbers came upon him and took his prisoner in spite of himself we could have pardoned him4 ,or if he could have shown us a scarred breast and a face that had been hacked by a sword1 and said1 ,i won these wounds trying to keep my prisoner1 we would have respected him4 ,we would have sympathized with him4 ,but he had no scars to show4 ,he had made no fight at all4 ,therefore he could not say1 ,i failed1 'tis true1 but ,i could not help it4 ,neither can you say that4 ,no man here is failing for lack of ability4 ,now1 ,i do not mean by that that you can do anything that you want to do4 ,when ,i was a boy people used to come to our school and tell us such rubbish as that4 ,but it is all false4 ,suppose ,i were to take a notion to be a great painter1 not one after the fashion of the ordinary sixteen year old girl of to-day1 but a painter like ,turner4 ,why1 ,i might work at it a thousand years and never accomplish anything4 ,suppose some of you were to take a notion to be great singers4 ,is there any use for me to tell you that if you persist you will succeed8 ,not a bit of it4 ,you might succeed in ruining the nerves of your teacher4 ,you might easily make those who hear you practise want to gnaw a file and flee into the wilderness4 ,but you would never learn to sing4 ,there is no hope for some of us till we get to ,heaven4 ,no1 we cannot do anything that we might want to do4 ,but we can do something infinitely better4 ,we can do everything that ,god wants us to do4 ,i cannot do your task1 and you cannot do mine4 ,i am glad that that is true4 ,i am glad that we all do not have the same aptitudes4 ,i am glad that we all cannot do successfully the same things4 ,i am glad that we do not all have the same tastes4 ,but while that is so1 every man has the ability1 through grace1 to perform the task to which he is called4 ,in the third place1 this man did not fail because of idleness4 ,he did not fail because he was lazy4 ,of course idleness will wreck anybody4 ,laziness is a deadly sin unless it is overcome4 ,i know something about it because ,i have had to fight it all my life4 ,but this man was not an idler4 ,this man was a worker4 ,he failed1 but he did not fail because he refused to put his hand to any task or to bend his back under any load4 ,why then did this man fail8 ,not from ignorance1 not from inability1 not from idleness4 ,he was busy4 ,that is his word about himself4 ,and nobody denies it4 ,as thy servant was busy here and there1 he was gone4 ,what1 ,i repeat1 was the secret of his failure8 ,just this1 that though he was busy1 he was not busy at his own task4 ,he was simply busy here and there4 ,he was one of those unfortunate souls that has so many things to do and so many engagements to keep and so many functions to attend and so many burdens to carry that he cannot do his own duty4 ,do you know of anybody like that8 ,did you keep your prisoner8 ,i ask4 ,no1 ,i was too busy4 ,busy at what1 in ,heaven's name6 ,do you know of anything more important than obeying the orders of your king8 ,do you know of anything more important than helping to save your nation8 ,do you know of anything of more importance than saving your own life1 your own honor1 your own soul4 ,you can see his trouble4 ,he allowed the secondary to so absorb him that he neglected the primary4 ,those things that he was working at here and there1 those unnamed tasks that he was performing1 there is no hint that they were vicious things4 ,i am sure that they were altogether harmless4 ,they may have been altogether good and useful4 ,but the trouble with that good was that it robbed him of the privilege of doing the best4 ,the trouble with the ,prodigal in the ,far ,country was not simply the fact that he was in a hog pen4 ,he might have been in a palace and been quite as bad off4 ,it was the fact that he was missing the privilege of being in his ,father's house4 ,the sin that ,i fear most for many of you is not the sin of vicious wrong-doing4 ,it is the sin of this man1 the sin of choosing the second best4 ,i read recently of an insane man who spent all his time in an endeavor to sew two pieces of cloth together4 ,but the thread he used had no knot in the end of it4 ,so nothing was ever accomplished4 ,now1 there is no harm in such sewing4 ,but the tragedy of it is that if we spend all our time doing such trivial things we rob ourselves of the privilege of doing something better4 ,and that is just the trouble of much of our life to-day4 ,many of us are engaged in a great1 stressful1 straining life of trivialities4 ,some of these are not especially harmful4 ,but the calamity of it all is that they so absorb us that we have no time left for the highest4 ,down in ,tennessee near where ,i used to live a house was burned one day4 ,the mother was out at the well doing the week's washing4 ,the flames were not discovered till they were well under way4 ,of course when they were discovered the woman was seized with terror4 ,she rushed into the house and brought out a feather bed and a few quilts4 ,but in her madness she forgot her own baby and the child was burned to death4 ,now1 ,i submit to you that there was absolutely no harm in saving a feather bed4 ,there was no harm in saving a few old quilts4 ,the tragedy was that in the absorption of saving all these half worthless things she lost the primary4 ,in her interest in the good she became utterly blind to the best4 ,i wonder if that is not your folly4 ,you are busy here and there4 ,you go to work six days in the week4 ,you are passionately in earnest about amusing yourself4 ,you do a thousand and one decent and respectable things4 ,but while you are busy here and there the peace of ,god slips out of your life4 ,while you are busy here and there you neglect the ,sunday ,school and the ,church4 ,while you are busy here and there you lose your interest in the ,word of ,god and you forget the secret stairway that leads into the ,upper ,room4 ,busy here and there you lose the sense of ,god out of your life4 ,busy here and there you allow the altar in your home to fall down4 ,busy here and there you allow your sons and daughters to stumble over that broken down altar into lives of ,christless indifference4 ,oh1 men and women1 there is but one remedy for us if we would avoid the rock upon which this condemned guardsman wrecked himself4 ,we must put first things first4 ,let us listen once more to the voice of the sanest man that ever lived4 ,this is ,his message3 ,seek ye first the kingdom of ,god and ,his righteousness1 and all these things will be added unto you4 ,if you fail to do this1 however noble may be the task at which you toil1 life for you will end in tragedy4 ,if you do this1 however mean and obscure may be your task1 life for you will end in eternal joy and victory4 ,,xiv ,a ,,mother',s ,,reward--,,jochebed ,exodus #b3i ,take this child away and nurse him for me and ,i will give thee thy wages4 ,this text refers to one of the big events of human history4 ,this is one of the most stupendous happenings that was ever recorded4 ,i doubt if there was ever a battle fought that was so far reaching in its influence4 ,i doubt if all the fifteen decisive battles of the world taken together were of greater importance than this event that took place here on the banks of the ,nile4 ,it is a simple story4 ,an ,egyptian princess1 with her attendants1 has come to the riverside for a bath4 ,to her amazement she discovers a strange vessel lying at anchor upon the waters of the river4 ,her curiosity is aroused4 ,when the vessel is brought to land its cargo is discovered4 ,and what a cargo it is4 ,it is so wonderful1 it is so amazingly great that we marvel that any ship should be large enough to hold it4 ,we are amazed that any sea should be vast enough to float such a vessel4 ,what was this cargo8 ,it was a baby1 a baby boy4 ,he is waving dimpled hands and kicking chubby feet1 and he is crying4 ,and the vessel upon which he sails becomes a battleship4 ,he at once begins to lay siege to the heart of the princess4 ,he pelts her with his tears4 ,he