Wondrous Love

THE WORLD-WIDE LIBRARY

THE SEEKING SAVIOUR

By Dr. W. P. Mackay

Author of “Grace and Truth”

HOW AND WHEN

Do we Become Children of God?

50 Answers by Well-Known Men

THE GOOD SHEPHERD

By H. Forbes Witherby

ABUNDANT GRACE

By DR. W. P. MACKAY

Author of “Grace and Truth”

FORGIVENESS, LIFE AND GLORY

By Sir S. Arthur Blackwood

WONDROUS LOVE: Original Addresses

By D. L. Moody

God loved the world of sinners lost

And ruined by the fall;

Salvation full, at highest cost,

He offers free to all.

Oh, ’twas love, ’twas wondrous love,

The love of God to me;

It brought my Saviour from above,

To die on Calvary!

E’en now by faith I claim Him mine,

The risen Son of God;

Redemption by His death I find,

And cleansing through the blood.

Love brings the glorious fulness in,

And to His saints makes known

The blessed rest from inbred sin,

Through faith in Christ alone.

Believing souls, rejoicing go;

There shall to you be given

A glorious foretaste, here below,

Of endless life in heaven.

Of victory now o’er Satan’s power

Let all the ransomed sing,

And triumph in the dying hour

Through Christ, the Lord, our King.

CHRIST’S BOUNDLESS
COMPASSION

“And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and He healed their sick.”—Matthew xiv. 14.

It is often recorded in Scripture that Jesus was moved by compassion; and we are told in this verse that after the disciples of John had come to Him and told Him that their master had been beheaded, that he had been put to a cruel death, He went out into a desert place, and the multitude followed Him, and that when He saw the multitude He had “compassion” on them, and healed their sick. If He were here to-night in person, standing in my place, His heart would be moved as He looked down into your faces, because He could also look into your hearts, and could read the burdens and troubles and sorrows you have to bear. They are hidden from my eye, but He knows all about them, and so when the multitude gathered round about Him, He knew how many weary, broken, and aching hearts there were there. But He is here to-night, although we cannot see Him with the bodily eye, and there is not a sorrow, or trouble, or affliction which any of you are enduring but He knows all about it; and He is the same to-night as He was when here upon earth—the same Jesus, the same Man of compassion.

When He saw that multitude He had compassion on it, and healed their sick; and I hope He will heal a great many sin-sick souls here, and will bind up a great many broken hearts. And let me say, in the opening of this sermon, that there is no heart so bruised and broken but the Son of God will have compassion upon you, if you will let Him. “He will not break a bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax.” He came into the world to bring mercy, and joy, and compassion, and love.

If I were an artist I should like to draw some pictures to-night, and put before you that great multitude on which He had compassion. And then I would draw another painting of that man coming to Him full of leprosy, full of it from head to foot. There he was, banished from his home, banished from his friends, and he comes to Jesus with his sad and miserable story. And now, my friends, let us make

THE BIBLE STORIES REAL,

for that is what they are. Think of that man. Think how much he had suffered. I don’t know how many years he had been away from his wife and children and home; but there he was. He had put on a strange and particular garb, so that anybody coming near him might know that he was unclean. And when he saw any one approaching him he had to raise the warning cry, “Unclean! unclean! unclean!” Aye, and if the wife of his bosom were to come out to tell him that a beloved child was sick and dying, he durst not come near her, he was obliged to fly. He might hear her voice at a distance, but he could not be there to see his child in its last dying moments. He was, as it were, in a living sepulchre; it was worse than death. There he was, dying by inches, an outcast from everybody and everything, and not a hand put out to relieve him. Oh, what a terrible life! Then think of him coming to Christ, and when Christ saw him, it says He was moved with compassion. He had a heart that beat in sympathy with the poor leper, He had compassion on him, and the man came to Him and said, “Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou cant make me clean.” He knew there was no one to do it but the Son of God Himself, and

THE GREAT HEART OF CHRIST

was moved with compassion towards him. Hear the gracious words that fell from His lips—“I will; be thou clean!” and the leprosy fled, and the man was made whole immediately. Look at him now on his way back home to his wife and children and friends! No longer an outcast, no longer a loathsome thing, no longer cursed with that terrible leprous disease, but going back to his friends rejoicing. Now, my friends, you may say you pity a man who was so badly off, but did it ever strike you that you are a thousand times worse off? The leprosy of the soul is far worse than the leprosy of the body. I would rather a thousand times have the body full of leprosy than go down to hell with the soul full of sin. A good deal better that this right hand of mine were lopped off, that this right foot should decay, and that I should go halt and lame and blind all the days of my life, than be banished from God by the leprosy of sin. Hear the wailing and the agony and the woe that is going up from this earth caused by sin! If there is one poor sin-sick soul filled with leprosy here to-night, if you come to Christ He will have compassion on you, and say, as He did to that man, “I will; be thou clean.”

THE DEAD RAISED.

Well, now we come to the next picture that represents Him as moved with compassion. Look into that little home. There is a poor widow sitting there. Perhaps a few months before she had buried her husband, and now she has an only son. How she dotes upon him! She looks to him to be her stay and her support and friend in her old age. She loves him far better than her own life-blood. But see, at last sickness enters the dwelling, and death comes with it, and lays his ice-cold hand upon the young man. You can see that widowed mother watching over him day and night; but at last those eyes are closed, and that loved voice is hushed, she thinks, for ever. She will never see or hear him more after he is buried out of her sight. And so the hour comes for his burial. Many of you have been in the house of mourning, and have been with your friends when they have gone to the grave and looked at the loved one for the last time. There is not one here, I dare say, who has not lost some beloved one. I never went to a funeral and saw a mother take the last look of her child but it has pierced my heart, and I could not keep back the tears at such a sight. Well, the mother kisses her only son on that poor, icy forehead; it is her last kiss, her last look, and now the body is covered up, and they put him on the bier and start for the place of burial. She had a great many friends, The little town of Nain was moved at the sight of the widow’s only son being borne away. I see that great crowd as they come pushing out of the gates; but over yonder are thirteen men, weary, and dusty, and tired, and they have to stand by the wayside to let this great crowd pass by, and the Son of God is in this group, and the others with Him are His disciples. And He looked upon that scene and saw the mother with her broken heart; He saw it bleeding, crushed, and wounded, and it touched His heart. Yes, the great heart of the Son of God was moved with compassion, and He came up and touched the bier, and said,

“YOUNG MAN, ARISE!”

and the young man came forth. I can see the multitude startled and astonished; I can see the widowed mother going back rejoicing with the morning rays of the resurrection shining in her heart. Yes, He had indeed compassion on her. And there is not a widow in this hall but Christ’s voice will respond to your trouble and give you peace. Oh, dear friends, let me say to you whose hearts are aching, you need a friend like Jesus. He is just the friend the widow needs; He is just the friend every poor bleeding heart needs; He will have compassion on you and will bind up your wounded, bleeding heart if you will only come to Him just as you are. He will receive you, without upbraiding or chastising, to His loving bosom, and say, “Peace, be still,” and you can walk in the unclouded sunlight of His love from this night. Christ will be worth more to you than all the world besides. He is just the friend that all of you need; and I pray God you may every one of you know Him from this hour as your Saviour and friend.

THE MAN WHO WAS ROBBED AND SPOILED.

The next picture which I shall show you to illustrate Christ’s compassion is the man that was going down to Jericho and fell among thieves. They had taken away his coat, aye, and if he had a watch they would have taken that as well. However, they took his money, and stripped him, and left him half dead. Look at him wounded, bleeding, dying; and now comes down the road a priest, and he looks upon the scene. His heart might have been touched, but he was not moved with compassion enough to help the poor man. He might have said, “Poor fellow”; but he passed by on the other side and left him. After him came down a Levite, and he said, “Poor man”; but he was not moved with compassion to help him. Ah, there are a good many like the priest and Levite! Perhaps some of you coming down to this hall meet a drunkard reeling in the street, and just say, “Poor fellow,” or it may be you laugh because he stammers out some foolish thing. We are very unlike the Son of God. At last a Samaritan came down that way, and he looked down on the man and had compassion on him. He got off his beast, and took oil and poured it into his wounds, and bound them up, and took him out of the ditch, helpless as he was, and placed him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. That good Samaritan represents your Christ and mine. He came into the world to seek and to save

THAT WHICH WAS LOST.

Young man, have you come to London, and fallen in with bad companions? Have they taken you to theatres and vicious places, and left you bleeding and wounded? Oh, come to-night to the Son of God, and He will have compassion on you, and take you off from the dunghill, and transform you, and lift you up into His kingdom, and into the heights of His glory, if you will only let Him! I do not care who you are; I do not care what your past life may have been. As He said to the poor woman caught in adultery, “Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.” He had compassion upon her, and He will have compassion on you. That man coming down from Jerusalem to Jericho represents thousands in London, and that good Samaritan represents the Son of God. Young man, Jesus Christ has set His heart on saving you. Will you receive His love and compassion? Do not have such hard thoughts about the Son of God. Do not think He has come to condemn you. He has come to save you.

THE PRODIGAL.

But I should like to draw another picture, another scene—that young man going away from his home that we read of in the fifteenth chapter of Luke; an ungrateful man, an ungrateful wretch as ever one saw. He could not wait for his inheritance till his father was dead, he wanted his share at once; and so he said to his father, “Give me the goods that belong to me,” and his good old father gives him the goods, and away he goes. I can see him now as he starts on his journey, full of pride, boastful and arrogant, going out to see life, off in grand style to some foreign country—say, going down to London. How many have come down to London, that being the far country to them, squandering all their money. Yes, he was a popular man as long as he had money. His friends last as long as his money lasts; a very popular young man in London, “hail-fellow-well-met” greets him everywhere. He always paid the liquor bill and cigars. Yes, he had plenty of friends in London. What grand folly! But when his money was gone, where were his friends? Oh, you that serve the devil, you have a hard master! Well, when the prodigal’s money was all gone, of course they laughed at him, and called him a fool; and so he was. What a blind, misguided young man he was! Just see what he lost. He lost his father’s home, his table and food, and testimony, and every comfort, and lost his work, except what he got down there while feeding those swine. He was in an unlawful business. And that’s just what

THE BACKSLIDER

is doing; he is in the devil’s pay. You are losing your time and testimony. No one has any confidence in a backslider; for even the world despises such a character. This young man lost his testimony. Look at him amongst the swine. At last one in that far country comes along, and, taking stock of him, says, “Look at that miserable, wretched, dirty, barefooted fellow taking care of swine.” “Ah,” says the prodigal, “don’t talk to me like that. Why, my father’s a rich man, and has got servants better dressed than you are.” “Don’t tell me that,” says the other. “If you had such a father as that, I know very well he wouldn’t own you.” And no one would believe him.

HE HAD LOST HIS TESTIMONY.

No one believes a backslider. Let him talk about his enjoyment with God, nobody believes it. Oh, poor backslider, I pity you! You had better come home again. Well, at last the poor prodigal comes to himself, and he says, “I will arise and go to my father,” and now he starts. Look at him as he goes along, pale and hungry, with his head down; his strength is exhausted, and perhaps disease in his frame, and so shattered that no one would know him but his father. Love is keen to detect its object. The old man has often been longing for his return. I can see him many a night up on the house-top looking out to catch a glimpse of him. Many a long night he has wrestled with God that his prodigal son might come back. Everything he had heard from that far country told him his boy was going to ruin as fast as he could go. The old man spent much time in prayer for him, and at last faith begins to arise, and he says, “I believe God will send back my boy”; and one day the old man sees afar off that long-lost boy. He does not know him by his dress, but he detected the gait of him, and he says to himself, “Yes, that’s my boy.” I see him now pass down the stairs; he rushes along the highway; he is running. Ah! that is just like God. Many a time in the Bible God is represented as running; He is in great haste to meet the backslider. Yes, the old man is running; he sees him afar off, and he has compassion on him. The boy wanted to tell him his story what he had done, and where he had been, but the old man could not wait to hear him; his heart was filled with compassion, and he took him to his loving bosom. The boy wanted to go down into the kitchen, but the old man would not let him. No, but he bade the servants put shoes on his feet, and a ring on his finger, and kill the fatted calf, and make merry. The prodigal has come home, the wanderer has returned, and the old man rejoices over the backslider’s return. Oh, backslider, come home, and there will be joy in your heart and in the heart of God. May God bring the backsliders back to-night—this very hour. Say as the poor prodigal did, “I will arise and go to my father,” and on the authority of God I tell you God will receive you; He will blot out your sins, and restore you to His love, and you shall walk again in the light of His reconciled countenance.

CHRIST WEEPS OVER JERUSALEM.

But look again. He comes to mount Olivet. He is under the shadow of the cross. The city bursts upon Him. Yonder is the Temple; He sees it in all its grandeur and glory. The people are shouting, Hosanna to the Son of David! They are breaking off the palm branches, and taking off their garments, and spreading them before Him, still shouting, Hosanna to the Son of David! and bowing down before Him. But He forgets it all. Yes, even Calvary with all its sorrow He forgets. Gethsemane lay there at the foot of the hill; He forgot it too. As He looked upon the city which He loved, the great heart of the Son of God was moved with compassion, and He cried aloud, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!”

My friends, look at Him there weeping over Jerusalem. What a wonderful city it might have been. How exalted to heaven it was. Oh, if they had only known the day of their visitation, and had received instead of rejected their king, what a blessing He would have been to them! Oh, poor backslider, behold the Lamb of God weeping over you, and crying to you to come to Him, and receive shelter and refuge from the storm which has yet to sweep over this earth!

LOOK AT POOR PETER,

See what he does. He denied the Lord, and swore he never knew Him. If ever He needed sympathy, if ever He needed His disciples round Him, it was that night, when they were bringing false witnesses against Him, that He might be condemned to death; and there was Peter, one of His foremost disciples, swearing he never knew Him. He might have turned on Peter and said, “Peter, is it true you don’t know me? Is it true you have forgotten how I cured and healed your wife’s mother when she lay at the point of death? Is it true you have forgotten how I raised you up when you were sinking in the sea? Is it true, Peter, you forgot how you were with me on the mount of transfiguration, when heaven and earth came together, and you heard the voice speaking from the clouds? Is it true you have forgotten that mountain scene when you wanted to build the three tabernacles? Is it true, Peter, you have forgotten me?” Yes, thus He might have taunted poor Peter; but instead of that He just gave him one look of compassion that broke his heart, and he went out and wept bitterly.

THE PERSECUTING SAUL.

Again, look at that bold blasphemer and persecutor who was going to stamp out the early Church, and was breathing out threatenings and slaughter, when Christ met him on his way to Damascus. It is the same Jesus still. Listen, and hear what He says—“Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?” Why, He could have smitten him to the earth with a look or a breath; but instead of that, the heart of the Son of God was moved with compassion, and He cries out, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?” If there is a persecutor here to-night, I would ask you, “Why persecute Jesus?” He loves you, sinner; He loves you, persecutor. You never received anything but goodness and kindness and love from Him. And Saul cried out, “Who art thou?” And He answered, “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.” It is hard to fight against such a loving friend, to contend against one who loves you as I do; and down comes the proud, persecuting Saul, down upon his face, and he cried out, “Lord, what wouldst Thou have me to do?” And the Lord told him, and he went and did it. May the Lord have compassion upon the infidel, and sceptic, and persecutor. Let me ask you, my friend, Is there any reason why you should hate Christ, or why your heart should be turned against Him?

I remember a story about a teacher telling the scholars all to follow Jesus, and how they might all be missionaries, and go out to work for others. And one day one of the smallest came to her and said, “I asked such and such a one to come with me, and they said they would like to come, but their father was an infidel.”

“WHY DON’T YOU LOVE JESUS?”

And the young child wanted to know what an infidel was, and the teacher went on to explain to her. And one day, when she was on her way to school, this infidel was coming out of the post office with his letters in his hand, when the child ran up to him, and said, “Why don’t you love Jesus?” He thought at first to push her aside, but the child pressed it home again, “Why don’t you love Jesus?” If it had been a man, the infidel would have resented it; but he did not know what to do with the child, and with tears in her eyes she asked him again, “Oh! please, tell me, why don’t you love Jesus?” He went on to his office, but he felt as if every letter he opened read, “Why don’t you love Jesus?” He attempted to write, with the same result; every letter seemed to ask him, “Why don’t you love Jesus?” and he threw down his pen in despair, and went out of his office, but he could not get rid of the question; it was asked by a still small voice within, and as he walked along it seemed as if the very ground and the very heavens whispered to him, “Why don’t you love Jesus?” At last he went home, and there it seemed as if his own children asked him the question, so he said to his wife, “I will go to bed early to-night,” thinking to sleep it away; but when he laid his head on the pillow it seemed as if the pillow whispered it to him. So he got up about midnight, and said, “I can find out where Christ contradicts Himself, and I’ll search it out and prove Him a liar.” Well, the man got up, and turned to the Gospel of John, and read on from the beginning until he came to the words, “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” What love! he thought; and at last the old infidel’s heart was stirred. He could find no reason for not loving Jesus, and down he went on his knees and prayed, and before the sun rose the old infidel was in the kingdom of God.

I will challenge any one on the face of the earth to find any reason for not loving Christ. It is only here on earth men think they have a reason for not doing so. In heaven they know Him, and they shout, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain.” Oh, sinner, if you knew Him you would have no wish to find a reason for not loving Him. He is “the chiefest among ten thousand, and altogether lovely.” I can imagine a good many saying, “I should like very much to become a Christian, and I should like to know how I can come to Him, and be saved.”

COME TO HIM AS A PERSONAL FRIEND.

For twenty years I have made this a rule. Christ is just as habitually near, as personally present to me as any other person living; and when I have any troubles, trials, and afflictions, I go to Him with them. When I want counsel I go to Him, just as if I could talk face to face with Him. Twenty years ago God met me one night and took me to His bosom, and I would sooner give up my life to-night than give up Christ, or that I should leave Him, or that He should leave me, and that I should have no one to bear my burdens, or tell my sorrows to. Why, He is worth more than all the world beside; and to-night He will have compassion upon you as He had upon me. I tried for weeks to find a way to Him, and I just went and laid my burden upon Him, and then He revealed Himself to me, and I have ever since found Him a true and sympathizing friend, just the friend you need. Go right straight to Him. You need not go to this man or that man, to this church or that church. “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”

ABRAHAM LINCOLN,

and in an audience like this in America you would see the tears trickle down many a cheek at his name: he is very dear to us Americans. Do you want to know the reason why? I will tell you. He was a man of compassion; he was very gentle, and was noted for his heart of sympathy for the down-trodden and the poor. No one went to him with a tale of sympathy but he had compassion on them, no matter how far down they were in the scale of society. He always took an interest in the poor. There was a time in our history when we thought he had too much compassion. Many of our soldiers did not understand army discipline, and a great many were not true to the army regulations. They intended to be, but they did not understand them. Many a man consequently went wrong, and they were court-martialed and condemned to be shot; but Abraham Lincoln would always pardon them; and at length the nation rose up against him, and said that he was to merciful, and ultimately they got him to give out that if a man was court-martialed he must be shot, that there would be no more reprieves.

THE SLEEPING SENTINEL.

A few weeks after this, news came that a young soldier had been sleeping at his post. He was court-martialed, and condemned to be shot. The boy wrote to his mother, “I do not want you to think I do not love my country, but it came about in this way: My comrade was sick, and I went out on picket for him; and the next night he ought to have come, but still being sick I went out for him again, and without intending it I fell asleep. I did not intend to be disloyal.”

It was a very touching letter, and the mother and father said there is no chance, there will be no more reprieves. But there was a little girl in that home, and she knew that Abraham Lincoln had a little boy, and how he loved that little boy; and she said if Abraham Lincoln knew how my father and mother loved my brother he would never allow him to be shot, and she took the train to go and plead for her brother; and when she got to the President’s mansion the difficulty arose how was she to get past the sentinel. So she told him her story, and the tears ran down his cheeks, and he let her pass. But the next trouble was how to get past the secretary and the other officials. However, she succeeded in getting, unobstructed, into his private room, and there were the senators and ministers busy with State affairs. The President saw the child, and called her to him, and said, “My child, what can I do for you?” and she told him her story. The big tears rolled down his cheeks. He was a father, and his heart was full; he could not stand it. He treated the girl with kindness, and then having reprieved the boy, gave him thirty days furlough, and sent him home to see his mother. His heart was full of compassion.

And, let me tell you, Christ’s heart is more full of compassion than any man’s. You are condemned to die for your sins; but if you come to Him He will say, “Loose him, and let him go” (John xi.). He will rebuke Satan, and the dead shall live. Go to Him as that little girl went to the President, and tell Him all; keep nothing from Him, and He will say, “Go in peace.”

THE TOUCH OF COMPASSION.

Let me ask the poor backslider, Did you ever feel the touch of the hand of Jesus? If so, you will know it again, for there is love in it. There is a story told in connection with our war of a mother who received a despatch that her boy was mortally wounded. She went down to the front, as she knew that those soldiers told to watch the sick and wounded could not watch her boy as she would. So she went to the doctor, and said, “Would you like me to take care of my boy?” The doctor said, “We have just let him go to sleep, and if you go to him the surprise will be so great it might be dangerous to him. He is in a very critical state. I will break the news to him gradually.” “But,” said the mother, “he may never wake up. I should so dearly like to see him.” Oh, how she longed to see him! and finally the doctor said, “You can see him, but if you wake him up and he dies, it will be your fault.” “Well,” she said, “I will not wake him up if I may only go by his dying cot and see him.” Well, she went to the side of the cot. Her eyes had longed to see him; and as she gazed upon him she could not keep her hand off that pallid forehead, and she laid it gently there. There was love and sympathy in that hand, and the moment the slumbering boy felt it, he said, “Oh, mother, have you come?” He knew there was sympathy and affection in the touch of that hand. And if you, oh, sinner, will let Jesus reach out His hand and touch your heart, you, too, will find there is sympathy and love in it. That every lost soul here may be saved, and come to the arms of our blessed Saviour, is the prayer of my heart!

THE NEW BIRTH

“Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”—John iii. 3

Much less inherit it. He can’t even get a glimpse of the kingdom of God except he be born again. I believe this is the most important subject that will ever come before us in this world. I don’t believe there is any truth in the whole Bible so important as the truth brought out in the third chapter of the Gospel of John.

It is the A B C of God’s alphabet. If a man is unsound on regeneration, he is unsound on everything. That is really the foundation-stone; and he must get the foundation right. If he don’t, what is the good of trying to build a house? Now, Christ says plainly, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” But although regeneration or the new birth is taught so plainly in the third chapter of John, I don’t believe there is any truth in the whole Bible that there is such great darkness about as this great truth. There are a great many like the man that saw men as trees walking. Many Christians do not seem to be clear about this new birth.

BORN A CHRISTIAN.

Only this afternoon, as I was in the inquiry-room, a person came in, and I said, “Are you a Christian?” “Why,” she says, “of course I am.” “Well,” I said, “how long have you been one?” “Oh, sir, I was born one!” “Oh! indeed, then I am very glad to take you by the hand; I congratulate you; you are the first woman I ever met who was born a Christian; you are more fortunate than others; they are born children of Adam.” She hesitated a little, and then tried to make out that, because she was born in England, she was a Christian. There are many who have the idea, that because they are born in a Christian country, they have been born of the Spirit. Now, in this third chapter of John, the new birth is brought out so plain, that if any one will read it carefully and prayerfully, I think his eyes will soon be opened. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; it remains flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit, and remains spirit. So, when a man is born of God, he has God’s nature. When a man is born of his parents, he receives their nature, and they received the nature of their parents, and you can trace it back to Adam. But when a man is born of God, or born from above, or born of the Spirit—that is the way the Holy Ghost puts it in that third verse—he receives God’s nature, and then it is he leaves the life of the flesh for the life of the spirit.

Before I go on I want to say one thing, and that is, what this new birth, or being born of the Spirit, is not. A great many think they have been born again because they go to church. A great many say, “Oh, yes, I am a Christian; I go to church every Sabbath!” Let me say here that there is no one that goes to church so regularly in all London as Satan. He is always there before the minister, and he is the last one out of the church. There is not a church in London, or a chapel, but that he is a regular attendant of it. The idea that he is only down in the slums and lanes and alleys of London is a false idea. He is wherever the Word is preached; it is his business to be there, and catch away the seed. He is here to-night. Some of you may go to sleep, but he won’t. Some of you may not listen to the sermon, but he will. He will be watching, and when the seed is just entering into some heart he will go and catch it away.

A CHRISTIAN BECAUSE BAPTIZED.

Another class say, “Oh, yes, I am a Christian, because I was baptized.” Now, I want to say here that baptism is one thing, and being born again is another. Because a person is baptized, you cannot say that that is the new birth. Would you call that being born from above? You cannot baptize a man into the kingdom of God. Now, bear that in mind. If I could save men by baptizing them, you would not catch me preaching. I would get water and baptize them; that would be the quickest way. It would be no use to be praying and pleading for men to flee from the wrath of God. But you can never get them into the kingdom of God by baptism. Baptism is all right in its place. I am not here crying down church ordinances; I am talking about the new birth: and there are a great many, I believe, being deceived on this one point, that because they have been baptized at some time in their life they have become Christians. But that is not the new birth; that is not being born from above and of the Spirit. Do not let Satan deceive you, my friends, on that point, for it is a very important truth; and we want to have every one here to understand, and I hope the Spirit of God will make plain the difference between baptism and regeneration, or being born of the Spirit.

JOINING THE CHURCH.

