THE WORK! ***

Produced by Keith G. Richardson

TO THE WORK

TO THE WORK

Exhortations to Christians

BY

D. L. MOODY

Fleming H. Revell Company

Chicago, New York & Toronto

Publishers of Evangelical Literature

To The Work! To The Work!, by Dwight Moody 3

Entered according to act of Congress, in theyear 1884

BY F. H. REVELL,

In the office of the Librarian of Congress atWashington.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

CONTENTS.

To The Work! To The Work!, by Dwight Moody 4

CHAPTER I.

TAKE YE AWAY THE STONE.

In the gospel by John we read that at thetomb of Lazarus our Lord said to Hisdisciples, "Take ye away the stone." Beforethe act of raising Lazarus could beperformed, the disciples had their part to do.Christ could have removed the stone with aword. It would have been very easy for Himto have commanded it to roll away, and itwould have obeyed His voice, as the deadLazarus did when He called him back to life.But the Lord would have His children learnthis lesson: that they have something to dotowards raising the spiritually dead. Thedisciples had not only to take away thestone, but after Christ had raised Lazarusthey had to "loose and let him go."

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It is a question if any man on the face of theearth has ever been converted, without Godusing some human instrument, in some way.God could easily convert men without us; butthat is not His way.

The stone I want to speak about to-day, thatmust be rolled away before any great workof God can be brought about, is themiserable stone of prejudice. Many peoplehave a great prejudice against revivals; theyhate the very word. I am sorry to say thatthis feeling is not confined to ungodly orcareless people; there are not a fewChristians who seem to cherish a strongdislike both to the word "Revival" and to thething itself.

What does "Revival" mean? It simply meansa recalling from obscurity--a finding some

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hidden treasure and bringing it back to thelight. I think every one of us mustacknowledge that we are living in a time ofneed. I doubt if there is a family in the worldthat has not some relative whom they wouldlike to see brought into the fold of God, andwho needs salvation.

Men are anxious for a revival in business. Iam told that there is a widespread andgeneral stagnation in business. People arevery anxious that there should be a revival oftrade this winter. There a great revival inpolitics just now. In all departments of lifeyou find that men are very anxious for arevival in the things that concern them most.

If this is legitimate--and I do not say but it isperfectly right in its place--should not everychild of God be praying for and desiring a

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revival of godliness in the world at thepresent time. Do we not need a revival ofdownright honesty, of truthfulness, ofuprightness, and of temperance? Are therenot many who have become alienated fromthe Church of God and from the house of theLord, who are forming an attachment to thesaloon? Are not our sons being drawn awayby hundreds and thousands, so that whileyou often find the churches empty, the liquorshops are crowded every Sabbath afternoonand evening. I am sure the saloon-keepersare glad if they can have a revival in theirbusiness; they do not object to sell morewhisky and beer. Then surely every trueChristian ought to desire that men who are indanger of perishing eternally should besaved and rescued.

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Some people seem to think that "Revivals"are a modern invention--that they have onlybeen known within the last few years. Butthey are nothing new. If there is notScriptural authority for revivals, then I cannotunderstand my Bible.

For the first 2,000 years of the world'shistory they had no revival that we know of;probably, if they had, there would have beenno Flood. The first real awakening, of whichwe read in the Old Testament, was whenMoses was sent down to Egypt to bring hisbrethren out of the house of bondage. WhenMoses went down to Goshen, there musthave been a great commotion there; manythings were done out of the usual order.When three millions of Hebrews were putbehind the Blood of the Slain Lamb, that wasnothing but God reviving His work among

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them.

Under Joshua there was a great revival; andagain under the Judges. God was constantlyreviving the Jewish nation in those oldentimes. Samuel brought the people to Mizpah,and told them to put away their strangegods. Then the Israelites went out anddefeated the Philistines, so that they nevercame back in his day. Dr. Bonar says it maybe that David and Jonathan were convertedunder that revival in the time of Samuel.

What was it but a great revival in the days ofElijah? The people had turned away toidolatry, and the prophet summoned them toMount Carmel. As the multitude stood thereon the mountain, God answered by fire; thepeople fell on their faces and cried, "TheLord, He is the God." That was the nation

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turning back to God. No doubt there weremen talking against the work, and saying itwould not last. That is the cry of manyto-day, and has been the cry for 4,000 years.Some old Carmelite very probably said in thedays of Elijah: "This will not be permanent."So there are not a few in these days shakingtheir wise heads and saying the work will notlast.

When we come to New Testament times, wehave the wonderful revival under John theBaptist. Was there ever a man whoaccomplished so much in a few months,except the Master Himself? The preaching ofJohn was like the breath of spring after along and dreary winter. For 400 long yearsthere had been no prophet, and darknesshad settled down on the nation. John'sadvent was like the flashing of a brilliant

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meteor that heralded the coming day. It wasnot in the temple or in any synagogue thathe preached, but on the banks of the Jordan.Men, women, and children flocked to hearhim. Almost any one can get an audience ina crowded city, but this was away out in thedesert. No doubt there was greatexcitement. I suppose the towns and villageswere nearly depopulated, as they flocked outto hear the preaching of John.

People are so afraid of excitement. When Iwent over to England in 1867, I was asked togo and preach at the Derby race-course. Isaw more excitement there in one day than Ihave seen at all the religious meetings I everattended in my life put together. And yet Iheard no one complaining of too muchexcitement. I heard of a minister, not longago, who was present at a public dance till

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after five o'clock in the morning. The nextSabbath he preached against the excitementof revivals--the late hours, and so on. Veryconsistent kind of reasoning, was it not?

Then look at Pentecost. The apostlespreached, and you know what the resultwas. I suppose the worldly men of that daysaid it would all die away. Although theybrought about the martyrdom of Stephenand of James, other men rose up to takepossession of the field. From the very placewhere Stephen was slain, Saul took up thework, and it has been going on ever since.

There are many professed Christians whoare all the time finding fault and criticising.They criticise the preaching, or the singing.The prayers will be either too long or tooshort, too loud, or not loud enough. They will

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find fault with the reading of the Word ofGod, or will say it was not the right portion.They will criticise the preacher. "I do not likehis style," they say. If you doubt what I say,listen to the people as they go out of arevival meeting, or any other religiousgathering.

"What did you think of the preacher?" saysone. "Well, I must confess I wasdisappointed. I did not like his manner. Hewas not graceful in his actions." Another willsay: "He was not logical; I like logic." Oranother: "He did not preach enough aboutrepentance." If a preacher does not go overevery doctrine in every sermon people beginto find fault. They say: "There was too muchrepentance, and no Gospel; or, it was allGospel, and no repentance." "He spoke agreat deal abort justification, but he said

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nothing about sanctification." So if a mandoes not go right through the Bible, fromGenesis to Revelation, in one sermon, theyat once proceed to criticise and find fault.

"The fact is," says some one of this class,"the man did not touch my heart at all."Some one else will say, "He was all heartand no head. I like a man to preach to myintellect." Or, "He appeals too much to thewill; he does not give enough prominence tothe doctrine of election." Or, again, "There isno backbone in his preaching; he does notlay sufficient stress on doctrine." Or, "He isnot eloquent;" and so on, and so on.

You may find hundreds of such fault-findersamong professed Christians; but all theircriticism will not lead one solitary soul toChrist. I never preached a sermon yet that I

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could not pick to pieces and find fault with. Ifeel that Jesus Christ ought to have a farbetter representative than I am. But I havelived long enough to discover that there isnothing perfect in this world. If you are towait until you can find a perfect preacher, orperfect meetings, I am afraid you will have towait till the millennium arrives. What we wantis to be looking right up to Him. Let us getdone with fault-finding. When I hear peopletalk in the way I have described, I say tothem, "Come and do better yourself. Step uphere and try what you can do." My friends, itis so easy to find fault; it takes neither brainsnor heart.

Some years ago, a pastor of a little Churchin a small town became exceedinglydiscouraged, and brooded over his trials tosuch an extent that he became an inveterate

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grumbler. He found fault with his brethrenbecause he imagined they did not treat himwell. A brother minister was invited to assisthim a few days in a special service. At theclose of the Sabbath morning service ourunhappy brother invited the minister to hishouse to dinner. While they were waitingalone in the parlor, he began his dolefulstory by saying: "My brother, you have noidea of my troubles; and one of the greatestis, my brethren in the Church treat me verybadly." The other propounded the followingquestions:

"Did they ever spit in your face?"

"No; they haven't come to that."

"Did they ever smite you?" "No."

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"Did they ever crown you with thorns?"

This last question he could not answer, butbowed his head thoughtfully. His brotherreplied: "Your Master and mine was thustreated, and all His disciples fled and leftHim in the hands of the wicked. Yet Heopened not His mouth." The effect of thisconversation was wonderful. Both ministersbowed in prayer and earnestly sought topossess the mind which was in Christ Jesus.During the ten days' meetings thediscontented pastor became wonderfullychanged. He labored and prayed with hisfriend, and many souls were brought toChrist. Some weeks after, a deacon of thechurch wrote and said: "Your late visit andconversation with our pastor have had awonderful influence for good. We never hearhim complain now, and he labors more

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prayerfully and zealously." Another chargebrought against revivals is that they are outof the regular order of things. Well, there isno doubt about that. But that does not provethat they are wrong. Eldad and Medad wereout of the regular succession. Joshuawanted Moses to rebuke them. Instead ofthat he said: "Would God that all the Lord'speople were prophets." Elijah and Elisha didnot belong to the regular school of prophets,yet they exercised a mighty influence forgood in their day. John the Baptist was not inthe regular line. He got his theologicaltraining out in the desert. Jesus ChristHimself was out of the recognized order.When Philip told Nathaniel that he had foundthe Messiah, he said to him: "Can there anygood thing come out of Nazareth?"

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As we read the history of the past fewcenturies we find that God has frequentlytaken up those who were, so to speak, out ofthe regular line. Martin Luther had to breakthrough the regular order of things in his daybefore he brought about the mightyReformation. There are now some sixtymillions of people who adhere to theLutheran Church. Wesley and Whitefieldwere not exactly in the regular line, but seewhat a mighty work they accomplished!

My friends, when God works many thingswill be done "out of the regular order." Itseems to me that will be a good thing. Thereare a few who cannot be reached,apparently, through the regular channels,who will come to meetings like these out ofthe usual routine. We have got our churches,it is true, but we want to make an effort to

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reach the outlying masses who will not go tothem. Many will come in to these meetingssimply because they are to be held only for afew days. And so, if they are to come at all,they must come to a decision about itquickly. Others come out of idle curiosity, ora desire to know what is going on. And oftenat the first meeting something that is spokenor that is sung will touch them. They havecome under the sound of the Gospel;probably they will become real Christiansand useful members of society. You willsometimes hear people say, "We have ourchurches; if men will not come to them, letthem keep out." That was not the spirit of theMaster. When our Civil War broke out wehad a very small standing army. Governmentasked for volunteers to enlist. Severalhundreds of thousands of men came forwardand joined the ranks of the regular army.

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There was plenty for every man to do. Thesevolunteers were not so well trained anddrilled as the older solders, but we could usethe irregulars as well as the regulars. Manyof the former soon became efficient soldiers,and these volunteers did great service in thecause of the nation. If the outlying masses ofthe people are to be reached we must havethe regulars and the irregulars both.

I remember hearing of a Sunday-school inour country where the teacher had got intoruts. A young man was placed in charge asSuperintendent, and he wanted tore-arrange the seats. Some of the oldermembers said the seats had been in theirpresent position for so many years, that theycould not be moved! There is a good deal ofthat kind of spirit nowadays. It seems to methat if one method is not successful we

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ought to give it up and try some other planthat may be more likely to succeed. If thepeople will not come to the "regular meansof grace," let us adopt some means that willreach them and win them.

Do not let us be finding fault because thingsare not done exactly as they have beendone in the past, and as we think they oughtto be done. I am sick and tired of those whoare constantly complaining. Let us pay noheed to them, but let us go forward with thework that God has given us to do.

Another very serious charge is broughtagainst revivals. They say the work will notlast. As I have said there were doubtlessmany at the day of Pentecost who said that.And when Stephen was stoned to death,James beheaded, and finally all the apostles

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put to death, no doubt they said thatPentecost was a stupendous failure. But wasit a failure? Are not the fruits of that revival atPentecost to be seen even in our time?

In the sight of the world the mission of Johnthe Baptist may have been thought to be afailure when he was beheaded by thecommand of Herod. But it was not a failurein the sight of heaven. The influence of thiswilderness prophet is felt in the Church ofGod to-day. The world thought Christ's lifewas a failure as He hung on the Cross andexpired. But in the sight of God it wasaltogether different. God made the wrath ofmen to praise Him.

I have little sympathy with those pastorswho, when God is reviving the Churches,begin to preach against revivals. There is not

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a denomination in Christendom to-day thathas not sprung out of a revival. The RomanCatholics and the Episcopalians both claimto be apostolic in their origin; if they are, theysprang out of the revival at Pentecost. TheMethodist body rose out of revivals underJohn Wesley and George Whitefield. Did notthe Lutheran Church come from the greatawakening that swept through Germany inthe days of Luther? Was not Scotland stirredup through the preaching of John Knox?Where did the Quakers come from if notfrom the work of God under George Fox?Yet people are so afraid if the regular routineof things is going to be disturbed. Let us praythat God may raise up many who will beused by Him for the reviving of His Church inour day. I think the time has come when weneed it.

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I remember we went into one place whereone of the ministers found that his Churchwas opposed to his taking part in themeetings. He was told that if he identifiedhimself with the movement he would alienatesome of his congregation. He took theChurch record and found that four-fifths ofthe members of the Church had beenconverted in times of revival, among othersthe Superintendent of the Sabbath-school,all the officers of the Church, and nearlyevery active member. The minister went intothe Church the following Sabbath andpreached a sermon on revivals, remindingthem of what had taken place in the historyof the congregation. You will find that manywho talk against revivals have themselvesbeen converted in such a time.

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Not long ago a very able minister preached asermon against these awakenings; he didnot believe in them. Some of his peoplesearched the Church records to see howmany during the previous twelve years hadbeen added to the membership onprofession of their faith; they found that not asingle soul had joined the Church all theseyears on profession of faith. No wonder theminister of a Church like that preachedagainst revivals!

My experience has been that those who areconverted in a time of special religiousinterest make even stronger Christians thanthose who were brought into the Church atordinary times. One young convert helpsanother, and they get a better start in theChristian life when there are a good manytogether.

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People say the converts sill not hold out.Well, they did not all hold out under thepreaching of Jesus Christ. "Many of Hisdisciples went back and walked no morewith Him." Paul mourned over the fact thatsome of those who made profession werewalking as the enemies of the Cross ofChrist. The Master taught in His wonderfulparable that there are various kinds ofhearers--those represented by the waysidehearers, the stony ground hearers, thethorny ground hearers, and the good groundhearers; they will remain to the end of time. Ihave a fruit tree at my home, and every yearit has so many blossoms that if they shouldall produce apples the tree would breakdown. Nine-tenths, perhaps, of the blossomswill fall off, and yet I have a large number ofapples.

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So there are many who make a profession ofChristianity who fall away. It may be thatthose who seemed to promise the fairestturn out the worst, and those who did notpromise so well turn out best in the end. Godmust prepare the ground and He must givethe increase. I have often said that if I had toconvict men of sin I would have given up thework long ago. That is the work of the HolyGhost. What we have to do is to scatter thegood seed of the Word, and expect that Godwill bless it to the saving of men's souls.

Of course we cannot expect much help fromthose who are all the time talking againstrevivals. I believe many young disciples arechilled through by those who condemn thesespecial efforts. If the professed convertssometimes do not hold out, it is not alwaystheir own fault.

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I was preaching in a certain city some timeago, and a minister said to me: "I hope thiswork will not turn out like the revival here fiveyears ago. I took one hundred converts intothe Church, and, with the exception of one ortwo, I do not know where they are today."This was discouraging. I mentioned it toanother minister in the same city, and I said Iwould rather give up the work, and go backto business, if the work was not going to last.He said to me: "I took in one hundredconverts at the same time, and I can lay myhand on ninety-eight out of the hundred. Forfive years I have watched them, and onlytwo have fallen away." Then he asked me ifhis brother minister had told me what tookplace in his Church after they brought inthose young converts. Some of them thoughtthey ought to have a better Church, and theygot divided among themselves; so nearly all

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the members left the Church. If anyone willbut engage heartily in this work they willhave enough to encourage them.

It is very easy for men to talk against a worklike this. But we generally find that suchpeople not only do nothing at all themselves,but they know nothing about that which theyare criticising. Surely it is hardly fair tocondemn a work that we have not been atthe trouble to become personally acquaintedwith. If, instead of sitting on the platform andsimply looking on or criticising, such personswould get down among the people and talkto them about their souls, they would soonfind out whether the work was real or not.

I remember hearing of a man who returnedfrom a residence in India. He was out atdinner one day with some friends, and he

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was asked about Missions; he said he hadnever seen a native convert all the time hewas in India. A missionary who was presentdid not reply directly to the statement, but hequietly asked the sceptical Englishman if hehad seen any tigers in India. The manrubbed his hands, as if the recollection gavehim a good deal of pleasure, and said:"Tigers! Yes, I should think so. I have shot agood many of them." Said the missionary,"Well, I was in India for a number of yearsand never saw a tiger." The fact was that theone had been looking for converts and theother for tigers, and they both found whatthey looked for.

If we look for converts we shall find them;there is no doubt about that. But the truth isthat in almost every case those who talkagainst revivals know nothing whatever

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about it from personal contact andexperience. Do you suppose that the youngconverts are going round to your house andknock at the door to tell you they have beenconverted? If you wish to find out the truthyou must go among them in their homes andtalk to them.