pierces her through and through with his winsome weakness4 ,he cannonades her with his lovely helplessness till she capitulates and gathers him in her arms4 ,and this princess is no wicked woman1 ,i am sure of that4 ,she had a mother heart4 ,i think ,i can hear her across the centuries talking to this little waif4 ,she hugs him close4 ,yes1 yes1 she said4 ,you shall be my baby4 ,the big1 old soldiers shan't have you4 ,they shan't kill mother's little boy4 ,and she loved him as her own4 ,now1 two bright eyes had been witnessing this wonderful scene4 ,there was a little girl hidden nearby and she watched all that happened4 ,and when she saw the princess take her little baby brother to her heart she understood4 ,she felt sure at once that the baby was safe4 ,and a glad and daring thought took possession of her and she hurried from her place of hiding and approached the princess4 ,and this is her word1 ,my lady1 may ,i get a nurse for your baby8 ,and the princess did not despise the little girl4 ,i feel perfectly confident that the spirit of ,god was moving upon the heart of this princess4 ,she listened to the child and accepted her services4 ,and ,i can see that little girl as with flying feet she hurries to her mother with the good news4 ,mother1 they have found ,little ,brother1 but they are not going to kill him4 ,the ,princess found him and ,i told her that ,i would get somebody to nurse him for her4 ,come1 and we may have him for our own again4 ,now1 ,i take it that it was an important event when the ,princess decided that the child was to live4 ,the death sentence had gone out against him4 ,you know that4 ,the death sentence had been pronounced against every son of the ,hebrews4 ,but an even more important event took place when the ,princess decided who should be the baby's nurse4 ,when she decided who should have the training of the child1 then she decided what the child was to be4 ,suppose1 for instance1 she had determined to train him herself1 she would have made him like herself4 ,moses would have become a heathen in spite of the blood in his veins4 ,he was destined to be a genius1 but his genius might have been very far from being the helpful something that it was4 ,wrongly trained it might have been as brilliant as the lightning's flash1 but also as destructive4 ,but this woman chose1 all unwittingly1 it is true1 to give her baby to be nursed by his own mother4 ,and this ,jewish woman was not a heathen4 ,she was a faithful servant of the ,lord4 ,i can see her as she hurries down to the banks of the ,nile4 ,and as she goes there's a wonderful light in her eyes4 ,and her lips are moving1 and she is saying1 ,blessed be the ,god of ,abraham and of ,isaac and of ,israel1 who has heard the prayer of ,his servant and who has granted the desire of her heart4 ,and ,i love to look again upon this scene4 ,the ,egyptian princess is handing over the precious little bundle of immortality into the arms of a ,jewish slave4 ,and that ,jewish slave is hugging her own child to her hungry heart4 ,and the princess is talking to her proudly1 haughtily1 as becomes her rank1 ,take this child away and nurse him for me and ,i will give thee thy wages4 ,and away goes this mother1 the happiest mother1 ,i think1 in all the world4 ,now1 had you met this mother with her child so wonderfully restored to her and had asked her whose was the child and for whom she was nursing it1 ,i wonder what she would have said4 ,i know what the attendants of the princess thought4 ,i know what they would have said4 ,they would have said that she was nursing the child for the ,princess4 ,they would have said that the ,princess was her employer4 ,they would have said that ,moses was the ,princess's baby4 ,but this mother never thought of it in any such way4 ,she laughed in the secret depths of her heart at the idea of her being employed by the ,princess4 ,who was her employer8 ,i know what she thought4 ,she believed that ,god was4 ,she had a pious fancy that ,god was speaking through the lips of that ,princess and that ,he was saying1 ,take the child and nurse him for me and ,i will give thee thy wages4 ,she thought her child was ,god's child4 ,therefore1 she believed that it was to ,god1 and not to the ,egyptian ,princess1 that she was to account at the last for the way in which she trained and played the mother's part by her boy4 ,yes1 ,i feel confident that this mother believed that ,god was her real employer4 ,she believed that she was ,his minister4 ,she believed that she had been chosen for the task that was now engaging her4 ,and she was right in her belief4 ,when ,god1 who had great plans for ,moses1 sought for some one who was to make it possible for ,him to realize ,his plans1 whom did ,he choose8 ,to whom did ,he commit this precious treasure1 from whose life such infinite blessings should come to the world8 ,he did not commit him to a heathen4 ,he did not commit him to a mere hired servant4 ,he committed him to his mother4 ,when ,god wants to train a child for the achieving of the best and the highest in life ,he sends him to school to a godly mother4 ,now1 when ,god chose the mother of ,moses for his nurse and his teacher ,he made a wise choice4 ,the choice was wise1 in the first place1 because this mother of ,moses was eager for her task4 ,she was a willing mother4 ,whatever glad days may have come in her life history1 ,i am sure no gladder time ever came than that time when she realized that to her was going to be given the matchless privilege of mothering her own child4 ,i know there are some mothers who do not agree with her4 ,i know there are some that look upon the responsibilities of motherhood as building a kind of prison1 but not so this immortal mother4 ,she looked upon her duty as her highest privilege4 ,she entered upon her task with an eagerness born of a quenchless love4 ,the choice was fortunate1 in the second place1 because she was a woman of faith4 ,in the letter to the ,hebrews we read that ,moses was bidden by faith4 ,both the father and the mother of ,moses were pious people4 ,they were people of consecration1 of devotion to ,god1 of faith in ,god4 ,it is true they were slaves4 ,it is true they had a poor chance4 ,it is true they lived in a dark day when the light was dim1 but they lived up to their light4 ,and their home was a pious home and its breath was sweet and fragrant with the breath of prayer4 ,and ,i have little hope for the rearing of a great ,christian leader in any other type of home4 ,i have no hope of rearing a new and better civilization in any other type of home4 ,our national life is discordant and hate-torn to-day4 ,we are living in a time of intense bitterness and selfishness and sordid greed4 ,but what civilization is to-day1 the home life of yesterday has made it4 ,and what civilization will be to-morrow the home life of to-day will make it4 ,if we do not have ,christian homes1 believe me1 we will never have a ,christian civilization4 ,i know ,abraham1 ,god said1 that he will command his children and his household after him4 ,and there are two remarkable assertions made of ,abraham in this text4 ,first1 ,he said1 ,i know that ,abraham will command2 ,i know ,abraham will control his own household4 ,i know that ,abraham will control his children4 ,and ,god considered that as highly important4 ,of course we are too wise to agree with ,him to-day4 ,we believe it best to let our children run wild and do largely as they please4 ,we believe that ,solomon was an old fogey when he spoke of sparing the rod and spoiling the child4 ,and ,i am not here this morning to tell you just how you are to control your child4 ,but what ,i do say is that you cannot commit a greater blunder than to fail to control it4 ,a child is better unborn than untrained4 ,then ,god said of ,abraham next1 not only that he would command his children and his household1 but that he would command them after him4 ,he would not only exercise the right kind of authority1 but he would exert the right kind of influence4 ,he would set the right kind of example4 ,he knew