There is another class that say, “Oh, yes, I became a Christian when I joined the church.” That is not being born again. What has that to do with the new birth, being united with the church on earth? There are a great many united with the church who are on their way to death and ruin. A great many have no hope of eternal life who are church members. One of the twelve Christ chose to follow Him turned out a hypocrite and a traitor; he was not loyal to Christ at heart. My friends, don’t build your hope of heaven upon some profession of your faith, but bear in mind you must be born of God. Now just let me stop a minute, and you think, and ask yourselves this question, “Have I been born again?” It is the most solemn question that will ever come before you down here, “Have I been born from above? Have I been born of the Spirit?” It is not making some new resolutions. You have made enough of them. I never met any one who had not made some good resolutions in their life. It is not trying to do good. A great many say, “I try to do the best I can, and I think it will come out all right.” What is that to do with the new birth and the new creation? God does not promise salvation to him that tries to do the best he can, but to him that believeth, or that is born of the Spirit; for “except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

THE NEW BIRTH INSTANTANEOUS.

Now, I believe this new birth is instantaneous. I have met a great many people who cannot tell the day or the hour of their conversion; but there must have been a time when they passed from death unto life—when they were born of the Spirit. There must have been a time when their names were written in the Book of Life. They may not be conscious of the day, or the hour, or the week, or the month, or the year; but, my friends, I beg of you to be sure that you have been born of the Spirit. Don’t be deceived upon this one truth, because Christ Himself says, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

THE FLESH CANNOT SERVE GOD.

As I said before, when I was born of my parents I received their nature, I received the nature of the flesh; and I cannot serve God in the flesh. “God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” And before a man can worship God he must be born of God; he must be born of the Spirit. Then with this new birth, with this new life, he can serve God; then the yoke is easy, and the burden is light. A man may as well try to fly to the moon as to serve God before he has been born of the Spirit; it is utterly impossible. The natural man is at enmity against God; his natural heart is at war with God; it always has been, and it always will be. And not only that, but you cannot make it better. God never mends, He creates anew; therefore don’t be trying to patch up that old Adam nature. God says, “It shall never come into my presence.” Therefore God has just set it aside. But He tells us how we are to come into His presence, and how we are to get into His kingdom. This is worthy to be borne in mind. You cannot educate men into it. That is what the world is trying to do. But he that climbeth up by some other way than the Lord’s way, the same is a thief and a robber. You had better be born into it in God’s way.

We have a law in America that no man shall be President of the United States that has not been born on American soil. We have a great many Englishmen come to America, and a great many men from all parts of the world, and yet I have never heard one complain of that law. They say America has the right to say who shall be President. I come here to your country, and I do not complain because you have a Queen to reign over you. What right have I to complain? Has not England a right to say who shall rule it, and who shall be its Queen? Foreigners have no right to interfere. And I would like to ask you this question, Has not God a right to say who shall come into His kingdom, and how we shall come? Now, my friend, God tells us here we are to come into His kingdom by the new birth. We must be born from above, born of the Spirit, and then we get a nature that goes out towards God. If you take a drunken man, and put him on the very pavement of heaven, he will not be happy there. The drunkard doesn’t want heaven. What is he to do there? He has no whisky to drink there, and he has none of his old companions. What is he to do? He would say, “This is hell to me. I don’t want to stay here.” A man that cannot spend one Sabbath on earth among God’s people, what is he to do with that eternal Sabbath, with those that have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb? A man must have a spiritual nature before he wants to go to heaven. Heaven cannot have any attractions to a man until he is born of the Spirit.

THE MORAL NEED THE NEW BIRTH.

Now let us go back to the man to whom Christ said these words. I often rejoice He didn’t say this to the woman at the well, nor to Mary Magdalene. If He had said it to them, people would have said, “Oh, that poor woman needs to be converted; but I am a moralist; I don’t need to be converted. Regeneration will do for harlots, thieves, and drunkards, but we moralists do not need it.” But who did Christ say it to? He said it to Nicodemus. Who was he? He belonged to the house of bishops. Nicodemus stood very high; he was one of the church dignitaries; he stood as high as any man in Jerusalem, except the high priest himself. He belonged to the seventy rulers of the Jews; he was a doctor of divinity, and taught the law. There is not one word of Scripture against him; he was a man that stood out before the whole nation as of pure and spotless character. What does Christ say to him? “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” I can see a scowl on his forehead. He says, “What do you mean by being born again—born from above, born of the Spirit? Now I am old, can I a second time enter my mother’s womb, and be born again?” Jesus saith, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” He didn’t take back what He had said, but He repeated it. I can imagine Nicodemus was like tens of thousands of men in London to-day. The moment you talk to them about regeneration or conversion, there is a scowl on their forehead. They say, “I don’t understand it.” Of course, the natural man doesn’t understand spiritual things. It is a matter of revelation. A great many men try to investigate and find out God. Suppose you spend a little of your time in asking God to reveal Himself to you.

REASON CANNOT UNDERSTAND THIS NEW BIRTH.

I heard some time ago of some commercial travellers who went to hear a man preach. They came back to the hotel, and were sitting in the smoking-room talking, and they said the minister did not appeal to their reason, and they would not believe anything they could not reason out. There was an old man sitting there listening, and he said to them, “You say you won’t believe anything you can’t reason out?” “No, we won’t.” The old man said, “As I was coming in the train yesterday, I noticed some sheep, and cattle, and swine, and geese, all eating grass. Now, can you tell me by what process that same grass was turned into feathers, hair, bristles, and wool?” “Well, no, we can’t just tell you that.” “Do you believe it is a fact?” “Oh, yes, it is a fact.” “I thought you said you would not believe anything you could not reason out?” “Well, we can’t help believing that; that is a fact we see before our eyes.” “Well,” said the old man, “I can’t help but believe in regeneration and a man being converted, although I cannot explain how God converted him.”

CHRIST’S ILLUSTRATION.

Now, the illustration which Christ used to Nicodemus was the wind. “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, nor whither it goeth.” Now, you cannot see the Spirit of God work in this audience; but I hope and pray He may be working now in the hearts of many, convincing them of sin! Do you believe more than ever that you are a sinner? Well, that is the work of the Holy Ghost. The devil never told you you are a sinner; he tries to make you believe that you are good enough. If you believe to-night that you have sinned against God, that is the work of the Holy Ghost. He is here at work. We cannot see Him, but there are a great many who know He is here. Suppose I should say, “I don’t believe in the wind, and that it must be all imagination; I have lived thirty-seven years, and have never seen the wind. It is folly for men to talk about the wind.” I can just imagine that boy there saying, “Why, I know more than that man; I know there is wind, for it blew my hat off this very day into the mud, and I have often felt it blowing in my face.” My friends, you have never felt the wind more than I have felt the Spirit of God. You have never seen the effects of the wind more than I have seen the effects of the Spirit of God, and of the working of the Holy Ghost, and there are hundreds of witnesses here who would testify the same thing. Yet this invisible power does its work in creation, and the mighty invisible power of God does its work effectively in the spiritual sphere.

GOD CAN CHANGE THE DRUNKARD.

It may be that I am talking now to some poor drunkard here. When he comes into his house his children listen, and hear by the footfall that their father is coming home drunk, and the little things run away and hide from him as if he was some horrid demon. His wife begins to tremble. Many a time has that great, strong arm been brought down on her weak, defenceless body. Many a day has she carried about marks from that man’s violence. He ought to be her protector, support, and stay; but he has become her tormentor. His home is like hell upon earth; there is no joy there. There may be one such here to-night who hears the good news that he can be born again, and receive a nature from heaven, and receive the Spirit of God. God can give him power to hurl the infernal cup from him. God will give him grace to trample Satan under his feet, and the drunkard will then become a sober man. Go to that house three months hence, and you find it neat and clean. As you draw near that home you hear singing; not the song of the drunkard, that is gone, all things have become new. He has been born of God, and is singing one of the songs of Zion:

Or perhaps he is singing that good old hymn that his mother taught him when he was a little boy:

He has become a child of God, an heir of heaven. His children are climbing up his knee, and he has his arms round their necks. That dark home is now changed into a little Bethel on earth. God dwells there now. Yes; God has done all that, and that is regeneration.

THE WORTH OF GOOD RESOLVES.

Then some of you may have been saying, “I wish Mr. Moody would tell us how we are to become Christians, for he says that we cannot be Christians by trying to do good and by making new resolutions.” Many a time you have been at a meeting like this, and have resolved to turn over a new leaf, and you may now form another good resolution. If you do, you will break it. What are you going to do? If it is a new birth you are to have, you cannot create life. Can you bring life to the dead? All the wise men in London cannot do it. God alone is the author of life; and if you have the new birth, it must be God’s work. When the Jubilee Singers were in the North of England my family went to see them, and my little boy asked why they didn’t wash the black off their faces. I told him it was because they were born black. The Ethiopian cannot change his skin, nor the leopard his spots. You cannot save yourself. There is a man dying—can you put new life into him? Or can you raise up a dead body by saying, “Young man, arise”? That is the work of God. Your souls are dead in trespasses and sins, and only the Lord Jesus Christ can speak life.

THE BEGGAR AND THE PRINCE.

I imagine some of you will say, “Haven’t I anything to do?” Well, you haven’t. Salvation has been worked out for you by another. Many go all round the world in search of honour or possessions. Salvation is worth thousands of times more than any thing earth can produce; but you don’t get it that way. God has but one price for salvation. Do you want to know what it is? It is without money and without price. Rowland Hill said that most auctioneers found they had hard work to get people up to their price, but that he had hard work to get people down to his. “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life.” Who will have it now? I say to you, young man, will you have this gift? Suppose I was going over London Bridge, and saw a poor miserable beggar, bare-footed, coatless, hatless, with no rags hardly to cover his nakedness, and right behind him, only a few yards, there was the Prince of Wales with a bag of gold, and the poor beggar was running away from him as if he was running away from a demon, and the Prince of Wales was hallooing after him, “Oh, beggar, here is a bag of gold!” Why, we should say the beggar had gone mad to be running away from the Prince of Wales with the bag of gold. Sinner, that is your condition. The Prince of Heaven wants to give you eternal life, and you are running away from Him.

THE DYING SOLDIER.

Then you say, “If it is not by working in earnest, how am I to be saved?” I will tell you; Scripture will tell you—that is better. Take the illustration Christ used to Nicodemus; you could not have a better. He took him to the remedy: “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John iii. 14, 15). Now there is the remedy. How am I to be saved? By looking to Christ; just by looking. It’s very cheap, isn’t it? Very simple, isn’t it? Just look away to the Lamb of God now and be saved. What says the great wilderness preacher? “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” You might say the whole plan of salvation is in two words—Giving; Receiving. God gives; I receive.

I remember, after one of the terrible battles in the American Civil War—I was in the army, tending soldiers—and I had just laid down one night, past midnight, to get a little rest, when a man came and told me that a wounded soldier wanted to see me. I went to the dying man. He said, “I wish you to help me to die.” I said, “I would help you to die if I could. I would take you on my shoulders and carry you into the kingdom of God if I could; but I cannot. I can tell you of One who can.” And I told him of Christ being willing to save him; and how Christ left heaven and came into the world to seek and to save that which was lost. I just quoted promise after promise, but all was dark, and it almost seemed as if the shades of eternal death were gathering around his soul. I could not leave him, and at last I thought of this third chapter of John, and I said to him, “Look here, I am going to read to you now a conversation that Christ had with a man that went to Him when he was in your state of mind, and inquired what he was to do to be saved.” I just read that conversation to the dying man, and he lay there with his eves rivetted upon me, and every word seemed to be going home to his heart, which was open to receive the truth. When I came to the verse where it says, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life”—the dying man cried, “Stop, sir. Is that there?” “Yes, it is all here.” Then he said, “Won’t you please read it to me again?” I read it the second time. The dying man brought his hands together, and he said, “Bless God for that. Won’t you please read it to me again?” I read through the whole chapter, but long before the end of it he had closed his eyes. He seemed to lose all interest in the rest of the chapter, and when I got through it his arms were folded on his breast, he had a sweet smile on his face; remorse and despair had fled away. His lips were quivering, and I leant over him, and heard him faintly whisper from his dying lips, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” He opened his eyes, and fixed his calm, deathly look on me, and he said, “Oh, that is enough; that is all I want”; and in a few hours he pillowed his dying head upon the truth of those two verses, and rode away on one of the Saviour’s chariots, and took his seat in the kingdom of God.

Oh, sinner, you can be saved now if you will! Look and live. May God help every lost one here to look on the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

THE BLOOD

“And almost all things are by the law purged with blood, and without the shedding of blood is no remission.”—Heb. ix. 22.

No man can give a satisfactory reason for the hope that is in him if he is a stranger to the “Blood.” At the very commencement of the Bible we find reference made to the subject in Genesis iii. 21: “Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.” In this verse we get the first glimpse of blood. Certainly God could not have clothed Adam and Eve with the skins of beasts unless He had shed blood. Here, then, we have the innocent suffering for the guilty—the doctrine of substitution in the garden of Eden. God dealt with Adam in grace before He dealt in judgment. Death came by sin. Adam had sinned, and the Lord came down to make the way of escape. God came to him as a loving friend, and not to hurl him from the earth. Adam could have said to Eve, “Though the Lord has driven us out of the garden of Eden, He loves us,” for this coat is a token of love.

God put a lamp of promise into Adam’s hand before He drove him out; for He said, “The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent’s head.” Did you ever think what a terrible state of things it would be if man was allowed to live for ever in his lost, ruined state? It was from love to Adam that God drove him out of Eden, that he should not live for ever. God put the cherubim with a flaming sword there. But now Christ has taken the sword out of his hand, and opened wide the gate, so that we can come in and eat. Adam might have been in Eden ten thousand years, and then be led astray by Satan; but now “our life is hid with Christ in God.” Man is safer with the second Adam out of Eden than with the first Adam in Eden.

Let us next turn to Genesis iv. 4: “And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering.” Cain and Abel were brought up outside of Eden, and had the same parents, and both received the same instruction as to how they were to draw near to God; but

CAIN CAME IN HIS OWN WAY,

while Abel came in the way God commanded. Cain said to himself, “I am not going to bring a bleeding lamb. Here is the grain and the beautiful fruit that I have raised by my industry; and I’m sure it looks better than blood, and I’m not going to bring blood.” Now it was not that there was any difference between these two men, but it was the offering which each brought. One came in the way God had marked out, and the other in a way of his own. Now there are a great many just like that at the present day. They prefer what is agreeable to the eye, as Cain did his beautiful corn and fruit, and they do not like the doctrine of

THE BLOOD OF ATONEMENT.

But any religion that makes light of the Blood is the work of the devil, even if an angel from heaven came down to preach salvation through any other means.

Undoubtedly on the morning of creation God marked out the way a man might come to Him; and Abel walked in God’s way, and Cain in his own. Perhaps Cain could not bear the sight of blood, and so he took that which God had cursed and laid it upon the altar.

THERE ARE MANY CAINITES IN THE CHURCH

even now; and some have got into the pulpit, and they preach against the doctrine of the Blood, and that we can get to heaven without the Blood. From the time Adam went out of Eden there have been Abelites and Cainites. The Abelites come by the way of the Blood—the way God had marked out for them. The Cainites come by their own way. They repudiate the doctrine of the Blood, and say it does not atone for sin. But it is better to take God’s word than man’s opinion.

Again, turn to Genesis viii. 20: “And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt-offerings on the altar.” We have thus passed over the first two thousand years, and have come to the second dispensation. The thought I want to call your attention to is this: The first thing Noah did when he got out of the ark was to build an altar and slay the animals, thus putting blood between him and his sin. The second dispensation is founded upon blood; and these animals were taken through the flood in the ark that they might illustrate the indispensable necessity of the shedding of blood.

ABRAHAM OFFERING UP ISAAC.

Again, in Genesis xxii. 13, it is written: “And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt-offering in the stead of his son.” The ram was typical, and was offered up in the place of Abraham’s son. God loved Abraham so much that He spared his son; but He so loved the world that He would not spare His own Son, but gave Him up freely for us all. It may be that from the top of the mountain Abraham saw a glorious sight. He saw Christ going up Calvary carrying His cross. He saw that mountain peak sprinkled with blood; and he saw that sacrifices were to go on until the true Isaac made His appearance and offered Himself for us all. Abraham had the altar built, and he was ordered to take his only son, and to bind him, and to slay him; and he bound that boy, and everything was ready. He took the knife, and was about to slay him, because it was the will and command of God. He did not know what it meant; but he obeyed.

Would that there were more men like him now, ready to obey God in the dark without asking the reason why! The old man took his son, and he told him the secret that he had hid from him all the journey—that God had told him to offer him up as a sacrifice. And he bound the boy hand and foot, and laid him all ready on the altar; and just when he was about to stretch forth his hand and slay him, he heard a voice from heaven calling to him: “Abraham, Abraham, spare thy son.” God was more merciful to the son of Abraham than to His own, for He gave Him up freely for us all. He opened up to him the curtain of time, and showed him Christ coming in the future; and Abraham saw his sins laid on Christ and was glad.

THE PASSOVER.

In Exodus xii. 13 we read: “And the blood shall be to you for a token on the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you.” God did not say, When I see your good deeds; when I see how you have prayed, and wept, and cried. No; but “When I see the blood I will pass over you. The blood shall be a token.” What was it saved those men? Was it their good resolutions or their works? It was the blood. “When I see the blood I will pass over you.” Very likely when some of the lords, and dukes, and great men rode through Goshen, and saw the Israelites sprinkling their dwellings, they said they never saw such foolishness, and that they were spoiling their houses. They were to sprinkle the door-posts and lintels of their houses with the blood, but not the threshold. God would not have

THE BLOOD TRAMPLED UPON,

Some preachers speak not of the death of Christ, but His life, because it is more pleasing to the natural ear; but the life of Christ may be preached for ever and it will not save any man, if His death is left out. A live lamb could not have kept death out of the houses of Goshen. God did not say that He wanted a live lamb at every door, but to have the lintels and door-posts sprinkled with the blood of the lamb. People sometimes say, “If I was as good as that minister, that preached the gospel for fifty years”; or, “If I was as good as that mother, who did so and so for her children”; but if we are behind the blood of God’s Son, we are just as safe as any Christian that has ever walked the face of the earth.

It is not a long life of usefulness that makes men and women acceptable to God. We must work for Christ; but we get salvation as a gift, and then begin to work because we cannot help it. All the work a person does before he becomes converted goes for nothing.

The little child down in Goshen behind the blood of the lamb was just as safe as Joshua, or any man in the whole town. The angel of death passed by when he saw the blood. The little tiny fly was as safe in the ark with Noah as the elephant. It was equally the ark that saved the fly and the elephant, and it is

THE BLOOD THAT SAVES

the weakest and the strongest. When death came that night with his sword, he entered the palace of the prince, and went into the houses of the great and mighty, and they all had to pay tribute to death; for the first-born in Egypt was smitten down that night. The only thing that kept death out was death itself. The only way that death can be met is by death. I have sinned, and must die; or get some one to die for me. The great question is—Have you got the token? If death should come after any one of us to-night, are we sheltered behind the blood? that is the point. It is the blood that atones. Not my good resolutions, or prayers, or position in society, or what I have done, but what has been done by another. God looks for the token.

Take another illustration. Suppose a man wanted to go from London to Liverpool, and he got into a railway carriage, he would soon hear the guard running along the platform crying out for tickets. A man might be rich or he might be poor, black or white, he might be learned or unlearned, that was not what the guard wanted to know—he wanted to see the tickets; for the ticket was the token, and if you have got a ticket you pass.

NO DEATH WHERE THE BLOOD WAS.

The Egyptians looked at the Israelites killing a lamb and sprinkling the blood on the door-posts no doubt as a very foolish proceeding, but not one house in the city, upon the doorposts and lintels of which the blood was not sprinkled, escaped; no matter who were the inhabitants, rich or poor, that night there was no difference. There was a wail heard in every habitation, from the palace to the meanest hovel where the blood had not been sprinkled, but where it had been sprinkled death was kept out. That showed clearly the truth, that without the shedding of blood there is no remission. Let no man or woman be guilty of laughing at this doctrine, that “the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin.”

In the eleventh verse of the same chapter we read, “And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the Lord’s passover.” Why you have not got more power is because you don’t feed on the Lamb; and this is why there are so many weak Christians. The Lamb not only atones for our sins, but we are to feed upon the Lamb. We have got a wilderness journey before us, as the children of Israel had. After we are saved we are to feed upon Christ; He is the true bread from heaven. If I don’t feed my soul with the true bread from heaven I am sickly, and have not power to go and work for Christ; and that is the reason, I believe, why so few in the Church have power. Some people think if they get one glimpse of Christ that is enough.

Some think much of their dinner; why should not God’s children think a good deal of

THEIR SPIRITUAL FOOD?

We should no more think of laying in spiritual food to last for ten years than we should bodily food. A good many people are living on stale manna. A man in Ireland said to his boy, “I want you to eat two breakfasts. Do you know why?” The boy said he understood one was for his body and the other for his soul. All Christians should similarly take two breakfasts, for the soul and for the body.

The Passover was to be to the Jews the beginning of months. “This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you” (Exodus xii. 2). All the 400 years that they had been in bondage went for naught, because this was the first month of the year to them. And in like manner throughout all the years that we have served the devil, and all the time that we have been in Egypt, whatever good we may have done in this world is to be reckoned as naught. Everything dates back to the Passover night—to the time the blood was put upon the door-posts. All the time we are serving the world goes for naught. If you have not come to Calvary you are losing time. Everything you do on the wrong side of the cross counts for naught; the first thing is to be saved by faith in Christ, and then we commence our pilgrimage to heaven. We don’t start, as some people suppose, from the cradle to heaven. We start from the cross. We have got a fallen nature that is taking us hellward. We must be born of the Spirit, and

SHELTERED BY THE BLOOD,

Each man was to take a lamb for his house. “And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb.” The lamb was not too little for a household, but the household might be too little for the lamb. Christ was enough for every household, enough and to spare, and we ought to pray that salvation may come to every member of our households.

Let us next turn to Exodus xxix. 16: “And thou shalt slay the ram, and thou shalt take his blood, and sprinkle it round about upon the altar.” Even Aaron could not come to God until he sprinkled blood round about the altar; and when the high priest went into the holy of holies, he had to take blood with him. From the time when Adam fell there has been no other way by which a man can approach God than by the blood. You cannot have an audience of God until you come by that appointed way. So it has been for 6000 years. When Adam fell in Eden he broke the golden chain that linked humanity to the throne of God, but Christ came and made atonement for that fall.

Again, observe in Leviticus viii. 23: “And he slew it; and Moses took of the blood of it, and put it upon the tip of Aaron’s right ear, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot.” I used to read a passage like this, and say it seemed absurd. I think I understand it now. The blood upon the ear means that we are to hear the voice of God. The unconverted man does not understand the voice of God; and we are told that when the voice of God was heard, the uncircumcised said that it thundered. They did not know the difference between God’s voice and thunder. Without the blood we cannot hear the voice of God and understand it. A man must be sheltered behind the blood before he can hear God’s voice.

WORK FOR GOD.

You cannot work for God until you are sheltered behind the blood; and until you are sheltered it all stands for naught. You may build churches, endow colleges, pay ministers and missionaries; but it all goes for naught until you are sheltered behind the blood. Don’t let any one deceive you on this point. Don’t let Satan deceive you by telling you that you can get to heaven by some other way. They asked Christ, “What must we do that we may work the works of God?” Perhaps these men had got their pockets full of money, and were ready and willing to build churches. Christ told them that the work of God was that they should believe in His Son. But they were not willing to do such a small thing; they would rather do some greater thing; but that was not what was wanted. You cannot do anything to please God until you believe.

“Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice.” People may work day and night, and even work themselves to death; but they never will do right until they do what God requires them to do.

The blood on the toe of the right foot was to show that Aaron was to walk with God. When Adam fell, communion with God was broken. Before he had walked with God; but the moment he sinned he fell out of communion with Him; and from that time to this God has been trying to get man back into communion. God is full of truth and justice. His justice must be met; and after that has been met He is satisfied. God never walked with men until He put them behind the blood at Goshen. What could stand before them then? They passed through the Red Sea, and God said to Joshua, “Take this country, and no man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life.” In the days of Joshua there were whole regiments of giants; but one stripling from the Lord’s hosts defeated the giant of Gath. If God is with us, the giants will be like grasshoppers; but if God is not with us, it will be different. I would rather have ten men separated from the world than ten thousand nominal Christians who go to the prayer-meeting to-night and the ball to-morrow.

In Leviticus xvi. 14 it is said: “He shall take of the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy-seat eastward; and before the mercy-seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times.” It seems as if God originally gave Adam a life by which he held communion with Him; but on the day that he broke the command he lost that communion. And ever since God has been trying to get men back into communion with Himself. But how could God be just and the justifier of sinners? That is done through the Blood of Christ. “The life of the flesh is in the blood.” God demands blood to atone for sin.

MAN’S LIFE WAS FORFEITED,

and he had to die, or pay the wages of death. He could not pay the penalty and live; so he wanted a substitute. Every man had sinned, and could not be a substitute for his fellow; but Christ was sinless, and could become the substitute for man; and He has become that substitute, because He has died in the room and stead of man to satisfy the law. Then the question for each and every one to answer is, whether they will love Him and serve Him who has died to redeem them by His precious Blood.

In Leviticus xvii. 11, we read: “For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.” There may be some who are saying, Why does God demand blood? Some one said to me: “I detest your God; He demands blood. I don’t believe in such a God; for my God is merciful to all.” I want to say, My God is full of mercy! But don’t be so blind as to believe that God is not just, and that He has not got a government. Suppose Queen Victoria didn’t like any man to be deprived of his liberty, and she threw all her prisons open, and was so merciful that she could not bear any one to suffer for guilt, how long would she hold the sceptre? how long would she rule this empire? Not twenty-four hours. Those very men who cry out about God being merciful would say: “We don’t want such a Queen.”