I hope no one will be afraid of the InquiryRoom. At one of the places where I workedonce I found a good many people who hatedthe very word "Inquiry Room." But I contendthat it is a perfectly reasonable thing. Whena boy is at school and cannot solve someproblem in algebra, he asks help of someone who knows it. Here is the great problemof eternal life that has to be solved by eachof us. Why should we not ask those who aremore experienced than ourselves to help usif they can. If we have any difficulty we

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cannot overcome, probably we shall findsome Godly man or woman who had thesame difficulty twenty years ago; they will beglad to help us, and tell us how they wereenabled to surmount it. Do not be afraidtherefore to let them help you.

I believe there is not a living soul who has aspiritual difficulty but there is some promisein the Word of God to meet that difficulty. Butif you keep your feelings and your troublesall locked up, how are you to be helped? Imight stand here and preach to you right onfor thirty days and not touch your particulardifficulty. But twenty minutes' privateconversation may clear away all your doubtsand troubles.

There was a lady who worked in the InquiryRoom when we were in the south of London

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nine years ago. I saw her again a short timeago, and she told me that she had a list ofthirty-five cases of those with whom sheconversed, and who she thought were trulyconverted. She has written letters to themand sent them little gifts at Christmas, andshe said to me that so far as she could judgenot a single one of the thirty-five hadwandered away. She has placed her lifealongside of theirs all these years, and shehas been able to be a blessing to them.

If we had a thousand such persons, by thehelp of God we should see signs andwonders. There is no class of people,however hopeless or degraded, but can bereached, only we must lay ourselves out toreach them. Many Christians are asleep; wewant to arouse them, so that they shall takea personal interest in those who are living in

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carelessness and sin. Let us lay aside all ourprejudices. If God is working it matters littlewhether or not the work is done in the exactway that we would like to see it done, or inthe way we have seen it done in the past.

Let there be one united cry going up to God,that He will revive His work in our midst. Letthe work of revival begin with us who areChristians. Let us remove all the hindrancesthat come from ourselves. Then, by the helpof the Spirit, we shall be able to reach thesenon-church goers, and multitudes will bebrought into the kingdom of God.

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CHAPTER II.

LOVE, THE MOTIVE POWER FORSERVICE.

Let me call your attention to Paul's first letterto the Corinthians, thirteenth chapter: Inreading this passage let us use the word"love" instead of "charity":--"Though I speakwith the tongues of men and of angels, andhave not love, I am become as soundingbrass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though Ihave the gift of prophecy, and understand allmysteries, and all knowledge: and though Ihave all faith, so that I could removemountains, and have not love, I am nothing.And though I bestow all my goods to feedthe poor, and though I give my body to beburned, and have not love, it profiteth menothing."

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It is a great thing to be a prophet like Daniel,or Isaiah, or Elijah, or Elisha; but it is agreater thing, we are told here, to be full oflove than to be filled with the spirit ofprophecy. Mary of Bethany, who was so fullof love, held a higher position than thesegreat prophets did.

"Love suffereth long, and is kind; loveenvieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is notpuffed up; Doth not behave itself unseemly,seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked,thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, butrejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things,believeth all things, hopeth all things,endureth all things. Love never faileth; butwhether there be prophecies, they shall fail;whether there be tongues, they shall cease:whether there be knowledge, it shall vanishaway. And now abideth faith, hope, love,

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these three; but the greatest of these islove."

The enemy had got into that little Church atCorinth established by Paul, and there wasstrife among the disciples. One said, "I am ofApollos;" another, "I am of Cephas;" andanother, "I am of Paul." Paul saw that thissectarian strife and want of love amongGod's dear people would be disastrous tothe Church of God, and so he wrote thisletter. I have often said that if every truebeliever could move into this chapter andlive in the spirit of it for twelve months, theChurch of God would double its numberswithin that time. One of the great obstaclesin the way of God's work to-day is this wantof love among those who are the disciples ofthe Lord Jesus Christ.

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If we love a person we will not be pointingout his failings all the time. It is said: "Manyrules of eloquence have been set forth, but,strange, to say, the first and most essentialof all has been overlooked, namely, love. Toaddress men well they must be loved much.Whatever they may be, be they ever soguilty, or indifferent, or ungrateful, orhowever deeply sunk in crime, before all,and above all, they must be loved. Love isthe sap of the Gospel, the secret of livelyand effectual preaching, the magic power ofeloquence. The end of preaching is toreclaim the hearts of men to God, andnothing but love can find out the mysteriousavenues which lead to the heart. If then youdo not feel a fervent love and profound pityfor humanity, be assured that the gift ofChristian eloquence has been denied you.You will not win souls, neither will you

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acquire that most excellent of earthlysovereignties--sovereignty over humanhearts. An Arab proverb runs thus--'Theneck is bent by the sword, but heart is onlybent by heart.' Love is irresistible."

Look at these words: "Love suffereth long,and is kind; love envieth not." How often ithappens that if one outshines another thereis apt to be envy in our hearts toward thatone; we want a great deal of grace to keep itdown. "Love vaunteth not itself, is not puffedup." One of the worst enemies thatChristians have to contend with is this spiritof rivalry--this feeling, "Who shall be thegreatest?"

Some years ago I read a book that did me agreat deal of good. It was entitled, "TheTraining of the Twelve." The writer said that

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Christ spent most of His time during thethree years He was engaged publicly aboutHis Father's business in training twelve men.The training He gave them was very differentfrom the training of the schools at thepresent day. The world teaches men thatthey must seek to be great; Christ taughtthat His disciples must be little; that in honorthey must prefer one another; that they arenot to be puffed up, not to harbor feelings ofenvy, but to be full of meekness andgentleness, and lowliness of heart.

When an eminent painter was requested topaint Alexander the Great so as to give aperfect likeness of the Macedonianconqueror, he felt a difficulty. Alexander, inhis wars, had been struck by a sword, andacross his forehead was an immense scar.The painter said: "If I retain the scar, it will

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be an offense to the admirers of themonarch, and if I omit it it will fail to be aperfect likeness. What shall I do?" He hitupon a happy expedient; he represented theEmperor leaning on his elbow, with hisforefinger upon his brow, accidentally, as itseemed, covering the scar upon hisforehead. Might not we represent each otherwith the finger of charity upon the scar,instead of representing the scar deeper andblacker than it really is? Christians may learneven from heathendom a lesson of charity,of human kindness and of love.

This spirit of seeking to be the greatest hasnearly ruined the Church of God at differenttimes in its history. If the Church had notbeen Divine it would have gone to pieceslong ago. There is hardly any movement ofreform to-day that has not been in danger of

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being thwarted and destroyed through thismiserable spirit of ambition and self-seeking.May God enable us to get above this, to castaway our conceit and pride, and take Christas our teacher, that He may show us in whatspirit His work ought to be done.

One of the saddest things in the life of Christwas the working of this spirit among Hisdisciples even in the last hours of Hisintercourse with them, and just before Hewas led away to be crucified. We read in thegospel by Luke: "But, behold, the hand ofhim that betrayeth Me is with Me on thetable. And truly the Son of man goeth, as itwas determined: but woe unto that man bywhom He is betrayed! And they began toinquire among themselves, which of them itwas that should do this thing. And there wasalso a strife among them which of them

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should be accounted the greatest. And Hesaid unto them, "The kings of the Gentilesexercise lordship over them; and they thatexercise authority upon them are calledbenefactors. But ye shall not be so: but hethat is greatest among you, let him be as theyounger; and he that is chief, as he that dothserve. For whether is greater, he that sittethat meat, or he that serveth? Is not he thatsitteth at meat? But I am among you as Hethat serveth."

Right there, on that memorable night whenHe had instituted the Last Supper, after theyhad been eating of the Passover Lamb, andthe Saviour was on His way to theCross,--even there this spirit arose amongthem: Who should be the greatest!

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There is a charming tradition connected withthe site on which the temple of Solomon waserected. It is said to have been occupied incommon by two brothers, one of whom hada family--the other had none. On this spotwas sown a field of wheat. On the eveningsucceeding the harvest--the wheat havingbeen gathered in separate shocks--the elderbrother said to his wife: "My younger brotheris unable to bear the burden and heat of theday, I will arise, take of my shocks, andplace with his without his knowledge." Theyounger brother being actuated by the samebenevolent motives, said within himself: "Myelder brother has a family, and I have none. Iwill arise, take of my shocks, and place itwith his."

Judge of their mutual astonishment, when,on the following day, they found their

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respective shocks undiminished. This courseof events transpired for several nights, wheneach resolved in his own mind to standguard and solve the mystery. They did so;when, on the following night, they met eachother half way between their respectiveshocks with their arms full. Upon groundhallowed by such associations as this wasthe temple of Solomon erected--so spaciousand magnificent--the wonder and admirationof the world! Alas! in these days, how manywould sooner steal their brother's wholeshock than add to it a single sheaf!

If we want to be wise in winning souls and tobe vessels meet for the Master's use wemust get rid of the accursed spirit ofself-seeking. That is the meaning of thischapter in Paul's letter. He told theseCorinthians that a man might be full of faith

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and zeal; he might be very benevolent; but ifhe had not love he was like sounding brassand a tinkling cymbal. I believe many menmight as well go into the pulpit and blow a tinhorn Sabbath after Sabbath as go onpreaching without love. A man may preachthe truth; he may be perfectly sound indoctrine; but if there is no love in his heartgoing out to those whom he addresses, andif he is doing it professionally, the Apostlesays he is only a sounding brass.

It is not always more work that we want somuch as a better motive. Many of us do agood deal of work, but we must rememberthat God looks at the motive. The only treeon this earth that can produce fruit which ispleasing to God is the tree of love.

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Paul in writing to Titus says: "Speak thou thethings which become sound doctrine: thatthe aged men be sober, grave, temperate,sound in faith, in charity, (or love) inpatience." What is the worth of a sermon,however sound in doctrine it may be, if it benot sound in love and in patience? What areour prayers worth without the spirit of love?People say: "Why is it that there is noblessing? Our minister's sermons andprayers are very good." Most likely you willfind it is because the whole thing is doneprofessionally. The words glisten like iciclesin the sun, and they are as cold. There is nota spark of love in them. If that is the casethere will be very little power. You may haveyour prayer-meetings, your praise meetings,your faith and hope meetings; you may talkabout all these things; but if there is no lovemingled with them, God says you are as

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sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal.

Now a man may be a very good doctor andyet have no love for his patients. He may bea very clever and successful lawyer and yethave no love for his clients. A merchant mayprosper greatly in business without caring atall about his customers. A man may be ableto explain the wonderful mysteries of scienceor theology without any love. But no mancan be a true worker for God, and asuccessful winner of souls without love. Hemay be a great preacher in the eyes of theworld and have crowds flocking to hear him,but if love to God and to souls is not themotive power, the effects will all pass awaylike the morning cloud and the early dew.

It is said when the men of Athens went tohear Demosthenes they were always

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moved, and felt that they must go and fightPhilip of Macedon. There was another oratorof that day who could carry them away byhis eloquence at the time, but when theoration was over, all the influence had gone;it was nothing but fine words. So a man maybe very eloquent and have a great flow oflanguage; he may sway the multitudes whilethey are under his influence; but if there isno love at the back of what he says, it will allgo for nothing. It was Demosthenes' love forhis country that stirred him, and then hestirred the people.

When we get on to the higher plane of love itwill not be hard for us to work for the Lord.We will be glad to do anything, howeversmall. God hates the great things in whichlove is not the motive power; but He delightsin the little things that are prompted by a

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feeling of love. A cup of cold water given to adisciple in the spirit of love, is of far morevalue in God's sight than the taking of akingdom, done out of ambition and vainglory.

I am getting sick and tired of hearing theword, duty, duty. You hear so many talkabout it being their duty to do this and dothat. My experience is that such Christianshave very little success. Is there not a muchhigher platform than that of mere duty? Canwe not engage in the service of Christbecause we love Him? When that is theconstraining power it is so easy to work. It isnot hard for a mother to watch over a sickchild. She does not look upon it as anyhardship. You never hear Paul talking aboutwhat a hard time he had in his Master'sservice. He was constrained by love to

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Christ, and by the love of Christ to him. Hecounted it a joy to labor, and even to suffer,for his blessed Master.

Perhaps you say I ought not to talk againstduty; because a good deal of work would notbe done at all if it were not done from asense of duty. But I want you to see what apoor, low motive that is, and how you mayreach a higher plane of service.

I am thinking of going back to my homesoon. I have in my mind an old, white-hairedmother living on the banks of theConnecticut river, in the same little townwhere she has been for the last eighty years.Suppose when I return I take her somepresent, and when I give it to her I say: "Youhave been so very kind to me in the past thatI thought it was my duty to bring you a

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present." What would she think? But howdifferent it would be when I give it to herbecause of my strong love to her. How muchmore she would value it. So God wants Hischildren to serve Him for something elsethan mere duty. He does not want us to feelthat it is a hard thing to do His will.

Take an army that fights because it iscompelled to do so; they will not gain manyvictories. But how different when they are fullof love for their country and for theircommanders. Then nothing can stand beforethem. Do not think you can do any work forChrist and hope to succeed if you are notimpelled by love.

Napoleon tried to establish a kingdom by theforce of arms. So did Alexander the Great,and Caesar, and other great warriors; but

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they utterly failed. Jesus founded Hiskingdom on love, and it is going to stand.When we get on to this plane of love, then allselfish and unworthy motives will disappear,and our work will stand the fire when Godshall put it to the test.

Another thing I want you to bear in mind.Love never looks to see what it is going toget in return. In the Gospel by Matthew weread of the parable of the man who went outto hire laborers that he might send them towork in his vineyard. After he had hired andsent out some in the morning, we are toldthat he found others standing idle later in theday, and he sent them also. It so happenedthat those who went out last got back first.Those that went out early in the morningsupposed they would get more wages thanthose that went at the eleventh hour, and

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when they found they were only to get thesame, they began to murmur and complain.But what was the good man's answer:"Friend, I do thee no wrong; didst not thouagree with me for a penny? Take that thineis, and go thy way; I will give unto this last,even as unto thee. Is it not lawful for me todo what I will with mine own? Is thine eyeevil, because I am good? So the last shall befirst, and the first last." I have generallyfound that those workers who are all the timelooking to see how much they are going toget from the Lord are never satisfied. Butlove does its work and makes no bargain.Let us make no bargains with the Lord, butbe ready to go out and do whatever Heappoints.

I am sure if we go out cherishing love in ourhearts for those we are going to try and

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reach, every barrier will be swept out of theway. Love begets love, just as hatred begetshatred. Love is the key to the human heart.Some one has said: "Light is for the mind,and love is for the heart." When you canreach men's hearts then you can turn themtoward Christ. But we must first win them toourselves.

You may have heard of the boy whose homewas near a wood. One day he was in thewood, and he thought he heard the voice ofanother boy not far off. He shouted, "Hallo,there!" and the voice shouted back, "Hallo,there!" He did not know that it was the echoof his own voice, and he shouted again:"You are a mean boy!" Again the cry cameback, "You are a mean boy!" After somemore of the same kind of thing he went intothe house and told his mother that there was

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a bad boy in the wood. His mother, whounderstood how it was, said to him: "Oh, no!You speak kindly to him, and see if he doesnot speak kindly to you." He went to thewood again and shouted: "Hallo, there!""Hallo, there!" "You are a good boy." Ofcourse the reply came, "You are a goodboy." "I love you." "I love you," said the othervoice.

You smile at that, but this little story explainsthe secret of the whole thing. Some of youperhaps think you have bad and disagreableneighbors; most likely the trouble is withyourself. If you love your neighbors they willlove you. As I said before, love is the keythat will unlock every human heart. There isno man or woman in all this land so low andso degraded but you can reach them withlove, gentleness and kindness. It may take

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years to do it, but it can be done.

Love must be active. As some one has said:"A man may hoard up his money; he maybury his talents in a napkin; but there is onething he cannot hoard up, and that is love."You cannot bury it. It must flow out. It cannotfeed upon itself; it must have an object.

I remember reading a few years ago ofsomething that happened when we had theyellow fever in one of the Southern cities.There was a family there who lived in astrange neighborhood where they had justmoved. The father was stricken down withthe fever. There were so many fatal caseshappening that the authorities of the city didnot stop to give them a decent burial. Thedead-cart used to go through the streetwhere the poor lived, and the bodies were

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carried away for burial.

The neighbors of this family were afraid, andno one would visit the house because of thefever. It was not long before the mother wasstricken down. Before she died she calledher boy to her, and said: "I will soon begone, but when I am dead Jesus will comeand take care of you." She had no one onearth to whom she could commit him. In alittle while she, too, was gone, and theycarried her body away to the cemetery. Thelittle fellow followed her to the grave. He sawwhere they laid her, and then he came backto the house.

But he found it very lonely, and when it grewdark he got afraid and could not stay in thehouse. He went out and sat down on thestep and began to weep. Finally he went

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back to the cemetery, and finding the lotwhere his mother was buried, he laid downand wept himself to sleep.

Next morning a stranger passing that wayfound him on the grave, still weeping. "Whatare you doing here, my boy?" "Waiting forthe Savior." The man wanted to know whathe meant, and the boy told the story of whathis mother had said to him. It touched theheart of the stranger, and he said, "Well, myboy, Jesus has sent me to take care of you."The boy looked up and replied: "You havebeen a long while coming."

If we had the love of our Master do you tellme that these outlying masses would not bereached? There is not a drunkard who wouldnot be reached. There is not a poor fallenone, or a blasphemer, or an atheist, but

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would be influenced for good. The atheistscannot get over the power of love. It willupset atheism and every false systemquicker than anything else. Nothing willbreak the stubborn heart so quickly as thelove of Christ.

I was in a certain home a few years ago; oneof the household was a boy who, I noticed,was treated like one of the family, and yet hedid not bear their name. One night I askedthe lady of the house to explain to me what itmeant. "I have noticed," I said, "that youtreat him exactly like your own children, yethe is not your boy." "Oh no," she said, "he isnot. It is quite true I treat him as my ownchild."