that ,abraham would be in some measure what he desired his children to be1 that by authority and by right living he would ,christianize his own home4 ,and so when ,god wanted to raise up a man ,moses who was to remake the world1 ,he put him in a pious home4 ,he gave him a godly father and mother4 ,and the dominant influence in the life of ,moses was his mother4 ,no woman ever did a greater work4 ,but it was a work that she accomplished not because of her high social standing4 ,nor was it accomplished because of her great culture4 ,it was accomplished because of her great faith4 ,and while ,i am not in any sense a pessimist1 ,i cannot but tremble in some measure for the future because of the decay of home religion4 ,and this decay1 while traceable in some measure to the madness for money and pleasure among men1 is traceable even more to this same madness among women4 ,the woman of to-day is in a state of transition4 ,she has not yet fully found herself4 ,there has come to her a new sense of freedom1 and this freedom has not made her better4 ,she has become in considerable measure an imitator of man4 ,and sad to say1 she imitates his vices instead of his virtues4 ,she often patterns after what is worst in him instead of what is best4 ,i am told that in the ,woman's ,club of this city the handsomest room in the building is the smoking room4 ,now1 a woman has a right to smoke4 ,who says that she has not8 ,a woman has a right to swear1 and that right she is exercising with growing frequency4 ,i am not going to deny her right to do that4 ,but what ,i do say is this1 that ,i have absolutely no hope for the rearing of a right generation at the hands of a flippant cigarette-smoking mother4 ,the child of such a mother is1 in my candid opinion1 half damned in its birth4 ,remember1 the mother of ,moses was a pious mother4 ,if she had not been ,i am persuaded that the ,moses who has been one of the supreme makers of history1 might never have been known4 ,now1 what was this woman's task8 ,hear it4 ,i take these words as embodying not the will of the princess1 but the will of ,god1 ,take this child and nurse him for me and ,i will give thee thy wages4 ,this mother was not to govern the world4 ,she was not to lecture in the interest of suffrage4 ,i have nothing to say against the woman who does so4 ,she was not to be the center of a social set4 ,she was not to turn her child over to some colored woman while she went gadding about to every sort of club4 ,she had just one supreme job4 ,she had one highest and holiest of all tasks4 ,it was for that cause that she came into the world4 ,she was to train her child for ,god4 ,and whoever we are and whatever may be our abilities1 we can have no higher task than this4 ,the training of a child to-day is the biggest big job under the stars4 ,he is the center of all our hopes and possibilities4 ,did you ever read the story of the ,little ,palace ,beautiful8 ,in the ,little ,palace ,beautiful there are four rooms4 ,the first is a room called ,fancy4 ,in this room looking out toward the south sleeps a little child1 a beautiful baby4 ,it is the ,child-that-,never-,was4 ,it was longed for1 hoped for1 dreamed of1 but it never came4 ,in the west room looking out toward the sunset1 the room called ,memory1 is the ,child-that-,was4 ,here sleeps the little fellow that came and stayed just long enough to gather up all our heart's love and then he went away4 ,in the room toward the north1 the room of ,experience1 is the ,child-that-,is4 ,he is the little fellow that now plays in your home in your ,sunday ,school class4 ,and in the room looking out toward the sunrise1 the room called ,hope1 is the ,child-that-,is-to-,be4 ,now1 we are interested in all four of these children1 but our interest in the four is to be expressed in our care for just one1 and that is the ,child-that-,is4 ,we think tenderly of the ,child-that-,never-,was4 ,we think sadly of the ,child-that-,was4 ,but we bring the love that we might have given and did give1 to lavish it upon the ,child-that-,is4 ,we think hopefully of the ,child-that-,is-to-,be1 but we realize that all his possibilities are locked in the ,child-that-,is4 ,and so the world's future salvation is in our cradles1 in our homes and in our nurseries to-day4 ,to train our ,children for ,god is the highest of all high tasks4 ,and notice that this woman was to receive wages for her work4 ,what were her wages8 ,i suppose the princess sent down a little coin at the end of each week1 but do you think that is all the pay that this mother got8 ,i feel confident that she never counted this as pay at all4 ,but she received her reward1 she received her wages4 ,and they were wages that were rich in worth beyond all our fondest dreams4 ,first1 there was given unto her the fine privilege of loving4 ,and ,paul1 who knew what was priceless1 ,paul1 who knew what was of supreme value1 said that love was the soul's finest treasure4 ,and he meant not the privilege of being loved1 as fine as that is1 but the higher privilege of loving4 ,and it has been given by the grace of ,god to the mothers of men to be the world's greatest lovers4 ,if ,i were hanged on the highest hill1 ,mother o' mine1 ,o mother o' mine6 ,i know whose love would follow me still1 ,mother o' mine1 ,o mother o' mine6 ,if ,i were drowned in the deepest sea1 ,mother o' mine1 ,o mother o' mine6 ,i know whose tears would come down to me1 ,mother o' mine1 ,o mother o' mine6 ,if ,i were damned of body and soul1 ,i know whose prayers would make me whole1 ,mother o' mine1 ,o mother o' mine6 ,to her was given1 in the second place1 the fine reward of self-sacrifice4 ,she had the privilege of giving4 ,she had the privilege of offering her life a willing sacrifice upon the altar of her home4 ,it is blessed to receive1 but it is more blessed to give4 ,and the rewards of motherhood are the highest rewards because she is the most godlike giver that this world knows4 ,then1 she was rewarded1 in the third place1 by the making of a great life4 ,she became the mother of a good man4 ,her faith became his faith4 ,by faith ,moses was hidden4 ,that was by his mother's faith4 ,but in the next verse we read this1 ,by faith ,moses1 when he was come to years1 refused to be called the son of ,pharaoh's daughter4 ,that was by his own faith4 ,where did he get that rare jewel8 ,he got it from the training of his mother4 ,he saw it in her life4 ,it looked out from her eyes4 ,it spoke through her lips4 ,he drank it in as he lay in her arms4 ,when ,i call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee1 which dwelt first in thy grandmother ,lois and in thy mother ,eunice1 and ,i am persuaded is in thee also4 ,oh1 if you are here a man of faith1 a woman of faith1 the chances are you secured that precious treasure at the hands of a ,god-loving and a ,god-trusting mother4 ,so this despised slave woman1 this mother has this to her credit1 that she mothered and trained one of the greatest men that ever set foot on this earth4 ,she took a little boy named ,moses to her heart and trained him for ,god4 ,she had him for a little while4 ,then he went away to the big ,university4 ,but he stood true4 ,she speaks to him as she holds him close in the twilight4 ,she says1 ,laddie1 do not forget how ,god has watched over you4 ,one day when death was suspended above your baby head by a thread1 one day when your life was frailer than a gossamer thread1 ,i took a queer little basket and lined it with pitch1 and also with faith and with prayer4 ,and ,i put you afloat1 and ,god preserved you and sent you back into these arms4 ,and ,i carried you and cared for you4 ,and now when you are grown you won't forget4 ,you won't prove disloyal to your mother and you won't forget your mother's ,god4 ,and ,moses did not forget4 ,and one day the little laddie who had once been carried about in the arms of a slave mother1 was a big broad-shouldered man4 ,and he had a big broad-shouldered faith1 and he trusted in a big broad-shouldered ,god4 ,and in the strength of that faith1 and in the might of that ,god he lifted an enslaved people in his arms and carried them clean across the wilderness4 ,and he made possible an ,isaiah and a ,jeremiah and a ,david4 ,and he made possible the birth of ,jesus ,christ4 ,and he became the blesser and enricher of all the nations of the earth4 ,and this mother1 whose name is not well known in the annals of men1 but whose name is known in ,heaven to-day1 had the rich reward of knowing that she mothered a man who fathered a nation and blessed a world4 ,oh1 it is a blessed reward1 the reward of success in the high enterprise of motherhood4 ,i know of no joy that can come to a father's or a mother's heart that is comparable to the joy that their own children can give them4 ,i have seen sweet-faced mothers look upon their children when there was enough joy in those faces to have raised the temperature of ,heaven4 ,but while it is true that none can bring us so much joy1 it is also true that none can so utterly break our hearts4 ,to see disease take our children in hand and wreck their bodies is painful1 but it is as joy in comparison to seeing sin steal the moral rose from their cheek and the sparkle of innocence and purity from their eyes4 ,but the deepest of all damning griefs is that grief that comes to us when we realize that we failed1 and that their ruin is due to sin and unfaithfulness in ourselves4 ,do you hear the wild outcry from that broken-hearted king named ,david8 ,there he stands upon the wall and looks away across the wistful plain4 ,a lone runner is coming4 ,he knows he is a messenger from the battlefield4 ,good tidings1 he shouts4 ,but the king has no ear for good tidings4 ,his one question is this1 ,is the young man ,absalom safe8 ,and the runner does not rightly answer his question4 ,then the second messenger comes with the news of his son's death4 ,and there is no more pathetic cry in literature than that that breaks from the lips of this pathetic king4 ,o my son ,absalom1 ,o ,absalom1 my son1 my son6 ,he is sobbing over his lost boy4 ,but there is an added pang to his grief4 ,it is the awful pang that comes from the torturing fear that he himself is in large measure responsible for the loss of his boy4 ,and there is no more bitter agony than that4 ,oh1 men and women1 let us who are fathers and mothers spare ourselves ,david's terrible agony4 ,let us spare our children ,absalom's tragic ruin4 ,let us give ourselves the joys of this old time mother4 ,while our children are about us1 may we hear the very voice of ,god speaking to us on their behalf1 saying3 ,take this child and train it for me and ,i will give thee thy wages4 ,and wages we shall receive just as surely as did this mother of ,moses4 ,we will be privileged to love1 to give1 to bless4 ,and ,god ,himself can give no richer reward than that4 ,,xv ,a ,,good ,,man',s ,,hell--,,manasseh ,jeremiah #ae3d ,and ,i will cause them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth because of ,manasseh4 ,the prophet of the ,lord is here fixing the responsibility for the downfall of ,jerusalem4 ,he says that the wreck was due in an especial sense to one man4 ,he makes it very plain that it was one man's hands that had planted the infernal bomb that was destined in later years to blast the foundation from under the nation4 ,i will cause them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth because of ,manasseh4 ,had a jury at that day been impanelled to try this man ,manasseh ,i do not know whether they would have found him guilty or not4 ,possibly they would4 ,it is also possible that they would not4 ,had they failed to have done so it would have been because they did not know the facts2 they were not entirely familiar with all the evidence in the case4 ,but when ,god sought the man upon whose shoulders rested the chief responsibility for the wreck of the nation1 ,he fixed on this man4 ,when ,manasseh stood on trial before ,him1 charged with the terrible crime of blasting a kingdom1 he was found guilty4 ,it was a startling verdict4 ,it is all the more startling when we realize that ,manasseh in the last years of his life was a good man4 ,it was only his earlier years that were spent in sin4 ,in his old age he was a saint4 ,in the last years of his reign he knew ,god and did all that he could to undo the evils of an ill-spent yesterday4 ,but in spite of the saintliness of the eventide1 in spite of his winter-time goodness1 the full influence of his life was not a blessing but a curse4 ,it did not make for upbuilding4 ,it made for terrible downfall and ruin4 ,take a glance at his life's story4 ,it is full of interest4 ,every young heart in the world should make a study of the life of this man4 ,how it gives the lie to many of our false and easy conceptions of sin4 ,how urgent it presses home the truth that the only salvation that can mean the most is the salvation that grips us from life's earliest moment to its very last4 ,manasseh came to the throne when he was only twelve years of age4 ,he had not been long in his position of influence and power till he turned utterly away from the ,lord and began to wallow in every form of sin4 ,there was no dirty idolatry that he did not practise4 ,there was no false belief to which he did not seem willing to give hospitality4 ,there was scarcely any form of evil of which he was not guilty4 ,and his career of godlessness was all the more inexcusable because of the good opportunities that he had4 ,he was the son of a great and good father4 ,his father was ,hezekiah4 ,and ,hezekiah was one of the best kings that ,judah ever had4 ,he was a man of spiritual power4 ,he was a man who served as saving salt to his kingdom throughout his entire reign4 ,when the ,assyrians hung like a threatening storm cloud over his weak little nation1 it was the compelling might of his prayer that stood as a wall between them and their enemy4 ,so1 ,manasseh was the son of a great saint4 ,and mark me1 it is no small privilege to be the child of a godly father or of a saintly mother4 ,if ,god granted to you to open your baby eyes to look into other eyes that were homes of silent prayer1 if ,he sent you to grow up in a home where the family altar and the saintly life made ,christ real1 then ,he has given you an opportunity unspeakably great4 ,and as great as is your opportunity1 just so great is your responsibility4 ,how hard must be the sentence upon that boy or that girl who breaks away from such saving and sanctifying influences to go into the far country4 ,not only was the guilt of ,manasseh intensified by the fact that he had a saintly father4 ,it was intensified further by the fact that he was repeatedly warned4 ,though he turned his back on ,god and though he gave himself up to a perfect orgy of wrong doing1 ,god did not forget him and did not give him up4 ,he sent to him messenger after messenger to bring home his guilt and to invite him back to the pardon and peace of his ,father's presence4 ,but seemingly the more he was warned the deeper he plunged into sin4 ,and you who are in sin1 you are even more guilty than he1 because to you ,god has sent warning after warning1 rebuke after rebuke4 ,god has given you calls and invitations without number4 ,he has called you through your conscience4 ,he has called you through your wretchedness and restlessness and hunger of heart4 ,he has called you through your longing for usefulness4 ,he has called you through your sorrow and your pain and your losses4 ,he has called you through ten thousand mercies4 ,oh1 believe me1 our need to-night is not so much for more light as it is for courage to live up to the light we have4 ,not only was ,manasseh guilty because he sinned in spite of the help of a godly father and in spite of repeated warnings4 ,his guilt was deepened yet more because he knew that he did not sin alone4 ,when he went away from ,god he carried a kingdom with him4 ,the reign of ,hezekiah had been a righteous reign4 ,with the coming of ,manasseh to the throne there was a violent reaction1 akin to that that followed upon the restoration of ,charles ,,ii to the