GOD IS JUST.

God is merciful, but He will not take an unredeemed sinner into heaven. If He did, the redeemed would plant the banner of indignant remonstrance round the throne, and there would be a revolt in heaven. God said to Adam, On the day thou sinnest thou shalt surely die. Sin entered, and brought death into the world. God’s word must be kept. I must either die, or get somebody to die for me; and in the fulness of time Christ comes forward to die for the sinner. He was without sin; but if He had committed one sin, He would have had to die for His own sin. The life of the flesh is in the blood; and it is not blood He demands really; it is life, and life has been forfeited. We have sinned, and death must come, or justice must take its course. Glory to God in the highest because He sent His Son, born of a woman, to take our nature and die in our stead, tasting death for every man. You take this blood out of this body of mine, and life is gone.

GOD DEMANDS BLOOD.

He demands life. Man has sinned; therefore life must be forfeited, and I must die, or find somebody to die for me. My friends, I have only just touched this subject. If you read your Bibles carefully you will find the scarlet thread running through the Bible. It commenced in Eden and flows on to Revelation. I cannot find anything to tell me the way to heaven

BUT BY THE BLOOD.

This book (holding up the Bible) wouldn’t be worth carrying home if you take the scarlet thread out of it; and it doesn’t teach anything else; for the blood commences in Genesis, and goes on to Revelation. That is what this book is written for. It tells its own story; and if a man should come and preach another gospel, don’t you believe him. If an angel should come and preach anything else, don’t believe it. Don’t trifle with the subject of the Blood. In your dying hour you would give more to be sheltered behind this Blood than for all the world.

A MOTHER’S LOVE.

In the time of the Californian gold fever a man went to the diggings, and left his wife to follow him some time afterwards. While on her voyage with her little boy, the vessel caught fire; and as there was a powder-magazine on board, the captain knew when the flames reached it the ship would be blown up. The fire could not be got under, so they took to the life-boats; but there was not room for all. As the last boat pushed off, the mother and boy stood on the deck. One of the sailors said there was room for another. What did the mother do? She decided to perish herself in order to save her boy. She dropped him into the boat, and with a mother’s last look, said: “If you should live to see your father, tell him that I died in your place.” Do you think when that boy grew up he could fail to love that mother who died to save him? My friends, this is a faint type of what Christ has done for you and me. He died for our sins. He left heaven for that purpose. Will you go away saying, I see no beauty in Him. May God break every heart here! You will need Him when you come to cross the swelling of Jordan. You will need Him when you go up to the bar of God. God forbid that when death comes it should find you without Christ, and without God, and without hope!

Not only is the vitally important subject of the “Blood of Christ” referred to frequently in the Old Testament, but likewise in many places in the New Testament.

Let us turn to the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, and verses 22-26, “Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.” What is this but the bloodshedding and death of Christ? Read also Acts iv. 10; v. 28; vii. 52; viii. 32; x. 39; xvii. 3; xviii. 21; Hebrews ix. 22; 1 Peter i. 19; and many other passages will be found if the word Blood is referred to in a Concordance.

REDEMPTION.

A friend of mine was in Ireland, and saw a little Irish boy who had caught a sparrow, and the poor little bird was trembling and panting in his hand, from which it wanted to get away. It was evidently very much affrighted. The gentleman told the boy to let it go, as the bird could not do him any good; but the boy said he would not let it escape, for he had been chasing it for three hours before he could catch it. The gentleman then offered to buy the bird, and the boy agreed to a price, which was paid. He took the poor bird and held it out on his palm, where it sat for a time, scarcely able to realise the fact that it had got its liberty; but at last it flew away, chirping, as if to say to the gentleman, “You have redeemed me.”

That is an illustration of what is meant by redemption. Satan is stronger than any man upon earth, and there is no match for him but Christ. The lion of Calvary—the lion of the tribe of Judah—He is stronger than the lion of hell. When Christ on Calvary said, “It is finished!” it was the shout of the conqueror. He came to redeem the world by His death.

Once when I was re-visiting my native village I was going to a neighbouring town to preach, and saw a young man coming from a house in a carriage, in which was seated an old woman. I felt interested in them, and asked my companion who they were. I was told to look at the adjoining meadow and pasture, and great barns that were on the farm, as well as a good house. “Well,” said my companion, “that young man’s father drank that all up, and left his wife in the poorhouse. The young man went away and worked until he had got money enough to redeem that farm, and now it is his own, and he is taking his mother to church.” That is another illustration of redemption.

In the first Adam we have lost all, but the second Adam has redeemed everything by His death. A friend of mine who was in Paris went to a great meeting of Jews, at which one of the leading men presided, and that man said the Jews had the honour of killing the Christian’s God; and those Jews stamped and applauded at the statement. They were proud of the act, and cried out, “His blood be upon us, and upon our children,” and that imprecation has been literally fulfilled in their history. Now His blood either cries for our peace and salvation or for our condemnation.

PEACE.

In Colossians i. 20 it is written, “Having made peace through the blood of the cross, by Him to reconcile all things to Himself; by Him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.” That is what the blood of the cross does, it brings peace. In Romans v. it is written, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” In this three things are stated: there is justification for the past as well as peace. As the believer looks back to Calvary, the blood speaks peace and pardon for guilt. Then there is grace for the present, and glory for the future.

In John xix. 34 it is written, “But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced His side, and forthwith came thereout blood and water.” There is a striking fact intimated in this verse. The spear that went into the side of the Son of God was the crowning act of sin, the culminating crime of earth and hell. I don’t see how they could have done a more cruel thing than that. What act could have been more black and hellish? And the blood came out and covered the spear, and a fountain was thus opened in the house of David for sin. The blood touched the Roman spear, and it was not long before the Roman government became at least nominally Christian. The blood ran down from His side upon the earth, and this earth has been redeemed by Him; for He will have the world by and by. He is

THE TRUE SOVEREIGN,

and He will ere long cast out the prince of darkness, and sway His sceptre from end to end of this earth. A little longer, and He will personally return and set up His millennial kingdom and reign over this earth. He has redeemed the earth by His blood, and He will have all He has redeemed.

ONENESS IN CHRIST.

Has the Blood touched you? The blood of Christ makes us one, brings us into the family of God, and enables us to cry, “Abba, Father.” At the time of the American war, during the days of slavery in America, when there was much political strife and strong prejudice against the black men, especially by Irishmen, I heard a preacher say, that when he came to the cross for salvation he seemed to find a poor negro on one side and an Irishman on the other side, and the blood came trickling down upon them and made them one. There may be strife in the world, but those whom Christ has redeemed He has made one family. We are blood relatives.

When I go before an audience, there is hardly a person I have seen before; but as I begin to talk about the King their eyes light up, and I see they are kinsmen, they are blood relatives, and in a short time I become attached to them. A man may go into a town a perfect stranger, but as soon as he finds out those who love God, they will be one. I wish Christians had more of this oneness. I hope the time will soon come when sectarian walls will be broken down, and people will not want to ask whether you belong to the Established, Wesleyan, or Baptist Churches. If washed in the blood, we are blood relatives. I believe

GOD WILL JUDGE THE WORLD BY THE BLOOD.

“What have you done with that blood?” will be the great question in that day. If we make light of it, and send back an insulting message, saying we don’t stand in need of it, we shall stand speechless before God’s tribunal. If we make light of that blood, what is going to become of our souls?

JUSTIFICATION.

The only way a man can be brought within the family of God is by the blood, as it is said in Romans iii. 24, “Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus”; and again in Romans v. 9, “Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.” Justified from all things from which we could not be by the law of Moses. When God looks into His ledger, there is nothing found against the man who is washed in the blood. One plunge in the crimson fountain, and the sinner is justified in the sight of God. Christ was raised from the grave for the justification of all who put their trust in Him, and such are not only pardoned men but justified men. Justification is more than pardon. It is said of an emperor of Russia that he sent on one occasion for two noblemen who were charged with some conspiracy, and one he found to be perfectly innocent, so he sent him home justified; but the other was proved guilty, but was pardoned. They both returned home, but ever afterwards would stand very differently in the estimation of their sovereign and neighbours. From that may be seen the difference between pardon and justification.

CONFIDENCE.

When a man is justified he can go through the world with his head erect. Satan may come to him, and say, “You are a sinner”; but the reply would be, “I know that, but God has forgiven me through Christ”; as it is written in Revelation i. 5, “And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto Him that loved us, and washed us in His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God the Father; to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever.”

Many people try to come to Christ, but think they cannot come unless they first become good. But He loves all Christians even before their sins are washed away. He loves them, and then washes them in His own blood. It is wonderful love! To think that He loves them first and then washes them in His blood from their sins! There is no devil in hell that can pluck them out of His hand. They are perfectly safe; for they are washed in the blood of the Lamb.

NO REMISSION WITHOUT BLOOD.

It is said in Hebrews ix. 22, “And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood there is no remission.” It is utterly impossible that a man can be saved who makes light of the blood. There is no other name under heaven whereby we can be saved than the name of Christ Jesus. Are we willing to receive what Christ has already done? The salvation of those who trust in Him was already worked out when He said upon the cross, “It is finished.”

In Matthew xxvi. 28 we get the words of Christ Himself: “For this is my blood of the New Testament, which was shed for many for the remission of sins.” That was what Christ Himself said about the blood. He could have saved His life, but He loved the human family so much that He shed His blood for their redemption. He opened that fountain referred to in the lines:

There is a great deal about the blood in these hymns, and they will all live. Every hymn into which the scarlet thread is woven will live. There is another sweet hymn that will last through all ages:

In Hebrews x. 19 we read, “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which He hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, His flesh.” When Christ’s work was done, the veil of the temple was rent from the top to the bottom. God came out of the holy of holies, and man can now go in. He makes all His people in this dispensation kings and priests. Every one can come right into the presence of God Himself. In the Jewish dispensation none but the high priests could enter into the holy of holies; but the veil being rent, God came out and man can go in through the veil of His flesh. “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.” Let us hold fast the profession of our faith. The new and living way has been opened by His blood. The only thing that Christ left down here was His blood. When He ascended to heaven, He took with Him His flesh and His bones, but His shed blood was left on this earth.

THE BLOOD HAS TWO CRIES.

It either cries for my damnation, or for my salvation. If I make light of the blood, and trample it under my feet, then it cries out for God’s condemnation; but if I am sheltered behind the blood, there is no condemnation for me. God dealt in judgment with Cain; and when Pilate wanted to know what to do with Christ, he washed his hands and said he was innocent. The Jews said, “Let His blood be upon us and our children, not to save us, but to condemn us.” Would that they had said, “Let His blood be upon us to save us and protect us.” Nearly 1900 years have rolled away, and the Jews are wanderers on the face of the earth without a king. Their having been scattered all these years, what a proof it is the word of God is true! May our prayer be to-day, His blood be upon us and our children, not to condemn us, but to save us. Let that be our prayer, that we may know what it is to be sheltered behind the blood of God’s dear Son. The blood of the cross speaks peace. If I am sheltered behind the blood, there is peace, but there is no peace until my sin is covered. If you had committed sin against a man, you would get no peace until that was forgiven. Men are running after peace; and if it could be bought in the market, many would give hundreds of thousands of pounds to secure it. The blood of Christ speaks peace, and it will bring peace to every guilty conscience and aching heart to-day if you only seek it.

In Hebrews x. 28, 29, we read: “He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?” To me these are very solemn verses. I don’t see how any one can sit here and hear these verses read and be content to remain unsaved. “They died without mercy”; but how much more sore will be the punishment of those who live in this age with an open Bible, which tells how Christ died to redeem us, and make us heirs of heaven.

In Revelation xii. 11, we read: “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.” They overcame by the blood. I don’t believe there is a word in the Bible Satan is fearing more than the word “blood.” Judging from past experience, I shall probably receive many letters to-morrow attacking me for what I have said to-day. These letters will say it is heathenish to stand up and preach what would only do for an unenlightened age. May God forgive those who dare to say such things. If you will read your Bible in the light of Calvary, you will find there is no other way of coming to heaven but by the blood. The devil does not fear ten thousand preachers who preach a bloodless religion. A man who preaches a bloodless religion is doing the devil’s work, and I don’t care who he is.

VICTORY THROUGH THE BLOOD.

It is said of old Dr. Alexander, of Princeton Seminary, that when he parted with the students who were going to preach the gospel, he would take them by the hand, and say, “Young man, make much of the blood—make much of the blood.”

As I have travelled up and down Christendom I have found out that a minister who gives a clear sound upon this doctrine is successful. A man who covers up the cross, though he may be an intellectual man, and draw large crowds, cannot touch the heart and conscience. There will be no life there, and his church will be like a gilded sepulchre. Those men who preach the doctrine of the cross, holding up Christ as the sinner’s only hope of heaven, and as the sinner’s only substitute, and make much of the blood, God honours, and souls are always saved where that truth is preached.

MAKE MUCH OF THE BLOOD.

May God help us to make much of the blood of His Son. It cost God so much to give us this blood, and shall we try to keep it from the world which is perishing from the want of it? The world can get along without us, but not without Christ. Let us preach Christ in season and out of season. Let us go to the sick and dying, and hold up the Saviour who came to seek and save them, and died to redeem them.

CHRIST WILL CONQUER.

It is said of Julian the Apostate in Rome, that when he was trying to stamp out Christianity he was pierced in the side by an arrow. He pulled the arrow out, and taking a handful of blood as it flowed from the wound, threw it into the air, shouting, “THOU GALILÆAN, THOU HAST CONQUERED!” Yes, this Galilæan is going to conquer. May God help us to give no uncertain sound on this doctrine.

I would rather give up my life than give up this doctrine. Take that away, and what is my hope in heaven? Am I to depend upon my works? Away with them when it comes to the question of salvation. I must get salvation distinct and separate from works, for it is “to him that worketh not, but believeth on Christ.” None will walk the celestial pavement of heaven but those washed in the blood. The first man that went up from this earth was probably Abel. You can see Abel putting his little lamb upon the altar, thus placing blood between him and his sin. Abel sang a song the angels could not join in. There must have been one solo song of redemption in heaven, because Abel had no one to join him. But there is a great chorus now, for the redeemed have been going up for six thousand years, and they sing of Him who is worthy to receive honour because He died to save us from condemnation.

ROBES MADE WHITE THROUGH THE BLOOD.

In Revelation vii. 14, we read: “And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” Sinner, how are you going to get your robes clean if you don’t get them washed in the blood of the Lamb? How are you going to wash them? Can you by yourself make them clean? Oh, may we all reach that paradise above! There they are singing the sweet song of redemption, and may it be the happy lot of each of us to join them. It may be only a short time, at the longest, before we shall be there, and shout the song of redemption, and sing the sweet song of Moses and the Lamb. There “they hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and lead them to living fountains of water: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.” At that day sceptics and scoffers will pray for the rocks and mountains to fall on them, and cover them from the wrath of God. If you die without Christ, without hope, and without God, where will you be? Sinner, be wise! don’t make light of the blood!

THE DYING SAINT.

An aged minister of the gospel, when dying, said, “Bring me the Bible.” Putting his finger upon the verse, “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin,” he said, “I die in the hope of this verse.” It wasn’t his fifty years’ preaching, nor his long life in the Lord’s service, but the blood of Christ, upon which he relied. When we stand before God’s tribunal we shall be pure, even as He is pure, if we are washed in the blood of the Lamb.

THE PRECIOUS BLOOD.

During the American war a doctor heard a man saying, “Blood, blood, blood!” The doctor thought this was because he had seen so much blood shed upon battlefields, and endeavoured to soothe his mind. The man smiled, and said, “I wasn’t thinking of the blood upon the battlefield, but I was thinking how precious the blood of Christ is to me as I am dying.” As he died his lips quivered, “Blood, blood, blood!” and he was gone. Oh, it will indeed be precious when we come to our dying bed! it will then be worth more to us than all the world! One sin is enough to exclude us from heaven, but one drop of Christ’s blood is sufficient to cover all our sins.

THE DOWN GRADE.

A stage-driver away on the Pacific coast—as I was told when I was there about three years ago—while lying on his dying bed, kept moving one of his feet up and down, saying, “I am on the down grade, and cannot reach the brake.” As they told me of it, I thought how many were on the down grade, and could not reach the brake, and were dying without God and without hope. I plead with you as a fellow-traveller; don’t go out of this hall without saying, “Heaven is my home, and God is my Father.” Don’t let the scoffers laugh you into hell; they cannot laugh you out of it. The Blood is upon the mercy-seat, and while it is upon the mercy-seat you can enter into the kingdom. God says, “There is the Blood; it is all I have to give. As long as it is there, there is hope for you. I am satisfied with the finished work of my Son, and will you be satisfied?” Don’t leave this meeting until you can claim this as yours.

How dark and sad it is to go to the bedside of a dying infidel or atheist, or one who is dying without the light of the resurrection morn. But if we trust to Christ, death has lost its sting, and the grave its victory.

An eminent minister in America, Alfred Cookman, the Robert McCheyne of his day, was dying, and when his friends were gathered round his couch, waiting to see him depart to be with Christ, his face lit up, and with a shout of triumph he said, “I am sweeping through the gates, washed in the blood of the Lamb!” And this echoes and re-echoes through America to-day: “I am sweeping through the gates, washed in the blood of the Lamb!” May these be our last words, and may an abundant entrance be granted us into the gates of the heavenly city!

CHRIST ALL IN ALL

Christ is all in all to every one who has truly found Him. He is our Saviour, Redeemer, Deliverer, Shepherd, Teacher, and also sustains toward us many more offices, to which I desire to call your attention.

SAVIOUR:

“Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” We learn to know Christ as our Saviour, to meet Him on Mount Calvary, to look on Him as the bleeding Lamb of God, before we know Him as our Redeemer, Deliverer, and Shepherd. Now, looking round upon this vast assembly, I, who do not know the hearts of the people, cannot know whether you can say that Christ is your Saviour. There are many, I trust, who can say this, and who rejoice in His salvation; while, without being uncharitable, I am afraid there are many who know nothing personally of Jesus as their Saviour.

He is offered to every one of you to-day as a Saviour; “God gave Him up freely for us all,” that we all through Him might be saved. If you are belonging to this world, I can prove that you have a Saviour. If you belonged to some other planet, such as the moon or any of the stars, then I could not say a Saviour was offered to you; for it is not revealed whether the people of these distant worlds, even if they are inhabited, require salvation or not. But this I know, that every man on this globe has a Saviour offered him.

SALVATION FREE TO ALL.

I have no sympathy with those men who try to limit God’s salvation to a certain few. I believe that Christ died for all who will come. I have received many letters finding fault with me, and saying I surely don’t believe the doctrine of election. I do believe in election; but I have no business to preach that doctrine to the world at large. The world has nothing to do with election; it has only to do with the invitation, “Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” That is the message for the sinner. I am sent to preach the gospel to all.

After you have received salvation, we can talk about election. It’s a doctrine for Christians, for the Church, not for the unconverted world. Our message is “good tidings, which shall be to all people; for unto you is born this day a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” All people, this Saviour is proffered to you. Accept Him, and God will accept you; reject Him, and God will reject you. Your eternal destiny depends on your refusal or otherwise to accept the proffered Saviour. The case is simply one of giving and taking. God gives; I receive. We must, then, first of all know Christ as our Saviour.

REDEEMER.

Supposing I saw a man tumble into a river, and I were to jump in and rescue him, I should be a saviour to him—I should have saved him. But when I brought the man ashore, I should probably leave him, and do nothing further.

But the Lord does more. He not only saves us, but He redeems us—that is, buys us back. He ransoms us from the power of sin, as if I should promise to watch over that rescued man for ever, and see that he did not again fall into the water. The Lord not only saves us from spiritual death, but He redeems us for ever that death can never touch us.

LIBERTY TO THE CAPTIVES.

When I was at Richmond, U.S., the coloured people were going to have a meeting. It was the first day of their freedom. I went to the African church, and never before or since heard such bursts of native eloquence. “Mother,” said one, “rejoice to-day. Your little child has been sold from you for the last time; your posterity are for ever free. Glory to God in the highest! Young men, you have heard the driver’s whip for the last time; you are free to-day! Young maidens, you have been put up on the auction-block for the last time!” They spoke right out, they shouted for joy; their prayers had been answered, it was the gospel to them. In like manner Jesus Christ proclaims liberty to the captives. Some have accepted it; some, like the poor negroes, scarcely believe the good tidings; but it is none the less true. Christ has come to redeem us from the slavery of sin. Now, who will accept of that redemption? There was one coloured woman, a servant in an inn in the Southern States, who could not believe she was free. “Be’s I free, or be I not?” she asked of a visitor. Her master told her she was not, her coloured brethren told her she was. For two years she had been free without knowing it. She represents a great many in the Church of God to-day. They can have liberty, and yet they don’t know it.

DELIVERER.

The children of Israel were not only saved and redeemed from the bondage of the Egyptians, but they were also delivered, that they should not be led back again into bondage. Many are afraid; they think they are not able to hold on, and therefore shrink from making a profession. But Christ is able to keep you from falling; He is able to deliver you in the dark hour of trial and temptation, from every evil device of Satan, and from the snare of the fowler.

In Isaiah xlix. 24, we read: “Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered? But thus saith the Lord, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children.” I will save him; I will deliver him. The children of Israel were saved from the cruel bondage of Egypt, they were led out of the land of Goschen; but still they were not fully delivered. The great host of the Egyptians was thundering behind them. It was not till they had passed safely through the Red Sea, which closing behind them, swallowed up the host of the enemy—it was not till then that they were free, that they were delivered.

And similarly in our times of danger we shall find it to be true of Christ, “He delivered my soul”; and again in Job xxxiii. 24, “Then He is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom. His flesh shall be fresher than a child’s: he shall return to the days of his youth! he shall pray unto God, and He will be favourable unto him: and he shall see His face with joy: for He will render unto man His righteousness. He will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light.”

Here we have the saving, the redeeming, the deliverance from the pit. Man is fallen into the deep pit, he is kept there a lawful captive by one who is mighty. If he is to be brought back from the darkness of the pit to see the light, then we must have a ransom. Here God comes forward, and says, “I have found a ransom.” Christ is the ransom, and He will deliver us. Sound out the cry, “Christ is our deliverer.” He is mighty to save, He is able to deliver.

A LEADER.

4. But now we need something more. Look back again to the children of Israel; when they had marched gloriously through the Red Sea, they had been saved, redeemed, and delivered; but was that all they required? No; they had been brought into the wilderness. What now do they need? They must have a way to go in the pathless desert. They required a leader. Then Christ is the way and the leader. Are we in difficulties, in doubt, or in perplexity? Christ is our way. “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John x.).

I have heard some say, “Well, if I am converted, and become religious, I don’t know what church I would go to. There are so many different churches and denominations. I really don’t know which is the right one.” Hence some people are bewildered, and do not know which is the true way. Well, I would say to such, Look only to Him who says,

“I AM THE WAY.”

He is the only true way, and if you want to reach the kingdom you have only to follow Him. We may be in darkness, but He is able to lead us in the right path. He is the Shepherd of His flock. He will go before us and lead us. He is calling upon us to arise and follow Him, and He will lead us by a way we know not; He will guide us to the green pastures if we only look to Him.

THE PILLAR OF CLOUD.

All that the children of Israel had to do was to follow the cloud. If the cloud rested, they rested; if the cloud moved forward, then they moved. I can imagine that the first thing Moses did, when the grey dawn of morning broke, was to look up and see if the cloud was still over the camp. By night it was a pillar of fire, lighting up the camp, and filling them with a sense of God’s protecting care; by day it was a cloud shielding them from the fierce heat of the sun’s rays, and sheltering them from the sight of their enemies.

Israel’s Shepherd could lead them through the pathless desert. Why? Because He made it. He knew every grain of sand in it. They could not have a better leader through the wilderness than its Creator.

And, sinner, can you, in all your difficulties or doubts and fears, have a better leader than Jehovah? Oh, I do like that good old hymn:

Yes, that is the true prayer of the bewildered sinner, God is able, and still more, He is willing, to lead us, and to feed us. “Thou gayest them bread from heaven for their hunger, and broughtest forth water for them out of the rock for their thirst” (Nehemiah ix. 15). He is still as able to lead any of us as He was four thousand years ago to lead the children of Israel, “For I am the Lord; I change not.” To every one of us He says, “Fear not, I will lead thee; I will help thee.” Wonderful thing, is it not, to have God to help us on our way?

In our Western countries, when men go out hunting into the dense backwoods, where there are no roads or paths of any kind, they take their hatchet and cut a little chip out of the bark of the trees as they go along, and then they easily find their way by these “blazes.” They call it “blazing the way.” And so, if you will allow me the expression, Christ has “blazed the way.” He has travelled the road Himself, and knowing the way, He tells us to follow Him, and He will lead us safe on high.

5. Now we have seen Christ is our Saviour, Redeemer, Deliverer, Leader, or Way. But He is more than all that;

HE IS OUR LIGHT.

“I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” He shall have the very “light of life.” Yes, it is the privilege of every Christian to walk in an unclouded sky.

But do we walk thus in an unclouded sky? No, most Christians are often in darkness. If I were to ask this congregation if they were all walking in the light, I believe there is scarcely one, if he spoke the true feeling of his heart, but would reply, “No, I am often in darkness.” Why is that? It is because we are not following Christ, and keeping close to Him. We are much in darkness when we might be in the light.

Suppose the windows of this building were all closed, and we were complaining of the darkness, what would any one say to us? Why, they would say, “Admit the light; open the windows all round, and you’ll soon have plenty of light.” Similarly we must let in Christ, who is the light, and open our minds to receive Him, and we shall soon walk in light. There is a great deal of darkness at the present time, even in the hearts of God’s own people. But follow Him, and then you will have plenty of light. Then Christ will show to each of us that He is “The Light”; and He will do more, He will set us on fire with His light, that we also may shine as lights in this dark world.