She went on to tell me his story. His fatherand mother were American missionaries in

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India; they had five children. The time camewhen the children had to be sent away fromIndia, as they could not be educated there.They were to be sent to America for thatpurpose. The father and mother had beenvery much blessed in India, but they felt asthough they could not give up their children.They thought they would leave their work inthe foreign field and go back to America.

They were not blessed to the same extent inworking at home as they had been in India.The natives were writing to them to return,and by and by they decided that the call wasso loud the father must go back. The mothersaid to him: "I cannot let you go alone; Imust go with you." "But how can you leavethe children? You have never beenseparated from them." She said: "I can do itfor Christ's sake." Thank God for such love

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as that.

When it was known they wanted to leavetheir children in good homes, this lady withwhom I was staying said to the mother if sheleft one of them with her she would treat thechild as her own. The mother came andstayed a week in the house to see thateverything was right. The last morning came.When the carriage drove up to the door themother said: "I want to leave my boy withoutshedding a tear; I cannot bear to have himthink that it costs me tears to do what Godhas for me to do." My friend saw that therewas a great struggle going on. Her room wasadjoining this lady's, who told me she heardthe mother crying: "O God, give me strengthfor the hour; help me now." She camedownstairs with a beautiful smile on her face.She took her boy to her bosom, kissed him,

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and left him without a tear. She left all herchildren, and went back to labor for Christ inIndia; and from the shores of India she wentup, before very long, to be with her Master.That is what a weak woman can do whenlove to Christ is the motive power. Sometime after that dear boy passed away to bewith the mother.

I was preaching in a certain city a few yearsago, and I found a young man very active inbringing in the boys from the street into themeetings. If there was a hard case in the cityhe was sure to get hold of it. You would findhim in the Inquiry Room with a whole crowdround him. I got to be very deeply interestedin the young man and much attached to him.I found out that he was another son of thatgrand and glorious missionary. I found thatall the sons were in training to go as foreign

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missionaries, to take the place of the motherand father, who had gone to their reward. Itmade such an impression on me that I couldnot shake it off. These boys have all gone totell out among the heathen the story ofChrist and His love.

I am convinced of this: When thesehard-hearted people who now reject theSavior are thoroughly awake to the fact thatlove is prompting our efforts on their behalf,the hardness will begin to soften, and theirstubborn wills will begin to bend. This key oflove will unlock their hearts. We can turnthem, by God's help, from the darkness ofthis world to the light of the Gospel.

Christ gave his disciples a badge. Some ofyou wear a blue ribbon and others wear ared ribbon, but the badge that Christ gave to

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his disciples was LOVE. "By this shall allmen know that ye are My disciples, if yehave love one toward another." Love notonly for those who are Christians, but lovefor the fallen. The Good Samaritan had lovefor the poor man who had fallen amongthieves. If we are filled with such love asthat, the world will soon find out that we arethe followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. It willdo more to upset infidelity and rebellionagainst God than anything else.

Speaking about hard cases being reached,reminds me that while I was in a home inLondon a young lady in that home felt thatshe was not doing as much for Christ as shewould like, and she decided she would takea class of boys. She has now some fifteen ortwenty of these lads, from thirteen to sixteenyears of age--a very difficult age to deal with.

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This Christian young lady made up her mindthat she would first try and win for herself theaffection of these boys, and then seek tolead them to the Savior. It is a beautiful sightto see how she has won their young heartsfor herself, and I believe she will win them allto a pure and Godly life. If we are willing totake up our work among the young with thatspirit, these boys will be saved; and insteadof helping to fill our prisons and poorhouses,they will become useful members of theChurch of God, and a blessing to society.

I have a friend who has a largeSabbath-school. He made up his mind whenhe began that if a boy did not have a goodtraining in his own home, he could not get itanywhere else except in the Sabbath-school;and he resolved that, if possible, when a boywas refractory he would not turn him adrift.

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He had a boy come to the school whom noteacher seemed able to manage. One afteranother would come to the Superintendentand say: "You must take him out of myclass; he is demoralizing all the others; heuses profane language, and he is doingmore harm than all the good I can do." Atlast my friend made up his mind he wouldread the boy's name out and have himexpelled publicly.

He told a few of the teachers what he wasgoing to do, but a wealthy young lady said: "Iwish you would let me try the boy; I will do allI can to win him." My friend said to himselfhe was sure she would not have patiencewith him very long, but he put the boy in herclass as she requested. The little fellow verysoon broke the rules in the class, and shecorrected him. He got so angry that he lost

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his temper and spat in her face. She quietlytook a handkerchief and wiped her face. Atthe close of the lesson she asked him if hewould walk home with her when school wasover. No, he said, he didn't want to speak toher. He was not coming back to that oldschool any more. She asked if he would lether walk along with him. No, he wouldn't.Well, she said, she was sorry he was going,but if he would call at her house on Tuesdaymorning and ring the front door bell, therewould be a little parcel waiting for him. Shewould not be at home herself, but if he askedthe servant he would receive it. He replied:"You can keep your old parcel; I don't wantit." However she thought he would be there.

By Tuesday morning the little fellow had gotover his mad fit. He came to the house andrang the door bell; the servant handed him

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the parcel. When he opened it he found itcontained a little vest, a necktie, and, best ofall, a note written by the teacher. She toldhim how every night and every morningsince he had been in her class she had beenpraying for him. Now that he was going toleave her she wanted him to remember thatas long as she lived she would pray for him,and she hoped he would grow up to be agood man.

Next morning the little fellow was in thedrawing-room waiting to see her before shecame downstairs from her bedroom. Shefound him there crying as if his heart wouldbreak. She asked him kindly what was thetrouble. "Oh," he said, "I have had no peacesince I got your letter. You have been sokind to me and I have been so unkind to you;I wish you would forgive me." Said my friend,

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the Superintendent, "There are abouteighteen hundred children in the school, andthere is not a better boy among the whole ofthem."

Can we not do the same as that young ladydid? Shall we not reconsecrate ourselvesnow to God and to his service?

Had I the tongues of Greeks and Jews, Andnobler speech than angels use: If love beabsent, I am found Like tinkling brass, anempty sound.

Were I inspired to preach and tell All that isdone in heaven and hell-- Or could my faiththe world remove: Still I am nothing withoutlove.

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Should I distribute all my store To feed thehungry, clothe the poor Or give my body tothe flame, To gain a martyr's glorious name:

If love to God and love to men Be absent, allmy hopes are vain; Nor tongues, nor gifts,nor fiery zeal, The work of love can e'erfulfill.

Dr. Watts

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CHAPTER III.

FAITH AND COURAGE.

The key note of all our work for God shouldbe FAITH. In all my life I have never seenmen or women disappointed in receivinganswers to their prayers, if those personswere full of faith, and had good grounds fortheir faith. Of course we must have a warrantin Scripture for what we expect. I am surewe have a good warrant in coming togetherto pray for a blessing on our friends and onour neighbors.

Unbelief is as much an enemy to theChristian as it is to the unconverted. It willkeep back the blessing now as much as itdid in the days of Christ. We read that in oneplace Christ could not do many mighty works

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because of their unbelief. If Christ could notdo this, how can we expect to accomplishanything if the people of God areunbelieving? I contend that God's childrenare alone able to hinder God's work. Infidels,atheists, and sceptics cannot do it. Wherethere is union, strong faith, and expectationamong Christians, a mighty work is alwaysdone.

In Hebrews we read that without faith it isimpossible to please God. "For he thatcometh to God must believe that He is, andthat He is a Rewarder of them that diligentlyseek Him." That is addressed to us who areChristians as much as to those who areseeking God for the first time. We are all ofus seeking a blessing on our friends. Wewant God to revive us, and also that theoutlying masses may be reached. We read

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in this passage that God blesses those who"diligently seek Him." Let us diligently seekHim to-day; let us have great faith; and letour expectation be from God.

I remember when I was a boy, in the springof the year, when the snow had melted awayon the New England hills where I lived, Iused to take a certain kind of glass and holdit up to the warm rays of the sun. Thesewould strike on it, and I would set the woodson fire. Faith is the glass that brings the fireof God out of heaven. It was faith that drewthe fire down on Carmel and burned upElijah's offering. We have the same Godto-day, and the same faith. Some peopleseem to think that faith is getting old, andthat the Bible is wearing out. But the Lordwill revive his work now; and we shall beable to set the world on fire if each believer

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has a strong and simple faith.

In the eleventh chapter of the Epistle to theHebrews the writer brings up one worthyafter another, and each of them was a manor a woman of faith; they made the worldbetter by living in it. Listen to this descriptionof what was accomplished by these men andwomen of faith: "Who through faith subduedkingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtainedpromises, stopped the mouths of lions,quenched the violence of fire, escaped theedge of the sword, out of weakness weremade strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned toflight the armies of the aliens. Womenreceived their dead raised to life again; andothers were tortured, not acceptingdeliverance; that they might obtain a betterresurrection: and others had trial of cruelmockings and scourgings, yea, moreover, of

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bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned,they were sawn asunder, were tempted,were slain with the sword: they wanderedabout in sheepskins and goatskins, beingdestitute, afflicted, tormented (of whom theworld was not worthy): they wandered indeserts, and in mountains, and in dens andcaves of the earth. And these all, havingobtained a good report through faith,received not the promise: God havingprovided some better thing for us, that theywithout us should not be made perfect."

Surely no child of God can read these wordswithout being stirred. It is said that "womenreceived their dead raised to life again."Many of you have children who have gonefar astray, and have been taken captive bystrong drink, or led away by their lusts andpassions; and you have become greatly

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discouraged about them. But if you havefaith in God they may be raised up as fromthe dead, and brought back again. Thewanderers may be reclaimed; the drunkardsand the harlots may be reached and saved.There is no man or woman, however low heor she may have sunk, but can be reached.

We ought in these days to have far morefaith than Abel, or Enoch, or Abraham had.They lived away on the other side of theCross. We talk about the faith of Elijah, andthe Patriarchs and Prophets; but they lived inthe dim light of the past, while we are in thefull blaze of Calvary, and the Resurrection.When we look back and think of what Christdid, how He poured out His blood that menmight be saved, we ought to go forth in Hisstrength and conquer the world. Our God isable to do great and mighty things.

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You remember that the Roman Centurionsent for Christ to heal his servant; when theSavior drew near, the Centurion sent to Himto say that He need not take the trouble tocome into his house; all that was neededwas that He should speak the word and hisservant would live. Probably he thought thatif Christ had the power to create worlds, tosay "Let there be light," and there was light,to make the sea and the earth bring forthabundantly, He could easily say the wordand raise up his sick servant. We are toldthat when Christ received the Romansoldier's message He marvelled at his faith.Dear friends, let us have faith at this momentthat God will do great things in our midst.

Caleb and Joshua were men of faith. Theywere worth more to Israel than all the campof unbelievers and the other ten spies put

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together. We read that Moses sent outtwelve men to spy out the land. Let me saythat faith never sends out any spies. Youmay perhaps reply that Moses wascommanded by God to send them out; butwe read that it was because of the hardnessof their hearts. If they had believed in God,they would have taken possession of theland at Kadesh Barnea. I suppose thesetwelve men were chosen because they wereleading men and influential men in thetwelve tribes.

After they had been gone some thirty daysthey came back with what we might call aminority and a majority report. All the twelveadmitted that the land was a good land, butthe ten said, "We are not able to take it. Wesaw giants there--the sons of Anak." Youcan see these ten spies in camp the night

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they returned; great crowds are gatheredaround them listening to their reports.Probably there were very few gathered tohear Caleb and Joshua. It really seemssometimes that people are much more readyto believe a lie than to believe the truth. Sothese unbelieving men gathered around theten spies. One of them is describing thegiants in the land, and he says: "Why, I hadto look right up in order to see their faces;they made the earth tremble at their tread.The mountains and valleys are full of them.Then we saw great walled cities. We are notable to take the land."

But Caleb and Joshua had quite a differentstory to tell. Those mighty giants seemed tobe as grasshoppers in their sight. Thesemen of faith remembered how God haddelivered them out of the hand of Pharaoh

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and brought them through the Red Sea; howHe had given them bread from heaven toeat, and water to drink from the rock in thewilderness. If He marched with them surelythey could go right up and take possessionof the land. So they said: "Let us go up atonce and possess it; we are well able to takeit."

What do we see in the Church of Godto-day? About ten out of every twelveprofessed Christians are looking at thegiants, at the walls, and at the difficulties inthe way. They say: "We are not able toaccomplish this work. We might do it if therewere not so many drinking saloons, and somuch drunkenness, and so many atheistsand opposers." Let us not give head to theseunbelieving professors. If we have faith inGod we are well able to go up and possess

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the land for Christ. God always delights tohonor faith.

It may be some sainted weak woman, somebed-ridden one who is not able to attend themeetings, who will bring down the blessing.In the day when every man's work is tested,it may be seen that some hidden one whohonored God by a simple faith was the onewho caused such a blessing to descendupon our cities as shall shake the land fromend to end.

Again, in these Bible histories we find thatfaith is always followed by COURAGE.Caleb and Joshua were full of courage,because they were men of faith. Those whohave been greatly used of God in all ageshave been men of courage. If we are full offaith we shall not be full of fear, distrusting

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God all the while. That is the trouble with theChurch of Christ to-day--there are so manywho are fearful, because they do not believethat God is going to use them. What weneed is to have the courage that will compelus to move forward. Perhaps if we do this wemay have to go against the advice oflukewarm Christians. There are some whonever seem to do anything but object,because the work is not always carried onexactly according to their ideas. They willsay: "I do not think that is the best way to dothings." They are very fruitful in raisingobjections to any plans that can besuggested. If any onward step is taken theyare ready to throw cold water on it; they willsuggest all kinds of difficulties. We want tohave such faith and courage as shall enableus to move forward without waiting for thesetimid unbelievers.

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In the second book of Chronicles we readthat King Asa had to go right against hisfather and mother; it took a good deal ofcourage to do that. He removed his motherfrom being queen, and cut down the idolsand burnt them. There are times when wehave to go against those who ought to beour best friends. Is it not time for us tolaunch out into the deep? I have never seenpeople go out into the lanes and alleys, intothe hedges and highways, and try to bringthe people in, but the Lord gave Hisblessing. If a man has the courage to goright to his neighbor and speak to him abouthis soul, God is sure to smile upon the effort.The person who is spoken to may wake upcross, but that is not always a bad sign. Hemay write a letter next day and apologize. Atany rate it is better to wake him up in thisway than that he should continue to slumber

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on to death and ruin.

You notice when God was about to deliverIsrael out of the hand of the Midianites, howhe taught this lesson to Gideon. Gideon hadgathered around him an army of thirty-twothousand men. He may probably havecounted them, and when he knew that theMidianites had an army of a hundred andthirty-five thousand he said to himself: "Myarmy is too small; I am afraid I shall notsucceed." But the Lord's thoughts weredifferent. He said to Gideon: "You have toomany men." So He told him that all thoseamong the thirty-two thousand who werefearful and afraid might go back to their ownhomes, to their wives and their mothers; letthem step to the rear. No sooner had Gideongiven this command than twenty-twothousand men wheeled out of line. It may be

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Gideon thought the Lord had made amistake as he saw his army melt away. Iftwo-thirds of a great audience were to riseand go out you would think they were allgoing.

The Lord said: "Gideon, you have too manymen yet. Take your men down to the brookand try them once more. All those who takethe water up in their hands and drink as theypass by can stay; those who stoop down todrink can go back." Again he gave the word,and nine thousand seven hundred wheeledout of line and went to the rear, so thatGideon was left with three hundred men. Butthis handful of men whose hearts beat trueto the God of heaven, and who were readyto go forward in His name, were worth morethan all the others who were all the timesowing seeds of discontent and predicting

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defeat. Nothing will discourage an army likethat. Nothing is more discouraging in aChurch than to have a number of the peopleall the time expecting disaster and saying:"We do not think this effort will amount toanything; it is not according to our ideas."

It would be a good thing for the Church ofGod if all the fearful and faithless ones wereto step to the rear, and let those who are fullof faith and courage take their emptypitchers and go forward against the enemy.This little band of three hundred men whowere left with Gideon routed the Midianites;but it was not their own might that gave themthe victory. It was "the sword of the Lord andof Gideon." If we go on in the Name of theLord, and trusting to His might, we shallsucceed.

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Before Moses went up to heaven he did allhe could to encourage Joshua, to strengthenand cheer him. There was no sign ofjealousy in the heart of Moses, although hewas not permitted to go into the land. Hewent up to the top of Pisgah and saw that itwas a good land; and he tried to encourageJoshua to go forward and take possession ofit. After Moses had gone, we read that threetimes in one chapter God said to Joshua:"Be of good courage." God cheered hisservant; "There shall not any man be able tostand before thee all the days of thy life."Soon after that Joshua took a walk aroundthe walls of Jericho. As he walked around hesaw a man stand before him with a drawnsword in his hand. Joshua was not afraid,but he said: "Art thou for us or for ouradversaries?" His courage was rewarded,for the man replied: "As Captain of the host

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of the Lord am I now come." He had beensent to encourage him and to lead him on tovictory.

So you will find all through the Scripturesthat God uses those who have courage, andnot those who are looking for defeat.

Another thought: I never knew a case whereGod used a discouraged man or woman toaccomplish any great thing for Him. Let aminister go into the pulpit in a discouragedframe of mind and it becomes contagious. Itwill soon reach the pews, and the wholechurch will become discouraged. So with aSabbath-school teacher; I never knew aworker of any kind who was full ofdiscouragement and who met with successin the Lord's work. It seems as if God cannotmake any use of such a man.

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I remember a man telling me he preachedfor a number of years without any result. Heused to say to his wife as they went tochurch that he knew the people would notbelieve anything he said; and there was noblessing. At last he saw his error; he askedGod to help him, and took courage, and thenthe blessing came. "According to your faith itshall be unto you." This man had expectednothing and he got just what he expected.Dear friends, let us expect that God is goingto use us. Let us have courage and goforward, looking to God to do great things.