throne of ,england4 ,you know how that when ,charles came to the throne the court life was changed into a brothel4 ,charles lived in open and notorious adultery1 and the rottenness of the throne led to the rottenness of the kingdom4 ,such was the case here4 ,manasseh not only fell but he drew a kingdom after him4 ,it is profoundly true that no man ever sins alone4 ,your influence will not be so wide as that of ,manasseh1 yet however obscure your life may be this is true1 that it will set in motion influences that will literally outlast the world4 ,i have control over my own action before it is done1 but after it is done ,i seek to control it in vain4 ,if it is a fiendish act it laughs its devilish and derisive laughter in my face and says1 ,control me if you can4 ,now1 there came a time when this great sinner began to pay the penalty for his sin4 ,retribution slipped in by the guards at the door one day and took the king rudely by the shoulder4 ,it shook him and shook him so roughly that his crown fell from his head and his sceptre dropped from his hand4 ,then it dragged him from his throne and dressed him in chains and sent him a captive into a foreign country4 ,retribution1 suffering for sin1 does not always come as it came to this king4 ,it does not always come at once but come it does4 ,that is as sure as the fact of ,god4 ,there are some shallow souls that fancy that because sin does not pay off every ,saturday night that it does not pay at all4 ,but to hold such views is to spit in the face of a most open and palpable fact4 ,manasseh had a fancy that he was a much freer man than his father had been1 far more broad-minded1 but he waked one day1 as every man wakes sooner or later1 to discover that sin did not mean freedom1 that it only meant slavery4 ,now1 what effect did this degradation and shame and suffering have on the king8 ,suffering has very opposite influences on different types of character4 ,sometimes it hardens us1 it makes us only the more bitter and rebellious4 ,but suffering did not have that effect on ,manasseh4 ,it made him think1 and it is a tremendously good day when ,god can get a man to think4 ,he thought1 ,i dare say1 of his saintly father4 ,he thought of his father's ,god4 ,this story is another evidence of how all but impossible it is for a child to break finally away from the saving influence of a truly good father or truly good mother4 ,this experience not only made him think but it sent him to his knees in an agony of prayer4 ,he came to hate the sin that had been the ruin of him4 ,he asked ,god for forgiveness4 ,and ,god did forgive him4 ,truly1 though your sins be as scarlet1 they shall be as white as snow4 ,no man ever goes so far away from ,god1 no man ever lives in sin so long but that if he will return to ,god1 ,god will receive him and will give him abundant pardon4 ,not only did ,god save this man4 ,he brought him again to his throne4 ,and he who had once been a captive in a strange land wore his crown once more4 ,and for the remaining years of his life he was a devout follower of the ,lord4 ,he did his best to undo the evils of the earlier years of his reign4 ,he tore down the altars to false gods that he had builded4 ,he tried to bring his people back to the new and saving faith that he had found4 ,his conversion was genuine and lasting4 ,but what was the result8 ,he did not succeed4 ,he found that it was easier to lead folks astray than it was to bring them back after he had led them astray4 ,he was a good man4 ,he knew ,god4 ,but this was his hell1 that he had to stand in utter helplessness and see his nation totter to its ruin because of the sins that he had committed4 ,he was not even able to save his own home4 ,his boy became a godless idolater1 as he himself had been during the best years of his life4 ,so we are brought face to face with this fact4 ,repentance will bring us salvation whenever we repent1 but there is one thing that repentance cannot do4 ,it cannot save us from the consequences of our sin4 ,go out into the field of life and sow tares for half a century1 if you dare4 ,even then ,god will forgive you if you will come in repentance to ,him1 but there is one thing that ,god will not do and cannot do4 ,he cannot change the tares that you have sown into wheat4 ,i may be exceedingly sorry for my wrong sowing1 ,i will be1 but the seed will grow none the less4 ,did it ever occur to you how many faces the ,prodigal missed on his way back home8 ,many a splendid young fellow that caroused with him as he went into the far country did not enjoy the fatted calf with him when he came back to the peace and plenty of his ,father's house4 ,some of them had gone into eternity and others had gone beyond his influence forever more4 ,while ,i was in ,huntington a few weeks ago1 the pastor for whom ,i was preaching told me of a young friend of his who carried his little baby in to see a noted eye specialist4 ,the child's eyes were very bad4 ,the physician examined them and shook his head4 ,her eyes will never get better1 he said1 but will get worse4 ,she will be blind before she is grown4 ,and the father's face went white and he said1 ,doctor1 you know my youth wasn't what it ought to have been4 ,can that be the cause8 ,and the doctor said1 ,you needn't to have told me4 ,certainly it is the cause4 ,and it was a broken-hearted man that left that office that day4 ,and it was a broken-hearted and praying and penitent man that kissed his child to sleep that night4 ,oh1 ,god will forgive him1 but there is one thing that that forgiveness will not include and that is daylight for his little girl4 ,i will cause them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth because of ,manasseh4 ,and ,manasseh is good and pure and blood-washed1 but the influences that he set in motion have gone beyond his reach forever more4 ,what a fearful fact is this6 ,i am talking to young men and women and you have your lives before you4 ,you may give them to sin1 and you may be saved at the last moment4 ,that is a possibility1 though it is a slight one4 ,but such a salvation may mean the wrecking of many another life4 ,the only safe way is to repent before you waste your life4 ,repent before you sin4 ,do you remember ,esau's pathetic story8 ,he sold his birthright for one mess of lentils4 ,nor was he at all displeased with his bargain4 ,at least that was true for a little while1 but there came a time when he was sorry4 ,there came a time when his foolish bartering broke his heart4 ,and the story says that he found no place for repentance though he sought it diligently and with tears4 ,that does not mean1 of course1 that ,god refused to forgive ,esau4 ,the moment we turn in penitent surrender to our ,lord ,he will save us and give us an abundant pardon1 however far we may have gone into sin4 ,god forgave him when he repented1 but there was one thing that his repentance could not do4 ,it could not undo the past4 ,it could not put him again in the light of the morning of life4 ,it could not place in his hands the opportunities of yesterday4 ,the good that he might have done and the service that he might have rendered and the crowns that he might have won had passed beyond the reach of his hand forever4 ,repentance saved his soul but it did not save his life4 ,and what a startling chapter is the story of the sin of ,david4 ,david was a whole-hearted man4 ,he never did anything by halves4 ,when he sinned he sinned with a horrible abandon4 ,few men have dirtier pages in their life's history than that of ,david's sin against the house of ,uriah4 ,but as his sin was whole-hearted so also was his repentance4 ,we can hear his heart-broken cry for pardon across the centuries3 ,have mercy upon me1 ,o ,god1 according to thy loving kindness4 ,according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions4 ,wash me from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin2 for ,i acknowledge my transgression and my sin is ever before me4 ,it is the heart-broken cry of the penitent who has not one good word to say for himself4 ,and ,god heard his prayer and washed him and made him whiter than snow4 ,but beyond that ,god with all ,his love and tenderness could not go4 ,he could not save ,david from the consequences of his sin4 ,his bloody and lustful deed became possessed of a power beyond his control4 ,down6 he cries to it in helpless horror4 ,but it will not down4 ,then where are you going8 he asks1 all a-tremble with dread4 ,and the fiendish deed answers1 ,i am going to steal the purity of your daughter ,tamar4 ,i am going to make your son ,ammon into a rapist4 ,i am going to make your handsome boy ,absalom into a murderer4 ,when ,i was a boy there was a family living neighbors to us1 all of whom were outside the ,church4 ,but when the children were almost all grown and the father was an old man he became a ,christian4 ,but instead of being influential in bringing his children to ,christ they seemed only to be ashamed of him4 ,he did not seem to have the slightest power to influence a single one of them for good4 ,i would not say that he was not saved1 ,i think he was1 but ,i think his years spent in sin cost him the salvation of his children4 ,e4 ,j4 ,bulgin said that he was holding a meeting some years ago in a city in ,kentucky4 ,a girl was converted in his meeting4 ,she was in the early bloom of young womanhood4 ,she belonged to a wealthy and prominent family4 ,her mother was not a ,christian4 ,the girl wanted to join the ,church and the mother objected4 ,the preacher went to see the mother and prayed with her and plead with her4 ,she said she wanted her daughter to have her coming out dance soon and therefore she should not join the ,church4 ,and the preacher left that home with a heavy heart4 ,three years later he was holding a meeting in a neighboring town4 ,a long distance call came asking him if he would not come and conduct the funeral of ,nellie1 the girl who had not been allowed to join the ,church4 ,he went4 ,the undertaker said that it was a request of the mother that the preacher ride with her and her other daughter to the cemetery4 ,the journey was made in silence4 ,the remains were being lowered when the mother ordered the undertaker to open the coffin again4 ,all the crowd was requested to stand back4 ,they moved some fifty feet away4 ,then leaning on the preacher's arm the mother showed him her daughter4 ,and lying upon her breast was a little armful of shame4 ,that was all4 ,the grave was filled and on the way back home the penitent and heart-broken mother found ,christ4 ,she said to her daughter1 ,mary1 ,i have found ,jesus4 ,i have found the salvation that ,i rejected three years ago4 ,and ,mary answered1 ,no1 ,mother1 you have found salvation1 it is true4 ,but it is not the salvation that was offered to you three years ago4 ,your salvation then would have included the salvation of ,nellie4 ,now it means only the salvation of yourself4 ,heart1 you may be saved at another time4 ,many a father is saved after he has wrecked his boys4 ,this mother was saved after she had destroyed her daughter4 ,manasseh was saved after he had ruined his kingdom4 ,but ,i submit to you that it is not the largest salvation4 ,it is a salvation that may yet leave you with a burning hell in your own heart1 the hell of the memory of evil you can never undo1 and wrongs you can never right1 and of lost men and women1 led away from ,god by your influence that you can never lead back again4 ,therefore1 because of these startling and palpable facts1 ,i come to you with this oft-repeated word of our ,lord upon my lips3 ,now is the accepted time4 ,to-day is the day of salvation4 ,seek not to make religion into a fire escape4 ,give ,god your life now and in so doing you will both save yourself and those who are influenced by you4 ,therefore1 choose you this day whom you will serve4 ,,xvi ,a ,,shrewd ,,fool--,,the ,,rich ,,farmer ,luke #ab3af-ba ,and he spake a parable unto them1 saying1 ,the ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully3 and he thought within himself1 saying1 ,what shall ,i do1 because ,i have no room where to bestow my fruits8 ,and he said1 ,this will ,i do3 ,i will pull down my barns and build greater and there will ,i bestow all my fruits and my goods4 ,and ,i will say to my soul1 ,soul1 thou hast much goods laid up for many years2 take thine ease1 eat1 drink1 and be merry4 ,but ,god said unto him1 ,thou fool1 this night thy soul shall be required of thee3 then whose shall those things be1 which thou hast provided8 ,so is he that layeth up treasure for himself1 and is not rich toward ,god4 ,i count with confidence on your interest in this sermon4 ,you will be interested1 in the first place1 because the picture that our ,lord has given us in this wonderful story is the picture of a real man4 ,this farmer is no wax figure4 ,he is no bloodless nonentity4 ,he is altogether human stuff4 ,and we are interested in real folks4 ,then we are interested in this man1 in the second place1 because he is successful4 ,we are naturally interested in the people who make good4 ,if you go out on the street to-morrow and start to tell your friends how you failed1 the chances are that they will turn their backs upon you to listen to the man1 with triumph in his face and victory in his voice1 who is telling how he succeeded4 ,we are great success worshippers4 ,and the man who wins the prizes of life interests us very keenly4 ,but there is a shock for us in the story4 ,the ,master calls our shrewd hero a fool4 ,thou fool4 ,that is a harsh and jarring word4 ,it insults us4 ,it shakes its fist in our faces4 ,it cuts us like a whip4 ,it offends us4 ,we do not like the ugly name in the least4 ,thou fool4 ,our ,master frowns upon our using such language at all4 ,he will not trust us with such a sharp sword4 ,he will not suffer us to hurl such a thunderbolt4 ,he forbids us1 under a terrible penalty1 to call our brother a fool4 ,and yet ,he calls this keen and successful farmer a fool4 ,and ,he doesn't do so lightly and flippantly1 but there seems to ring through it scorn and indignation--positive anger1 anger that is all the more terrible because it is the anger of love4 ,why did the ,master call this man a fool8 ,he did not get the idea from the man himself4 ,this well-to-do farmer would never have spoken of himself in that way4 ,he regarded himself as altogether fit and mentally well furnished4 ,nor did the ,master get ,his idea from the man's neighbors4 ,they looked upon this man with admiration4 ,there may have been a bit of envy mingled with their admiration1 but they certainly did not regard him as a fool4 ,they no more did so than we regard the man that is like him as a fool to-day4 ,why then did the ,master label him with this ugly name8 ,it was not because he had a prejudice against him4 ,jesus was no soured misanthrope4 ,he was no snarling cynic4 ,he did not resent a man just because he had made a success4 ,he was not an ,i4 ,w4 ,w4 growling over real or fancied wrongs4 ,no1 the reason that ,jesus called him a fool is because no other name would exactly fit him4 ,it is well1 however1 that the ,master labeled this picture4 ,had ,he not done so you and ,i might have been tempted to put the wrong label on it4 ,we might have labeled it ,the ,wise ,man1 or some such fine name4 ,but had we done so it would have been a colossal blunder4 ,had we done so ,i am persuaded that the very fiends would have howled with derisive laughter4 ,for when we see this man as he really is1 when we see him through the eyes of ,him who sees things clearly1 then we realize that there is only one name that will exactly fit him4 ,then we know that that one name is the short ugly one by which he is called--,fool4 ,but why is he a fool8 ,in what does his foolishness consist8 ,certainly it does not consist in the fact that he has made a success4 ,he is not a fool simply because he is rich4 ,the ,bible is a tremendously reasonable book4 ,it is the very climax of sanity4 ,it is the acme of good common sense4 ,it never rails against rich men simply because they are rich4 ,it no more does that than