SHINE BRIGHTLY,

to flash out of darkness, that men may take knowledge of us that we have been with Jesus. But remember, the world hates the light. Christ was the light of the world, and the world sought to extinguish it at Calvary. Now He has left His people to shine. “Ye are the light of the world.” He has left us here to shine. He means us to be “living epistles, known and read of all men.” The world is certain to watch, and to read you and me. If we are inconsistent, then you may be sure the world will take occasion to stumble at us.

The world finds plenty of difficulties on the way; let us see that we Christians do not add more stumbling-blocks by our un-Christlike walk. God help us to keep our lights burning clear and brilliant! Out West a friend of mine was walking along one of the streets one dark night, and saw approaching him a man with a lantern. As he came up close to him he noticed by the bright light that the man had got no eyes. He went past, but the thought struck him, “Surely that man is blind.” He turned round, and said, “My friend, are you not blind?” “Yes.” “Then what have you got the lantern for?” “I carry the lantern that people may not stumble over me, of course,” said the blind man. Let us take a lesson from that blind man, and hold up our light, burning with the clear radiance of heaven, that men may not stumble over us.

6. Objectors have said that it’s all moonshine about Christ’s people being lights on the way. Well, that’s just what we believe; we reflect the light of Christ.

REFLECTED LIGHT.

Just like the moonshine, our light is borrowed light. When we are living in the light of our Saviour we shine with His light: somewhat like the face of Moses, which shone after he had been in the mount with God. Let us live in an atmosphere of heaven, and we cannot help shining. But whenever we get downcast and weak in faith, then we are sure to lose our light.

I remember during the American war I was in a prayer meeting. We were all very dark and gloomy. Things had been going against us for some time. At last an old man got up, and said, “What is the matter with us, that we are downhearted and sad? It is simply our lack of faith.” Moses, Joshua, and David were men strong in faith. They believed, and therefore God honoured them. Whence comes our want of faith? God is not dead. He is as powerful, as willing, to help to-day as ever He was. Why, then, are we not full of faith in Him? It is God-dishonouring to forget that He still has power, although our armies are defeated, and all seems dark and gloomy.

GET ABOVE THE CLOUDS.

I will tell you what happened to me some time ago when I was out West. I wanted to reach the summit of one of the Western mountains. I had been told that sunrise was very beautiful when seen from the summit. We got up to the half-way house one afternoon, where we were to rest till midnight, and then set out for the top. Soon a little party of us started with a good guide. Before a great while it began to rain, and then it became a regular storm of thunder and lightning. I thought there was little use in going on, and said to the guide, “Guess we’d better turn back; we won’t see anything this morning, with all these clouds.” “Oh,” said the guide, “I expect we’ll soon get through these clouds, and get above them, and then we’ll have a glorious view.” So we went on, whilst the thunders were rumbling right about our ears. But soon we began to get above the thunder-cloud; the air was quite clear, and when the sun rose we had a splendid view of his rays as they tinged the hilltops; and then, as the glorious sunshine began to break on where we stood, we could see the dark cloud far beneath our mountain height. That’s what God’s people want—to get into the clear air above the stormy clouds, and to

CLIMB HIGHER

away up to the mountain peak. There you’ll catch the first rays from the Sun of Righteousness far above the clouds and mists. Some of you may be in great darkness and gloom; but fear not, climb higher, get nearer to the Master, and soon you’ll catch His bright rays on your own soul, and they will sparkle back upon others.

KEEP THE LOWER LIGHTS BURNING.

We must live as children of the light, not as children of the darkness. If we are dark and sorrowful, how is the world to know that we are children of peace, and joy, and gladness? Our determination must be to keep our lights burning. A few years ago, at the mouth of Cleveland harbour there were two lights, one at each side of the bay, called the upper and lower lights; and, to enter the harbour safely by night, vessels must sight both of these lights. These Western lakes are more dangerous sometimes than the great ocean. One wild, stormy night a steamer was trying to make her way into the harbour. The captain and the pilot were anxiously watching for the lights. By and by the pilot was heard to say, “Do you see the lower lights?” “No,” was the reply; “but I fear we have passed them.” “Ah, there are the lights,” said the pilot! “and they must be, from the bluff on which they stand, the upper lights. We have passed the lower lights, and have lost our chance of getting into the harbour.” What was to be done? They looked back, and saw the dim outline of the lower lighthouse against the sky. The lights had gone out. “Can’t you turn her head round?” “No; the night is too wild for that. She won’t answer her helm.” The storm was so fearful that they could do nothing. They tried again to make for the harbour, but they went crash against the rocks, and sank to the bottom. Very few escaped; the great majority found a watery grave. Why? Simply because the lower lights had gone out.

And with us the upper lights are all right. Christ Himself is the upper light, and we are the lower lights, and the cry to us is, keep the lower lights burning, that is what we have to do. In the place God has put us He expects us to shine, to be living witnesses, to be a bright and shining light. While we are here our work is to shine for Him, and He will lead us safe to the sunlit shore of Canaan, where there is no more night.

OUR TEACHER.

What a wonderful thing to have a teacher sent from heaven. “If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him” (James i. 5).

“If any lack wisdom”: I am afraid there are a great many of us who lack wisdom, and even the best of us at times will be in perplexity. There are moments in the life of us all when we seem in a fix; we just stand still, and say, “What shall I do? I don’t know what is the best way.” Oh, leave it with God, He will Himself be our teacher!

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me.” Here is a wonderful teacher. He has had a school for many thousand years; He has had the best men in His school; but still there’s room for another scholar there. His college is not too full yet, and the teacher is the One sent from heaven. Any one, every one in this assembly may join this school. Jesus will welcome you there. Are you in doubt about anything? ask Jesus; He will tell you.

Anxious sinner, seek the good teacher, as Nicodemus did: “Master, we know thou art a teacher sent from God.” If you seek Him thus He will direct you. He will keep you, and lead you into green pastures and by the still waters. I met a woman the other day who was full of infidel doubts and fancies. She could not believe. Reading for some time infidel works had thrown a dark and gloomy pall over her mind. It made me sad to see her in such a case. Some of you may be like her. I wish you would take Christ as your teacher, and then all darkness would flee away.

Christ is able to teach us. See how He taught the disciples. He never wearied of their learning from Him. So He will teach us if we will only listen to Him.

THE OLD JUDGE CONVERTED.

I remember, as I was coming out of the daily prayer meeting in one of our American cities a few years ago, a lady said she wished to speak to me; her voice trembled with emotion, and I saw at once that she was heavily burdened by something or other. She said she had long been praying for her husband, and she wanted to know if I would go to see him; she thought it might do him some good. What is his name? “Judge---,” and she mentioned one of the most eminent politicians in the State. “I have heard of him,” I said; “I am afraid I need not go, he is a booked infidel; I cannot argue with him.” “That is not what he wants,” said the lady. “He has had too much argument already. Go and speak to him about his soul.” I said I would, although I was not very hopeful. I went to his house, was admitted to his room, and introduced myself as having come to speak to him about salvation. “Then you have come on a very foolish errand,” said he; “there’s no use in attacking me, I tell you that. I am proof against all these things, I don’t believe in them.”

Well, I saw it was no use arguing with him; so I said, “I’ll pray for you, and I want you to promise me that when you are converted you’ll let me know.” “Oh, yes, I’ll let you know,” he said in a tone of sarcasm. “Oh, yes, I’ll let you know when I’m converted!” I left him, but I continued to pray for him. Some time subsequently I heard that the old judge was converted. I was again preaching in that city a while after that, and when I had done talking the judge himself came to me, and said: “I promised I’d let you know when I was converted; I have come to tell you of it. Have you not heard of it?” “Yes; but I would like to hear from you how it happened.”

“Well,” said the judge, “one night, some time after you called on me, my wife had gone to the meeting; there was no one in the house but the servants. I sat by the drawing-room fire, and I began to think: Suppose my wife is right, that there is a heaven and a hell; and suppose she is on the right way to heaven, where am I going? I just dismissed the thought. But a second thought came: Surely He who created me is able to teach me. Yes, I thought, that is so. Then why not ask Him? I struggled against it, but at last, though I was too proud to get down on my knees, I just said, ‘Father, all is dark; Thou who created me canst teach me.’

Somehow, the more I prayed the worse I felt. I was very sad. I did not wish my wife to come home and find me thus, so I slipped away to bed, and when she came into the room I pretended to be asleep. She got down on her knees and prayed. I knew she was praying for me, and that for many long years she had been doing so. I felt as if I could have jumped up and knelt beside her; but no, my proud heart would not let me, so I lay still, pretending to be asleep. But I didn’t sleep that night. I soon changed my prayer; it was now, ‘O God, save me; take away this terrible burden.’

I didn’t believe in Christ even yet. I thought I’d go right straight to the Father Himself. But the more I prayed I only became the more miserable; my burden grew heavier. The next morning I did not wish to see my wife, so I said ‘I was not well, and wouldn’t wait for breakfast.’ I went to the office, and when the boy came I sent him home for a holiday. When the clerks came I told them they might go for the day. I closed the office doors: I wanted to be alone with God. I was almost frantic in my agony of heart. I cried to God to take away this load of sin. At last I fell on my knees, and cried, ‘For Jesus Christ’s sake take away this load of sin.’ At length I went to my wife’s pastor, who had been praying with her for my conversion for years, and the same minister who had prayed with my mother before she died. As I walked down the street the verse that my mother had taught me came into my mind, ‘Whatsoever things ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.’ Well, I thought, I have asked God, and here I am going to ask a man. I won’t go. I believe I am a Christian. I turned and went home. I met my wife in the hall as I entered. I caught her hand, and said, ‘I am a Christian now.’ She turned quite pale; she had been praying for twenty-one years for me, and yet she could not believe the answer had come. We went into our room, and knelt down by the very bedside where she had so often knelt to pray for her husband. There we erected our family altar; and for the first time our voices mingled in prayer. And I can only say that the last three months have been the happiest months ever I spent in my life.”

Since then that judge has lived a consistent Christian life; and all because he came to God, asking for guidance.

If there is one here to-day whose mind is filled with such infidel thoughts, go honestly to God, and He will teach you the right way through the dark wilderness of infidelity. He won’t leave you in darkness or doubt. It is the devil’s own work to lead men into such doubts; well he knows if he once gets them there he has them pretty safe.

It is Satan’s work to keep you in ignorance or doubt. It is God’s work to teach you. The teacher is Christ; He is appointed by God for this work. God help us all to accept Him as our teacher.

8. Now we have seen Christ as our Saviour, Redeemer, Deliverer, Leader, Light, and Teacher. But He is still more; He is also

OUR SHEPHERD.

A very sweet thought it is to me, “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.”

There is not one here, except the very babes, who does not understand the work of a shepherd. He watches over his flock, protects them from danger, feeds them, leads them into the best pastures. In fact, the 23rd Psalm is just a statement of the duties of a good shepherd: “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want,” etc.

You want to be fed; are you going to wander about seeking something to satisfy the cravings of your soul? Then, I tell you, you never will find anything to satisfy the longings of your heart. The world cannot, and never could, satisfy a hungry soul. The Lord Jesus can—He is the true Shepherd. He is seeking to restore your soul, to lead you back to the paths of righteousness. Even to death will He lead you, and safely through its shadow guide you to a better land. Mother, father, will you claim Him as your Shepherd?

My little child, will you have Jesus as your Shepherd? He will lead safely and softly.

You can, all of you, if you will. For “God gave Him up freely for us all,” that He might have us for His flock. He will lead us through life, down to the banks of the Jordan; He will lead us across the dark river into His kingdom. He is a tender, loving Shepherd.

I sometimes meet people in the anxious inquiry-room who are nourishing hard, bitter feelings against God, generally because they have been afflicted. A mother said to me the other day, “Ah, Mr. Moody, God has been unjust to me; He has come and taken away my child.” Dear afflicted mothers, has God not removed your children to a pure and happy life? You may not understand it now, but you will by and by. He wants to lead you up there.

THE EASTERN SHEPHERD.

A friend of mine, who had been in eastern lands, told me he saw a shepherd who wanted his flock to cross a river. He went into the water himself and called them; but no, they would not follow him into the water. What did he do? Why, he girded up his loins and lifted a little lamb under each arm, and plunged right into the stream, and crossed it without even looking back. Whenever he lifted the lambs, the old sheep looked up into his face and began to bleat for them; but when he plunged into the water the dams plunged after him, and then the whole flock followed. When they got to the other side he put down the lambs, and they were quickly joined by their mothers, and there was a happy meeting.

My friend says he noticed the pastures on the other side were much better and the fields greener; and on this account the shepherd was leading them across. Our great Palestine Shepherd does that. That child which He has taken from the earth is but removed to green pastures of Canaan, and the Shepherd means to draw your hearts after it, to teach you to “set your affections on things above.” When He has taken your little Mary, Edith, or Julia, accept it as a call to look upward and beyond. You, mother, are you weeping bitter tears for your little one? Do not weep! Your child has gone to the place where there is neither weeping nor sorrow. Would you have it return? Surely never.

Christ is our Shepherd—faithful and loving. Though sickness, or trouble, or even death itself, should come to our house, and claim our dearest ones, still they are not lost, but only gone before. God help each one of us to have Him as our Shepherd.

If time permitted, I should like to take up the subject of Christ as our Justification, our Wisdom, our Righteousness, the Friend that sticketh closer than a brother; but it would take a whole eternity to tell what Christ is to His people, and what He does for them.

I remember when I was preaching on this subject in Scotland, after I had done, I said to a man that “I was sorry I could not finish the subject for want of time.” “Finish the subject,” said the Scotchman, “why, that would require all eternity, and even then it would not be complete; it will be the occupation of heaven.”

OUR BURDEN-BEARER.

Oh, I love to think of Him as the bearer of our burdens as well as our sin-bearer. He carries our sins, although they are more numerous than the hairs of our heads. Great and terrible as these burdens are, God has laid them all on Jesus.

That aspect of His burden-bearing we have already looked at in His work as Saviour and Redeemer. I wish now to take up the sweet thought, which has been a great comfort to me.

“Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows.” Glorious, is it not, to know we have such a Saviour? Can you feel that He has lifted your burden off your shoulders on to His own shoulder? Then you will feel light in heart.

A LIGHT HEART.

On one occasion, after I had been talking this way, a woman came forward, and said, “Oh, Mr. Moody, it’s all very well for you to talk like that, about a light heart. But you are a young man, and if you had a heavy burden like me you would talk differently. I could not talk in that way, my burden is too great.” I replied, “But it’s not too great for Jesus.” “Oh,” she said, “I cannot cast it on Him.” “Why not? surely it is not too great for Him. It is not that He is feeble. But it is because you will not leave it to Him. You’re like many others. They will not leave it with Him. They go about hugging their burden, and yet crying out against it. What the Lord wants is, you to leave it with Him, to let Him carry it for you. Then you will have a light heart, sorrow will flee away, and there will be no more sighing. What is your burden, my friend, that you cannot leave with Christ?” She replied, “I have a son who is a wanderer on the face of the earth. None but God knows where he is.” “Cannot Christ find him, and bring him back?” “I suppose He can.” “Then go and tell Jesus, and ask Him to forgive you for doubting His power and willingness; you have no right to mistrust Him.” She went away much comforted, and I believe she ultimately had her wandering boy restored to her!

A MOTHER’S PRAYER ANSWERED.

This circumstance reminds me of a pious father and mother in our country, whose eldest son had gone to Chicago to a situation. A neighbour of theirs was in the city on some business, and he met the young man reeling along the streets drunk. He thought, “How am I to tell his parents?” When he returned to his village, he went and called out the father, and told him. It was a terrible blow to that father, but he said nothing to the mother till the little ones had all gone to rest; the servants had retired, and all was quiet in that little farm on the Western prairies. They drew up their chairs to the little drawing-room table, and then he told her the sad news. “Our boy has been seen drunk on the streets of Chicago—drunk.” Ah, that mother was sorely hurt; they did not sleep much that night, but spent the hours in fervent prayers for their boy. About daybreak the mother felt an inward conviction that all would be well. She told the father “she had cast it on the Lord, had left her son with Jesus, and she felt He would save him.” One week from that time the young man left Chicago, took a journey of three hundred miles into the country; and when he reached his home, he walked in, and said, “Mother, I’ve come home to ask you to pray for me.” Ah, her prayer had reached heaven; she had cast her burden on Jesus, and He had borne it for her. He took the burden, presented her prayer sprinkled with the atoning blood, and got it answered. In two days that young man returned to Chicago rejoicing in the Saviour. What a wonderful thing it is to have Christ as our burden-bearer! How easy, how light do our cares become when cast upon Him!

Do you say Christ is nothing to you? If so, it is only because you won’t have Him. He is to all who will accept Him a Saviour from death, a Redeemer from the power of sin, a Deliverer from our enemies, a Leader through the wilderness; He is the way Himself, He is Light in the darkness, He is a Teacher to His people, He is the Shepherd of His flock, our Justification, Wisdom, Righteousness, Elder Brother, Burden-bearer. He is in fact “Our all in all.”

NAAMAN THE SYRIAN

I wish to call your attention to a man rather than to a text; to one who was a great man in his own country, and very honourable; one whom the king delighted to honour. He stood high in position; he was captain of the host of the king of Syria; but he was a leper, and that threw a blight over his whole life.

Now, you cannot have a better type of a sinner than Naaman was. I don’t care who nor what he is, nor what position he holds—all men alike have sinned, and all have to bear the same burden of death. “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” All men must stand in judgment before God; what a gloom that throws over our whole life! But he was a leper. There was

NO PHYSICIAN

to help him in Syria. None of the eminent doctors in Damascus could do him any good. Neither could any in Jerusalem. There was no balm in Gilead. If he was to get rid of the leprosy, the power must come from on high. It must be some one unknown to Naaman, for he did not know God.

THE LITTLE MISSIONARY.

But I will tell you what they had in Syria—they had one of God’s children there, and she was a little girl, a simple captive maid. Naaman knew nothing about her, though she was one of his household. He knew nothing about this little Israelite. I can imagine her one day as she said to Mrs. Naaman, her mistress, that there was a prophet in her country that could cure her master of his leprosy. “Would to God,” the maid said, “my lord were with the prophet in Samaria! for he would recover him of his leprosy.” There’s faith for you! “Why,” says the mistress, “what are you talking about? Did you ever hear of anybody being cured of leprosy?” “Ah,” said the little girl, “it is true, I can assure you; we have got physicians down there that can cure any one.”

So at last some one told the king about what the little maid of Israel had said. Now, Naaman stood high in the king’s favour, for he had recently won a great victory. He was called a lord, perhaps he was a prince, a sort of Syrian Prince Bismarck, who stood near the throne. So the king said, “You had better go down to Samaria, and see if there is anything in it, and I will give you letters of introduction to the king of Israel.”

MONEY WILL NOT BUY SALVATION.

Yes, he would give Naaman letters of introduction to the king. That’s just man’s idea. The notion was, that if anybody could help him, it was the king, and that the king had power both with God and man. Oh, my friends, it is a good deal better to know a man that knows God! A man acquainted with God has more power than any earthly potentate. Gold can’t do everything.

Well, away goes Naaman down to Samaria with his kingly introduction, and he takes with him a lot of gold and silver. That is man’s idea again; he is going to pay for a great doctor, and he took about £100,000 sterling, as far as I can make it out, to pay for the doctor’s bill. There are a good many men who would willingly pay that sum if with it they could buy the favour of God, and get rid of the curse of sin. Yes, if money could do it, how many would buy salvation! But, thank God, it is not in the market for sale. You must buy it at God’s price, and that is “without money and without price.” Naaman found that out.

And now, my dear friends, did you ever ask yourselves, Which is the worst—the leprosy of sin, or the leprosy of the body? Why, for my own part, I would a thousand times sooner have the leprosy of the body eating my eyes out, and feet, and arms! I would rather be loathsome in the sight of my fellow-men, than die with the leprosy of sin in my soul, and be banished from God for ever! The leprosy of the body is bad, but the leprosy of sin is a thousand times worse. It has cast angels out of heaven, it has ruined the best and strongest men that ever lived in the world. Oh, how it has pulled men down! The leprosy of the body could not do that.

But to proceed. There is one thing about Naaman that I like, and that is his earnestness of purpose.

HE WAS THOROUGHLY IN EARNEST.

He was quite willing to go one hundred and fifty miles, and to take the advice of this little maid. A good many people say, “Oh, I don’t like such and such a minister; I should like to know where he comes from, and what he has done, and whether any bishop has laid his hands on his head.” My dear friends, never mind the minister, it is the message you want. Why, if some one were to send me a telegraph message, and the news were important, I shouldn’t stop to ask about the messenger who brought it. I should want to read the news; I should look at the message, and not at the boy who brought it.

And so it is with God’s message. The good news is everything, the minister nothing. The Syrians looked down with contempt on the Israelites, and yet this great man was willing to take the good news at the hands of this little maiden, and listened to the words that fell from her lips. Why, if I got lost in London, I should be willing to ask anybody which way to go, even if it were only a shoeblack boy; and, in point of fact, a boy’s word in such a case is often better than a man’s. It is the way I want, not the person who directs me.

HUMAN PRIDE BROUGHT LOW.

But there was one drawback in Naaman’s case. Though he was willing to take the advice of the little girl, he was not willing to take the remedy. The stumbling-block of pride stood in his way. The remedy the prophet offered him was a terrible blow to his pride. I have no doubt he expected a grand reception from the king of Israel, to whom he brought letters of introduction. He had been victorious on many a field of battle, and held high rank in the army; perhaps we may call him Major-General Naaman of Syria, or he might have been higher in rank even than that; and bearing with him kingly credentials, he expected no doubt a distinguished reception. But instead of the king rushing out to meet him, he, when he heard of Naaman’s arrival, and his object, simply rent his mantle, and said, “Am I God, to kill and to make alive?”

But at last the king bethinks himself of Elisha the prophet, and he says, “There is a subject in my kingdom who may be able to help you and cure your leprosy.” And I can imagine Naaman’s pride reasoning thus: “Surely the prophet will feel very much exalted and flattered that I, the great Syrian general, should come and call upon him.” And so, probably, full of those proud thoughts, he drives up to the prophet’s humble dwelling with his chariot, four-in-hand, and his splendid retinue. Yes, Naaman drove up in grand style to the prophet’s abode, and as nobody seemed to be coming out to greet him, he sent in his message: “Tell the prophet Major-General Naaman of Syria has arrived, and wishes to see him.”

THE PROPHET’S MESSAGE.

Elisha takes it very coolly. He does not come out to see him, but as soon as he learns his errand he sends his servant to tell him to dip seven times in the river Jordan, and he shall be clean. Now that was a terrible blow to his pride. I can imagine him saying to his servant, “What did you say? Did I understand you aright? Dip seven times in Jordan! Why, we call the river Jordan a ditch in our country.” But the only answer he got was, “The prophet says, Go and dip seven times in the Jordan, and thy flesh shall become like the flesh of a little child.” I can fancy Naaman’s indignation as he asks, “Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage.

The fact was, the Jordan never had any great reputation as a river. It flowed into the Dead Sea, and that sea never had a harbour to it, and its banks were not half so beautiful as those of the rivers of Damascus; for Damascus was one of the most beautiful cities in the world, and it is said that when Mahomet beheld it he turned his head aside for fear it should divert his thoughts from heaven.

Naaman turned away in a rage. “Ah,” he said, “here am I, a great conqueror, a successful general on the battlefield, holding the very highest rank in the army, and yet this prophet does not even come out to meet me; he simply sends a message. Why, I thought he would surely come out to me, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place and recover the leper.”

I THOUGHT.

There it is; I never knew a man yet who, when talked to about his sins, didn’t always say, “Yes, but I thought so and so.” “Mr. Moody,” they say, “I will tell you what I think; I will tell you my opinion.” In the fifty-fifth chapter of Isaiah it says, “God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, nor His ways our ways.” And so it was with Naaman. In the first place he thought a good big doctor’s fee would do it all, and settle everything up. And besides that there was another thing he thought; he thought going to the king with his letters of introduction would do it. Yes, those were Naaman’s first thoughts.

I thought. Exactly so. He turned away in rage and disappointment. He thought the prophet would have come out to him very humble and very subservient, and bid him do some great things. Instead of that Elisha, who was very likely busy writing, did not even come to the door or the window; he merely sent out the message, “Tell him to dip seven times in the Jordan.” And away went Naaman, saying, I thought, I thought, I thought. I have heard that tale so often that I am tired of it. I will tell you just what I think about it, and what I advise you to do—“Give it up,” and take God’s words, God’s thoughts, God’s ways. I never yet knew a man converted just in the time and manner he expected to be. Now there is a class of people in our country who have been looked down upon there, just as they have been in yours; I mean the Methodists. And I have heard people say, “Well, if ever I am converted, it won’t be in a Methodist church; you won’t catch me there.” Now, I never knew a man say that but, at last, if converted at all, it was in a Methodist church.

A man to be converted has to give up his will, his ways, and his thoughts. And I have noticed this, that when a man says, “Well, if ever I am converted, it will be in this way or that,” God leads him in quite a contrary direction. And so Naaman, after his anger had abated and cooled down a little, took a second thought, which proved the best, although his pride had been so dreadfully humbled.

THE SIMPLE REMEDY.

Whilst Naaman was thus wavering in his mind, and thinking on what was best to be done, one of his servants drew near and made a very sensible remark: “My lord, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean?” Yes, and there is a great deal of truth in that.