Elijah on Mount Carmel was one man; Elijahunder the juniper tree was quite anotherman. In the one case he was a giant, andnothing could stand before him. When helost heart and got terrified at Jezebel'smessage, and wished himself dead, God

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could not use him. The Lord had to go to himand say: "What doest thou here, Elijah?" Iwish God would speak to many professingChristians who have their harps on thewillows, and are out of communion with Him,so that they are of no use in His cause.

When Peter denied his Master he was a verydifferent man from what he was on the dayof Pentecost. He got out of communion withhis Lord, and the word of a servant nearlyfrightened him out of his life. He denied hisMaster with oaths and cursing. How terriblya man falls when he loses faith and courage.

But he was restored; look at him on the dayof Pentecost. If that maid whose questionmade him tremble had been present, andheard him preach the marvellous sermonrecorded in the Acts, I can imagine she

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would be the most amazed person in allJerusalem, "Why," she says, "I saw him afew days ago, and he was terribly alarmed atbeing called a disciple of Christ; now hestands up boldly for this same Christ; he hasno shame now." God used him mightily onthe day of Pentecost, as he preached to thatvast congregation, some of whom were thevery murderers of his Lord and Master. Buthe could not use Peter till he had repented ofhis cowardice and had been restored to faithand courage. So when any man who isworking for Christ loses heart and getsdiscouraged, the Lord has to lay him aside.

I remember a number of years ago I got castdown for a good many weeks. One Sundayin particular I had preached and there did notseem to be any result. On the Monday I wasvery much cast down. I was sitting in my

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study and was looking at myself, broodingover my want of success. A young mancalled upon me, who had a Bible class of100 adults in the Sabbath-school which Iconducted. As he came in I could see hewas away upon the mountain top, while Iwas down in the valley. Said he to me,"What kind of a day did you haveyesterday?" "Very poor; I had no success,and I feel quite cast down. How did you geton?" "Oh, grandly; I never had a better day.""What was your subject?" "I had the life andcharacter of Noah. Did you ever preach onNoah? Did you ever study up his life?" "Well,no; I do not know as ever I made it a specialstudy." I thought I knew pretty well all therewas about him in the Bible; you know all thatis told us about him is contained in a fewverses. "If you never studied it before, youhad better do it now. It will do you good.

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Noah was a wonderful character."

When the young man went out I got my Bibleand some other books, and read all I couldfind about Noah, I had not been reading longbefore the thought came stealing over me:Here was a man who toiled on for a hundredand twenty years and never had a singleconvert outside of his own family. Yet he didnot get discouraged. I closed up my Bible;the cloud had gone; I started out and went tothe noon prayer-meeting. I had not beenthere long when a man got up and said hehad come from a little town in Illinois. On theday before he had admitted a hundredyoung converts to Church membership. Ashe was speaking I said to myself: "I wonderwhat Noah would have given if he couldhave heard that. He never had any suchresult as that to his labors."

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Then in a little while a man who sat rightbehind me stood up. His hand was on theseat, and I felt it shake; I could realise thatthe man was trembling. He said: "I wish youwould pray for me; I would like to become aChristian." Thought I to myself: "wonderwhat Noah would have given if he had heardthat. He never heard a single soul askingGod for mercy, yet he did not getdiscouraged." I have never hung my harp onthe willows since that day. Let us ask God totake away the clouds of fear and unbelief; letus get out of Doubting Castle; let us moveforward courageously in the name of ourGod and expect to see results.

If you cannot engage in any active workyourselves you can do a good deal bycheering on others. Some people not only donothing, but they are all the time throwing

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discouragement on others, in every forwardstep they take. If you meet with them theyseem to chill you through and through. Ithink I would as soon face the east wind inEdinburgh in the month of March, as come incontact with some of these so-calledChristians. Perhaps they are speaking aboutsome effort that has been made, and theysay: "Well, yes, a good deal of work wasdone, but then many were not reached atall." Such and such a thing ought to havebeen done in a different way, and I know notwhat. They are all the time looking at thedark side.

Let us not give heed to these gloomy anddiscouraging remarks. In the name of ourgreat Commander let us march on to battleand to victory. There are some generalswhose name alone is worth more than a

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whole army of ten thousand men. In ourarmy in the Civil War there were somewhose presence sent a cheer all along theline. As they passed on cheer upon cheerwent up. The men knew who was going tolead them, and they were sure of havingsuccess. "The boys" liked to fight under suchgenerals as that. Let us encourageourselves in the Lord, and encourage eachother; then we shall have good success.

We read in the book of First Chronicles thatJoab cheered on those who were helpinghim in warfare. "Be of good courage, and letus behave ourselves valiantly for our peopleand for the cities of our God; and let the Lorddo that which is good in His sight." Let us goforward in this spirit, and the Lord will makeus to triumph over our foes. If we cannot bein the battle ourselves let us not seek to

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discourage others. A Highland chief of theM'Gregor clan fell wounded at the battle ofSheriff-Muir. Seeing their leader fall, the clanwavered, and gave the foe an advantage.The old chieftain, perceiving this, raisedhimself on his elbow, while the bloodstreamed from his wounds, and cried out, "Iam not dead, my children; I am looking atyou to see you do your duty." This rousedthem to new energy and almost superhumaneffort. So, when our strength fails and ourhearts sink within us, the Captain of oursalvation cries: "Lo, I am with you alway,even to the end of the world. I will neverleave nor forsake thee. Be thou faithful untodeath, and I will give thee a crown of life."

A friend of mine was telling me that a workercame to him very much cast down.Everything was going wrong, and he was

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greatly depressed. My friend turned uponhim and said: "Do you have any doubt aboutthe final result of things? Is Jesus Christgoing to set up His Kingdom, and reign fromthe rivers to the ends of the earth? Is Hegoing to succeed or not?" The man said thatof course Christ was going to triumph; hehad never thought of it in that light. If peoplewould sometimes take a look into the futureand remember the promises, they would notbe cast down. Dear friends, Christ is going toreign. Let us go out and do the work He hasgiven us to do. If it happens to be dark roundabout us, let us remember it is lightsomewhere else. If we are not succeedingjust as we would like, others, it may be, aresucceeding better.

Think of the opportunities we have,compared with the early Christians. Look at

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the mighty obstacles they had toencounter--how they had often to seal theirtestimony with their blood. See what Peterhad to fight against on the day of Pentecost,when the people looked on him with scorn.The disciples in those days had nocommittee to put up large buildings for theiruse, in which they could preach. They hadno band of ministers sitting near by, to prayfor them, and help them and cheer them on.Yet look at the wonderful results of Peter'spreaching on the day of Pentecost.

Look at the dense darkness that surroundedMartin Luther in Germany. Look at thedifficulties that John Knox had to meet within Scotland. Yet these men did a mighty anda lasting work for God in their day andgeneration; we are reaping the blessed fruitsof their faithful labors even now. Look at the

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darkness that brooded over England in thedays of Wesley and Whitefield. See howGod blessed their efforts; and yet they had agreat many obstacles to contend with thatwe do not have in these days. They wentforward with strong and courageous hearts,and the Lord gave them success.

I believe if our forefathers who lived in thelast century could come back to this world inthe flesh, they would be amazed to see thewonderful opportunities that we have. Wehave a great many advantages they did notpossess, and probably did not dream of. Welive in a grand and glorious day. It took JohnWesley months to cross the Atlantic; now wecan do it a few days. Think of the power ofthe printing press in these days; we can printand scatter sermons to all the corners of theearth. Look at the marvellous facilities that

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we have in the electric telegraph, Then wecan take the railway train and go and preachat a distance of hundreds of miles in a fewhours. Am I not right in saying that we live ina glorious day? Let us not be discouraged,but let us use all these wonderfulopportunities, and honor God by expectinggreat things. If we do we will not bedisappointed. God is ready and willing towork, if we are ready and willing to let Him,and to be used by Him.

It may be that some are old and feeble, andare saying to themselves: "I wish I wereyoung again; I would like to go out into thethick of the battle." But any one, young orold, can go into the homes of the people andinvite them to come out to the meetings.There are large halls everywhere with plentyof room; there are many who will help sing

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the Gospel. The Gospel will also bepreached, and there are many people whomight be induced to come, who will not goout to the regular places of worship.

If you are not able to go and invite thepeople, as I have said, you can give a wordof cheer to others, and wish themGodspeed. Many a time when I have comedown from the pulpit, some old man,trembling on the very verge of another world,living perhaps on borrowed time, has caughthold of my hand, and in a quavering voicesaid, "God bless you!" How the words havecheered and helped me. Many of you canspeak a word of encouragement to theyounger friends, if you are too feeble to workyourselves.

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Then again, you can pray that God will blessthe words that are spoken and the effortsthat are made. It is very easy to preachwhen others are all the time praying for youand sympathizing with you, instead ofcriticising and finding fault.

You have heard the story, I suppose, of thechild who was rescued from the fire that wasraging in a house away up in the fourthstory. The child came to the window, and asthe flames were shooting up higher andhigher it cried out for help. A fireman startedup the ladder of the fire-escape to rescue thechild from its dangerous position. The windswept the flames near him, and it wasgetting so hot that he wavered, and it lookedas if he would have to return without thechild. Thousands looked on, and their heartsquaked at the thought of the child having to

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perish in the fire, as it must do if the firemandid not reach it. Some one in the crowdcried, "Give him a cheer!" Cheer after cheerwent up, and as the man heard them hegathered fresh courage. Up he went into themidst of the smoke and the fire, and broughtdown the child in safety. If you cannot goand rescue the perishing yourselves, youcan at least pray for those who do, andcheer them on. If you do, the Lord will blessthe effort.

"They helped every one his neighbor; andevery one said to his brother, 'Be of goodcourage.'"

We are living, we are dwelling In a grandand awful time, In an age on ages telling--To be living is sublime.

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Oh, let all the soul within you For the truth'ssake go abroad! Strike! let every nerve andsinew Tell on ages--tell for God!

Coxe

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CHAPTER IV.

FAITH REWARDED.

"And it came to pass on a certain day, as Hewas teaching, that there were Pharisees anddoctors of the law sitting by, which werecome out of every town of Galilee, andJudea and Jerusalem; and the power of theLord was present to heal them. And, behold,men brought in a bed a man which wastaken with a palsy; and they sought meansto bring him in, and to lay him before Him.And when they could not find by what waythey might bring him in, because of themultitude, they went upon the house-top,and let him down through the tiling with hiscouch into the midst before Jesus. And whenHe saw their faith, He said unto him, 'Man,thy sins are forgiven thee.'"

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All the three evangelists, Matthew, Mark andLuke, record this miracle. I have noticed thatwhen any two or three of the Gospel writersrecord a miracle it is to bring out someimportant truth. It seems to me that the truththe Lord would teach us here is this: Thehonor He put upon the faith of these fourmen who brought the palsied man to him forhealing. Whether the palsied man himselfhad any faith we are not told; it was when Hesaw "their faith" that His power was put forthto cure the sick of the palsy.

I want to say to all Christian workers, that ifthe Lord sees our faith for those whom wewish to be blessed, He will honor it. He hasnever disappointed the faith of any of Hischildren yet. You cannot find an instance inthe Bible, where any man or woman hasexercised true faith in God, where it has not

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been honored. Nothing that the Savior foundwhen He was on this sin-cursed earthpleased Him so much as to see the faith ofHis disciples; nothing refreshed His heart somuch.

We read in the Gospel narrative that therewas a great stir in the town of Capernaum atthis time. A few weeks before, the Saviorhad been cast out of his native town ofNazareth. He had come down toCapernaum, and the whole country wasgreatly moved. His star was just rising, andHis fame was being spread abroad. Peter'swife's mother had been healed by a word.The servant of an officer in the Roman armyhad been raised up from a sick bed, and theSavior had performed many other wonderfulmiracles. Men had come to Capernaum fromevery town in Galilee, and Judaea, and from

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Jerusalem. They had gathered together tolook into these wonderful events that wereoccurring. The voice of John the Baptist hadbeen ringing through the land, proclaiming tothe people that a Prophet would soon makeHis appearance, whose shoe latchet he wasnot worthy to unloose. While the Baptist wastelling out this message the Prophet Himselfmade His appearance in the northern part ofthe country, and all these wonderful thingswere transpiring.

The Pharisees and doctors of the law hadcome to Capernaum to look into the reportsthat were spread abroad. The house wherethey were gathered was filled to overflowing,and these wise men were listening to theSavior's teaching. Many of them hardlybelieved a word that He said. It may be therewere some believing ones among these wise

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men. Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimatheamay have been there: if so, they were notyet known as disciples of Jesus.

The writer of the Gospel says: "The power ofthe Lord was present to heal them." We arenot told, however, that one of them washealed. So it is very often now. The power ofthe Lord may be present to heal in thesegatherings; yet many will come and go,wondering what it all means, and withoutbeing healed of their spiritual diseases. Whatwe need is to have the power of God in ourmidst.

A man came into one of our meetings inLondon. He got into a part of the hall wherehe could not hear a word of what wasspoken or sung; he could not even hear thetext or the portion of Scripture that was read.

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There he had to sit through the service, so tospeak, shut up alone with himself. A littlewhile after he told some one that as he satthere God had revealed Himself to him, andspoken peace to his soul. There is such athing as the power of God being present toheal, though men may not hear the voice oftheir fellowman.

These four men were real workers. Theywere worth more than a houseful of thesePharisees and doctors of the law who camemerely to criticise and look on. I do not knowwho the four men were, but I have alwayshad a great admiration for them. It may beone of them had been blind and the Lordhad given him his sight. The other may havebeen lame from his birth; when the Masterrestored him to strength, he thought hewould like to use it in bringing some one else

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to be healed. The third man may have beena cured leper, and he wished to help ingetting some other afflicted one cured.Perhaps this palsied man was his next-doorneighbor. The fourth man, it may be, hadbeen deaf and dumb, and he thought hewould employ his hearing and his speech inhelping some one else. These four youngconverts said to themselves: "Let us bringour sick neighbor to Christ." The palsiedman may have said he had no faith in Christ.But these four friends told him how they hadbeen cured, and if the Master could healthem surely He could heal a palsied man.

Now it seems to me nothing will wake up aman quicker than to have four persons afterhim in one day. People are sometimes afraidthat they will entrench on each other'sground if more than one worker happens to

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call at the same house. For my part, I wishthat every family had about forty invitationsto each meeting.

I lately heard of a man, a non-churchgoer,who did not believe in the Bible or religiousthings. Some one who was distributingtickets asked him if he would go to themeetings. He got quite angry. No, he wouldnot go; he did not believe in the thing at all;he would not be seen in such a crowd. Asecond man came along, not knowing thatany one had been before him, and asked ifhe would accept a ticket for the meetings.The man was still angry, and, as we wouldsometimes say, he "gave him a piece of hismind." He told him to keep his tickets.By-and-by a third man called and said:"Would you take a ticket for thesemeetings?" The man by this time had got

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thoroughly waked up, but yet he declined toreceive the ticket. He went into a shop to buysomething. The man in the shop put a ticketfor the meetings into the packet; when thecustomer got home and opened it, lo andbehold there was a ticket! He got so rousedup that he went, not to our meeting, but to aneighboring church. I do not know that hehas come clean out, but I believe he is, atany rate, in a hopeful condition.

If one visit does not wake up a man whomyou want to reach, send a second visitorafter him; if that has no effect, send a third,and a fourth, and a fifth, and a sixth, and aseventh; go on in that way day after day. It isa great thing to save one man, to get him outof the pit, to have his feet set fast on a rock,and a new song put in his mouth. Nothingwill rouse an indifferent man quicker than to

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have a number of friends after him. If youcannot bring him yourself, get others to helpyou.

These four men found an obstacle in theway. The door of the house was blocked,and they could not get near the Master. Theymay have asked some of these philosophersto stand aside; but no, they would not dothat. They would not disturb themselvesabout a sick man. Many people will not gointo the kingdom of God themselves, andthey will throw obstacles in the way ofothers. After trying probably for some time toget in, these four men began to deviseanother plan. If it had been some of us, mostlikely we would have got quite discouraged,and carried the man back to his home.

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These men had faith, and perseverance too.They are going to get their friend to Christsome way. If they cannot get him throughthe door, they will find a way through theroof! "Zeal without knowledge," people say. Iwould a good deal rather have that thanknowledge without zeal. You can see thempulling and tugging away at the burden. Ifyou have ever tried to carry a wounded manup a flight of stairs you will know it is not aneasy matter. But these four men were not tobe defeated, and at last he is up there on theroof.

Now, the question was, "How can we gethim down?" They began to tear up the tiling.I can see those wise men looking up andsaying to one another: "This is a strangeperformance; we have never seen anythinglike this in the temple or in any synagogue

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we were ever in. It is altogether out of theregular order. These men must be carriedaway with fanaticism. Why, they have madea hole large enough to let a man through.Suppose a sudden shower were to come, itwould spoil the house."

But these four workers were terribly inearnest. They let the bier, on which the manwas lying, down into the room. They laidtheir friend right at the feet of Jesus Christ; agood place to lay him, was it not? Perhapssome of you have a sceptical son or anunbelieving husband, or some other memberof your family, that scoffs at the Bible andsneers at Christianity. Lay them at the feet ofJesus, and He will honor your faith.

"When He saw their faith." I suppose thesemen were looking down to see what was

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about to take place Christ looked at them,and when He saw their faith He said to thepalsied man: "Son, be of good cheer; thysins are forgiven thee." That was more thanthey expected; they only thought of his bodybeing made whole. So let us bring ourfriends to Christ, and we shall get more thanwe expect. The Lord met this man's deepestneed first. It may be his sins had brought onthe palsy, so the Lord forgave the man's sinfirst of all.