it lauds poor men because they are poor4 ,it frankly recognizes the danger incident to the possession of riches4 ,it makes plain the fact that the rich man is a greatly tempted man4 ,but never is he condemned simply because he is rich4 ,the truth of the matter is that riches in themselves are counted neither good nor bad1 neither moral nor immoral4 ,the ,bible recognizes money as a real force4 ,what is done with this force depends upon the one who controls it4 ,money is condensed energy4 ,it is pent-up power4 ,it is lassoed lightning4 ,it is a ,niagara that ,i can hold in my hand and put into my pocket4 ,it is a present day ,aladdin's lamp4 ,if ,i possess this lamp a million genii stand ready to do my bidding4 ,whatever service ,i demand1 that will they do1 whether that service look toward the making of men or the wrecking of men4 ,in case ,i live for self they are able to assist me in all my selfish enterprises4 ,they can provide a winter palace in the city and a summer palace in the mountains or down by the sea4 ,they can adorn my walls with the choicest of paintings4 ,they can put the finest of carpets upon my floors4 ,they can make possible tours abroad and private boxes at the theatre4 ,they can search the treasure houses of the world and bring to me their rarest jewels4 ,they can give me a place among the select four hundred1 with whole columns about myself in the society page of the ,metropolitan ,daily4 ,even this is not all4 ,if ,i1 their master1 am so minded1 these powerful genii will defeat for me the ends of justice4 ,they will override the constitution4 ,they will enable me to put a stain upon the very flag of my own country4 ,they will make it possible for me at times to disregard the rights of others4 ,when occasion demands they may even purchase at my desire the honor of manhood and the virtue of womanhood4 ,on the other hand1 if ,i am a good man1 ,i may set these genii to the doing of tasks great and worthwhile4 ,i may command them to give clothing to the naked and food to the hungry4 ,i can order them to build better schools for the education of the world4 ,i can compel them to build better churches for the worship of ,god4 ,i can send them with a chance in their hands for the unfortunate and the handicapped4 ,i can make it impossible for one to say of that bright lad3-- ,but knowledge to his eyes her ample scroll1 ,rich with the spoils of time1 did ne'er unroll4 ,chill penury suppressed his noble rage1 ,and froze the genial current of the soul4 ,in fact there is no high task that man is called upon to perform but that these mighty genii can be of assistance4 ,they can help to heal the broken-hearted1 to preach deliverance to the captives1 and recovering of sight to the blind1 to set at liberty them that are bruised4 ,they can even make their master friends who will one day receive him into everlasting habitations4 ,dug from the mountain side1 washed in the glen1 ,servant am ,i of the ,master of men4 ,earn me1 ,i bless you2 steal me1 ,i curse you2 ,grip me and hold me1 a fiend shall possess you4 ,lie for me1 die for me1 covet me1 take me1 ,angel or devil1 ,i am what you make me4 ,nor was this man a fool because he had accumulated his money dishonestly4 ,the man who does accumulate money dishonestly is a fool4 ,so says the prophet ,jeremiah and every clear thinking man must agree with him4 ,there is a way of getting money that makes money a curse rather than a blessing4 ,there is a way of getting money that makes the very eagle upon it to turn vulture to tear at your heart4 ,but this man had not made his money after that fashion4 ,he had never run a saloon nor a gambling house nor a sweatshop4 ,there is no hint that he had failed to pay an adequate wage to his laborers4 ,james calls upon the rich men of his day to weep and howl because they were guilty in this respect4 ,but no such charge as this is laid against this man4 ,nor had he robbed the widow or the fatherless4 ,an orphan's curse will drag to hell a spirit from on high1 but no such curse was on this man4 ,how had he made his money8 ,he had made it in a way that is considered the most honest and upright that is possible4 ,he had made his money farming4 ,listen3 ,the ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully4 ,the ground4 ,it smacks of cleanliness1 honesty1 uprightness4 ,the ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully4 ,and when ,i read that ,i am back on the old farm again4 ,as ,i read it there comes before me a vision of my boyhood's home4 ,i see the old white house under the hill4 ,i see the sturdy apple trees in front of it and the forest of beech1 oak and chestnut stretching away in the distance back of it4 ,i can hear the lowing of the cattle and the neighing of the horses and the crowing of the cock in the barnyard4 ,i can hear the call of the bob white to his mate1 and the song of the catbird in the thicket at the end of the row4 ,i can feel the caress of the fresh upturned sod upon my bare feet4 ,i can catch the fragrance of the new mown hay4 ,i can see myself coming home in the gloaming as the day fades into golden and then into gray and then into deep blue of the night sky with its myriad of stars that blossom at twilight's early hour like lilies on the tomb of day4 ,and when ,i come home ,i come to a night of restful sleep because ,i have come from a clean day's work4 ,no1 this man was not a fool because he had gotten his money dishonestly4 ,he had made it honestly1 every dollar of it4 ,nor was he a fool because he set about thoughtfully to save what he had made4 ,the ,bible sets no premium upon wastefulness4 ,god lets us know that to waste anything of value is not only foolish but wicked4 ,what was the sin of the ,prodigal ,son8 ,it was this1 that he wasted his substance with riotous living4 ,he spent his treasure without getting any adequate return4 ,that is the tragedy of a great number of us4 ,i do not charge you with outrageous and disgraceful wickedness4 ,but it is true that you are not investing your life in the highest possible way4 ,you are squandering yourself on things of secondary value4 ,and to you ,god is speaking as he spoke centuries ago3 ,wherefore do you spend your money for that which is not meat and your labor for that which satisfieth not8 ,you have no right to waste yourself and you have just as little right to waste your money which represents a part of yourself4 ,no1 the foolishness of this man was not in the fact that he sought to save what he had made4 ,that is right4 ,that is sensible4 ,to do otherwise is at once wicked and little4 ,big things do not waste4 ,this is a big world on which we live but it has never lost one single drop of water nor one single grain of sand since ,god flung it into space4 ,and even ,jesus ,christ himself1 the ,lord of the universe1 commanded ,his disciples after ,he had fed the multitude1 to gather up the fragments that nothing be lost4 ,why then1 ,i repeat1 does ,christ call this man a fool8 ,his foolishness lay fundamentally in the fact that he was a practical atheist4 ,he had absolutely no sense of ,god4 ,he lived as if the fact of ,god were an absolute lie4 ,i do not think for a moment that he claimed to be an atheist4 ,i have no doubt that he was altogether orthodox4 ,i have no doubt that he went to the synagogue or to the temple every ,sabbath day4 ,but practically he was an utter atheist4 ,and what is true of him is equally true of many another man who stands up every ,sunday in ,church to recite his creed4 ,how do we know that he is an atheist8 ,we know it by hearing him think4 ,listen3 ,he thought within himself4 ,now then we are going to get to see this man as he really is4 ,you can't always tell what a man is by the way he looks4 ,he may look like the flower1 but be the serpent under it4 ,he may smile and smile1 as ,hamlet tells us1 and be a villain4 ,you can't always tell what he is by what he says4 ,he may speak high sentiments to which his heart is a stranger4 ,nor can you tell him by what he does4 ,he may do his alms simply to be seen of men4 ,but if