Why, if Elisha had said to him, “Go back to Syria on your hands and knees,” he would most likely have done it. If he had said, “Go back all the way on one foot,” he would have tried to do it. Or if he had said, “Give ten thousand pieces of gold for the medicine I shall offer thee, and thou shalt be cleansed,” no doubt he would have done it. But to tell him merely to dip in the river Jordan seven times, why, it seemed absurd on the face of it. Well, this servant suggested to him that he had better go down to the Jordan and try the remedy, as it was a very simple one.

I can fancy Naaman, still reluctant to believe in it, saying, “Why, if there is such cleansing power in the waters of Jordan, would not every leper in Israel go down and dip in them, and be healed?” “Well, but you know,” urges the servant, “now that you have come a hundred and fifty miles, don’t you think you had better do what he tells you; for after all you can but try it; and he sends word distinctly, my lord, that your flesh shall come again as that of a little child.” And so Naaman accepts this word in season. His anger is cooling down; he has got over the first flush of his indignation, and he says, “Well, I think I might as well try it.” That was the starting-point of his faith, although still he thought it a foolish thing, and could not bring himself to believe that the result would be what the prophet had said.

How many men have told me right to my face they did not believe a man could be saved by simply obeying God. Faith, they thought, was not enough, they must do something. They will have it that there must be a little asking, and reasoning, and striving, and wrestling with God, before they can get the blessing.

FOOLISH QUESTIONS.

I recollect once praying with a man for his conversion, and just when I thought conviction had been brought home to him, he turned round and said, “Who do you think Melchisedek was, Mr. Moody?” And then I have had others who, when I have been praying with them that their sins might be taken away, would turn round and ask me, “Do you believe in infant baptism, Mr. Moody?” My friends, you need not trouble yourselves about those questions, but, if you wish to be saved, just do as the Bible tells you. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved (Acts xvii. 31).

UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER.

Well, at last Naaman’s will was conquered, and subdued, and broken; and he had faith, and he surrendered. I recollect when General Grant was besieging a town which was the stronghold of the Southern Confederacy, some of the officers sent word that they would leave the city if he would let them go with their men. But General Grant sent word, “No, nothing but an unconditional surrender!” Then they sent word that they would go if he would let them take their flag with them. But the answer was, “No, an unconditional surrender.” At last the beleaguered walls were broken down, and the city entered, and then the enemy made a complete and unconditional surrender. Well, it was so with Naaman, he got to that point when he was willing to obey, and the Scripture tells us, “To obey is better than to sacrifice.”

OBEDIENCE.

So he goes down to the river and takes the first dip, and as he comes up, I can imagine him looking at himself, and saying to his servant, “There, there I am, no better than I was when I went in. If one-seventh of the leprosy was gone, I should be content.” Well, down he goes a second time, and he comes up puffing and blowing as much a leper as ever; and so he goes down again and again, the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth time, with the same result, as much a leper as ever. And the people standing on the banks of the river probably said, as they certainly would in our day, “Why, that man has gone clean out of his mind.” So when he comes up the sixth time, he looks at himself, and says, “Ah, no better. What a fool I have made of myself. How they will all laugh at me. I wouldn’t have the generals and aristocracy of Damascus know that I have been dipping in this way in Jordan for all the world. However, as I have gone so far, I’ll make the seventh plunge.” He has not altogether lost faith, and down he goes the seventh time, and comes up again. He looks at himself, and shouts aloud for joy. “Lo, I am well! My leprosy is all gone, all gone! My flesh has come again as that of a little child. I never knew such a thing. I never felt so happy in all my life. I thought I was a great and a happy man when I accomplished that victory; but, thank God, praise God, I am the happiest man alive!”

So he comes up out of Jordan and puts on his clothes, and goes back to the prophet, and wants to pay him. That’s just the old story, Naaman wants to give money for his cure. How many people want to do the same nowadays? Why, it would have spoiled the story of grace if the prophet had taken anything. You may give a thank-offering to God’s cause, not to purchase salvation, but because you are saved.

The prophet Elisha refused to take anything, and I can imagine no one felt more rejoiced than he did. So Naaman starts back to Damascus a very different man than he was when he left it. The dark cloud has gone from his mind; he is no longer a leper, in fear of dying from a loathsome disease. He lost the leprosy in Jordan when he did what the man of God told him; and if you obey the voice of God, even while I am speaking to you, the burden of your sins will fall from off you, and you shall be cleansed. It is all done by the power of faith.

Well, you may be sure when he got home there was no small stir in Naaman’s house. I can just see his wife, Mrs. Naaman, when he gets back; she has been watching and looking out of the window for him with a great burden on her heart. And when she asks him, “Well, husband, how is it?” I can see the tears running down his cheeks as he says, “Thank God, I am well”; and then they embrace each other, and pour out mutual expressions of rejoicing and gladness; and the servants are just as glad as their master and mistress, as they have been waiting eagerly for the news; and there never was a happier household than Naaman’s now that he has got rid of the leprosy. And so, my friends, it will be with your own households if you will only get rid of the leprosy of sin to-day. Not only will there be joy in your own hearts and at home, but there will also be joy among the saints in heaven.

Another thought is suggested to us by this history of Naaman in the fifteenth verse of the chapter; and which shows what Naaman’s faith led him to believe. “And he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and came, and stood before him: and he said, Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel: now therefore, I pray thee, take a blessing of thy servant.” Now what I want particularly to call your attention to is the words,

I KNOW.

There is no hesitation about it, no qualifying the expression. Naaman doesn’t now say, “I think”; no, he says, “I know there is a God who has power to forgive sins and to cleanse the leprosy.”

Then there is another thought. Naaman left only one thing in Samaria, and that was his sin, his leprosy; and the only thing God wishes you to leave with Him is your sin. And yet it is the only thing you seem not to care about giving up. “Oh,” you say, “I love leprosy, it is so delightful, I can’t give it up; I know God wants it, that He may make me clean. But I can’t give it up.” Why, what downright madness it is for you to love leprosy; and yet that is your condition. “Ah, but,” says some one, “I don’t believe in sudden conversions.” Don’t you? Well, how long did it take Naaman to be cured? The seventh time he went down, away went the leprosy. Read the great conversions recorded in the Bible. Saul of Tarsus, Zacchæus, and a host of others; how long did it take the Lord to bring them about? Why, they were effected in a minute. We are born in iniquity, shapen in it, dead in trespasses and sin; but when spiritual life comes it comes in a moment, and we are free both from sin and death.

The other day, as I was walking down the street, I heard some people laughing and talking aloud, and one of them said, “Well, there will be no difference, it will be all the same a hundred years hence.” And the thought flashed across my mind, “Will there be no difference?

WHERE WILL YOU BE A HUNDRED YEARS HENCE?”

Young man, just ask yourself the question, “Where shall I be?” Some of you who are getting on in years may be in eternity ten years hence. Where will you be, on the left or the right hand of God? I cannot tell your feelings, but I can my own.

A hundred years hence all this vast audience will be gone. Some will probably be gone in less than a week, in less than a month or a year, and at the best we shall all be gone in a few more years. I ask you once again, “Where will you spend eternity? Where will you be a hundred years hence?”

THE CONVERTED NOBLEMAN.

I heard the other day of a man who came a few years ago from the Continent, and brought letters with him to eminent physicians from the Emperor. And the letters said, “This man is a personal friend of mine, and we are afraid he is going to lose his reason; do all you can for him.” So the doctor asked him if he had lost any dear friend in his own country, or any position of importance, or what it was that was weighing on his mind. And the young man said, “No; but my father and grandfather and myself were brought up infidels, and for the last two or three years this thought has been haunting me, ‘Where shall I spend eternity?’ And the thought of it follows me day and night.”

The doctor said, “You have come to the wrong physician, but I will tell you of one who can cure you”; and he told him of Christ, and read to him the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, “With His stripes we are healed.” And the young man said, “Doctor, do you believe that?” The doctor told him he did, and prayed and wrestled with him, and at last the dear light of Calvary shone on his soul, and a few years ago he was writing to this self-same doctor as only one Christian can to another. He had settled the question in his own mind at last where he would spend eternity; and I ask you sinners to settle it before you leave this hall to-night. It is for you to decide. Shall it be with the saints, and martyrs, and prophets, or in the dark caverns of hell, amidst blackness and darkness for ever? Make haste to be wise; for “how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?”

DECIDE NOW.

At our church in Chicago I was closing the meeting one day, when a young soldier got up and entreated the people to decide for Christ at once. He said he had just come from a dark scene. A comrade of his, he said, who had enlisted with him, had a father who was always entreating him to become a Christian, and in reply he always said he would when the war was over. At last he was wounded, and was put into the hospital, but got worse and was gradually sinking. One day, a few hours before he died, a letter came from his sister, but he was too bad to read it. Oh, it was such an earnest letter! The comrade read it to him, but he did not seem to understand it, he was so weak, till it came to the last sentence, which said, “Oh, my dear brother, when you get this letter, will you not accept your sister’s Saviour?” The dying man sprang up from his cot, and said, “What do you say? What do you say?” and then, falling back on his pillow, feebly exclaimed, “It is too late! It is too late!”

My dear friends, thank God it is not too late for you to-day. The Master is still calling you. Are you going to let present opportunity pass without coming to Christ? Are you going to let these solemn moments come to an end without entering the ark? Let every one of us, young and old, rich and poor, come to Christ at once, and He will put all our sins away.

ONE WORD—“GOSPEL”

I shall take for my text the one word “gospel.” I do not think there is a word in the English language that is so little understood in this Christian land of England as this very word “gospel.” We have heard it from our earliest childhood up. There is not a day, and with many of us not an hour during the day, but that we hear the word “gospel.” And yet, I say, a partaker of the gospel is a long time before he really knows the meaning of the word. It means “good tidings.” I think it would do us good sometimes to get a dictionary and hunt up the meaning of some of the words we use so often; some of those Bible words, such as “gospel” and “Christ.” I think it would change our ideas. I think this would be a very joyful meeting to-night, if every one really believed that the gospel is good news. Let a man or a boy bring a despatch into this audience and hand it to any one here, and if that brings good news you can see it immediately in the man’s face; his face lights up when he opens the despatch. You can see he really believes it. And if it is really good news, if it brings him the tidings of a long-lost boy coming home, why, if his wife is sitting next to him, he passes the despatch to her; he wants her to have knowledge of it too. He does not wait for her to ask for it; he does not wait till they get home. So when I preach, those who really believe the gospel, if I am near enough to look into their eyes, I see their faces light up and they look remarkably sharp; but those who do not believe it put on a long face, and look as if you had brought them a death-warrant, or invited them to attend a funeral.

THE BEST NEWS IN THE WORLD.

No better news ever came out of heaven than the gospel. No better news ever fell upon the ears of the family of man than the gospel. Hark! hear those shepherds talking to one another after the angels had gone away. They believed the message, and they were full of joy. You can see them on the way now to Bethlehem. They said, “Let us go and see what has taken place.” And what was the message that the angels brought to those shepherds? “Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour.” Now, if those shepherds had been like a good many people at the present time, they would have said, “We do not believe it is good news. It is all excitement. Those angels want to get up a revival. Those angels are trying to excite us. Don’t you believe them.” That is what Satan is saying now. “Don’t you believe the gospel is good news.” Because he knows the moment a man believes good news, he just receives it. I never saw a man in all my life that did not like good news. And every man and woman that is under the power of the devil does not believe the gospel is good news. The moment you are out from under his power and influence then you believe it. May God grant that the gospel may sink deep into your hearts, and that you may believe it and be saved.

It is the best news that ever came to this sin-cursed world. It means “Good spell,” or, in other words, “God’s spell.” We are dead in trespasses and sin, and God wants us to be reconciled. It is a gospel of reconciliation, and God is shouting from the heights of glory, “Oh, ye men, I am reconciled, now be ye reconciled!” We have glorious news to tell you—God is reconciled and beseeches his subjects to be reconciled. The great apostle says, “We beseech you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.” The moment a man believes the gospel, down goes his arm of rebellion, and the unequal controversy is over. A light from Calvary crosses his path, and he can walk in unclouded sun, if he will. It is the privilege of every man and woman in this vast assembly from this hour to walk in unclouded sun if they will. What has brought darkness into the world? Darkness came because of sin, and the man who does not believe the gospel is blinded by the god of this world. Now I want to tell you why I like the gospel. It is because it has been the very best news I have ever heard. That is just the reason I like to preach it. Because it has done me so much good. I do not think a man can preach the gospel until he believes it himself. A man must know it down deep in his own heart before he can tell it out; and then he tells it out but very poorly at the best.

POOR AMBASSADORS.

We are very poor ambassadors and messengers; but never mind the messenger, take hold of the message—that is what you want. If a boy brought me good news to-night, I would not care about the look of the boy; I would not care whether he was black or white, learned or unlearned. The message is what would do me good. A great many look at the messenger instead of the message. Never mind the messenger. My friends, get hold of the message to-night. The gospel is what saves, and what I want now is that you may believe the gospel now.

CHRIST DIED FOR OUR SINS.

Paul says in this fifteenth chapter of the 1st of Corinthians what the gospel is. He says, “I declare unto you the gospel.” And the first thing he states in the declaration to these Corinthians is this: “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.” That was the old-fashioned gospel. I hope we never will get away from it. I don’t want anything but that old, old story. Some people have itching ears for something new. Bear in mind there is no new gospel. Christ died for our sins. If He did not, how are we going to get rid of them? Would you insult the Almighty by offering the fruits of this frail body to atone for sin? If Christ did not die for our sins, what is going to become of our souls? And then he goes on to tell that Christ was buried, and that Christ rose again.

CHRIST RISEN.

He burst asunder the bands of death. Death could not hold Him. I can imagine, when they laid Him in Joseph’s sepulchre, if our eyes could have been there, we should have seen Death sitting over that sepulchre, saying, “I have Him; He is my victim. He said He was the resurrection and the life. Now I have hold of Him in my cold embrace. Look at Him. There He is; He has had to pay tribute to me. Some thought He was never going to die. Some thought I would not get Him. But He is mine.” But look again. The glorious morning comes, and the Son of man bursts asunder the bands of death, and came out of the sepulchre. We do not worship a dead God, but a Saviour who still lives. Yes, He rose from the grave; and then they saw Him ascend. That is what Paul calls the gospel. Not only Christ’s death and burial, but His ascension into heaven. He went up and took His seat at the right hand of God, and He will come back again. The gospel consists of five things: Christ’s death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and coming again; for “I will come again,” said He. Thanks be to God, He is coming back by and by. He will come and take the kingdom; He will sway His sceptre from the rivers to the ends of the earth. A little while and He shall rule and reign. Let us lift up our heads and rejoice that the time of our redemption draweth near.

Let us get back to the simple gospel—Christ died for our sins. We must know Christ at Calvary first, as

OUR SUBSTITUTE,

as our Redeemer; and the moment we accept of Him as our Saviour and our Redeemer, then it is that we become partakers of the gospel. The moment I believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as my substitute, as my Saviour, that moment I get light and peace. I know some people say, “Oh, it is not Christ’s death, it is Christ’s life. Do not be preaching so much about the death of Christ, preach about His life.” My friends, that never will save any one. Paul says, “I declare unto you the gospel. Christ died”—not Christ lived—“Christ died for our sins,” “who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree.” Now, when I accept of Christ as my Saviour, as my Substitute, then I am justified from all things which I could not be by the law of Moses.

PERSONAL REMINISCENCES.

The reason I like the gospel is, that it has taken out of my path the worst enemies I ever had. My mind rolls back to twenty years ago, before I was converted, and I think very often how dark it used to seem at times as I thought of the future. There was death—what a terrible enemy it seemed! I was brought up in a little village in New England. It was the custom there when a person was buried to toll out the age of the man at his funeral. I used to count the strokes of the bell. Death never entered that village and tore away one of the inhabitants but I always used to count the tolling of the bell. Sometimes it would be away up to seventy, or between seventy and eighty; beyond the life allotted to man, when man seemed living on borrowed time when cut off. Sometimes it would be clear down in the teens, and childhood, and death would take away one of my own age. It used to make a solemn impression on me; I used to be a great coward. When it comes to death, some men say, “I do not fear it.” I feared it, and felt terribly afraid when I thought of the cold hand of death feeling for the cords of life, and being launched out to eternity, to go to an unknown world. I used to have terrible thoughts of God; but they are all gone now. Death has lost its sting. And as I go on through the world I can shout now, when the bell is tolling, “O death, where is thy sting?” And I hear a voice come rolling down from Calvary, “Buried in the bosom of the Son of God.” He robbed death of its sting; He took the sting of death into His own bosom. If you take a wasp, and just take the sting out of that wasp, you will not be afraid of it any more than you would of a little fly. The sting has been taken out. And you need not be afraid of death if you are in Christ. Christ died for your sin. The penalty, the wages of sin is death. Christ received the wages on Calvary, and therefore there is no condemnation. All that death can get now is this old Adam. I do not care how quickly I get rid of it. I will get a better body, a resurrected body, a glorified body, a body much better than this. Yes, my friends, “To die,” says the apostle, “is gain.”

THE FEAR OF DEATH.

If a man is in Christ, let death come. Suppose death should come stealing up into this pulpit, and should lay his cold, icy hand upon my heart, and it should cease to throb; I should rise to another world, and should be present with the King. I should be absent from the body, but present with the Lord. That is not bad news. There is no use in trying to conceal it, death is an enemy to a man’s rest. What a glorious thought to think that when you die you will sink into the arms of Jesus, and that He will carry you away to yon world of light. A little while longer here, a few more tears, and then you can gain an unbroken rest in yon world of light. The gospel turns that enemy into a friend, and you even shout for death. Well, then, I used to go and look into the cold, silent grave, and I used to think of that terrible hour when I would have to be laid down in the grave, and this body would be eaten up with the worm. But now the grave has lost its terror and gloom; I can go and look down into the grave and shout over it, and cry out, “O grave, where is thy victory?” And I hear a shout coming up from the grave; it is the shout of the Conqueror, of Him who has been down and measured the depth of it, of my Lord and Saviour: “Because I live, ye shall live also.” Yes, the grave has lost its victory. The grave has no terror to the man in Christ Jesus. The gospel takes that enemy out of the way.

SIN PUT AWAY.

Again, I thought all my sins would be blazed out before the great white throne; that every sin committed in childhood and in secret, and every secret thought, and every evil desire, would be blazed out before the assembled universe; that every thing done in the dark would be brought to light. But, thanks be to God, the gospel tells me my sins are all put away in Christ. Out of love to my soul, He has taken all my sins and cast them behind His back. That is a safe place to have sin, behind God’s back. God never turns back; He always marches on. He will never see your sins if they are behind His back. That is one of His own illustrations. Out of love to my soul, He has taken all my sins upon Him; not a part. He takes them all out of the way. There is no condemnation to him that is in Christ Jesus. You may just pile up your sins till they rise up like a dark mountain, and then multiply them by ten thousand for those you cannot think of; and after you have tried to enumerate all the sins you have ever committed, just let me bring one verse in, and then that mountain will melt away—“The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” The blood covers the sin.

WHAT GOD CANNOT DO.

In Ireland, some time ago, a teacher asked a little boy if there was anything that God could not do, and the little fellow said, “Yes; He cannot see my sins through the blood of Christ.” That is just what He cannot do. The blood covers them.

Is it not good news to get rid of your sin? You come here a sinner, and if you believe the gospel your sins are taken away. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” You shall be justified from all things, which you could not be by the law of Moses. By believing, or by receiving the gospel, Christ becomes yours. Only think, young man, you are invited to accept of the gospel, you are invited to make an exchange—to get rid of all your sins, and to take Christ in the place of them. Is not that wonderful? What a foolish young man you will be not to make the bargain. The Lord says, “I will take your sins, and give you Myself in the place of them.” But a great many say, “No”; and just hug the sin to their bosom. May God help you to come up, sinner, to-night, and receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your way, your truth, and your life.

THE GREAT JUDGMENT-DAY.

I used to think that was a terrible day when I should be summoned before God, and could not tell till then whether I should have a seat on His right hand or on His left. Until I stood before the great white throne of judgment I could not tell whether I should hear the voice of God saying, “Depart from Me, ye cursed,” or whether God would say, “Enter thou into the joy of the Lord.” But the gospel tells me that question is already settled—“There is now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.” Listen to this verse—“Verily, verily”—and when you see that word “Verily, verily” in Scripture, you may know there is something very important coming; it means, “Mind what I tell you,” or, “Truly, truly”—“Truly, truly, I say unto you, He that heareth My Word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath [h-a-t-h, hath] everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation [that means, into judgment]; but is passed from death unto life.” Well, now, I am not coming into judgment for sin. The question has been settled, because Christ was judged for me, and died in my stead, and I go free. Is not that good news?

I heard of a man praying the other day that I might lay hold of eternal life. I could not have said Amen to that. I laid hold of eternal life twenty years ago when I was converted. What is the gift of God if it is not eternal life? And that is what God wants to give to every one in this hall to-night, and it is the greatest gift that can be bestowed on any one down here in this dark world. If an angel came straight from the throne of God on to this platform, and proclaimed to this vast assembly that God had sent him here to offer to this audience any one thing they might ask, that each one should have his own petition granted, what would be the cry in this audience? There would be but one cry coming up from you, and the shout would make heaven ring—“Eternal life! eternal life!” Everything would float away into the dim past. There is not anything a man values more than his life. Let a man worth a million sterling be on a wrecked vessel, and if he could just save his life for six months by giving that million, he would give it in an instant. The gift of God is eternal life; and is it not one of the greatest marvels that we have to stand and plead, and pray men to take this gift. May God help you to take it now. Do not listen to Satan any longer. Reach out the hand of faith and take it now. Young man, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” Trust Him to save you now, and then there will be no condemnation. Death will have lost his sting, the grave and its victory will be safe out of the way, and the judgment will be past for you. Believe the gospel. Lay hold of eternal life while God is offering it to you. Be reconciled to-night. Take your stand hard by the cross, and you are saved for time and eternity. I am told that at Rome, if you go up a few steps on your hands and knees, that is nine years out of purgatory. If you take one step now you are out of purgatory for time and eternity. You used to have two steps into glory—out of self into Christ, out of Christ into glory. But there is a shorter way now with only one step—out of self into glory, and you are saved. May God help you to take the step now! Flee, my friends, to-night to Calvary, and get under the shadow of the cross.

THE FIRE ON THE PRAIRIE.

Out in our western country, in the autumn, when men go hunting, and there has not been for months any rain, sometimes the prairie grass catches fire, and there comes up a very strong wind, and the flames just roll along twenty feet high over that western desert, and go at the rate of thirty or forty miles an hour, consuming man and beast. When the hunters see it coming, what do they do? They know they cannot run as fast as the fire can run. Not the fleetest horse can escape from that fire. They just take a match and light the grass around them, and let the flames sweep, and then they get into the burnt district and stand safe. They hear the flames roar as they come along, they see death coming towards them, but they do not fear, they do not tremble, because the fire has swept over the place where they are, and there is no danger. There is nothing for the fire to burn. There is one mountain peak that the wrath of God has swept over—that is, Mount Calvary, and that fire spent its fury upon the bosom of the Son of God. Take your stand here by the cross, and you will be safe for time and eternity. Escape for your life; flee to yon mountain, and you are saved this very minute. Oh, may God bring you to Calvary under the shadow of the cross now! Then let death and the grave come. You will shout, “Glory to God in the highest.” We will laugh at death and glory in the grave, and just know this, that we are safe, sheltered by the precious blood of the Lamb. There is no condemnation to him that is in Christ Jesus.

God is coming down and beseeching you to take the pardon. Every man and woman here has broken the law, and he that has broken the least of the laws is guilty of all. I am sure I am not talking to one man or woman in this audience to-night who can say they have not broken the law.

“NOW AND TO-MORROW.”

You have all sinned and come short of the glory of God, but God comes, and says, “I will pardon you. Come now, and let us reason together.” “Now” is one of the words of the Bible the devil is afraid of. He says, “Do not be in a hurry; there is plenty of time; do not be saved now.” He knows the influence of that word “now.” “To-morrow” is the devil’s word. The Lord’s word is “now.” God says, “Come now, and let us reason together: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” Scarlet and crimson are two fast colours; you cannot get the colour out without destroying the garment. God says, “Though your sins be as scarlet and crimson, I will make them as wool and snow. I will do it.” That is the way God reasons. He puts the pardon in the face of the sinner the first thing. That is a queer way of reasoning, but God’s thoughts are not our thoughts; and so, my friends, if you want to be saved, the Lord says He will pardon you.

THE GOVERNOR IN THE CONDEMNED CELL.

A few years ago, when Pennsylvania had a Christian governor, there was a young man down in one of the counties who was arrested for murder. He was brought before the court, tried, found guilty, and sentenced to death. His friends thought there would be no trouble in getting a reprieve or pardon. Because the governor was a Christian man, they thought he would not sign the death-warrant. But he signed it. They called on the governor, and begged of him to pardon the young man. But the governor said, “No, the law must take its course, and the man must die.” I think the mother of the young man called on the governor and pleaded with him, but the governor stood firm, and said, “No, the man must die.” A few days before the man was executed, the governor took the train to the county where the man was imprisoned. He went to the sheriff of the county, and said to him, “I wish you to take me to that man’s cell, and leave me alone with him a little while, and do not tell him who I am till I am gone.” The governor went to the prison, and talked to the young man about his soul, and told him that although he was condemned by man to be executed, God would have mercy upon him and save him, if he would accept pardon from God. He preached Christ, and told him how Christ came to seek and to save sinners; and having explained as he best knew how the plan of salvation, he got down and prayed, and after praying he shook hands with him and bade him farewell. Some time after the sheriff passed by the condemned man’s cell, and he called him to the door of the cell, and said, “Who was that man that talked and prayed with me so kindly?” The sheriff said, “That was Governor Pollock.” The man turned deathly pale, and he threw up both his hands, and said, “Was that Governor Pollock? was that kind-hearted man the governor? Oh, sheriff, why did you not tell me? If I had known that was the governor, I would have fallen at his feet and asked for pardon; I would have pleaded for pardon and for my life. Oh, sir, the governor has been here, and I did not know it.”