The wise men began to reason withinthemselves: "Who is this that forgiveth sins?"The Master could read their thoughts aseasily as we can read a book. "Is it easier tosay, 'Thy sins be forgiven thee,' or 'Rise upand walk?' But that ye may know that theSon of Man hath power on earth to forgivesins, He said unto the sick of the palsy, 'I say

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unto thee, arise; take up thy bed and go intothine house.'" The man leaped to his feet,made whole. He rolled up the old bed,swung it across his shoulders, and went tohis house. Depend upon it, thesephilosophers who would not make way inorder to let him in stood aside pretty quick tolet him go out. No need for him to go out byway of the roof; he went out by the door.

Dear friends, let us have faith for those webring to Christ. Let us believe for them if theywill not believe for themselves. It may bethere are those here who do not believe inthe Bible, or in the Gospel of the Son of God.Let us bring them to Christ in the arms of ourfaith. He is unchangeable--"the sameyesterday, today, and for ever." Let us lookfor great things. Let us expect the dead to beraised, the harlots reclaimed, the drunkards

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saved, and the devils cast out. I believe menare possessed of evil spirits now, just asmuch as when the Son of God was on earth.We want to bring them right to the LordJesus Christ, that He may heal and savethem. Let this cursed unbelief be swept outof the way, and let us come to God as oneman, looking for and expecting signs andwonders to be done in the name of Jesus.He can perform miracles to-day, and He willif we ask Him to fulfill His promises. "He isable to save to the uttermost."

And let me say to any unsaved man thatGod has the power to save you from yoursins to-day. If you want to be converted,come right to the Master as did the leper ofold. He said, "Lord, if Thou wilt Thou canstmake me clean." Christ honored his faith,and said, "I will; be thou clean." Notice--the

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man put "if" in the right place. "If Thou will."He did not doubt the power of the Son ofGod. The father who brought his son toChrist said, "If Thou canst, have compassionupon him." The Lord straightened out histheology then and there; "If thou canstbelieve." Mother, can you believe for yourboy? If you can, the Lord will speak theword, and it shall be done.

It will be a good thing for us to get right downat the feet of the Master, like the poorwoman who went to Elisha and told him ofher dead child. He asked his servant to takehis staff and lay it upon the dead child. Butthe mother would not leave the prophet. Hewanted her to go with the servant, but shewould not be satisfied with the prophet'sstaff, or even with his servant; she wantedthe master himself. So Elisha went with her;

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it was a good thing he did, for the servantcould not raise the child.

We want to get beyond the staff and beyondthe servant, right to the heart of the MasterHimself. Let us bring our palsied friends toHim. It is said of Christ that in one place Hecould not do many mighty works therebecause of their unbelief. Let us ask Him totake away from us this cursed unbelief, thathinders the blessing from coming down, andprevents those who are sick of the palsy ofsin from being saved.

"The faith that works by love, And purifiesthe heart, A foretaste of the joys above Tomortals can impart; It bears us through thisearthly strife, And triumphs in immortal life."

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CHAPTER V.

ENTHUSIASM.

"Awake thou that sleepest, and arise fromthe dead, and Christ shall give thee light." Iwant to apply these words to the children ofGod. If the lost are to be reached by theGospel of the Son of God, Christianity mustbe more aggressive than it has been in thepast. We have been on the defensive longenough; the time has come for us to enter ona war of aggression. When we as children ofGod wake up and go to work in the vineyard,then those who are living in wickedness allabout us will be reached; but not in any otherway. You may go to mass meetings anddiscuss the question of "How to reach themasses," but when you have done withdiscussion you have to go back to personal

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effort. Every man and woman who loves theLord Jesus Christ must wake up to the factthat he or she has a mission in the world, inthis work of reaching the lost.

A man may talk in his sleep, and it seems tome that there is a good deal of that kind ofthing now in the Lord's work. A man mayeven preach in his sleep. A friend of minesat up in his bed one night and preached asermon right through. He was sound asleepall the time. Next morning his wife told himall about it. He preached the same sermon inhis church the next Sabbath morning; I haveit in print, and a good sermon it is. So a manmay not only talk but actually preach in hissleep. There are many preachers in thesedays who are fast asleep.

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There is one thing, however, that we mustremember; a man cannot work in his sleep.There is no better way to wake up a Churchthan to set it to work. One man will wake upanother in waking himself up. Of course themoment we begin a work of aggression, anddeclare war with the world, the flesh, and thedevil, some wise head will begin to shake,and there will be the cry, "Zeal withoutknowledge!" I think I have heard thatobjection ever since I commenced theChristian life. I heard of some one who wasspeaking the other day of something thatwas to be done, and who said he hoped zealwould be tempered with moderation. Anotherfriend very wisely replied that he hopedmoderation would be tempered with zeal. Ifthat were always the case, Christianity wouldbe like a red hot ball rolling over the face ofthe earth. There is no power on earth that

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can stand before the onward march of God'speople when they are in dead earnest.

In all ages God has used those who were inearnest. Satan always calls idle men into hisservice. God calls active and earnest--notindolent men. When we are thoroughlyaroused and ready for His work, then He willtake us up and use us. You rememberwhere Elijah found Elisha; he was ploughingin the field--he was at work. Gideon was atthe threshing floor. Moses was away inHoreb looking after the sheep. None of theseeminent servants of God were indolent men;what they did, they did with all their might.We want such men and women nowadays. Ifwe cannot do God's work with all theknowledge we would like, let us at any ratedo it with all the zeal that God has given us.

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Mr. Taylor says: "The zeal of the Apostleswas seen in this--they preached publicly andprivately; they prayed for all men; they weptto God for the hardness of men's hearts;they became all things to all men, that theymight gain some; they traveled throughdeeps and deserts; they endured the heat ofthe Syrian sun and the violence ofEuroclydon, winds and tempests, seas andprisons, mockings and scourgings, fastingsand poverty, labor and watching; theyendured of every man and wronged no man;they would do any good, and suffer any evil,if they could but hope to prevail upon a soul;they persuaded men meekly, they entreatedthem humbly, they convinced thempowerfully; they watched for their good, butmeddled not with their interest; and this isthe Christian zeal--the zeal of meekness, thezeal of charity, the zeal of patience."

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A good many people are afraid of the wordENTHUSIASM. Do you know what the wordmeans? It means "In God." The person whois "in God", will surely be fired withenthusiasm. When a man goes into businessfilled with fire and zeal, he will generallycarry all before him. In the army a generalwho is full of enthusiasm will fire up his men,and will accomplish a great deal more thanone who is not stirred with the same spirit.People say that if we go on in that way manymistakes will be made. Probably there will.You never saw any boy learning a trade whodid not make a good many mistakes. If youdo not go to work because you are afraid ofmaking mistakes, you will probably makeone great mistake--the greatest mistake ofyour life--that of doing nothing. If we all dowhat we can, then a good deal will beaccomplished.

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How often do we find Sabbath-schoolteachers going into their work without anyenthusiasm. I had just as soon have a lot ofwooden teachers as some that I haveknown. If I were a carpenter I couldmanufacture any quantity of them. Take oneof those teachers who has no heart, no fire,and no enthusiasm. He comes into theschool-room perhaps a few minutes after theappointed time. He sits down, withoutspeaking a word to any of the scholars, untilthe time comes for the lessons to begin.When the Superintendent says it is time tobegin the teacher brings out a QuestionBook. He has not been at the trouble to lookup the subject himself, so he gets whatsome one else has written about it. He takescare not only to get a Question Book, but anAnswer Book.

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Such a teacher will take up the first book andhe says: "John, who was the first man?"(looking at the book)--"Yes, that is the rightquestion." John replies, "Adam." Looking atthe Answer Book the teacher says: "Yes,that is right." He looks again at the QuestionBook and he says: "Charles, who was Lot?""Abraham's nephew." "Yes, my boy, that isright." And so he goes on. You may say thatthis is an exaggerated description, and ofcourse I do not mean to say it is literally true;but the picture is not so much overdrawn asyou would suppose. Do you think a class oflittle boys full of life and fire is going to bereached in that way?

I like to see a teacher come into the classand shake hands with the scholars all round."Johnnie, how do you do? Charlie, I am gladto see you! How's the baby? How's your

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mother? How are all the folks at home?"That is the kind of a teacher I like to see.When he begins to open up the lesson allthe scholars are interested in what he isgoing to say. He will be able to gain theattention of the whole class, and to trainthem for God and for eternity. You cannotfind me a person in the world who has beengreatly used of God, who has not been full ofenthusiasm. When we enter on the work inthis spirit it will begin to prosper, and Godwill give us success.

As I was leaving New York to go to Englandin 1867, a friend said to me: "I hope you willgo to Edinburgh and be at the GeneralAssembly this year. When I was there a yearago I heard such a speech as I shall neverforget. Dr. Duff made a speech that set meall on fire. I shall never forget the hour I

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spent in that meeting." Shortly after reachingEngland I went to Edinburgh and spent aweek there, in hopes that I might hear thatone man speak. I went to work to find thereport of the speech that my friend hadreferred to, and it stirred me wonderfully. Dr.Duff had been out in India as a missionary.He had spent twenty-five years therepreaching the Gospel and establishingschools. He came back with a broken-downconstitution. He was permitted to addressthe General Assembly, in order to make anappeal for men to go into the mission field.After he had spoken for a considerable time,he became exhausted and fainted away.They carried him out of the hall into anotherroom. The doctors worked over him for sometime, and at last he began to recover. Whenhe realized where he was, he roused himselfand said: "I did not finish my speech; carry

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me back and let me finish it." They told himhe could only do it at the peril of his life. Saidhe: "I will do it if I die." So they took him backto the hall. My friend said it was one of themost solemn scenes he ever witnessed inhis life.

They brought the white-haired man into theAssembly Hall, and as he appeared at thedoor every person sprang to his feet; thetears flowed freely as they looked upon thegrand old veteran. With a trembling voice, hesaid: "Fathers and mothers of Scotland, is ittrue that you have no more sons to send toIndia to work for the Lord Jesus Christ? Thecall for help is growing louder and louder, butthere are few coming forward to answer it.You have the money put away in the bank,but where are the laborers who shall go intothe field? When Queen Victoria wants men

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to volunteer for her army in India, you freelygive your sons. You do not talk about theirlosing their health, and about the tryingclimate. But when the Lord Jesus is callingfor laborers, Scotland is saying: 'We have nomore sons to give.'"

Turning to the President of the Assembly, hesaid: "Mr. Moderator, if it is true thatScotland has no more sons to give to theservice of the Lord Jesus Christ in India;although I have lost my health in that land, ifthere are none who will go and tell thoseheathen of Christ, then I will be offto-morrow, to let them know that there is oneold Scotchman who is ready to die for them.I will go back to the shores of the Ganges,and there lay down my life as a witness forthe Son of God."

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Thank God for such a man as that! We wantmen to-day who are willing, if need be, to laydown their lives for the Son of God. Then weshall be able to make an impression uponthe world. When they see that we are inearnest, their hearts will be touched, and weshall be able to lead them to the Lord JesusChrist.

I did not agree with Garibaldi's judgement inall things, but I must confess I did admire hisenthusiasm. I never saw his name in thepapers, or in a book, but I read all I couldfind about him. There was something abouthim that fired me up. I remember reading ofthe time when he was on the way to Rome in1867, and when he was cast into prison. Iread the letter he sent to his comrades: "Iffifty Garibaldis are thrown into prison, letRome be free!" He did not care for his own

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comfort, so long as the cause of freedom inItaly was advanced. If we have such a lovefor our Master and His cause that we areready to go out and do His work whatever itmay cost us personally, depend upon it theLord will use us in building up His kingdom.

I have read of a man in the ninth centurywho came up against a king. The king had aforce of thirty thousand men, and when heheard that this general had only five hundredmen, he sent him a message that if he wouldsurrender he would treat him and hisfollowers mercifully. Turning to one of hisfollowers, the man said: "Take that daggerand drive it to your heart." The man at oncepressed the weapon to his bosom, and felldead at the feet of his commander. Turningto another, he said: "Leap into yonderchasm." Into the jaws of death the man

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went; they saw him dashed to pieces at thebottom. Then turning to the king'smessenger, the man said: "Go back to yourking, and tell him that I have five hundredsuch men. Tell him that we may die but wenever surrender. Tell him that I will have himchained with my dogs within forty-eighthours." When the king heard that he hadsuch men arrayed against him, it struckterror to his heart. His forces were sodemoralized that they were scattered likechaff before the wind. Within forty-eighthours the king was taken captive andchained with the dogs of his conqueror.When the people see that we are in earnestin all that we undertake for God, they willbegin to tremble; men and women will beenquiring the way to Zion.

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A fearful storm was raging, when the cry washeard, "Man overboard!" A human form wasseen manfully breasting the furious elementsin the direction of the shore; but the ragingwaves bore the struggler rapidly outward,and, ere the boats could be lowered, afearful space separated the victim from help.Above the shriek of the storm and roar of thewaters rose his rending cry. It was anagonizing moment. With bated breath andblanched cheek, every eye was strained tothe struggling man. Manfully did the braverowers strain every nerve in that race ofmercy; but all their efforts were in vain. Onewild shriek of despair, and the victim wentdown. A piercing cry, "Save him, save him!"rang through the hushed crowd; and intotheir midst darted an agitated man, throwinghis arms wildly in the air, shouting, "Athousand pounds for the man who saves his

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life!" but his starting eye rested only on thespot where the waves rolled remorselesslyover the perished. He whose strong crybroke the stillness of the crowd was Captainof the ship from whence the drowned manfell, and was his brother. This is the feelingwe want to have in the various ranks ofthose bearing commission under the greatCaptain of our salvation. "Save him! he is mybrother."

The fact is, men do not believe in Christianitybecause they think we are not in earnestabout it. In this same Epistle to theEphesians the Apostle says we are to be"living epistles of Christ, known and read ofall men." I never knew a time when Christianpeople were ready to go forth and put in thesickle, but there was a great harvest.Wherever you put in the sickle you will find

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the fields white. The trouble is there are sofew to reap.

God wants men and women; that issomething far better than institutions. If aman or a woman be really in earnest, theywill not wait to be put on some committee. IfI saw a man fall into the river, and he was indanger of drowning, I would not wait until Iwas placed on some committee before I triedto save him. Many people say they cannotwork because they have not been formallyappointed. They say: "It is not my parish." Iasked a person one day, during our last visitto London, if he would go and work in theinquiry room. The reply was: "I do not belongto this part of London." Let us look on thewhole world as our parish, as a great harvestfield. If God puts any one within ourinfluence, let us tell them of Christ and

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heaven. The world may rise up and say thatwe are mad. In my opinion no one is fit forGod's service until he is willing to beconsidered mad by the world. They saidPaul was mad. I wish we had many morewho were bitten with the same kind ofmadness. As some one has said: "If we aremad, we have a good Keeper on the wayand a good Asylum at the end of the road."

One great trouble is that people come tospecial revival meetings, and for two or threeweeks, perhaps, they will keep up the fire,but by and by it dies out. They are like abundle of shavings with kerosene on thetop--they blaze away for a little, but soonthere is nothing left. We want to keep it allthe time, morning, noon and night. I heard ofa well once that was said to be very good,except that it had two faults. It would freeze

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up in the winter, and it would dry up in thesummer. A most extraordinary well, but I amafraid there are many wells like it. There aremany people who are good at certain times;as some one has expressed it, they seem tobe good "in spots." What we want is to bered hot all the time. Do not wait till some onehunts you up. People talk about strikingwhile the iron is hot. I believe it wasCromwell who said that he would ratherstrike the iron and make it hot. So let uskeep at our post, and we will soon growwarm in the Lord's work.

Let me say a few words specially toSabbath-school teachers. Let me urge uponyou not to be satisfied with merely pointingthe children away to the Lord Jesus Christ.There are so many teachers who go onsowing the seed, and who think they will

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reap the harvest by and by; but they do notlook for the harvest now. I began to work inthat way, and it was years before I saw anyconversions. I believe God's method is thatwe should sow with one hand and reap withthe other. The two should go on side by side.The idea that children must grow intomanhood and womanhood before they canbe brought to Jesus Christ is a false one.They can be led to Christ now in the days oftheir youth, and they can be kept, so thatthey may become useful members ofsociety, and be a blessing to their parents, tothe Church of God, and to the world. If theyare allowed to grow up to manhood andwomanhood before they are led to Christ,many of them will be dragged into the densof vice; and instead of being a blessing theywill be a curse to society.

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What is the trouble throughout Christendomto-day, in connection with theSabbath-school? It is that so many whenthey grow up to the age of sixteen or so,drop through the Sabbath-school net, andthat is the last we see of them. There aremany young men now in our prisons whohave been Sabbath scholars. The cause ofthat is that so few teachers believe thechildren can be converted when they areyoung. They do not labor to bring them to aknowledge of Christ, but are content to go onsowing the seed. Let a teacher resolve that,God helping him, he will not rest until hesees his whole class brought into thekingdom of God; if he thus resolves he willsee signs and wonders inside of thirty days.

I well remember how I got waked up on thispoint. I had a large Sunday-school with a

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thousand children. I was very much pleasedwith the numbers. If they only kept up orexceeded that number I was delighted; if theattendance fell below a thousand I was verymuch troubled. I was all the time aimingsimply at numbers. There was one classheld in a corner of the large hall. It wasmade up of young women, and it was moretrouble than any other in the school. Therewas but one man who could ever manage itand keep it in order. If he could manage tokeep the class quiet I thought it was aboutas much as we could hope for. The idea ofany of them being converted never enteredmy mind.

One Sabbath this teacher was missing, andit was with difficulty that his substitute couldkeep order in the class. During the week theteacher came to my place of business. I

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noticed that he looked very pale, and I askedwhat was the trouble. "I have been bleedingat the lungs," he said, "and the doctor tellsme I cannot live. I must give up my class andgo back to my widowed mother in New YorkState." He fully believed he was going hometo die. As he spoke to me his chin quivered,and the tears began to flow. I noticed thisand said: "You are not afraid of death, areyou?" "Oh, no, I am not afraid to die, but Iwill meet God, and not one of mySabbath-school scholars is converted. Whatshall I say?" Ah, how different things lookedwhen he felt he was going to render anaccount of his stewardship.