you can get in behind the scenes and see him think1 then you will know him4 ,tell me1 man1 what you think within yourself and ,i will tell you what you are4 ,for1 ,as a man thinketh in his heart1 so is he4 ,now1 what did this man think8 ,he thought within himself1 saying1 ,what shall ,i do for ,i have no room where to bestow ,my goods and ,my fruits8 ,and he said1 ,this will ,i do4 ,i will pull down ,my barns and build greater1 and there will ,i bestow all ,my goods and ,my fruits4 ,now we see him4 ,when he thought1 he had not one single thought of ,god4 ,god was as completely ignored as if ,he had no existence at all4 ,this was the very fountain source of his foolishness4 ,he reckoned without ,god1 and the man who reckons without ,god is a fool4 ,look now how this fatal foolishness casts its blight over his entire character4 ,reckoning without ,god1 of course1 he has no sense of ,divine ownership4 ,quite naturally1 therefore1 he thinks because he possesses a farm1 he owns a farm4 ,possession and ownership mean exactly the same thing to a man who begins by ignoring ,god4 ,when you hear this man talk you find that the only pronouns he has in his vocabulary are ,i1 ,my and ,mine4 ,he knows only the grammar of atheism4 ,he is acquainted only with the vocabulary of the fool4 ,his and ,ours and ,yours are not found in the fool's vocabulary4 ,faith1 on the other hand1 makes large use of the word ,his4 ,it recognizes the fact that the earth is the ,lord's and the fullness thereof4 ,it believes in the big truth3 ,ye are not your own4 ,you are bought with a price4 ,faith1 taking ,god into consideration1 wisely reckons that you are ,his and that all that you possess is ,his4 ,it does not concede to you the ownership of anything4 ,and for any man anywhere to-day to claim that because he possesses a farm or a bank or a brain1 that1 therefore1 he owns it is to talk not the language of a wise man but the language of a fool4 ,this farmer's reckoning without ,god not only led him to confuse possession and ownership4 ,it also robbed him of his gratitude4 ,crops were abundant4 ,the farmer has prospered wonderfully4 ,but leaving ,god out of his thinking there is no one for this farmer to thank for his success but himself4 ,he never thought of taking hold of his sluggish soul and shaking it into wakefulness with this wise word1 ,bless the ,lord1 ,o my soul1 and forget not all ,his benefits4 ,he did not concede the ,lord any part in it4 ,there are many men just like him to-day4 ,i was pastor in a small town some years ago4 ,there was in that town only one rich man4 ,he had made the money that he possessed1 and they called him a self-made man4 ,one day a certain preacher1 not myself1 went to him to ask him for a donation for some charity4 ,he began by reminding this man of wealth how the ,lord had blessed him4 ,and what was the reply8 ,it was about the meanest ,i ever heard4 ,he said1 ,i know the ,lord has blessed me1 but ,i was there4 ,i was there4 ,and what he meant by that was that in reality the ,lord had had nothing to do with it4 ,i did it all myself4 ,in fact1 if the ,lord hadn't made the world ,i would4 ,so there is not a thing for which ,i ought to be thankful4 ,now1 the man who has no gratitude is a fool4 ,he is a fool because the right sort of thinking always leads to thanking4 ,the only kind of thinking that does not do so is the thinking of the practical atheist1 and the practical atheist is a fool4 ,then this farmer had no sense of obligation4 ,this1 too1 is a natural outcome of his reckoning without ,god4 ,here is a man who is looking out on this same world upon which the farmer is looking1 and he says1 ,i am a debtor both to the ,greek and to the barbarian1 both to the wise and to the unwise4 ,the reason ,paul says that is because he believes in ,god4 ,god has blessed him and saved him with a wonderful salvation4 ,because of that fact he feels himself under infinite obligation to preach the ,gospel that has saved himself4 ,but this man1 this fool1 has only himself to thank for his prosperity4 ,therefore he has a right to use his wealth as he pleases4 ,the man who has no sense of obligation1 the man who tells you that he has a right to do as he pleases with his possessions is proclaiming to you not a new rule of ethics4 ,he is simply telling you in unmistakable language that he is a fool4 ,this man showed himself a fool1 last of all1 by the confidence that he placed in things4 ,ignoring ,god he sought to find a substitute for ,god in abundant crops4 ,he undertook to treat his soul as he would treat his sheep and his goats4 ,here he was1 an immortal man4 ,here he was1 destined to live when this old world has been a wreck for billions of years4 ,and what provision does he make for himself8 ,the same that he makes for his horses and his oxen and his asses4 ,of course1 as one has pointed out1 it was not foolish for him to make some provision for the few years he might live here4 ,he was a fool for refusing to make provision for the eternity that he must live4 ,soul1 thou hast much goods laid up for many days4 ,eat1 drink and be merry4 ,did ever you hear words that were more stamped with moral idiocy8 ,you can see from them that his soul has not fared well up to this time4 ,you can easily tell from these words that his moral nature has been starved and stunted4 ,we can easily tell that all his gettings have not satisfied him in the past4 ,and yet he is vainly expecting satisfaction in the future4 ,now it is obvious that the man who forgets ,god1 who turns aside to the worship of things1 plays the fool4 ,so you see why the ,master calls this shrewd farmer a fool4 ,he began by reckoning without ,god4 ,he virtually said in his heart1 ,there is no ,god4 ,he went wrong in the very center of his nature4 ,this put the blight of moral imbecility on his whole life4 ,he turned to his possessions and sought to satisfy his soul with them4 ,he received them without gratitude and held them without any sense of obligation1 for he thought to possess was to own4 ,now the ,master1 lest we should pull our skirts about us and thank ,god that we are not as this man1 forces the truth home upon our own hearts4 ,so1 ,he says1 is he that layeth up treasure for himself and is not rich toward ,god4 ,that is1 just the same kind of fool and just as big a fool is that man to-day who reckons without ,god and lives only for himself4 ,if you are living your life in selfishness1 however respectable that selfishness may be1 you are just the same kind of fool and just as great a fool as is this rich man of the story4 ,now the tragedy of this story1 ,i take it1 is that the foolishness of this farmer was self-chosen4 ,his riches might have been a blessing to him here and a blessing through all eternity4 ,in spite of the fact that he was rich in this world's goods he might also have been1 in the truest sense1 rich toward ,god4 ,in fact1 he might have been richer toward ,god with his wealth than without it4 ,with it he might have exercised a far larger usefulness than he could have done without it4 ,but he chose to ignore ,god and to rob himself and thus brand himself a fool now and evermore4 ,don't forget that you and ,i may make the same tragic wreck of our lives4 ,the only way to avoid doing so is to go right where this man went wrong4 ,there is a sure road to spiritual enrichment4 ,though he were rich1 yet for our sakes he became poor that we1 through his poverty1 might be rich4 ,this wealth is no fabled bag of gold at the end of the rainbow4 ,i can so direct you to this treasure that you will be sure to find it4 ,this is the road3 ,yield yourselves unto ,god4 ,that is your first duty4 ,that is your highest wisdom4 ,recognize ,god as owner of yourself4 ,recognize ,god as the owner of all that you have4 ,give all to ,him and ,he will give all to you4 ,for ,he that spared not ,his own ,son1 but delivered him up for us all1 how shall ,he not with him also freely give us all things4 ,to have that treasure is to be rich forever more4 ,to be thus rich is to be eternally wise4 ,,the ,,end