RECONCILIATION.

Sinner, I have got good news to tell you. There is one greater than the governor here to-night, and He wants to pardon every one. He does not want you to go away condemned. He wants to bring you from under condemnation; to pardon every soul. Will you have the pardon, or will you despise the gift of God? Will you despise the mercy of God? Oh, this night, while God is beseeching you to be reconciled, let me join with your praying mother, with your praying father, with your godly minister, with your Sabbath-school teacher, and all your praying friends; let me join my voice with theirs to plead with you to-night to be reconciled. Make up your mind now, while I am speaking, that you will not cross your threshold until you are reconciled, and there will be joy in heaven to-night over your decision. Oh, may God bring hundreds to a decision to-night!

An Englishman told me some time ago a little story of reconciliation, which illustrates this truth. We want to preach the gospel of reconciliation; the good news that God is reconciled. God does not say He can do, but that He has done it. You must accept what He has done. The story is this: There was an Englishman who had an only son; and only sons are often petted, and humoured, and ruined. This boy became very headstrong, and very often he and his father had trouble. One day they had a quarrel, and the father was very angry, and so was the son; and the father said he wished the boy would leave home and never come back. The boy said he would go, and would not come into his father’s house again till he sent for him. The father said he would never send for him. Well, away went the boy. But when a father gives up a boy, a mother does not. You mothers will understand that, but the fathers may not. You know there is no love on earth so strong as a mother’s love. A great many things may separate a man and his wife; a great many things may separate a father from a son; but there is nothing in the wide world that can ever separate a true mother from her child. To be sure, there are some mothers that have drunk so much liquor that they have drunk up all their affection. But I am talking about a true mother; and she would not cast off her boy.

A MOTHER’S AFFECTION.

Well, this mother began to write and plead to the boy to write to his father first, and his father would forgive him; but the boy said, “I will never go home till father asks me.” She pleaded with the father, but the father said, “No, I will never ask him.”

At last the mother was brought down to her sickbed, broken-hearted, and when she was given up by the physicians to die, the husband, anxious to gratify her last wish, wanted to know if there was not anything he could do for her before she died. The mother gave him a look; he well knew what it meant. Then she said, “Yes, there is one thing you can do, you can send for my boy. That is the only wish on earth you can gratify. If you do not pity him and love him when I am dead and gone, who will?” “Well,” said the father, “I will send word to him that you want to see him.” “No,” she says, “you know he will not come for me. If ever I see him you must send for him.” At last the father went to his office and wrote a despatch in his own name, asking the boy to come home. As soon as he got the invitation from his father, he started off to see his dying mother. When he opened the door to go in he found his mother dying and his father by the bedside. The father heard the door open, and saw the boy, but instead of going to meet him he went to another part of the room, and refused to speak to him. His mother seized his hand—how she had longed to press it! She kissed him, and then said, “Now, my son, just speak to your father. You speak first, and it will all be over.” But the boy said, “No, mother, I will not speak to him until he speaks to me.” She took her husband’s hand in one hand and the boy’s in the other, and spent her dying moments and strength in trying to bring about a reconciliation. Just as she was expiring she could not speak, so she put the hand of the wayward boy into the hand of the father, and passed away. The boy looked at the mother, and the father at the wife; and at last the father’s heart broke, and he opened his arms, and took that boy to his bosom, and by that body they were reconciled. Sinner, that is only a faint type, a poor illustration, because God is not angry with you. God gives you Christ, and I bring you to-night to the dead body of Christ. I ask you to look at the wounds in His hands and feet, and the wound in His side. My friends, gaze upon His five wounds. And I ask you, “Will you not be reconciled?” When He left heaven, He went clear down to the manger that He might get hold of the vilest sinner, and put the hand of the wayward prodigal into that of the Father, and He died that you and I might be reconciled. If you take my advice, you will not go out of this hall to-night until you are reconciled. “Be ye reconciled.” Oh, this gospel of reconciliation! My friends, come home to-night. Your Father wants you to come. Say as the prodigal did of old, “I will arise and go to my father,” and there will be joy in heaven.

THE WAY OF SALVATION

I shall not preach a sermon; I have just one thought, and that is, to tell every anxious soul what they must do “to be saved.” That is the first question of every one who is honestly and really inquiring “the way of salvation,” and, God helping me, I will try to-night to make it plain to all.

BELIEVING.

If I say to you, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,” you will reply, “Oh, believe! I have heard that word till I am sick and tired of it. Scarcely a week but I hear it in the church, or at a prayer-meeting, or at some drawing-room meeting.” You have all heard it over and over again; I don’t suppose there is a child here over five years of age but can repeat that text. What you want is, to know how to believe—what it is to believe.

Some of you say, “We all believe that Christ came into the world to seek and to save the lost; and that he that believeth shall be saved.” But the devils believe, and are not saved. Ay, they believe and tremble! You must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and not merely about Him, and then you will know what salvation is.

RECEIVING.

Well, we’ll take another word which means the same thing; perhaps you’ll get hold of it better. “He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.” Bear in mind, “received Him.” That’s it; not receiving a doctrine or a belief, but receiving Him. It is a person we must receive.

Now, my experience of the last few years is, that we all want to have the power before we receive Christ. That is, we want to feel we are in Christ before we will receive Him. But we cannot love God and feel His presence until we have received Him into our hearts. It is just like a boy with a ball; he throws it to you. Well, you must catch it before you throw it back again. That is the real meaning of “believe”—it is “receive”—receive Christ as yours. I don’t know any verse in the Bible that God has blessed to more souls than John i. 12: “To as many as received Him, to them gave He power.”

I don’t know any better illustration I could have than matrimony; for every other one doesn’t hold good in some points; but I think this is one of the best I could use. Some of you smile at this illustration, but the Bible uses it, and if God uses it in His word, why should not I?

In the Old Testament He uses it—“I am married unto you” (Jer. iii. 14). Jesus Himself uses it, when He speaks of the bride in John iii. 29. Paul uses it in his epistles, as in Romans vii. 4, as an illustration of the union between Christ and His church.

Now, it is an illustration you can all understand; there is no one here but knows what it means. When a man offers himself, the woman must do either of two things—either receive or reject him. So every soul in this hall must do one of these two things—“receive” or “reject” Christ. Well, if you receive Him, that is all you have to do, He has promised power.

THE RICH HUSBAND.

There was a shop-girl in Chicago, a few years ago; one day she could not have bought a pound’s worth of anything; the next day she could go and buy a thousand pounds’ worth of whatever she wanted. What made the difference? Why, she had married a rich husband; that was all. She had received him, and of course all he had became hers. And so we can have power, if you only receive Christ. Remember, you can have no power without Him; you will fail, fail constantly, until you receive Him into your heart; and I have Scripture authority to say that Christ will receive every soul that will only come to Him.

SEEKING A WIFE.

You know that Abraham sent his servant Eliezer a long journey to get a wife for his son Isaac. When Eliezer had got Rebekah, he wanted to be up and off with the young bride; but her mother and brother said, “No, she shall wait awhile.” When Eliezer was determined to go, they said, “We will inquire of the damsel.” And when Rebekah appeared, they said to her, “Wilt thou go with this man?” That was a crisis in her life. She could not have said “No.” Undoubtedly it cost her an effort; it would, of course, be a struggle. She had to give up her parents, home, companions, all that she loved, and go with this stranger. But look at her reply; she said, “I will go.”

I have come to-night to get a bride for my Master. “Wilt thou go with this man?” I can tell you one thing that Eliezer could not tell Rebekah; he could not say, “Isaac loves you.” Isaac had never seen his bride. But I can say, “My Master loves you!”

HE GAVE HIMSELF FOR YOU.

Ah, that is love! But bear in mind, my friends, that the moment Rebekah made up her mind to accept Isaac he became everything to her, so that she did not feel she was giving up anything for him. Ah, what a mistake some people make! They say, “I’d like to become a Christian if I hadn’t to give up so much.” Just turn round and look at the other side. You don’t have to give up anything—you have simply to receive; and when you have received Christ, everything else vanishes away pretty quick. Christ fills you, so that you don’t feel these things to be worth a thought.

When a bride marries a man, it is generally love that prompts her. If any one is here that really loves a man, is she thinking of how much she will have to give up? No; that wouldn’t be love. Love doesn’t feed upon itself, it feeds upon the person who is loved. So, my friends, it is not by looking at what you will have to give up, but by looking at what you will receive, that you will be enabled to accept the Saviour.

WHAT IS CHRIST TO YOU?

What is He willing to be to you, if you will have Him? Won’t you be made heirs of heaven, joint-heirs with Christ—to reign with Him for ever and ever—to be His—to be with Him where He is—to be what He is? Think, then, of what He is, and of what He gives. You don’t need to trouble yourselves at present about what you have to give up. Receive Him, and all these things will appear utterly insignificant.

I used to think of what I would have to give up. I dearly loved many of the pleasures of this earth; but now I’d as soon go out into your streets and eat the dirt as do those things. God doesn’t say, “Give up this and that.” He says, “Here is the Son of my bosom—receive Him.” When you do receive Him, everything else goes. Stop that talk about giving up; let Christ save you, and all these things will go for nothing.

Mark the words, “To as many as received Him, to them gave He power.” Now, my friends, will you go with this man? You have often heard about Christ; you know as much about Him as any one on this platform perhaps; but did you ever know a man or woman who regretted receiving Him?

No man ever regretted receiving Christ; but I have heard of thousands who have been followers of the devil, and have regretted it bitterly. And I notice that it is always the most faithful followers of the devil who are regretting it most.

TAKE JESUS.

My friends, accept my advice, and take Jesus with you when you leave this hall. Remember, He is the gift of God offered to whosoever. You belong to that class, don’t you? Just take Him; that’s the first thing you have to do. When you go to cut down a tree, you don’t take the axe and commence to hew down the branches. No, you begin right down at the root. So here, you must take Christ, and then you will get power to resist the world, the flesh, and the devil.

RUTH AND ORPAH.

Now, another case—Ruth and Orpah. Many are like these two young widows. A crisis had come in their lives; they had lost their husbands, and had been living up there in the mountains of Moab. Often had they visited the graves of their dear ones, and perhaps planted a few flowers there, and watered them with their tears. Now, Naomi is about to return to her native land, and they think they will go a bit of the road with her. It is a sad parting; but now the crisis comes. Down in the valley they embrace each other, and give the parting kiss. Then they both say they will go with Naomi, but she warns them of the difficulties and the trials which might await them. So Orpah says, “I will go back to my people”; but Ruth cannot leave her mother, and says she will go with her.

Orpah turns back alone, and I can see her on the top of the hill; she stops, and turns round for a last look. And Naomi says to Ruth, “Behold, thy sister-in-law is gone back to her people, and unto her gods; return thou after thy sister-in-law.” What does Ruth say? “Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee; for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.” Her choice was made. Poverty here or suffering and want yonder, she would share Naomi’s lot.

A BLESSED DECISION.

Orpah loved Naomi, but not enough to leave all for her; while Ruth loved her mother so much, that the leaving of her people seemed nothing to her. Oh, may God draw out all your hearts, so that you may leave all and follow Him! We never hear any more of Orpah; the curtain falls upon her life. Perhaps she died away up in the mountains of Moab, without God and without hope. But how different with Ruth! She becomes famous in history; she is one of the few women whose names have come along down the roll of ages; and she is brought into the royal line of heaven. I have an idea that God blessed her for that decision. And He will bless you if you decide in a like manner. Who will say to-night, as Ruth did, “I will follow thee; and thy God shall be my God”? Will any one take up the language of Ruth? Is there not a Ruth here? If there is, the Master is calling.

I’ll take another word. I have been speaking of “receive”; the next word I want your attention to is,

TRUSTING.

Many get hold of that when they cannot get hold of “believe” or “receive.” You all know what it is to trust. If it were not for trust, there would be a terrible commotion in this building to-night.

If you could not trust that the roof was firmly put up, you would get out pretty quick; and if you could not trust these chairs to support you, how long would you sit on them? Why, you wouldn’t have come here at all if you didn’t trust our word that there would be an address. Now, it is just the same trust that God wants. It is no miraculous trust or faith, but just the same kind, only the object is different. Instead of trusting in these earthly things, or in an arm of flesh, you are asked to trust in the Son of God.

THE DUBLIN MERCHANT.

In Dublin I was speaking to a lady in the inquiry-room, when I noticed a gentleman walking up and down before the door. I went forward and said, “Are you a Christian?” He was very angry, and turned on his heel and left me. The following Sunday night I was preaching about “receiving,” and I put the question, “Who’ll receive Him now?” That young man was present, and the question sank into his heart. The next day he called upon me—he was a merchant in that city—and said, “Do you remember me?” “No, I don’t.” “Do you remember the young man who answered you so roughly the other night?” “Yes, I do.” “Well, I’ve come to tell you I am saved.” “How did it happen?” “Why, I was listening to your sermon last night, and when you asked, ‘Who’ll receive Him now?’ God put it into my heart to say, ‘I will’; and He has opened my eyes to see His Son now.” I don’t know why thousands should not do that here to-night. If you are ever to be saved, why not now?

SALVATION IS A FREE GIFT,

and it is a free gift for us. Can you buy it? It is a free gift, presented to “whosoever.” Suppose I were to say, I will give this Bible to “whosoever”; what have you got to do? Why, nothing but take it. But a man comes forward, and says, “I’d like that Bible very much.” “Well, didn’t I say ‘whosoever’?” “Yes; but I’d like to have you say my name.” “Well, here it is.” Still he keeps eyeing the Bible, and saying, “I’d like to have that Bible; but I’d like to give you something for it. I don’t like to take it for nothing.” “Well, I am not here to sell Bibles; take it, if you want it.” “Well, I want it; but I’d like to give you something for it. Let me give you a penny for it; though, to be sure, it’s worth twenty or thirty shillings.” Well, suppose I took the penny; the man takes up the Bible, and marches away home with it. His wife says, “Where did you get that Bible?” “Oh, I bought it.” Mark the point; when he gives the penny it ceases to be a gift. So with salvation. If you were to pay ever so little, it would not be a gift.

THE USELESSNESS OF TRYING.

Man is always trying to do something. This miserable word “try” is keeping thousands out of heaven. When I hear men speak of “trying,” I generally tell them it is the way down to death and hell. I believe more souls are lost through “trying” than any other way. You have often tried, and as often failed; and as long as you keep trying you will fail. Drop that word, then, and take as your sure foothold for eternity, “trust.” “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him” I that is the right kind of trust. Would to God that you would all say, “I will trust Him now, to-night.” Did you ever hear of any one going down to hell trusting in Jesus? I never did. This very night, if you commit yourself to Him, the battle will be over.

You are complaining you don’t feel better. Well, remember, the child must be born before it can be taught. So we cannot learn of God until we receive Him. We must be born—born again—i.e. the new birth, ere we can feel. Christ must be in us the hope of glory. How can He be in us if we don’t receive Him and trust Him?

PRESENT SALVATION.

Another verse that has been used a great deal during the past two years, and I feel that I rest my own salvation on it, is John v. 24. I trust God will write it on your hearts, and burn it down into your souls. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My Word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life.” Thank God for that “hath.”

I had a few men in the inquiry-room the other night who could not find peace. I said, “Do you believe the Bible?” “Yes, sir.” “I think I will prove you don’t. Turn up John v. 24.” They turned it up. “Read the verse.” “‘He that heareth My Word—’” “You believe that?” “Yes, sir.” “‘And believeth on Him that sent me—’” “You believe God sent Jesus?” “Yes.” “Well, read on.” “‘Hath everlasting life.’” “You believe you have everlasting life?” “No, we don’t.” “Oh, I thought you didn’t believe in the Bible!” What right have you to cut a verse in two, and say you believe the one half, but not the other? It plainly says, that he who believes “hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” Why, if you believe God’s words, you can say, “I have passed from darkness into light.” Just by resting on that one little word in the present tense we may have “assurance” now. We don’t need to wait till we die, and till the great day of judgment, to find it out.

“TAKE, TAKE!”

A lady in Glasgow came to me, and said, “Mr. Moody, you are always saying ‘Take, take!’ Is there any place in the Bible where it says ‘Take,’ or is it only a word you use? I have been looking in the Bible for it, but cannot see it.” “Why,” I said, “the Bible is sealed with it; it is almost the last word in the Bible. ‘And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.’” “Well,” she said, “I never saw that before. Is that all I have to do?” “Yes, the Bible says so.” And she took it, just there. God says, “Let him take”; who can stop us if God says it? All the devils in hell cannot hinder a poor soul from taking, if God says “Take.” My friends, are you going to “Take” to-night? Are you going to let these precious meetings pass without getting Christ—without being able to look up and say, “Christ is my Saviour, God is my Father, heaven is my home”?

AN ANXIOUS INQUIRER.

A lady came to my house the other night, anxious about her soul; but after some conversation she left, without finding peace. She came again, and I asked, “What is the trouble?” “I haven’t got peace.” I took her to this verse, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life” (John iii. 36). I just held up that little word “hath” to her, and turned to John v. 24, and vi. 47. There these words were spoken by Jesus, and they are all linked on to believing on the Son. After we had talked for some time, she looked in my face earnestly, and said, “I have got it!” and went away rejoicing in the Saviour’s love.

If you seek life you can have it now, as you sit upon your seat. The word “hath” occurs again in Isa. liii. 6: “All we like sheep have gone astray;... and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” Our iniquity has been laid upon Christ, and the Lord is not going to demand payment twice. “Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree.”

THE DEBT PAID.

Suppose I owed Mr. Wanamaker a thousand pounds, and I became a bankrupt; I would have nothing to pay, so he might send me to prison. But suppose Mr. Stone heard of it, and says, “I don’t want to see Moody taken to prison.” So he pays the debt for me, and gets the receipt. When I see the receipt, I know that I am free. But Mr. Wanamaker finds out that I didn’t pay it, and gets me hauled off to court. He says he must have me pay it myself, or I must go to prison. I show the receipt. “Why,” says the judge, “the debt is paid.”

Mr. Wanamaker says, “Moody didn’t pay it.” Would any judge in the land support him? No; it is paid, and cannot be demanded again. Well, if man do not ask payment twice, will God? No, certainly not! The case is this: the debt has been paid, our sins have been atoned for. Christ Himself has redeemed us, not with corruptible things, such as silver and gold, but with His precious blood; therefore we are free.

But remember, although salvation is so free for us, it cost God a great deal to redeem us. He had an only Son, and He gave Him up freely for us. What a wonderful gift! If you make light of so great a salvation, how can you escape the damnation of hell?

THE GREAT QUESTION.

Now, one question: What are you going to do with Christ? You have got to settle that question. You may get angry, like a man a short time ago, who marched out of a church, saying, “What right has that American to make such a statement?” But it is true; you must settle it. Pilate wanted to shirk the responsibility, and sent Jesus to Herod; but he was forced to a decision. When the Jews forced him to decide, he washed his hands, and said he “was innocent of this just man’s blood.” But did that take away his guilt? No.

An angel may be here, hovering over this audience, and he is listening to what is said. Some one may say, “I will receive Him; I will delay no longer.” Immediately the angel will wing his way right up to the pearly gates, and tell the news that another sinner has been saved. There will be a new song ringing through the courts of heaven over sinners repenting. God will issue the command to write down their names in the book of life, and to get rooms ready for them in the new Jerusalem, where we all will soon be.

GUILTY, BUT SAFE.

A man was once being tried for a crime, the punishment of which was death. The witnesses came in one by one, and testified to his guilt; but there he stood, quite calm and unmoved. The judge and the jury were quite surprised at his indifference; they could not understand how he could take such a serious matter so calmly. When the jury retired, it did not take them many minutes to decide on the verdict “guilty”; and when the judge was passing the sentence of death upon the criminal, he told him how surprised he was that he could be so unmoved in the prospect of death.

When the judge had finished, the man put his hand in his bosom, pulled out a document, and walked out of the dock a free man. Ah, that was how he could be so calm; it was a free pardon from his king, which he had in his pocket all the time. The king had instructed him to allow the trial to proceed, and to produce the pardon only when he was condemned. No wonder, then, that he was indifferent as to the result of the trial. Now, that is just what will make us joyful in the great day of judgment; we have got a pardon from the Great King, and it is sealed with the blood of His Son.

THE CHICAGO FIRE.

After the Chicago fire took place, a great many things were sent to us from all parts of the world. The boxes they came in were labelled “For the people who were burned out,” and all a man had to do was to prove that he had been burned out, and he got a share. So here, you have but to prove that you are poor, miserable sinners, and there’s help for you. If every man who is ruined and lost will cling to “try,” there is no hope; but if he give it all up as a bad job, then Christ will save him. The law condemns us, but Christ saves us.

THE LOST SCHOLAR.

The superintendent of a Sabbath school in Edinburgh was walking down the street one day, when he met a policeman leading a little boy by the hand, who was crying bitterly. He stopped, and asked the policeman what was the matter with the boy. “Oh,” said the officer, “he has got lost.” The superintendent asked to look at him. They went to a lamp, and held up the little fellow. Why, in a moment the boy knew his superintendent, and flew to his arms. The gentleman took him from the policeman, and the boy was comforted. The law has got us, but let us flee into Jesus’ arms, and we are safe.

A friend of mine in the North told me of a poor Scottish lassie, who was very anxious about her soul. He told her to read Isaiah liii. She replied, “I canna read, and I canna pray; Jesus, take me as I am!” That was the true way; and Jesus just took her as she was. Let Him take you this night, just as you are, and He will receive you to His arms.

THREE YEARS SEEKING JESUS.

One night, when preaching in Philadelphia, right down by the side of the pulpit there was a young lady, whose eyes were riveted on me as if she were drinking in every word. It is precious to preach to people like that; they generally get good, even if the sermon be poor.

I got interested in her, and after I had done talking, I went and spoke to her. “Are you a Christian?” “No, I wish I was; I have been seeking Jesus for three years.” I said, “There must be some mistake.” She looked strangely at me, and said, “Don’t you believe me?” “Well, no doubt you thought you were seeking Jesus; but it don’t take an anxious sinner three years to meet an anxious Saviour.” “What am I to do, then?” “The matter is, you are trying to do something; you must just believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.”

“Oh, I am sick and tired of the word, ‘Believe, believe, believe!’ I don’t know what it is.” “Well,” I said, “we’ll change the word; take ‘trust.’” “If I say, I’ll trust Him, will He save me?” “No, I don’t say that; you may say a thousand things, but if you do trust Him.” “Well,” she said, “I do trust Him; but,” she added in the same breath, “I don’t feel any better.” “Ah, I’ve got it now! You’ve been looking for feelings for three years, instead of for Jesus. Faith is up above, not down here.”

People are always looking for feelings. You are getting up a new translation of the Bible here, and if the men who are translating it would only put in feelings instead of faith, what a rush there would be for that Bible. But if you look from Genesis to Revelation, you cannot find feelings attached to salvation. We must rise above feelings. So I said to this lady, “You cannot control your feelings; if you could, what a time you’d have! I know I would never have the toothache or the headache.”

FEELINGS, THE DEVIL’S STRATAGEM.

“Feelings” is the last plank the devil sticks out, just as your feet are getting on the “Rock of Ages.” He sees the poor trembling sinner just finding his way to the Saviour, when he shoves out this plank, and the poor sinner thinks he’s “all right now.” Some sermon you have heard arouses you, but then you feel all right when you get on this plank. Six months after, perhaps, you are dying, and the devil comes along when you think you’re quite safe. “Ah,” he tells you, “that was my work; I made you feel good.” And where are you then? Oh, take your stand on God’s word, then you cannot fail. His word has been tried for six thousand years, and it has not failed.

So I said to the lady, “Have no more to do with feelings; but, like Job, say, ‘Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him.’” She looked at me a few minutes, and then, putting her hand to take mine, she said, “Mr. Moody, I trust the Lord Jesus Christ to save my soul to-night.” Then she went to the elders and said the same words. As she passed out she met one of the church officers, and, shaking his hand, said again, “I trust the Lord Jesus to save my soul.”

Next night she was right before me again. I shall never forget her beaming face; the light of eternity was shining in her eyeballs! She went into the inquiry-room. I wondered what she was going there for; but when I got there, I found her with her arms round a lady friend, saying, “It’s only to trust Him. I have found it so.” From that night she was one of the best workers in the inquiry-room, and whenever I met a difficult case, I got her to speak to the person, and she was sure to help them.

“WORTHY OF ALL ACCEPTATION.”

Surely you can trust God to-night. You must have a very poor opinion of God if you cannot trust Him. You have only to come to Him thus—receive Him, trust Him. What more can you do, and what less can you do than trust Him? Is He not worthy of it? Now, let us be perfectly still a moment, and while the voice of man is hushed, let us think of one passage of Scripture “Behold, I stand at the door and knock.” That is Christ standing at the door of your heart, knocking; and He says, “If any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come into him, and will sup with him, and he with Me.” Will any one to-night pull back the bolts, and say, “Enter, thou welcome, thrice welcome One. Blessed Saviour, come in.” God grant that all here may do this!

EIGHT “I WILLS” OF CHRIST

1. The first one you will find in Matthew xi. 28: “Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and

I WILL GIVE YOU REST.

Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.”