I was speechless. It was something new tome to hear any one speak in that way. I said:"Suppose we go and see the scholars andtell them about Christ." "I am very weak," he

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said, "too weak to walk." I said I would takehim in a carriage. We took a carriage andwent round to the residence of everyscholar. He would just be able to staggeracross the sidewalk, sometimes leaning onmy arm. Calling the young lady by name, hewould pray with her and plead with her tocome to Christ. It was a new experience forme. I got a new view of things. After he hadused up all his strength I would take himhome. Next day he would start again andvisit others in the class. Sometimes he wouldgo alone, and sometimes I would go withhim. At the end of ten days he came to myplace of business, his face beaming with joy,and said: "The last one has yielded her heartto Christ. I am going home now; I have doneall I can do; my work is done."

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I asked when he was going, and he said:"To-morrow night." I said: "Suppose I askthese young friends to have a little gathering,to meet you once more before you go." Hesaid he would be very glad. I sent out theinvitations and they all came together. I hadnever spent such a night up to that time. Ihad never met such a large number of youngconverts, led to Christ by his influence andmine. We prayed for each member of theclass, for the Superintendent, and for theteacher. Every one of them prayed; what achange had come over them in a shortspace of time. We tried to sing--but we didnot get on very well--

"Blest be the tie that binds Our hearts inChristian love."

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We all bade him good-bye; but I felt as if Imust go and see him once more. Next night,before the train started, I went to the station,and found that, without any concert of action,one and another of the class had come tobid him good-bye. They were all there on theplatform. A few gathered around us--thefireman, engineer, brakesman, andconductor of the train, with the passengers.It was a beautiful summer night, and the sunwas just going down behind the westernprairies as we sang together--

"Here we meet to part again, But when wemeet on Canaan's shore, There'll be noparting there."

As the train moved out of the station, hestood on the outside platform, and, with hisfinger pointing heavenward, he said: "I will

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meet you yonder;" then he disappeared fromour view.

What a work was accomplished in those tendays! Some of the members of that classwere among the most active Christians wehad in the school for years after. Some ofthem are active workers to-day. I met one ofthem at work away out on the Pacific Coast,a few years ago. We had a blessed work ofgrace in the school that summer; it took meout of my business and sent me into theLord's work. If it had not been for the work ofthose ten days, probably I should not havebeen an evangelist to-day.

Let me again urge on Sunday-schoolteachers to seek the salvation of yourscholars. Make up your mind that within thenext ten days you will do all you can to lead

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your class to Christ. Fathers, mothers, letthere be no rest till you see all your familybrought into the kingdom of God. Do you saythat He will not bless such consecratedeffort? What we want to-day is the spirit ofconsecration and concentration. May Godpour out His Spirit upon us, and fill us with aholy enthusiasm.

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CHAPTER VI.

THE POWER OF LITTLE THINGS.

In the twenty-fifth chapter of Exodus weread: "And the Lord spake unto Moses,saying: 'Speak unto the children of Israel,that they bring Me an offering: of every manthat giveth it willingly with his heart ye shalltake my offering. And this is the offeringwhich ye shall take of them: gold, and silver,and brass, and blue, and purple, and scarlet,and fine linen, and goats' hair, and rams'skins dyed red, and badgers' skins, andshittim wood, oil for the light, spices foranointing oil and for sweet incense, onyxstones, and stones to be set in the ephodand in the breastplate. And let them makeMe a sanctuary; that I may dwell amongthem. According to all that I show thee, after

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the pattern of the tabernacle, and the patternof all the instruments thereof, even so shallye make it.'"

I am glad this has been recorded for ourinstruction. How it ought to encourage us allto believe that we may each have a part inbuilding up the walls of the heavenly Zion. Inall ages God has delighted to use the weakthings. In his letter to the Corinthians Paulspeaks of five things that God uses: "Godhath chosen the foolish things of the world toconfound the wise; and God hath chosen theweak things of the world to confound thethings which are mighty; and base things ofthe world, and things which are despised,hath God chosen, yea, and things which arenot, to bring to nought things that are, thatno flesh should glory in His presence."

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You notice there are five things mentionedthat God uses--foolish things, weak things,base things, despised things, and thingswhich are not. What for? "That no fleshshould glory in His presence." When we areweak then we are strong. People often thinkthey have not strength enough; the fact is wehave too much strength. It is when we feelthat we have no strength of our own, that weare willing God should use us, and workthrough us. If we are leaning on God'sstrength, we have more than all the strengthof the world.

This world is not going to be reached bymere human intellectual power. When werealize that we have no strength, then all thefulness of God will flow in upon us. Then weshall have power with God and with man.

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In Revelation we read that John on oneoccasion wept much at a sight he beheld inheaven. He saw a sealed book; and no onewas found that could break the seal andopen the book. Abel, that holy man of God,was not worthy to open it. Enoch, who hadbeen translated to heaven without tastingdeath; Elijah, who had gone up in a chariotof fire; even Moses, that great law-giver; orIsaiah, or any of the prophets--none wasfound worthy to open the book. As he sawthis John wept much. As he wept onetouched him, and said: "Weep not; behold,the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root ofDavid, hath prevailed to open the Book, andto loose the seven seals thereof." When helooked to see who was the Lion of the tribeof Judah, whom did he see! Lo, the Lion wasa Lamb! God's Lion is a Lamb! When we arelike lambs God can use us, and we are

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strong in His service. We can all be weakcan we not? Then let us lean on the mightypower of God.

Notice that all the men whom Christ calledaround Him were weak men in a worldlysense. They were all men without rank,without title, without position, without wealthor culture. Nearly all of them were fishermenand unlettered men; yet Christ chose themto build up His kingdom. When God wantedto bring the children of Israel out of bondage,He did not send an army; He sent onesolitary man. So in all ages God has usedthe weak things of the world to accomplishHis purposes.

I read an incident some time ago thatillustrates the power of a simple tract. Asociety was some years ago established to

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distribute tracts by mail in the higher circles.One of these tracts, entitled, "Prepare tomeet thy God," was enclosed in anenvelope, and sent by post to a gentlemanwell known for his ungodly life and hisreckless impiety. He was in his study whenhe read this letter among others. "What'sthat," said he. "'Prepare to meet thy God.'Who has had the impudence to send me thiscant?" And, with an imprecation on hisunknown correspondent, he arose to put thepaper in the fire.

"No; I won't do that." he said to himself; "Onsecond thoughts, I know what I will do. I'llsend it to my friend B--; it will be a good joketo hear what he'll say about it." So saying, heenclosed the tract in a fresh envelope, and,in a feigned hand, directed it to his booncompanion.

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Mr. B-- was a man of his own stamp, andreceived the tract, as his friend had done,with an oath at the Methodistical humbug,which his first impulse was to tear in pieces."I'll not tear it either," said he to himself."Prepare to meet thy God" at once arrestedhis attention, and smote his conscience. Thearrow of conviction entered his heart as heread, and he was converted. Almost his firstthought was for his ungodly associates."Have I received such blessed light andtruth, and shall I not strive to communicate itto others?" He again folded the tract, andenclosed and directed it to one of hiscompanions in sin. Wonderful to say, thelittle arrow hit the mark. His friend read. Healso was converted; and both are nowwalking as the Lord's redeemed ones.

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In Matthew we read: "For the kingdom ofheaven is as a man travelling into a farcountry, who called his own servants, anddelivered unto them his goods. And unto onehe gave five talents, to another two, and toanother one; to every man according to hisseveral ability; and straightway took hisjourney."

Observe, he gave to every man "accordingto his several ability." He gave to eachservant just the number of talents that hecould take care of and use. Some peoplecomplain that they have not more talents;but we have each the number of talents thatwe can properly employ. If we take goodcare of what we have, God will give us more.There were eight talents to be distributedamong three persons; the master gave toone five; to a second, two; and to another,

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one. The man went away; and the servantsfully understood that he expected them toimprove their talents and trade with them.God is not unreasonable; He does not askus to do what we cannot do; but He gives usaccording to our several ability, and Heexpects us to use the talents we have.

We read: "He that had received the fivetalents went and traded with the same, andmade them other five talents. And likewisehe that had received two, he also gainedother two. But he that had received one wentand digged in the earth, and hid his lord'smoney." Notice that the man who had thetwo talents got exactly the samecommendation as the man who had the five.The one who got five doubled them, and hislord said to him: "Well done, good andfaithful servant." The one who had two also

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doubled them, and so had four talents; tohim also the lord said: "Well done, good andfaithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thylord."

If the man who had the one talent had tradedwith it, he would have received exactly thesame approval as the others. But what didhe do? He put it into a napkin and buried it.He thought he would take care of it in thatway.

After the lord of these servants had beengone a long while he returned to reckon withthem. What does he find in the case of thethird servant? He has the one talent; but thatis all.

I read of a man who had a thousand dollars.He hid it away, thinking he would in that way

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take care of it, and that when he was an oldman he would have something to fall backupon. After keeping the money for twentyyears he took it to a bank and got just onethousand dollars for it. If he had put it atinterest, in the usual way, he might have hadthree times the amount. He made themistake that a great many people aremaking to-day throughout Christendom, ofnot trading with his talents. My experiencehas been as I have gone about in the worldand mingled with professing Christians, thatthose who find most fault with others arethose who themselves have nothing to do. Ifa person is busy improving the talents thatGod has given him he will have too much todo to find fault and complain about others.

God has given us many opportunities ofserving Him, and He expects that we should

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use them. People think that their time andproperty are their own. What saying is morefrequent than this? "I have a right to do whatI will with my own."

On one occasion a friend was beside thedying bed of a military man who had held animportant command in successful Indianwars. He asked if he were afraid to die. Heat once said: "I am not."

"Why?" He said: "I have never done anyharm."

The other replied: "If you were going to betried by a court-martial as an officer and agentleman, I suppose you would expect anhonorable acquittal?" The dying old manlifted himself up, and with an energy whichhis illness seemed to render impossible,

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exclaimed, "That I should!"

"But you are not going to a court-martial; youare going to Christ; and when Christ asksyou, 'What have you done for me?' what willyou say?" His countenance changed, andearnestly gazing on his friend, with agonizedfeelings he answered: "Nothing!--I havenever done anything for Christ!"

His friend pointed out the awful mistake ofhabitually living in the sense of our relationsone with another, and forgetting our relationto Christ and to God; therefore the error ofsupposing that doing no harm, or even doinggood to those around, will serve as asubstitute for living to God. What have youdone for Christ? is the great question.

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After some days, he called again on the oldman, who said: "Well, sir, what do you thinknow?" He replied: "Ah! I am a poor sinner."He pointed him to the Savior of sinners; andnot long afterward he departed this life as arepentant sinner, resting in Christ. What anawful end would have come to the falsepeace in which he was found! And yet it isthe peace of the multitudes, only to beundeceived at the judgment seat of Christ.

If this world is going to be reached, I amconvinced it must be done by men andwomen of average talent. After all there arecomparatively few people in the world whohave great talents. Here is a man with onetalent; there is another with three; perhaps Imay have only half a talent. But if we all goto work and trade with the gifts we have theLord will prosper us; and we may double or

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treble our talents. What we need is to be upand about our Master's work, every manbuilding against his own house. The morewe use the means and opportunities wehave, the more will our ability and ouropportunities be increased.

An Eastern allegory runs thus: A merchant,going abroad for a time, gave respectively totwo of his friends two sacks of wheat each,to take care of against his return. Yearspassed; he came back, and applied for themagain. The first took him into a storehouse,and showed them his sacks; but they weremildewed and worthless. The other led himout into the open country, and pointed tofield after field of waving corn, the produce ofthe two sacks given him. Said the merchant:"You have been a faithful friend. Give metwo sacks of that wheat; the rest shall be

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thine."

I heard a person once say that she wantedassurance. I asked how long she had been aChristian; and she replied she had been onefor a number of years. I said: "What are youdoing for Christ?" "I do not know that I havethe opportunity of doing anything," shereplied. I pity the person who professes to bea Christian in this day, and who says he canfind no opportunities of doing any work forChrist. I cannot imagine where his lot mustbe cast. The idea of any one knowing theLord Jesus Christ in this nineteenth century,and saying he has no opportunities oftestifying for Him. Surely no one need lookfar to find plenty of opportunities forspeaking and working for the Master, if heonly has the desire to do it. "Lift up youreyes, and look on the fields; for they are

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white already to harvest." If you cannot dosome great thing, you can do some littlething.

A man sent me a tract a little while ago,entitled, "WHAT IS THAT IN THINE HAND?"and I am very thankful he sent it. Thesewords were spoken by God to Moses whenHe called him to go down to Egypt, and bringthe children of Israel out of the house ofbondage. You remember how Moses tried toexcuse himself. He said he was noteloquent; he was not this and that; and hecould not go. Like Isaiah he wanted the Lordto send some one else. At last the Lord saidto Moses, "What is that in thine hand?" Hehad a rod in his hand. It may be that a fewdays before he wanted something to drivethe sheep with, and he may have cut thiswand for that purpose. He could probably

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have got a hundred better rods any day. Yetwith that he was to deliver the children ofIsrael. God was to link His almighty powerwith that rod; and that was enough.

I can imagine that as Moses was on his waydown to Egypt he may have met one of thephilosophers or free-thinkers of his day, whomight have asked him where he was going."Down to Egypt." "Indeed! are you goingdown there again to live?" "No, I am going tobring my people out of the house ofbondage." "What! you are going to deliverthem from the hand of Pharaoh, themightiest monarch now living? You think youare going to free three millions of slavesfrom the power of the Egyptians?" "Yes."

"How are you going to do it?" "With this rod."

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What a contemptible thing the rod must havebeen in the eyes of that Egyptian freethinker;the idea of delivering three millions of slaveswith a rod! We had three millions of slaves inthis country, and before they could be setfree half a million of men had to lay downtheir lives. The flower of the nation marchedto its grave before our slaves gained theirdeliverance.

Here was a weak and solitary man goingdown to Egypt, to meet a monarch who hadthe power of life and death. And all he hadwith which to deliver the people frombondage was this rod! Yet see how famousthat rod became. When Moses wanted tobring up the plagues on the people he hadonly to stretch out his rod, and they coveredthe land. He had but to stretch it out, and thewater of the country was turned into blood.

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Then when the people came to the Red Seaand they wanted to go across, he had only tolift up the rod and the waters separated, sothat the people could pass through dry-shod.When they were in the desert and wantedwater to drink, again he lifted this rod andstruck the flinty rock, when the water burstforth, and they drank and were refreshed.That contemptible rod became mightyindeed. But it was not the rod; it was the Godof Moses, who condescended to use it.

Let us learn a lesson from this history. Weare required to use what we have, not whatwe have not. Whatever gifts or talents youhave, take and lay them at the Master's feet.Moses took what he had; and we see howmuch he accomplished. If we are ready tosay: "Here am I, ready and willing to beused," the Lord will use us; He will link His

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mighty power with our weakness, and weshall be able to do great things for Him.

Look again, and see Joshua as he goes upto the walls of Jericho. If you had asked whatthey had with which to bring down the wallsof that city, all you would have seen wouldhave been a few rams' horns. They musthave looked very mean and contemptible inthe eyes of the men of Jericho. Perhaps thecity contained some men who were giants;as they looked over the walls and saw theIsraelites marching around the city blowingthese horns, they must have appeared veryinsignificant. But God can use the basethings, the despised things. Howevercontemptible an instrument a ram's hornmay have appeared in the sight of man, thepeople went on blowing them as they werecommanded; and at the appointed time

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down came the walls, and the city wastaken. The Israelites had no battering rams;no great armor or mighty weapons of anykind. They simply took what they had, andGod used it to do the work.

Look at Samson going out to meet athousand Philistines. What has he with him?Only the jawbone of an ass! If God could usethat, surely He can use us, can he not? Doyou tell me He cannot use this woman, thatlittle boy? There is not one whom He cannotuse, if we are willing to be used.

I remember hearing a Scotchman say, whenI was in Great Britain ten years ago, thatthere was probably not a man in all Saul'sarmy but believed that God could use him togo out and slay the giant of Gath. But therewas only one solitary man who believed that

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God would use him. David went out to meetGoliath and we know the result. We allbelieve that God can use us; we want to takea step further and believe that He will useus. If we are willing to be used, He is willingto use us in His service. How contemptiblethese smooth stones that David took out ofthe brook would have appeared to Goliath!Even Saul wanted David to take his armor,and put it on. He was on the point ofyielding; but he took his sling and the fivesmooth stones and went out. The giant ofGath fell before him. Let us go forth in thename of the God of hosts, using what wehave, and He will give us the victory.

When I was in Glasgow a few years ago, afriend was telling me about an open-airpreacher who died there some years before.This man was preaching one Sabbath

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morning on Shamgar. He said: "I canimagine that when he was ploughing in thefield a man came running over the hill all outof breath, and shouted: 'Shamgar! Shamgar!There are six hundred Philistines comingtoward you.' Shamgar quietly said: 'You passon; I can take care of them, they are fourhundred short.' So he took an ox goad andslew the whole of them. He routed them hipand high. And the Israelites had againfulfilled before their eyes the words: 'Oneshall chase a thousand and two shall put tenthousand to flight.'" Now-a-days it takesabout a thousand to chase one, because wedo not realize that we are weak in ourselvesand that our strength is in God.

We want to remember that it is true to-dayas ever it was that "One shall chase athousand." What we need is Holy Ghost

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power that can take up the weakest childhere and make him mighty in God's hand.There is a mountain to be threshed; therelies a bar of iron, and a little weak worm.God puts aside the iron, and takes up theworm to thresh the mountain. That is God'sway. His thoughts are not our thoughts; Hisplans are not ours.