Now I never met a person that did not want rest. That man or woman is not living on the face of the earth that doesn’t want rest. We read of the rich man that was going to pull down his barns and build larger, saying to his soul, “Take thine ease, there is plenty laid up in store, so now take thy rest.” Merchants toil day and night to amass money, in order that they may get rest. Men leave their families and friends and go round the world to earn money, in the hope that they may get rest. Sailors plough the sea, and are away from home for months to get money, in order that it may bring them rest. In fact, if rest could be bought in the market, there are many hundreds in London who would be paying a very high price for it; but though money can’t buy it, nevertheless by believing the word of God you can get it without money and without price. “Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” Now when we say “we will,” it doesn’t mean much very often. Perhaps we don’t intend to keep our word when we say we will do a thing; or if we do mean to keep it, we very often fail for want of ability to make our promise good. But bear in mind, God never breaks His promise; He never makes a mistake; He never fails to fulfil His word. And the words I have read may be relied on; for they are not the words of man, but of the Son of God—“Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.”

This tells us of the only place where we can find rest. There is no other place where a man can by any possibility find rest for his soul. Bear this in mind: it is not coming to some creed, it is not coming to some particular church, or to some particular doctrine, but to Christ. “Come unto Me.” It is the coming to a personal Christ that alone gives peace and rest to the soul.

PEACE.

Now, in John xiv. 27, there is a promise which is very precious to me. Christ says, “Peace I leave with you”; I am going away, but I am not going to take away My peace from you; that I leave behind Me. “My peace I give unto you.” Mark that little expression “My peace”—“My peace I give unto you.” A good many people look for their peace from worldly sources, but when they do find it they don’t get much out of it, for the devil can play on men’s feelings as men play on a harp, and can delude them into almost anything. But if we go to Christ for it, we do get what we want, we get rest for the soul, and until we do go to Him we shall never get it.

There are a good many things which disturb our peace; but nothing can disturb the peace of God. You might take this little island, and throw it right into the Atlantic, and it would make a great stir and commotion in this world, but I don’t think that God would be moved on His eternal throne by it; it would not disturb Him in the heavens, high and lifted up above all the earth. Let us have the peace of God, and then we shall have rest.

Again He says, “These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you.” Christ’s joy, not our own joy. When we come to a personal Christ, and our souls are stayed on Him, then we get rest, and peace, and joy. That is a rest that nothing can disturb; that is peace that flows on like a river; that is joy for evermore.

2. Now, the next “I will” is in John vi. 37. I can imagine some of you people saying, “Ah, if I were only good enough to come, I would come, and get this rest, and peace, and joy.” But if you will read the verse I am speaking of, you will find it says, “Him that cometh to Me

I WILL IN NO WISE CAST OUT.”

Surely that is broad enough—is it not? I don’t care who the man or woman is; I don’t care what your trials, what your troubles, what your sorrows, or what your sins are, if you will only come straight to the Master, He will not cast you out. Come then, poor sinner; come just as you are, and take Him at His word.

There was a wild and prodigal young man who came into one of our meetings. He was running a headlong career to ruin, but the Spirit of God got hold of him. Whilst I was conversing with him, and endeavouring to bring him to Christ, I quoted this verse to him. I held it right up to him, and led his mind right up to it, for some time, and at last light seemed to break in upon him, and he seemed to find comfort from it, so I told him to stick to that verse. Well, after he had left, on his way home the devil met him. Why, I don’t believe that any man ever starts to go to Christ but the devil strives somehow or other to meet him and trip him up. And even after he has come to Christ the devil comes, and tries to assail him with doubts, and make him believe there is something wrong in it. And so this young man was met by Satan, who whispered to him, “How do you know that is a right translation?” So that brought him for a while to a standstill, and threw him into darkness again. But he remembered my telling him to stick to that text, and there he was, after Satan had put that into his mind, holding on to it, but he did not find peace till two o’clock. He then said to himself, “I will stick to it anyhow, and if it is not the right translation, when I get to the bar of God I will tell Him I didn’t know it was wrong, because I didn’t understand anything about Greek and Latin.” “Him that cometh to Me I will in nowise cast out.” If you will only come to Him, I have got good authority to tell you that Christ will receive you to-day—yea, this very hour.

The kings and princes of this world, when they issue invitations, call round them the rich, the mighty and powerful, the honourable and the wise; but the Lord, when He was on earth, called round Him the vilest of the vile. “This man,” they said, “receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.” Publicans, sinners, and harlots pressed into the kingdom of God in His days.

THIS MAN RECEIVETH SINNERS.

Here in London there is no society that would have such a man as John Bunyan once was in their company; yet the Lord saved him, and welcomed him into His kingdom. Here is some poor miserable drunkard cast out by his father and mother, and deserted by all his friends, but the Lord has received him. I have known some of the most miserable outcasts that were ever seen, cast out and despised by everybody, and yet the Lord has received them. Take Him then at His word to-day, and accept His invitation, “Him that cometh to Me I will in nowise cast out.”

But you say I must just get rid of my sins first, and then I will come to Him. Why, that’s just like a man dying of the scarlet fever saying, “Oh, I’ll wait till I get rid of the fever before I send for a doctor!” Why, it is just because you are a sinner, and cannot get rid of your sins, that you need a Saviour. If I was dying for want of bread, it would be just as reasonable for me to say, “When I have got rid of this hunger, then I will begin to eat.” It is because I am hungry that I need to eat, and it is because we are sinners that we need Christ. It is because a man is sick that he needs a physician, and Christ is the Physician of the soul.

3. In Luke v. we read of the leper coming to Christ, and the Lord said unto him,

“I WILL: BE THOU CLEAN.”

And immediately the leprosy left him. That’s another I will I want to call your attention to. Now, if there is any man or woman here full of the leprosy of sin, if you will but go to the Master and tell all your case to Him, He will speak to you as He did to that poor leper, and say, “I will: be thou clean,” and the leprosy of your sins will flee away from you. It is the Lord, and the Lord alone, that can forgive sins. There is His word, just look it right over, “I will: be thou clean,” and then put that with the other verse, “Him that cometh to Me I will in nowise cast out.”

THE DEVIL’S CASTAWAYS.

One day when Whitfield was preaching, he said the Lord was so anxious to save souls that He would take in the devil’s castaways. Lady Huntingdon remonstrated with him, and said he ought not to make such statements. A little while after, however, there came to his preaching a poor fallen woman, an outcast from society. She was labouring under deep conviction of sin, and before long she found peace in her Saviour, and was received right into the kingdom of God. Now if there is a poor sinner here, let him take this one verse, and then keep in his mind that poor leper coming to Christ. The law forbade him to come, but Christ is above the law. “The law came by Moses, but grace and truth by Jesus Christ.”

Now, you can make a wonderful exchange to-day. You can have health in the place of sickness; you can get rid of everything that is vile and hateful in the sight of God. The Son of God comes down, and says, “I will take away your leprosy, and give you health in its stead. I will take away that terrible disease that is ruining your body and soul, and give you my righteousness in its stead. I will clothe you with the garments of salvation.” Is it not a wonderful thing? That’s what He means when He says I will. Oh, lay hold of this “I will!”

4. Now turn to Matthew x. 32: “Whosoever therefore shall confess Me before men, him will I also confess before My Father which is in heaven.” There’s the

“I WILL” OF CONFESSION.

Now, that’s the next thing that takes place after a man is saved. We have been washed in the blood of the Lamb, and the next thing is to get our mouths opened. We have to confess Christ here in this dark world, and tell His love to others. We are not to be ashamed of the Son of God.

A man thinks it a great honour when he has achieved a victory that causes his name to be mentioned in Parliament, or in the presence of the Queen and her court. A very great honour. And in China, we read, the highest ambition of the successful soldier is to have his name written in the palace or temple of Confucius. But just think of having your name mentioned in the kingdom of heaven by the Prince of Glory, by the Son of God, because you confess Him here on earth. You confess Him here; He will confess you yonder. If you wish to be brought into the clear light of liberty, you must take your stand on Christ’s side. I have known many Christians go groping about in darkness, and never get into the clear light of the kingdom, because they were ashamed to confess the Son of God. Don’t be ashamed, Christians, to let your friends, and even your enemies, know that you are on God’s side.

“I WILL” OF SERVICE.

There are a good many Christians here, I believe, that have been quickened and aroused to say, “I want to do some service for Christ.” Well, Christ says, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” There is no Christian who cannot help to bring some one to the Saviour. Christ says, “And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto Me”; and our business is just to lift up Christ, and live to Him. You may go on preaching like the angel Gabriel; but if you live like a devil, your preaching goes for nothing. I do not care how eloquent you are, and what beautiful language you use, your preaching goes for nothing. It is no good following this man or that man; follow Christ, and Him only. He says, I will make you fishers of men.

PETER HAD A GOOD HAUL ON THE DAY OF PENTECOST.

I doubt if he ever caught so many fish in one day as he did men on that day of Pentecost. Why, it would have broken every net they had on board, if they had had to drag up three thousand fishes.

Our Lord said, “Follow Me, Peter, and I will make you a fisher of men”; and Peter simply obeyed Him, and there, on that day of Pentecost, we see the result.

But there is one reason, and a great reason, why so many do not succeed. I have been asked by a great many good men, “Why is it we don’t have any results? We work hard, pray hard, and preach hard, and yet the success does not come.” I will tell you. It is because a good many people spend all their time mending their nets. No wonder they never catch anything.

INQUIRY MEETINGS.

But the great matter is to hold inquiry meetings, and thus pull the net in, and see if you have caught anything. If you are always mending and setting the net, you won’t catch many fish. Whoever heard of a man going out to fish, and setting his net, and then letting it stop there, and never pulling it in? Why, everybody would laugh at the man’s folly.

There was a minister in Manchester who came to me one day, and said, “I wish you would tell me why we ministers don’t succeed better than we do.” So I brought before him this idea of pulling in the net, and I said, You ought to pull in your nets. I said there are many ministers in Manchester who can preach much better than I can, but then I pull in the net. Many people have objections to inquiry meetings, but I urged upon him the importance of them, and the minister said, “I never did pull in the net; I will try next Sunday.” He did so, and eight persons, anxious inquirers, went into his study. The next Sunday he came down to see me, and said he had never had such a Sunday in his life. He had met with marvellous blessing. The next time he drew the net there were forty, and when he came to see me at the Opera House the other day, he said to me joyfully, “Moody, I have had eight hundred conversions this last year! It is a great mistake I did not begin earlier to pull in the net.” So, my friends, if you want to catch men,

JUST PULL IN THE NET.

If you only catch one, it will be something. It may be a little child, but I have known a little child convert a whole family. Why, you don’t know what’s in that little dull-headed boy in the inquiry-room; he may become a Martin Luther, a reformer that shall make the world tremble—you cannot tell. God uses the weak things of this world to confound the mighty. God’s promise is as good as a Bank of England note—“I promise to pay So-and-so,” and here is one of Christ’s promissory notes—“If you will follow Me, I will make you fishers of men.” Will you not lay hold of the promise, and trust it, and follow Him now?

But then, if you wish to catch men, you must use a little—what shall I say?—

COMMON SENSE.

That’s the plain English of it. If a man preaches the gospel, and preaches it faithfully, he ought to expect results then and there. But after he has proclaimed the glad tidings, let him have an inquiry meeting, and, if necessary, a second meeting, and go to the people’s houses and talk and pray with them, and in that way hundreds will be brought to God. I believe it is the privilege of God’s children to reap the fruit of their labour three hundred and sixty-five days in the year.

“Well, but,” say some, “is there not a sowing time as well as harvest?” Yes, it is true, there is; but then, you can sow with one hand, and reap with the other. What would you think of a farmer who went on sowing all the year round, and never thought of reaping? I repeat it, we want to sow with one hand, and reap with the other; and if we look for the fruit of our labours, we shall see it. “If I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto Me.” We must lift Christ up, and then seek men out, and bring them to Him. Then, again, you must use the right kind of bait. A good many people don’t do this, and then they wonder they are not successful. You see them getting up all kinds of entertainments with which to try and catch men. They go the wrong way to work. I will tell you what this perishing world wants: it wants

CHRIST AND HIM CRUCIFIED.

There’s a void in every man’s bosom that wants filling up, and if we only approach them with the right kind of bait we shall catch them. This poor world needs a Saviour; and if we are going to be successful in catching men, we must preach Christ crucified—not His life only, but His death. And if we are only faithful in doing this we shall succeed. And why? Because there is His promise: “If you follow Me, I will make you fishers of men.” And that promise holds just as good to you and me as it did to His disciples, and is as true now as it was in their time. “They that are wise shall shine like the sun in the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness like the stars for ever and ever.” Think then of the exalted privilege of turning one soul to Christ. You set a stream in motion that shall go on running for ages after you are gone. “Blessed are they that die in the Lord; for they rest from their labours, and their works do follow them.”

PAUL AND HIS WRITINGS.

Think of Paul up yonder. Why people are going up every day and every hour, the men and women that have been brought to Christ through his writings. He set streams in motion that have flowed on for more than a thousand years. I can imagine men going up there and saying, “Paul, I thank thee for writing that letter to the Ephesians; I found Christ in that.” “Paul, I thank thee for writing that epistle to the Corinthians.” “Paul, I found Christ in that epistle to the Philippians.” “I thank thee, Paul, for that epistle to the Galatians; I found Christ in that.” And so, I suppose, they are going up still, thanking Paul all the while for what he had done. Ah, when Paul was put in prison he did not fold his hands and sit down in idleness. No, he began to write; and his epistles have come down through the long ages of time, and brought thousands on thousands to a knowledge of Christ crucified. Yes, Christ said to Paul, “I will make thee a fisher of men if thou wilt follow Me,” and he has been fishing for souls ever since. The devil thought he had done a very wise thing when he got Paul into prison, but he was very much mistaken; he overdid it for once. I have no doubt Paul has thanked God ever since for that Philippian gaol, and his stripes and imprisonment there. I am sure the world has made more by it than we shall ever know till we get to heaven.

“I WILL NOT LEAVE YOU COMFORTLESS.”

To me it is a sweet thought, that Christ has not left us alone in this dark wilderness here below. Although He has gone up on high, and taken His seat by the Father’s throne, He has not left us. The better translation is, “I will not leave you orphans.” He did not leave Joseph when they cast him into prison. “God was with him.” When Daniel was cast into the den of lions, they had to put the Almighty in with him. They were so bound together that they could not be separated, and so God went down into the den of lions with Daniel.

NO SEPARATION.

If we have got Christ with us we can do all things. Do not let us be thinking how weak we are. Let us lift up our eyes to Him, and think of Him as our Elder Brother, who has all power given to Him in heaven and on earth. He says: “Lo, I am with you, even to the end of the world.” Some of our children and friends leave us, and it is a very sad hour when some member of our family goes to a distant country—perhaps to Australia. But, thank God, the believer and Christ shall never be separated. He is with us here, and we shall be with Him in person by and by. We shall be with Him, and see Him in His beauty by and by. But not only is He with us, but He has sent us the Holy Ghost, who will tell us all things. Let us honour the Holy Ghost by acknowledging that He is here in our midst. He has got power to give sight to the blind, liberty to the captive, and to open the ears of the deaf that they may hear the glorious words of the gospel.

7. Then there is another I will in John vi. 40; it occurs four times in the chapter: “I will raise him up at the last day.”

THE “I WILL” OF RESURRECTION.

To me it is a very sweet thought to think that I have a Saviour who has power over death. My blessed Master holds the keys of death and hell. I pity the poor unbeliever and the poor infidel. They have no hope in resurrection. But every child of God can open that chapter and read the promise, and his heart ought to leap within him for joy as he reads it. You know the tradesman generally puts the best specimen of his wares in the window to show us the quality of his stock. And so, when Christ was down here, He gave us a specimen of what He could do. He just raised three from the dead, that we might know what power He had. There was (1) Jairus’s daughter, (2) the widow’s son, and (3) Lazarus of Bethany. He raised all three of them, so that every doubt might be swept away from our hearts. How dark and gloomy this world would be if we had no hope in the resurrection; but now, when we lay our little children down in the grave, although it is in sorrow, it is not without hope. We have seen them pass away, we have seen them in the terrible struggle with death; but there has been one star to illumine the darkness and gloom—the thought, that though the happy circle has been broken on earth, it shall be completed again in yon world of heavenly light. You that have lost a loved one rejoice as you read that “I will.” Those that have died in Christ shall come forth again by and by. The darkness shall flee away, and the morning light of the resurrection shall dawn upon us. It is only a little while, and He that has said it shall come, His voice shall be heard in the grave—“I will raise him up at the last day.” Precious promise! precious I will!

8. Now, the next I will is in John xvii. 24: “Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am.”

THE “I WILL” OF GLORY.

That was in His last prayer in the guest-chamber, on the last night before He was crucified and died that terrible death on Calvary. I see some here whose countenances begin to light up at the thought that they shall be with the King in His beauty by and by. Yes; there is a glorious day before us in the future. Some think that on the first day they are converted they have got everything. To be sure, we get salvation for the past, and peace for the present; but then there is the glory for the future. That’s what kept Paul rejoicing. He said, “These light afflictions, these few stripes, these few brickbats and stones that they throw at me—why, the glory that is beyond excels them so much that I count them as nothing, nothing at all, so that I may win Christ.” And so, when things go against us, let us cheer up; let us remember that the night will soon pass away, and the morning dawn upon us.

DEATH NEVER COMES THERE.

It is banished from that heavenly land. Sickness, and pain, and sorrow come not there to mar that grand and glorious home where we shall be by and by with the Master. God’s family will be all together there. Glorious future, my friends! Yes, glorious day! and it may be a great deal nearer than many of us think. During these few dark days we are here, let us stand steadfast and firm, and by and by we shall be in the unbroken circle in yon world of light, and have the King in our midst.

THE SINNER’S “I WILL.”

And now there is just one I will that I want you to say, and that is the I will of the sinner. You have got the eight “I wills” of Christ: (1) He will give us rest; (2) He will not cast out the vilest, but will receive all that come; (3) He will make us clean; (4) He will confess us as His; (5) He will make us successful winners of souls; (6) He will not leave us comfortless; (7) He will raise us up at the last day; and (8) He wills that we be with Him in glory.

“I WILL ARISE, AND GO TO MY FATHER.”

Who will say it this afternoon? Who will come to God as the poor prodigal did? I can see him now. Perhaps he is looking over those blue hills; and away in the distance he can see the home he has left, and he knows that there’s a loving father, a grey-headed man there; and he says, I perish here in a foreign land, while there is bread enough and to spare in that home which I have left; “I will arise, and go to my father.” That was the turning-point in his life. That was a glorious thing to do, was it not, sinner?

When Mr. Spurgeon preached the other day in the West End, he summed up the things his audience had got over. Some of you, he said, have got over the prayers of faithful Sabbath-school teachers who used to weep over you, and come to the house and talk to you. You resisted all their entreaties, and got over their influence. And you have got over your mother’s tears and prayers, and she, perhaps, sleeps in the grave to-day; you have got over the tears and prayers of your father and of your minister, who has prayed with you and wept with you, a godly, faithful minister. There was a time when his sermons got right hold of you, but you have got over them now, and his sermons make no impression on you; you have been through special meetings, and they have made no impression on you, they have not touched you. Still, you say, you are getting on. Well, so you are; but bear in mind, you are getting on as fast as you can to hell, and there is not one man in ten thousand who can hope to be saved after he has grown so hard-hearted.

Oh, my friends, say I will arise to-day! Let there be joy in heaven to-day over your return. We read in Luke xv., “There is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth.” May many return now, and live.

THE RIGHT KIND OF FAITH

I do not know of any more important truth to bring out than the answer to this question, because that is the beginning of everything with regard to the divine life. A man must know he is saved before there is any peace, or joy, or comfort. The answer to the question is, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved”; and the question that comes right after that from almost every one is, “What is it to believe?” I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God; I believe that He came into the world to save sinners. Well, and so do the devils. The devils not only believe, but they tremble. I can believe intellectually that Jesus Christ is able and willing to save, and yet be as far from the kingdom of God as any man who never heard about Jesus Christ. To believe that He can and is willing to save you, won’t save you. I will now take up the word “faith,” which means believing.

THE BIBLE DEFINITION OF FAITH.

People say, “What is faith?” Now the Bible definition of faith is perhaps as good as any one that we know of. We are told in Hebrews xi., “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Now faith is—what? The substance, or, as you have it in the margin, “ground” or “confidence.” In other words, faith is dependence upon the veracity of another. Why, all business is carried on on this principle of faith. Let men lose confidence one in another, and see how quick business could cease here in London. Let men withdraw their confidence, and see what would take place in the commercial world to-morrow. It was faith that brought you here. If you had not faith to believe that there would be a meeting in this hall, you would not have come. Somebody said there are three things about faith—knowledge, assent, and laying hold, and it is the last clause that is safe. Not the knowledge. A great many people say, “I believe Christ is able to save.” They give their assent, and say, “I believe” but that does not save. It is the last clause, the laying hold, that saves, and that is what we want to press upon you.

Faith has an outward look, not an inward one. Hundreds of people spend time in looking at their own hearts, but

FAITH IS AN OUTWARD LOOK.

We are to have faith in God, and not in man. A great many people place their faith in men, and they pin their faith to other people’s doctrines and creeds. Not long ago I heard of a man who was asked what he believed. He said he believed what his church believed. “What does your church believe?” “The church believes what I believe.” And that was all they could get out of him. There are a great many in that same state of mind. They believe what the church believes, but they do not know what the church believes. If their church teaches it, they believe it. All the churches in the world can’t save a soul. It is not to have faith in this church or that church, this doctrine or that doctrine, this man or that man, but it is to have faith in the man Christ Jesus at the right hand of God. That is the only faith that will ever save a soul.

PUT NO CONFIDENCE IN MAN.

Let me call your attention to a few verses where God has warned us not to put faith in man: Jeremiah xvii. 5: “Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited. Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.” You will find some men have not faith in God; they are like a tree that is withered and blasted. And there is a man perhaps right along next to them who has strong faith in God; “he is like a tree planted by the rivers of water; his leaf also shall not wither.” Why? He trusts in the living God. “Happy is the man that hath the God of Jacob for his help.” Cursed is the man that leaneth upon an arm of flesh, and trusteth in man. The same thought is brought out in Isaiah xxx.: “Woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin: that walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt! Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion.” In one place He says, “Woe,” and in another place He says, “Cursed be the man.” It is a terrible thing for man to put faith in man. Then Psalm cxlvi. 3: “Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish. Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God.” Now here we are told very plainly by God that we are not to put our trust in this man or that man—not to lean upon an arm of flesh. All the ministers in the world and all the potentates in the church put together cannot save one soul. It is thoroughly impossible. It is the Lord that can save, and the Lord alone; therefore we want to get our eyes away from man, from the church, and right straight up to the man Christ Jesus. We read in Mark xi. 22 whom we are to believe in. Christ says—and how sweet it sounds—“Have faith in God.” I never saw a man or woman in my life that had faith in God who was confounded, I do not care what their troubles or trials were. Have faith in God, and not in man.

THE GREAT DELUSION OF OUR DAY.

We are living in very strange days. Some people tell us it does not make any difference what a man believes if he is only sincere. One church is just as good as another if you are only sincere. I do not believe any greater delusion ever came out of the pit of hell than that. It is ruining more souls at the present time than anything else. I never read of any men more sincere or more earnest than those men at Mount Carmel, those false prophets. They were terribly in earnest. Some people say, “Why, if these men are holding, as you say, error, why should they be so in earnest?” Those prophets of Baal were the most earnest men I ever read of. You do not read of men getting so in earnest now that they take knives and cut themselves. Look at them leaping upon their altars; hear their cry, “O Baal! O Baal!” We never heard that kind of prayer on this platform. They acted like madmen. They were terribly in earnest, yet did God hear their cry? They were all slain. “I believe one religion is just as good as another, if you are only sincere in what you believe.” It is one of the devil’s lies.

HAVE FAITH IN GOD,

not in man. I don’t care how good a man is, don’t you put your faith in him. His breath departs from him, he dies, and where is your help? Our God never dies, our God never will disappoint us if we put our faith in Him. “Have faith in God,” says Christ.

I saw some time ago some men arranging to go up in a balloon fastened to the car. They had one rope fastened, and by some mistake that rope got untied, and instead of seizing hold of the car they seized hold of the rope. One of them let go; the other just hung on, and he was swept away in the heavens and lost. “It did not make any difference; if he had hung on to the car it would have been just the same,” you say, “if he was only sincere.” Why, that man was very sincere when he seized hold of that rope, yet he was lost—perished in his earnestness. My friends, bear in mind if you do not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ you must perish. It is God that says it—not man. Some people say, “He is such a good man, I cannot help but believe him; it is all right because he is such a good man, and he holds that doctrine.” Paul says, “If a man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.” And if Gabriel should come right down here to-night, and commence to proclaim a different gospel from this platform, I would get out of the hall, and would not listen to him.

DECEIVERS AND DARK DAYS.

Deceivers are going out into the world who would deceive even the very elect if they could. I believe we are living in dark days. Error is coming in on all sides, and it is a time when we must maintain the faith. “I have kept the faith,” says Paul. The good old doctrine of our forefathers, and of the Puritans, is a good deal better than your new doctrine at the present time, that is just doing away with Christ, with hell, and even with heaven. Let us cling to the word of God, and have faith in God.

There was a young man God sent down to Bethel, and told him to prophesy against it. He was not to eat and drink in the place, nor to go back by the same way as he went. Down the young man went. The king asked him to go to his palace, but he refused. No, God had told him to go and prophesy, not to eat and drink. But there was an old prophet, and he sent out word to tell him an angel had told him to invite him, and the young man obeyed the voice of the angel rather than God, and then he started home another way, and a lion met him and slew him. We are not to put our faith in this man or that man, not even in a prophet if it is contrary to the word of God; not to believe the best man living if it is contrary to the word of God. If God says it, let us take our stand upon it. God’s word will stand when these men and their names have been swept away and forgotten. There have always been false teachers, men trying to teach us it does not make any difference what a man believes if he is only sincere. My friends, let us have faith in the living God, and then it will be light where it is darkness now.