We say: "If such and such a man were onlyconverted--that rich man or that wealthylady--how much good would be done!" Verytrue; but it may be that God will pass themby and take up some poor tramp, and makehim the greatest instrument for good in allthe land. John Bunyan, the poor Bedfordtinker, was worth more than all the nobility ofhis day. God took him in hand, and hebecame mighty. He wrote that wonderfulbook that has gone marching through the

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nations, lifting up many a weary heart,cheering many a discouraged anddisheartened one. Let us remember that ifwe are willing to be used, God is willing andwaiting to use us.

I once heard an Englishman speak aboutChrist feeding the five thousand with the fivebarley loaves and the two small fishes. Hesaid that Christ may have taken one of theloaves and broken off a piece and given it toone of the disciples to divide. When thedisciple began to pass it round he only gavea very small piece to the first, because hewas afraid it would not hold out. But after hehad given the first piece it did not seem togrow any the less; so the next time he gavea larger piece, and still the bread was notexhausted. The more he gave, the more thebread increased, until all had plenty.

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At the first all could be carried in one basket;but when the whole multitude had beensatisfied the disciples gathered up twelvebaskets full of fragments. They had a gooddeal more when they stopped than whenthey began. Let us bring our little barleyloaves to the Master that He may multiplythem.

You say you have not got much; well, youcan use what you have. The longer I work inChrist's vineyard the more convinced I amthat a good many are kept out of the serviceof Christ, deprived of the luxury of workingfor God, because they are trying to do somegreat thing. Let us be willing to do littlethings. And let us remember that nothing issmall in which God is. Elijah's servant cameto him and told him he saw a cloud not largerthan a man's hand. That was enough for

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Elijah. He said to his servant, "Go, tell Ahabto make haste; there is the sound ofabundance of rain." Elijah knew that thesmall cloud would bring rain. Nothing that wedo for God is small.

I remember holding meetings some yearsago at a certain place, and I met a younglady at the house where I was staying. Shetold me she had a Sunday afternoon class ina mission-school. At one of our afternoonmeetings I saw this lady sitting right in front;she must have been there early to get agood seat. After the service I met her, and Isaid: "I saw you at the meeting to-day; Ithought you had a class." "So I have."

"Did you get some one to take it for you?""No."

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"Did you tell the Superintendent you werenot to be there?" "No."

"Do you know who had the class?" "No."

"Do you know if any one was there to takeit?" "I am afraid there was nobody; for I sawa good many of the teachers of the school atyour meeting."

"Is that the way you do the Lord's work?""Well, you know, I have only five little boys. Ithought it would not make any difference."

Only five little boys! Why, there might havebeen a John Knox, or a Wesley, or aWhitefield, or a Bunyan there. You cannottell what these boys might become. One ofthem might become another Martin Luther;there might be a second Reformation

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slumbering in one of these five little boys. Itis a great thing for any one to take "five littleboys" and train them for God and foreternity. You may set a stream in motion thatwill flow on after you are dead and gone.

Little did the mothers of the Wesleys knowwhat would be the result, when she trainedher boys for God and for His kingdom. Seewhat mighty results have flowed from thatone source. It is estimated that there areto-day 25,000,000 adherents of theMethodist faith, and over 5,000,000communicants. It is estimated there are110,000 regular and local preachers in theUnited States alone. Two new churches arebeing built every day in the year; and thework of the Methodist Church is spreadingover this great Republic. And all this hasbeen done in about a hundred and fifty

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years. Let not mothers think that their workof training children for God is a small one. Inthe sight of God it is very great; many mayrise up in eternity to call them blessed.

I have now in my mind a mother who hashad twelve boys. They have all grown up tobe active Christians. A number of them arepreachers of the Gospel; and all of them aretrue to the Son of God. There are very fewwomen in our country who have done morefor the nation than that mother. It is a greatthing to be permitted to touch God's work,and to be a co-worker with Him.

There is a bridge over the Niagara River. It isone of the great highways of the nation;trains pass over it every few minutes of theday. When they began to make the bridge,the first thing they did was to take a boy's

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kite and send a little thread across thestream. It seemed a very small thing, but itwas the beginning of a great work. So if weonly lead one soul to Christ, eternity alonemay tell what the result will be. You may bethe means of saving some one who maybecome one of the most eminent men in theservice of God that the world has ever seen.

We may not be able to do any great thing;but if each of us will do something, howeversmall it may be, a goof deal will beaccomplished for God. For a good manyyears I have made it a rule not to let any daypass without speaking to some one abouteternal things. I commenced it away backyears ago, and if I live the life allotted toman, there will be 18,250 persons who willhave been spoken to personally by me. Thatof course does not take into account those to

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whom I speak publicly. How often we asChristians meet with people, when we mightturn the conversation into a channel that willlead them up to Christ.

There are many burdened hearts all aroundus; can we not help to remove theseburdens? Some one has represented thisworld as two great mountains--a mountain ofsorrow and a mountain of joy. If we can eachday take something from the mountain ofsorrow and add it to the mountain of joy, agood deal will be accomplished in the courseof a year.

I remember Mr. Spurgeon making thisremark a few days ago: When Moses wentto tell the king of Egypt that he would call upthe plague of frogs upon the land, the kingmay have said: "Your God is the God of

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frogs, is He? I am not afraid of them; bringthem on, I do not care for the frogs!" SaysMoses: "But there are a good many of them,O king." And he found that out.

So we may be weak and contemptibleindividually, but there a good manyChristians scattered all over the land, andwe can accomplish a great deal between us.Supposing each one who loves the LordJesus were to resolve to-day, by God's help,to try and lead one soul to Christ this week.Is there a professing Christian who cannotlead some soul into the kingdom of God? Ifyou cannot I want to tell you that there issomething wrong in your life; you had betterhave it straightened out at once. If you havenot an influence for good over some one ofyour friends or neighbors, there is somethingin your life that needs to be put right. May

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God show it to you to-day!

I have little sympathy with the idea that aChristian man or woman has to live for yearsbefore they can have the privilege of leadinganyone out of the darkness of this world intothe kingdom of God. I do not believe, either,that all God's work is going to be done byministers, and other officers in the Churches.This lost world will never be reached andbrought back to loyalty to God, until thechildren of God wake up to the fact that theyhave a mission in the world. If we are trueChristians we should all be missionaries.Christ came down from heaven on amission, and if we have His Spirit in us wewill be missionaries too. If we have no desireto see the world discipled, to see manbrought back to God, there is somethingvery far wrong in our religion.

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If you cannot work among the elder peopleyou can go to work among the children. LetChristians speak kindly to these boys andgirls about their souls; they will remember itall their lives. They may forget the sermon,but if some one speaks to them personally,they will say: "That man or woman must begreatly interested in me or they would nothave been at the trouble to speak to me."They may wake up to the fact that they haveimmortal souls, and even if the preachinggoes right over their heads, a little personaleffort may be a means of blessing to them.

This personal and individual dealing isperfectly Scriptural. Philip was called awayfrom a great work in Samaria to go andspeak to one man in the desert. Christ'sgreat sermon on Regeneration wasaddressed to one man; and that wonderful

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discourse by our Lord on the Water of Lifewas spoken to one poor sinful woman. I pitythose Christians who are not willing to speakto one soul; they are not fit for God's service.We shall not accomplish much for God in theworld, if we are not willing to speak to theones and twos.

Another thing: Do not let Satan make youbelieve that the children are too young to besaved. Of course you cannot put old headson young shoulders. You cannot make theminto deacons and elders all at once. But theycan give their young hearts to Christ.

A good many years ago I had a missionschool in Chicago. The children were mostlythose of ungodly parents. I only had themabout an hour out of the week, and itseemed as if any good they got was wiped

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out during the week. I used to think that ifever I became a public speaker I would goup and down the world and beseech parentsto consider the importance of training theirchildren for God and eternity. On one of thefirst Sabbaths I went out of Chicago Iimpressed this on the congregation.

When I had finished my address an oldwhite-haired man got up. I was all in atremble, thinking he was going to criticisewhat I had said. Instead of that he said: "Iwant to indorse all that this young man hasspoken. Sixteen years ago I was in aheathen country. My wife died and left mewith three motherless children. The firstSabbath after her death my eldest girl, tenyears old, said: 'Papa, may I take thechildren into the bedroom and pray withthem as mother used to do on the Sabbath?'

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I said she might.

When they came out of the room after a timeI saw that my eldest daughter had beenweeping. I called her to me, and said: 'Nellie,what is the trouble?' 'Oh, father,' she said,'after we went into the room I made theprayer that mother taught me to make.'Then, naming her little brother, He made theprayer that mother taught him. Little Susiedidn't use to pray when mother took us inthere because mother thought she was tooyoung. But when we got through she made aprayer of her own. I could not but weepwhen I heard her pray. She put her littlehands together and closed her eyes andsaid: 'O God, you have taken away my dearmamma, and I have no mamma now to prayfor me. Won't you bless me and make megood just as mamma was, for Jesus Christ's

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sake, Amen.'" "Little Susie gave evidence ofhaving given her young heart to God beforeshe was four years old. For sixteen yearsshe has been at work as a missionaryamong the heathen."

Let us remember that God can use theselittle children. Dr. Milnor was brought up aQuaker, became a distinguished lawyer inPhiladelphia, and was a member ofCongress for three successive terms.Returning to his home on a visit during hislast Congressional session, his littledaughter rushed upon him exclaiming."Papa! papa! do you know I can read?""No?" he said, "let me hear you!" Sheopened her little Bible and read, "Thou shaltlove the Lord thy God with all thy heart." Itwas an arrow in her father's heart, It came tohim as a solemn admonition. "Out of the

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mouth of babes," God's Spirit moved withinhim. He was driven to his closet, and a friendcalling upon him found he had been weepingover the Dairyman's Daughter. Although onlyforty years of age, he abandoned politicsand law for the ministry of the Gospel. Forthirty years he was the beloved rector of St.George's Church, in Philadelphia, thepredecessor of the venerated Dr. Tyng.

Dear mothers and fathers, let us in simplefaith bring our children to Christ. He is thesame to-day as when He took them in Hisarms and said: "Suffer the little children tocome unto Me and forbid them not; for ofsuch is the kingdom of heaven."

I may not do much with all my care, But Isurely may bless a few; The loving Jesus willgive to me, Some work of love to do; I may

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wipe the tears from some weeping eyes, Imay bring the smile again To a face that isweary and worn with care, To a heart that isfull of pain.

I may speak His name to the sorrowful, As Ijourney by their side; To the sinful anddespairing ones I may preach of theCrucified. I may drop some little gentle wordIn the midst of some scene of strife; I maycomfort the sick and the dying With athought of eternal life.

Marianne Farningham

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CHAPTER VII.

"SHE HATH DONE WHAT SHE COULD."

In the gospel by Mark we read: "After twodays was the feast of the Passover, and ofunleavened bread: and the Chief Priests andthe Scribes sought how they might take Himby craft, and put Him to death. But they said,not on the feast day, lest there be an uproarof the people. And being in Bethany in thehouse of Simon the leper, as He sat at meat,there came a woman having an alabasterbox of ointment of spikenard, very precious;and she brake the box, and poured it on Hishead. And there were some that hadindignation within themselves, and said, Whywas this waste of the ointment made? For itmight have been sold for more than threehundred pence, and have been given to the

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poor. And they murmured against her. AndJesus said, 'Let her alone; why trouble yeher? She hath wrought a good work for Me.For ye have the poor with you always, andwhensoever ye will ye may do them good;but Me ye have not always. She hath donewhat she could; she is come aforehand toanoint My body to the burying. Verily I sayunto you, wheresoever this Gospel shall bepreached throughout the whole world, thisalso that she hath done shall be spoken offor a memorial of her.'"

John tells us in his Gospel who this womanwas. "Then Jesus six days before thePassover came to Bethany, where Lazaruswas which had been dead, whom He raisedfrom the dead. There they made Him asupper, and Martha served; but Lazarus wasone of them that sat at the table with him.

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Then took Mary a pound of ointment ofspikenard, very costly, and anointed the feetof Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair;and the house was filled with the odor of theointment. Then saith one of His disciples,Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which shouldbetray Him: 'Why was not this ointment soldfor three hundred pence, and given to thepoor?' This he said, not that he cared for thepoor; but because he was a thief, and hadthe bag, and bare what was put therein.Then said Jesus, 'Let her alone: against theday of My burying hath she kept this. For thepoor always ye have with you; but Me yehave not always.'"

This is the last time we have a glimpse of thefamily at Bethany. It was Christ's last weekthere, and here we have the last recordedinterview between Christ and that lovely

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family.

Speaking of Martha and Mary some one hassaid: "They were both dear to Jesus andthey both loved Him, but they were different.The eye of one saw His weariness andwould give to Him; the faith of the otherapprehended His fulness and would drawfrom Him; Martha's service was acceptableto the Lord and was acknowledged by Him,but He would not allow it to disturb Mary'scommunion. Mary knew his mind; she haddeeper fellowship with Him; her heart clungto Himself."

I want to call your attention specially to oneclause from this fourteenth chapter of Mark,"She hath done what she could." If someone had reported in Jerusalem thatsomething was going to happen at Bethany

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on that memorable day, that should outlivethe Roman Empire, and all the monarchsthat had ever existed or would exist, therewould have been great excitement in thecity. A good many people would have gonedown to Bethany that day to see the thingthat was going to happen, and that was tolive so long. Little did Mary think that shewas going to erect a monument which wouldoutlive empires and kingdoms. She neverthought of herself. Love does not think ofitself. What does Christ say: "Wheresoeverthis Gospel shall be preached throughout thewhole world, this also that she hath doneshall be spoken of for a memorial of her."

This one story has already been put intothree hundred and fifty different languages,and it is now in circulation in every nationunder heaven. Day by day this story is being

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printed and published. One society inLondon alone prints, every working hour ofthe day, five hundred records of this act thattook place at Bethany. It is being spreadabroad in all the corners of the earth. It willbe told out as long as the Church of Godexists. Matthew speaks of it; so does John;and so does Mark.

Men seek to erect some monument that willlive after they are dead and gone. Thiswoman never thought to erect a monument;she simply wanted to lavish her love uponChrist. But the act has lived and will continueto live while the Church is on earth. It is asfresh to-day as it was a hundred years ago:it is fresher than it was five hundred yearsago. In fact there never was a time when itwas so well known as to-day. Although Marywas herself unknown outside of Bethany

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when she performed the act, now it is knownover all the world. Kings have come andgone; empires have risen and crumbled.Egypt, with its ancient glories, has passedaway. Greece, with its wise men and itsmighty philosophers and its warriors, hasbeen almost forgotten. The great Romanempire has passed away. We do not knowthe names of those who are buried in thePyramids, or of those who were embalmedin Egypt, with so much care and trouble, butthe record of this humble life continues to bean inspiration to others.

Here is a woman whose memory hasoutlived Caesar, Alexander, Cyrus, and allthe great warriors of the ancient world. Wedo not know that she was wealthy, orbeautiful, or gifted, or great in the eye of theworld. What we do know is that she loved

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the Savior. She took this box of preciousointment and broke it over the body ofChrist. Some one has said it was the onlything He ever received that He did not giveaway. It was a small thing in the sight of theworld. If there had been daily papers inthose days, and some Jerusalem reporterhad been looking out for items of news thatwould interest the inhabitants, I suppose hewould not have thought it worth putting intohis paper. Yet it has outlived all thathappened in that century, except, of course,the sayings, and the other events connectedwith the life of Christ. Mary had Christ in herheart as well as in her creed. She loved Himand she showed her love in acts.

Thank God, everyone of us can love Christ,and we can all do something for Him. It maybe a small thing; but whatever it is it shall be

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lasting; it will outlive all the monuments onearth. The iron and the granite will rust andcrumble and fade away, but anything donefor Christ will never fade. It will be morelasting than time itself. Christ says: "Heavenand earth shall pass away, but My word shallnot pass away."

Look again and see that woman in thetemple. Christ stood there as the peoplepassed by and cast their offerings into thetreasury. The widow had but two mites andshe cast it all in. The Lord saw that her heartwas in it, and so He commended her. Ifsome nobleman had cast in a thousanddollars Christ would probably not havenoticed it, unless his heart had gone with it.Gold is of little value in heaven. It is soplentiful there that they use it to pave thestreets with; and it is transparent gold, much

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better gold than we have in this world. It iswhen the heart goes with the offering that itis accepted of Christ. So He said of thiswoman: "She hath cast in more than theyall." She had done all she could.

I think this is the lesson we are to learn fromthese Scripture incidents. The Lord expectsus to do what we can. We can all dosomething. In one of our Southern cities afew Christian people gathered together atthe beginning of the war to see what couldbe done about building a church in a part ofthe city where the poor were very muchneglected. After they had discussed thematter they wanted to see how much couldbe raised out of the congregation.

One said he would give so much; others saidthey would give so much. They only got

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about half the amount that was needed, andit was thought they would have to abandonthe project. Away back in the meeting theresat a washerwoman. She rose and said herlittle boy had died a week before. All he hadwas a gold dollar. She said: "It is all I have,but I will give the dollar to the cause." Herwords touched the hearts of many of thosewho heard them. Rich men were ashamed atwhat they had given. The whole sum wasraised within a very short time. I havespoken in that church, and I know it to be acentre of influence in one of our great cities.This poor woman did what she could;perhaps she gave more in proportion thananyone in the city.

When we were in London eight years ago,we wanted the city to be canvassed; wecalled for volunteers to go and visit the

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people in their own homes and invite them tocome to the meetings. Among those whocame forward was an old woman, eighty-fiveyears of age. She said she wanted to do alittle more for the Master before she wenthome. She took a district and went fromhouse to house, delivering the messages ofinvitation and the tracts to the people. Isuppose she has now gone to her reward,but I shall never forget her. She wanted todo what she could. If every Christian manand woman will do what Mary did, multitudeswill be reached and blessed.