HOW TO GET FAITH.

Now, just turn to John xx. I can imagine some of you saying, “I would like to have faith in God, but I do not know how to get it; I have been praying a long time for faith.” I used to pray, “O God, give me faith,” and at the same time I was all the time neglecting the Bible. Here it stands; see how we are to get faith: “But these are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through His name.” Now John took up his pen and wrote the gospel for one express purpose. What was it? That men might believe that Jesus Christ was the Son of God. Every chapter but two in John speaks of believing, and if you run through the gospel and mark out the word “believe,” you would find what that gospel is written for. It is, “Believe, believe, believe, believe,” and it keeps right on to that one thing. He took up his pen and wrote that gospel that we might believe, and by believing we get life. Then turn to Romans x. 15: “How shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Do you want to know how to get faith? It is to get acquainted with God. Jehovah says, “Acquaint now thyself with me, and be at peace.” We find the people that are best acquainted with God have the most peace. It is the people that do not know God that do not trust Him. The people that know God put their trust in Him. I never knew a man to be well acquainted with God who did not trust Him. The more you know of a true man the more you trust him. I met a man ten years ago for the first time; I had not much faith in him, because I did not know much about him. In the course of a year I got well acquainted with him, and found him to be a true man; then I had more faith in him; the second year I had still more; and this year I have more faith in him than ever, because I know him well now. If you know God you cannot help trusting Him.

LITTLE WILLIE.

I wanted to teach my little boy what faith was some time ago, and so I put him on a table. He was a little fellow two years old. I stood back three or four feet, and said, “Willie, jump.” The little fellow said, “Pa, I’se afraid.” I said, “Willie, I will catch you; just look right at me, and jump”; and the little fellow got all ready to jump, and then looked down again, and says, “I’se afraid.” “Willie, didn’t I tell you I would catch you? Will Pa deceive you? Now, Willie, look me right in the eye, and jump, and I will catch you”; and the little fellow got all ready the third time to jump, but he looked on the floor, and said, “I’se afraid.” “Didn’t I tell you I would catch you?” “Yes.” At last I said, “Willie, don’t take your eyes off me,” and I held the little fellow’s eyes, and I said, “Now jump; don’t look at the floor”; and he leaped into my arms. Then he said to me, “Let me jump again.” I put him back, and, the moment he got on the table he jumped, and after that, when he was on the table, and I was standing five or six feet away, I heard him cry, “Pa, I’se coming,” and had just time to rush and catch him. He seemed to put too much confidence in me. But you cannot put too much confidence in God. Now faith never looks down; it looks right up. God says, “Trust me,” and God will bring us through all our difficulties, if we will only trust Him. Who will trust Him to-night? Who will have faith in Him to-night? “Whatsoever He saith unto thee, do it,” is what the mother of Christ said at the wedding; and whatsoever God speaks to you, do it. If God tells you to run, run. If God says, “Believe,” believe, and you will always be safe in doing just what God tells you to do.

UNBELIEF THE GREATEST ENEMY.

I have a great admiration for the old coloured woman who said, if God told her to jump through a stone wall she would jump; getting through the wall was God’s work, not hers, and she would do whatever God told her to do. The greatest enemy God and man have got is unbelief. Christ found it on both sides of the cross. It was the very thing that put Him to death. The Jews did not believe Him; they did not believe God had sent Him; they took Him to Calvary and murdered Him; and the first thing we find after He got up out of the grave was unbelief again. Thomas, one of His own disciples, did not believe He had risen. He said, Thomas, feel these wounds; and Thomas did, and believed, and said “My Lord and my God.” Now those Christians here that have learnt to trust God in past years will bear me out in this, that the more they know of God, the more they can trust Him. Why? They have found God to be true. When man has failed, God never has failed; and when every one else has disappointed them, God has proved true. Now, you that never trusted Him, won’t you just leap right into His arms to-night? Won’t you just take Him at His word, and believe on Him now?

THE GREATEST INSULT TO GOD.

It is considered you cannot offer a man a greater insult than to tell him he is a liar. Unbelief is telling God He is a liar. Why, suppose a man said, “Mr. Moody, I have no faith in you whatever,” don’t you think it would grieve me? There is not anything that would wound a man much more than to be told that you do not have any faith in him. A great many men say, “Oh, I have profound reverence and respect for God.” Yes, profound respect, but not faith. Why, it is a downright insult! Suppose a man says, “Mr. Moody, I have profound respect for you, profound admiration for you, but I do not believe a word you say.” I wouldn’t give much for his respect or admiration; I wouldn’t give much for his friendship. God wants us to put our faith in Him. How it would wound a mother’s feelings to hear her children say, “I do love mamma so much, but I don’t believe what she says.” How it would grieve that mother. And that is about the way a great many of God’s professed children talk. Some men seem to think it is a great misfortune that they do not have faith. Bear in mind it is not a misfortune, but it is the damning sin of the world.

GOD’S WORD IS ALWAYS KEPT.

Is there any reason why you should not have faith in God? Has God ever broken His word? I will defy any infidel to come forward and put his finger on any promise God has ever made to man that He has not kept. I can show you for 6000 years how the devil has lied, and how he has broken every promise he has made. What a lie he told Adam and Eve; and yet I can find a thousand men that will believe one of the devil’s lies quicker than I can find one man that believes God’s truth. Men will believe lies; but when it gets to real truth, then how few will believe the word of God. Why should not every man and woman in this house have faith in God? Why should not every one put confidence in Him now, and trust God to save them? And let me say, if you are ever saved, you will have to come to this one point of trusting to God for salvation. You never will be saved until you put your trust and confidence in God.

SETTING THE SEAL.

Look at John iii. 33: “He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true.” In those days men used to wear a signet ring, with their initials, and instead of signing their names, they used to take the ring and seal the document. That was setting to their seal; that was an endorsement. And now God comes down into this unbelieving world, and says, “Who will set to his seal that I am true?” And so I want to ask the friends in this hall, Who will set to his seal or her seal that God is true? It is a great deal better for us to make ourselves liars and God true than to try and make ourselves out true and God a liar. That is what many men will do. Who will set to his seal that God is true? Unbelief says, “I won’t.” Faith says, “I will set to my seal.” Oh, may God help many now to say, “I will set to my seal that God is true” this very hour; and, my friends, the moment you do set your seal that God is true, and put your faith in God, then comes the peace, the happiness you have been looking for so long!

NO PEACE WITHOUT TRUST.

A great many people go looking for peace and happiness before they trust. There will be no peace, no happiness, no joy, until you put your trust in God. The joy that flows through the Christian’s heart is the result of trusting God. Suppose I meet a man to-night leaping for joy, laughing at the top of his voice. I say, “My friend, what makes you so happy?” “Oh, I don’t know; I am so happy I cannot contain my feelings!” What would you say? Why, you would say the man had gone mad. But suppose I meet a man whom I have seen out here night after night begging, and I say to him, “Hullo, beggar, is that you?” “Don’t call me a beggar; I am no longer a beggar.” “Are not you the man who has been begging here every night?” “Yes.” “Where did you get your good clothes? How is this you are not a beggar?” “No, I am no beggar; I am worth a thousand pounds.” “How is that?” “Well, sir, last night I was here begging, and a man came along and put a thousand pounds in my hand.” “How did you know it was good money?” “I took it to the Bank of England, and they gave me gold for it.” “How was it done?” “Well, I just held out my hand, and he came and put a cheque right into it, and I took it to the bank and got gold for it.” “Did you really get it in that way?” “Yes.” “How do you know it was the right kind of hand?” “Why,” says the beggar, “what do I care about the hand, I have got the money.” Faith is the hand that reaches out and takes the blessing. Any faith that brings me to Christ is the right kind of faith, and instead of looking at your faith look to Christ. Some one has said, faith sees a thing in God’s hand, and says, “I will have it.” Unbelief sees it there, and says, “God won’t give it me.” Look to God by faith to-night and have salvation.

WHO WILL HAVE IT?

Every man and woman may have it if they will but put their trust in God. Is not God worthy of our confidence? Is not God worthy of our trust? You must have a poor opinion of God if you cannot trust Him. We consider we have a poor opinion of a man if we cannot trust him. If a man should tell me something, and I did not believe a word he said, I would have a very poor opinion of the man. Faith is putting confidence in God’s word. Take hold of His word to-night. He will save all that will come—not only that, but He will save you when you do come. Away with everything but Christ, and take Him now. Who will take God at His word to-night? Some one has said, “Faith is saying yes to God.” Who will say yes to-night, and take it? Now, is it too much to ask or to expect that every person in this hall should put their faith in God? If God does not save us, who will? Men cannot, the church cannot, creeds and doctrines cannot; the sacraments cannot save; baptism cannot save. You must have a living personal Christ, and God presents Him to the world. Who will take Him? Who will have Christ—who will trust Him? Faith says, I will. Is it not the very best thing you can do? Can you do a better thing than trust to God for salvation? “What must I do to be saved?” Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, or trust the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, and trust Him now.

STORY OF A CONDEMNED MAN.

Away back some years ago it is recorded in history of a man that was condemned to be put to death, that when he came to lay his head on the block the prince asked him if there was any one petition that he could grant him, and all that the condemned man asked for was a glass of water. They went and got him a tumbler of water, and when he got it his hand trembled so that he could not get it to his mouth. The prince said to him, “Your life is safe until you drink that water.” He took the prince at his word, and dashed the water to the ground. They could not gather it up, and so he saved his life. My friends, you can be saved to-night by taking God at His word. The water of life is offered to “whosoever will.” Take it now, and live. Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (Rom. x. 17).

THE DYING THIEF

I am going to take as my text a man who was the last one saved before Christ went to heaven, or before He died on the cross, and the story of his conversion ought to give hope to every man. We have got an account of the conversion of all classes of people in the Bible. There is not one class left out. There is the richest and the poorest; the greatest and the smallest; all classes of men, and all classes of women.

There are so many people nowadays talking against sudden conversions, that I think the very best thing we can do is to see what the Scripture says about it—to see how long it takes God to convert a soul. If I read my Bible correctly, there were eight thousand converted in two days. That was a good number in a short time, was it not? We have not got to that yet; I wish we had. But I feel sure, if the church of God would only wake up, we should see something like it.

NEVER TOO LATE.

Well, this man was not only a thief, but a reviler of God, right upon the threshold of eternity, a most depraved and abandoned wretch. Matthew tells us: “And the two thieves cast the same in His teeth.” You would have thought they would have been doing something better than that, coming so near death and the grave; and that their thoughts would have been made very solemn in the face of not only death, but after death the judgment. Instead of that, they were reviling Christ, and casting accusations in His teeth a few hours before their death. Well, I do not think this thief could have sunk any further, until he sunk into hell. Though so far off Jesus found him. Matthew and Mark both tell us that these two thieves reviled Him. John says nothing about their reviling; in fact, he does not tell us about one of them being converted. The first we get of it is in Luke xxiii. 40, where we find him saying to the other thief, “Dost not thou fear God?” Solomon, the wise man, says, “The beginning of wisdom is the fear of God.” Now, there we have the beginning of wisdom in this thief. He began to fear God. I hope there will be hundreds in this building who will fear Him; for that is the true beginning of wisdom.

CONVICTION OF SIN.

Now, the next thing was, the man was convicted. No man is likely to be converted until he is first convicted of sin. This thief was convicted. And what convicted him? He heard no sermon from Christ. The rulers were then deriding Him. The chief men of His own country had found Him guilty of blasphemy, and had condemned Him to die the death of the cross. The chief men of the realm were there wagging their heads and mocking Him. What was it then that convicted this poor thief? He had seen Christ perform no miracles; he had heard no wonderful words fall from His lips; he saw no glittering crown upon His brow. True, it was written over His cross, “Jesus, the King of the Jews”; but where was His kingdom? He saw nothing of the Jews paying homage to Him. The Jews were putting Him to death. There was no sceptre in His hand. True, He had been crowned a little while before, but only with thorns, and yet amidst it all this poor thief was convicted after fear fell upon him.

THE POWER OF LOVE.

What convicted him? I will tell what I think convicted him, though I could not teach it dogmatically but I think it was the Saviour’s prayer. When the Lord Jesus cried out from the very depths of His soul, “Father, forgive them,” conviction flashed into his heart. He must have said, “Why, this is more than a man; He has got a very different spirit from me. I could not ask God to forgive them. I would call down fire from heaven to consume them, and I would call upon God to smite them with blindness as Elijah did, and I would sweep them from this mountain if I had the power.” That’s what he must have thought as he heard the piercing cry go up, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Ah, it was love that broke his heart. In those days, when they crucified a man, they used to scourge him. This poor man had been taken into the court, and tried and condemned by the judge; but that had not broken his heart. He had been led forth and scourged; but that had not broken his heart. And now they had nailed him to the cross; but even that had not broken his heart. There he is reviling his God. But when he saw that loving Saviour, he got a glimpse of His love, and that one glimpse broke his heart.

I heard of a young man once who was very hardhearted. His father loved him as he loved his own life. He had tried everything he could to win that prodigal boy back. When his father was dying, they sent for him; but he refused to come. But after his father’s death, he returned home to attend the funeral; but not a tear fell from his eyes. He followed that father to his resting-place, and never dropped a tear over his grave. But when they got home, and the will was read, they found that father had not forgotten his prodigal boy, but had remembered him kindly in his will; and that proof of the father’s love just broke his heart. And so I think it must have been with the thief when he heard the Saviour crying, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do”; it pierced like an arrow down into his heart, and he was convicted.

CONFESSION FOLLOWS CONVICTION.

Well, then, the next point in this man was, he confessed his sin. He says to his brother thief, “We are suffering justly; we deserve it.” I never knew a man saved till he took his stand as a sinner. Cain never confessed his sin. Judas never confessed his sin to God, though he went and confessed it to man.

Now, I want to say that I am not come here to urge you to confess your sins to any man, unless you have done some sin against him and he is stumbling over it; if so, go and confess that certainly. We must not confess our sins to any but God. I have not much sympathy with the class of people that are always running to this man and that man to confess their sins. There is no priest on earth that can forgive sins. I have got a high priest who is “a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.” The only man we have a record of in Scripture who confessed his sins to man was Judas, and he went right out and hung himself.

FAITH IN CHRIST.

The next thing about this thief was his faith in Christ Jesus. We talk about the faith of Abraham and Moses; why, this thief had the most remarkable faith of any man on record. He took his stand at the very head of the class, passing by many who had wonderful faith. He heard no sermon, saw no sceptre in Christ’s hand, no crown on His brow, nor witnessed any marvellous works, yet he had wondrous faith. Why, God was twenty-five years toning up Abraham’s faith. God met Moses in the burning bush, and went up into the mountains and talked with him; and Isaiah saw God lifted up on His throne; but not so with this thief. There were many who had met Christ and seen wonderful things. His disciples had heard Him discourse, and had seen Him raise the dead, and yet they had forsaken and left Him. Yet here amidst the darkness and gloom this poor thief had faith in Him; for although the Jews had nailed his hands and feet to the cross, they did not nail his eyes, and he could look at Him. They did not nail his heart to the cross, and it is with the heart man believeth, as we read in Romans, and with his heart he believed. There’s faith for you.

NOT ASHAMED OF CHRIST.

Then the next thing is, he confessed Christ at that dark period. It was the darkest hour of Christ’s pilgrimage down here. We will never see another dark hour like that. The sin of the world was on Him; heaven was closed against Him—locked, bolted, and barred. He was now hanging on the tree bearing our sins; and it is written, “Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.” And even God had to hide His face from Him, for He could not look on sin, and Christ was then bearing the sin of all the world. I believe that’s what Christ meant in the garden of Gethsemane, when He prayed that the cup might pass from Him. Up to that time He saw His Father’s face, and He knew He was blessed of Him, and from time to time a voice came from heaven, “This is my beloved Son.” But now He was taking our place before God as a sinner, and God had to hide His face from Him. Yes, it was breaking the Saviour’s heart; and now, when darkness is coming over creation, and the moon is to be turned into blood, and the sun is about to veil its face because it cannot look upon the terrible scene, and Peter, one of His most conspicuous disciples, had denied Him with a curse, and swore that he never knew Him, and Judas, one of His own disciples, had gone out and sold Him for thirty pieces of silver, and the chief men of the nation were mocking Him, saying, “He saved others, let Him save Himself, if He be the Christ”—amidst all this darkness and gloom, out comes this signal faith of the thief, “Lord, remember me,” He called Him Lord there and then; and he said to the other thief, “This man hath done nothing amiss.” Thank God for that confession. There’s faith and confession for you. If you want to be saved, you must have faith in Christ, and be ready to confess Him before all men.

“LORD, REMEMBER ME.”

Look at the prayer of the thief. People say, “Oh, pray for salvation, and you will get it!” Yes, but bear in mind you must have faith in Christ before you can pray. He had got faith in Christ, and now he calls Him “Lord.” It was the sound of a young convert’s voice, “Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.” It was not a very long prayer, but it was a prayer red-hot, one right out of his heart. Some people tell you they cannot pray without a prayer-book. But the poor thief had no prayer-book; and if there had been any prayer-books then, there was nobody to give him one. He wanted salvation, he simply wanted to be saved, and he cried from his heart, “Lord, remember me!” and a more eloquent prayer never was heard or printed on earth. But not only that, he got more than he asked, for he only asked to be remembered. We always get more than we ask when we come to the Lord.

THE WORLD’S LAST LOOK AT CHRIST.

Now, when a great man dies, people are very anxious to get his last words and acts. It is sweet to get the last words of the Son of God. The last sight the world had of Christ was on the cross. They have never seen Him since. We have no record that any uncircumcised eye beheld Christ after He rose from the dead. The last glimpse the world had of Christ was saving a poor sinner as he hung upon the cross, saving him from the very jaws of hell, and the grasp of Satan. Christ snatched him out of the very grasp of the devil, and said unto him, “This day shalt thou be with me in paradise.” The lion of the tribe of Judah conquered the lion of hell, when He snatched the dying thief as a lamb out of Satan’s grasp. “This day shalt thou be with me in paradise.” That’s the glorious gospel. Free from the law. There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.

FREE! FREE!

In the days of Wilberforce, when slavery was abolished, and it was said that no slave could live under the Union Jack, because a bill had been passed declaring every man free, the news had got abroad, and when the captain of a ship was going to a distant island in the slave dominions, the negroes were on the watch to get the news and make sure if it were true. They were anxious to know if the bill had passed that they were really free. And when the captain came in sight of the little island, there they were waiting to get the tidings, and the captain put his trumpet up to his mouth, and shouted across the island, “Free! Free!” And the cry was taken up and echoed through the island, “Free! Free!” And they shouted for joy, because they were slaves no longer. I bring you good news. The Son of God will speak the word, “Free.” He spoke the words on the cross, and the poor thief was a free man, and Satan could not hold him.

Then think of the contrast! In the morning led out a poor condemned man, cursing and reviling the Son of God Himself; in the evening singing the new song of redemption. That evening I see him hard by the throne, singing the sweet song of Moses and the Lamb. In the morning cursing, in the evening singing, “Glory to God in the highest.” Was it not a change? What a contrast! Think of it, O sinner. Condemned in the morning by man, cast out as too vile for earth; in the evening good enough for heaven; in the evening washed in the blood of the Lamb, and Christ ready to receive him into the kingdom of heaven. Christ was not ashamed to walk down the crystal pavement of heaven with him. He heard the shout on the cross when Christ called out, “It is finished!” How his soul must have thrilled with joy at that shout! He said, “My salvation is completed now.” He saw the spear thrust into that side and the blood flow out, and I can see the sparkle on his face lit up with glory. “Without the shedding of blood there is no remission.” It was a sad sight, but glorious.

THE BEST THING TO DO.

Now, young man, do you want Him to save you? Are you ready to confess Him as your Lord and Saviour, and take your stand by the Master, and say from this hour, I will serve the Lord Jesus? If so, it will be the best night in your life up to this time. The best thing you can do is to yield to Christ at once. Every true Christian would give you that advice, and if I could shout clear up to the throne, and ask the Saviour what He would have you to do, I should hear a voice rolling down from heaven, and saying, “Tell him to seek salvation.” When the poor thief was converted, it was probably the first time he had ever heard of the Lord Jesus Christ, or had been invited. But it is surely not so with you. How many people keep putting salvation off and off, until it is one day too late! There are so many that live in the future. It is better you should be wise, and enter into the kingdom of God now. Let your prayer, like that of the poor thief, go up from your heart, “Lord, remember me,” and you will not ask in vain.

A TIMELY CONVERSION.

A minister in Edinburgh tells a story of the conversion of a young man who was working in one of the mining districts. When the meeting at one of the churches was over on a particular evening, he saw him standing by a pillar in the church, the rest having gone out, all but two or three, and they asked this man if he was not going home. He said, “I have made up my mind that I will not leave this church till I become a Christian”; so they stopped and talked and prayed with him. It was the best thing he could do. I would like every man here to do the same thing. Make up your minds that you won’t leave till you have settled about your soul for eternity. Well, the next day, while this young man was working in the mine, the coal fell in upon him, and before he died, he had just strength enough left to say to his companions, “It’s a good thing that I settled it last night—a very good thing.” Young man, I will leave you to answer the question, Was it not a good thing he settled it that night?

A young man, who was in the army during the Civil war, told me that when he heard that his brother, from whom he had never been separated, had joined a certain regiment, he went right away and put his name down under his brother’s. They messed together, marched together, and fought shoulder to shoulder. At last his brother was struck with a Minnie ball, and he fell mortally wounded by his side. He saw too plainly that he must die, and as the battle was raging, and he could do nothing to save him, he put his brother’s knapsack under his head, and made him as comfortable as he could, and bending over him, kissed him, bade him good-bye, and left him to die. As he was going away, his brother said, “Charlie, come back, and let me kiss you upon your lips.” “As I bent over him,” said the young soldier who told me the story, “he kissed me on my lips, and said, ‘Take that home to mother, and tell her that I died praying for her’; and as I turned away from him, I could hear him say, ‘This is glory,’ and as he lay weltering in his blood, and I wondered what he meant, I asked him what was glory. He said, ‘Charlie, it’s glorious to die looking up—I see Christ in heaven.’”

DYING LOOKING UP.

If you want to die looking up and seeing Christ, seek the kingdom of God. You may never hear the call again. Do not leave this place without making up your mind to settle the solemn question of eternity at once.

CHRIST’S BOUNDLESS COMPASSION

THE BIBLE STORIES REAL,

THE GREAT HEART OF CHRIST

THE DEAD RAISED.

“YOUNG MAN, ARISE!”

THE MAN WHO WAS ROBBED AND SPOILED.

THAT WHICH WAS LOST.

THE PRODIGAL.

THE BACKSLIDER

HE HAD LOST HIS TESTIMONY.

CHRIST WEEPS OVER JERUSALEM.

LOOK AT POOR PETER,

THE PERSECUTING SAUL.

“WHY DON’T YOU LOVE JESUS?”

COME TO HIM AS A PERSONAL FRIEND.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN,

THE SLEEPING SENTINEL.

THE TOUCH OF COMPASSION.

THE NEW BIRTH

BORN A CHRISTIAN.

A CHRISTIAN BECAUSE BAPTIZED.

JOINING THE CHURCH.

THE NEW BIRTH INSTANTANEOUS.

THE FLESH CANNOT SERVE GOD.

THE MORAL NEED THE NEW BIRTH.

REASON CANNOT UNDERSTAND THIS NEW BIRTH.

CHRIST’S ILLUSTRATION.

GOD CAN CHANGE THE DRUNKARD.

THE WORTH OF GOOD RESOLVES.

THE BEGGAR AND THE PRINCE.

THE DYING SOLDIER.

THE BLOOD

CAIN CAME IN HIS OWN WAY,

THE BLOOD OF ATONEMENT.

THERE ARE MANY CAINITES IN THE CHURCH

ABRAHAM OFFERING UP ISAAC.

THE PASSOVER.

THE BLOOD TRAMPLED UPON,

THE BLOOD THAT SAVES

NO DEATH WHERE THE BLOOD WAS.

THEIR SPIRITUAL FOOD?

SHELTERED BY THE BLOOD,

WORK FOR GOD.

MAN’S LIFE WAS FORFEITED,

GOD IS JUST.

GOD DEMANDS BLOOD.

BUT BY THE BLOOD.

A MOTHER’S LOVE.

REDEMPTION.

PEACE.

THE TRUE SOVEREIGN,

ONENESS IN CHRIST.

GOD WILL JUDGE THE WORLD BY THE BLOOD.

JUSTIFICATION.

CONFIDENCE.

NO REMISSION WITHOUT BLOOD.

THE BLOOD HAS TWO CRIES.

VICTORY THROUGH THE BLOOD.

MAKE MUCH OF THE BLOOD.

CHRIST WILL CONQUER.

ROBES MADE WHITE THROUGH THE BLOOD.

THE DYING SAINT.

THE PRECIOUS BLOOD.

THE DOWN GRADE.

CHRIST ALL IN ALL

SAVIOUR:

SALVATION FREE TO ALL.

REDEEMER.

LIBERTY TO THE CAPTIVES.

DELIVERER.

A LEADER.

“I AM THE WAY.”

THE PILLAR OF CLOUD.

HE IS OUR LIGHT.

SHINE BRIGHTLY,

REFLECTED LIGHT.

GET ABOVE THE CLOUDS.

CLIMB HIGHER

KEEP THE LOWER LIGHTS BURNING.

OUR TEACHER.

CHRIST’S BOUNDLESS
COMPASSION