Years ago, when Illinois was but a youngState, there were only a few settlers hereand there throughout a large portion. One ofthese was a man who used to spend hisSundays in hunting and fishing. He was aprofane and notoriously wicked man. His

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little girl went to the Sabbath-school at thelog school-house. There she was taught theway into the kingdom of God. When she wasconverted the teacher tried to tell her howshe might be used of God in doing good toothers. She thought she would begin withher father. Others had tried to reach him andhad failed to do it, but his own child hadmore influence with him. It is written, "A littlechild shall lead them." She got him topromise to go to the meeting. He came tothe door, but at first he would not go in. Hehad gone to the school when he was young,but one day the boys laughed at himbecause he had a little impediment in hisspeech. He would not go back, and so hehad never learned to read.

However he was at last induced to go to theSabbath-school. There he heard of Christ,

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and he was converted to God. His little childhelped him and others helped him, and hesoon learned to read. This man has sincebeen called to his reward, but about twoyears ago when I saw him last, if I rememberwell, that man had established on theWestern prairies between 1,100 and 1,200Sunday-schools. In addition to all theseschool-houses, scattered about over thecountry, churches have sprung up. Thereare now hundreds of flourishing churchesthat have grown out of these little missionschools that he planted. He used to have aSunday-school horse, a "Robert Raikes"horse he called him, on which he traveled upand down the country, going into manyoutlying districts where nothing was beingdone for Christ. He used to gather theparents into the log school-houses and tellhow his little girl led him to Christ. I have

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heard a great many orators, but I neverheard any who could move an audience ashe could. There was no impediment in hisspeech when he began to speak for Christ;he seemed to have all the eloquence andfire of heaven. That little girl did what shecould. She did a good day's work when sheled her father to the Savior.

Every one of us may do something. If we areonly willing to do what we can, the Lord willcondescend to use us; and it will be a greatthing to be instruments in His hand that Hemay do with us what He will.

I remember reading in the papers that whenthe theatre in Vienna was on fire a few yearsago, a man in one of the corridors washurrying out. Many others of the people weretrying to find their way out so as to escape

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from the fire. It was dark, but this man had asingle match in his pocket. He struck it, andby doing so he was able to save twentylives. He did what he could.

You think you cannot do much. If you are themeans of saving one soul, he may beinstrumental in saving a hundred more. Iremember when we were in England tenyears ago, there was a woman in the citywhere we labored who got stirred up. I donot know but it was this very text that movedher, "She hath done what she could." Shehad been a nominal Christian for a goodmany years, but she had not thought thatshe had any particular mission in the world. Iam afraid that is the condition of manyprofessedly Christian men and women. Nowshe began to look about her to see what shecould do. She thought she would try and do

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something for her fallen sisters in that town.She went out and began to talk kindly tothose she met on the street. She hired ahouse and invited them to come and meether there.

When we went back to that city about a yearor so ago, she had rescued over threehundred of these fallen ones, and hadrestored them to their parents and homes.She is now corresponding with many ofthem. Think of more than three hundred ofthese sisters reclaimed from sin and death,through the efforts of one woman. She didwhat she could. What a grand harvest therewill be, and how she will rejoice when shehears the Master say: "Well done, good andfaithful servant."

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I remember hearing of a man in one of thehospitals who received a bouquet of flowersfrom the Flower Mission. He looked at thebeautiful bouquet and said: "Well, if I hadknown that a bunch of flowers could do afellow so much good, I would have sentsome myself when I was well." If people onlyknew how they might cheer some lonelyheart and lift up some drooping spirit, orspeak some word that shall be lasting in itseffects for all coming time, they would be upand about it. If the Gospel is ever to becarried into the lanes and alleys, up to theattics and down into the cellars, we must allof us be about it. As I have said, if each of uswill do what we can, a great multitude will begathered into the kingdom of God.

Rev. Dr. Willets, of Philadelphia, inillustrating the blessedness of cultivating a

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liberal spirit, uses this beautiful figure--

"See that little fountain yonder--away yonderin the distant mountain, shining like a threadof silver through the thick copse, andsparkling like a diamond in its healthfulactivity. It is hurrying on with tinkling feet tobear its tribute to the river. See, it passes astagnant pool, and the pool hails it: 'Whitheraway, master streamlet?' 'I am going to theriver to bear this cup of water God has givenme.' 'Ah, you are very foolish for that: you'llneed it before the summer's over. It hasbeen a backward spring, and we shall havea hot summer to pay for it--you will dry upthen.' 'Well,' said the streamlet, 'if I am to dieso soon, I had better work while the daylasts. If I am likely to lose this treasure fromthe heat, I had better do good with it while Ihave it.' So on it went, blessing and rejoicing

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in its course. The pool smiled complacentlyat its own superior foresight, and husbandedall its resources, letting not a drop stealaway.

Soon the midsummer heat came down, andit fell upon the little stream. But the treescrowded to its brink, and threw out theirsheltering branches over it in the day ofadversity, for it brought refreshment and lifeto them, and the sun peeped through thebranches and smiled complacently upon itsdimpled face, and seemed to say, 'It's not inmy heart to harm you;' and the birds sippedthe silver tide, and sung its praises; theflowers breathed their perfume upon itsbosom; the husbandman's eye alwayssparkled with joy, as he looked upon the lineof verdant beauty that marked its coursethrough his fields and meadows; and so on it

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went, blessing and blessed of all!

And where was the prudent pool? Alas! in itsglorious inactivity it grew sickly andpestilential. The beasts of the field put theirlips to it, but turned away without drinking;the breeze stopped and kissed it by mistake,but shrunk chilled away. It caught themalaria in the contact, and carried the aguethrough the region; the inhabitants caught itand had to move away; and at last, the veryfrogs cast their venom upon the pool anddeserted it, and heaven, in mercy to man,smote it with a hotter breath and dried it up!

But did not the little stream exhaust itself?Oh, no? God saw to that. It emptied its fullcup into the river, and the river bore it on tothe sea, and the sea welcomed it, and thesun smiled upon the sea, and the sea sent

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up its incense to greet the sun, and theclouds caught in their capacious bosoms theincense from the sea, and the winds, likewaiting steeds, caught the chariots of theclouds and bore them away--away to thevery mountain that gave the little fountainbirth, and there they tipped the brimmingcup, and poured the grateful baptism down;and so God saw to it that the little fountain,though it gave so fully and so freely, neverran dry. And if God so blessed the fountain,will He not bless you, my friends, if, as yehave freely received, ye also freely give? Beassured He will."

A young lady belonging to a wealthy familyin our country was sent to a fashionableboarding-school. In the school Christ had atrue witness in one of the teachers. She waswatching for an opportunity of reaching

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some of the pupils. When this young lady ofwealth and position came, the teacher sether heart upon winning her to Christ. Thefirst thing she did was to gain her affections.Let me say right here that we shall not domuch toward reaching the people until wemake them love us. This teacher, havingwon the heart of her pupil, began to talk toher about Christ, and she soon won herheart for the Savior. Then instead ofdropping her as so many do, she began toshow her the luxury of working for God. Theyworked together, and were successful inwinning a good many of the young ladies inthe school to Christ. When the pupil got ataste of work, that spoiled the world for her.Let me say to any Christian who is holdingon to the world: Get into the Lord's work, andthe world will soon leave you. You will notleave it, you will have something better. I pity

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those Christians who are all the time askingif they have to give up this thing and thatthing. You won't be asking that when you geta taste of the Lord's work; you will then havesomething that the world cannot give you.

When this young lady went back to herhome the parents were anxious that sheshould go out into worldly society. They gavea great many parties, but, to their greatamazement, they could not get herinterested. She was hungering for somethingelse. She went to the Sabbath-school inconnection with the church she attended,and asked the Superintendent to give her aclass. He said there were really moreteachers than he needed.

She tried for weeks to find something to dofor Christ. One day as she was walking

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down the street, she saw a little boy comingout of a shoemaker's shop. The man had awooden last in his hand, and he was runningas fast as he could after the boy. When hefound he could not overtake him, he hurledthe last at him and hit him in the back. Whenthe shoemaker had picked up his last andgone back to his shop, the boy stoppedrunning and began to cry. The scenetouched the heart of this young lady. Whenshe got up to him she stopped and spoke tohim kindly.

"Do you go to the Sabbath-school?" "No."

"Do you go to the day-school?" "No."

"What makes you cry?" He thought she wasgoing to make sport of him, so he said it wasnone of her business. "But I am your friend,"

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she said. He was not in the habit of having ayoung lady like that speak to him; at first hewas afraid of her, but at last she won hisconfidence. Finally, she asked him to cometo the Sabbath-school, and be in her class.No, he said, he didn't like study; he wouldnot come. She said she would not ask him tostudy; she would tell him beautiful storiesand there would be nice singing. At last hepromised that he would come. He was tomeet her on Sabbath morning, at the cornerof a certain street.

She was not sure that he would keep hispromise, but she was there at the appointedtime, and he was there too. She took him tothe school and said to the Superintendent:"Can you give me a place where I can teachthis boy?" He had not combed his hair, andhe was barefooted. They did not have any of

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that kind of children in the school, so theSuperintendent looked at him, and said hedid not know just where to put him. Finallyhe put him away in a corner, as far as hecould from the others. There this young ladycommenced her work--work that the angelswould have been glad to do.

He went home and told his mother hethought he had been among the angels.When the mother found he was going to aProtestant school she told him he must notgo again. When the father got to know it, hesaid he would flog him every time he went tothe school. However, the boy went again thenext Sabbath, and the father flogged him;every time he went he gave the poor boy aflogging. At last he said to his father: "I wishyou would flog me before I go, and then Iwon't be thinking about it all the time I am at

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the school." You laugh at it, but, dearfriends, let us remember that gentleness andlove will break down the opposition in thehardest heart. These little diamonds willsparkle in the Savior's crown, if we will butsearch them out and polish them. We cannotmake diamonds, but we can polish them ifwe will.

Finding that the flogging did not stop the boyfrom going to the school, the father said: "Ifyou will give up the Sabbath-school, I willgive you every Saturday afternoon to play, oryou can have all you make by peddling." Theboy went to his teacher and said: "I havebeen thinking that if you could meet me onthe Saturday afternoon we would havelonger time together than on the Sabbath." Iwonder if there is a wealthy young ladyreading this book who would give up her

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Saturday afternoons to teach a poor little boythe way into the kingdom of God. She saidshe would gladly do it; if any callers cameshe was always engaged on Saturdays. Itwas not long before the light broke into thedarkened mind of the boy, and a changecame into his life. She got him some goodclothes and took an interest in him; she wasa guardian angel to him. One day he wasdown at the railway station peddling. He wasstanding on the platform of the carriage,when the engine gave a sudden start; thelittle fellow was leaning on the edge, and hisfoot slipped so that he fell down and the trainpassed over his legs. When the doctorcame, the first thing he said was: "Doctor,will I live to get home?" "No, my boy, you aredying." "Will you tell my father and motherthat I died a Christian?" Did not the teacherget well paid for her work? She will be no

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stranger when she goes to the better land.That little boy will be waiting to give her awelcome.

It is a great thing to lead one soul from thedarkness of sin into the glorious light of theGospel. I believe if an angel were to wing hisway from earth up to heaven, and were tosay that there was one poor, ragged boy,without father or mother, with no one to carefor him and teach him the way of life; and ifGod were to ask who among them waswilling to come down to this earth and livehere for fifty years and lead that one toJesus Christ, every angel in heaven wouldvolunteer to go. Even Gabriel, who stands inthe presence of the Almighty, would say:"Let me leave my high and lofty position, andlet me have the luxury of leading one soul toJesus Christ." There is no greater honor

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than to be the instrument in God's hand ofleading one person out of the kingdom ofSatan into the glorious light of heaven.

I have this motto in my Bible, and Icommend it to you: "Do all the good you can;to all the people you can; in all the ways youcan; and as long as ever you can." If each ofus will at once set about some work for God,and will keep at it 365 days in the year, thena good deal will be accomplished. Let us solive that it may be truthfully said of us: Wehave done what we could.

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CHAPTER VIII.

"WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR?"

You have no doubt frequently read the storyof the good Samaritan. In this parable Christbrings before us four men. He draws thepicture so vividly that the world will neverforget it. Too often when we read theScripture narratives they do not come hometo our hearts, and it is not long before weforget the lesson that the Master would haveus to learn and to remember.

We find that when Christ was on the earththere was a class of people who gatheredround Him and were continually finding faultwith everything He said and did. We readthat on this occasion a lawyer came askingHim what he could do to inherit eternal life.

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Our Lord told him to keep thecommandments--to love the Lord with all hisheart, and his neighbor as himself. Thelawyer then wanted to know who was hisneighbor. In this narrative Christ told himwho his neighbor was, and what it was tolove him.

It seems to me that we have been a longwhile in finding out who is our neighbor. Ithink in the parable of the good SamaritanChrist has taught us very clearly that anyman or woman who is in need of our loveand our help--whether temporal orspiritual--is our neighbor. If we can renderthem any service we are to do it in the nameof our Master.

Here we have brought before us two men,each of whom passed by one who was in

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great need--one who had fallen among thethieves, who had been stripped, wounded,and left there to die. The first that camedown that road from Jerusalem to Jerichowas a priest. As he went along the highwayhe heard a cry of distress, and he looked tosee who was the unfortunate man. He couldsee that the poor sufferer was a Jew; it maybe that he had seen him in the temple on theSabbath day. But then he was not in his ownparish now. His work was in the temple, andit was over for the present. He was aprofessional man, and he had gone throughall that was required of him.

He was in a great hurry to get down toJericho. It may be they were going to open anew synagogue there, and he was todedicate it. A very important business, andof course he could not stop to help this poor,

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wounded, fallen man. So he passed on. Itmay be, as he went along, he reasoned withhimself somewhat in this way: "I wonder whyGod ever permitted sin to enter the world atall. It is very strange that man should be inthis fallen state." Or his thoughts may havetaken another turn, and he said to himselfthat when he got down to Jericho he wouldform a committee to look after theseunfortunate brethren. He would givesomething toward the expenses. Or hewould try and get a policeman to go and lookafter those thieves who had stripped him.

He did not think that all the while this poorwounded man was dying. Most likely he wasnow crying for water, and it might be thatthere was a brook running by, within a fewrods of the spot where he lay. Yet this priestnever stopped to give him a drink. All his

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religion was in his head: it had neverreached his heart. The one thought in hismind was duty, duty; and when he had gotthrough that which he considered his duty,he fancied his work was done. God wantsheart service; if we do not give Him that, wecan render to Him no service at all.

We read that a Levite next came along thehighway where this wounded man was lyingin his helplessness. As he passed along healso heard the man's cry of distress. Heturned aside for a moment to look at thepoor fellow, and he could see that he was ason of Abraham--a brother Jew. But he alsomust hasten on to Jericho. Possibly he hadto help in the ceremony of opening the newsynagogue. Perhaps there was going to be aconvention down there, on "How to reachthe masses," and he was going to help

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discuss the point. I have noticed that manymen now-a-days will go to a conference andtalk for hours on that subject, but they willnot themselves lift a hand to reach themasses.

The Levite's thoughts probably took anotherturn, and he said to himself: "I will see if Ican't get a bill through the Legislature toprevent those thieves from robbing andwounding people." There are some now whothink they can legislate men back toGod--that they can prevent sin by legislation.Like the priest, this Levite never stopped togive the poor fellow a drop of water toquench his thirst; he never attempted to bindup his wounds or to help him in any way. Hepassed along the highway, doubtless, sayingto himself, "I pity that poor fellow." There is agood deal of that kind of pity now-a-days; but

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it comes only from the lips, not from theheart.

The next one to come along that road was aSamaritan. Now it was notorious that inthose days a Jew would not speak to aSamaritan; the very presence of the latterwas pollution to an orthodox Jew. No Jewever entered the habitation of the hatedSamaritan; he would not eat at his table ordrink from his well. Neither would he allow aSamaritan to come under his roof. Noreligious Jew would even buy from aSamaritan, or sell to him. You know a Jewmust have a very poor opinion of a man if hewill not do business with him, when there isa prospect of making something out of him.

Not only was this the case, but the Jewsconsidered that the Samaritans had no

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souls; that when they died they would beannihilated. Their graves would be so deepthat not even the sound of Gabriel's trumpwould wake them on the resurrectionmorning. He was the only man under heavenwho could not become a proselyte to theJewish faith, and become a member of theJewish family. Repentance was denied himin this life and the life to come. He mightprofess the Jewish religion; they would havenothing to do with him. That was the way inwhich they looked upon these men; yetChrist used the despised Samaritan to teachthese bitter Jews the lesson of love to theirneighbor.

The Samaritan came that way. It says in thenarrative that the priest came down that way"by chance;" but we are not told that theSamaritan came by chance. He represents

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our Lord and Master. We are told that hecame to where the poor wounded man was;he got off the beast on which he was ridingand stooped right down there by the side ofthe sick man. He looked at him and saw thathe was a Jew. If he had been like the Jewsthemselves, he would most likely have said,"Serve you right. I only wish the thieves hadkilled you outright. I would not lift a finger tohelp you, you poor wretched Samaritan." Butno! not a word of condemnation or blame didhe utter.

Let us learn a lesson from this. Do you thinkthese drunkards need anyone to condemnthem? There is no one in the wide world whocan condemn them as they condemnthemselves. What they need issympathy--tenderness, gentleness andkindness. This Samaritan did not pull a

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manuscript out of his pocket, and begin toread a long sermon to the wounded man.Some people seem to think that all the worldneeds is a lot of sermons. Why, the peopleof this land have been almost preached todeath. What we want is to preach moresermons with our hands and feet--to carrythe Gospel to the people by acts ofkindness.

Neither did he read this poor Jew a longlecture, endeavoring to prove that sciencewas better than religion. He did not give hima long address on geology; what could thatdo for him? What the poor man needed wassympathy and help. So the first thing thegood Samaritan did was to pour oil into hiswounds. How many wounded men there arein our midst who have need of the oil of pityand sympathy. A good many Christians

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seem always to carry about with them abottle of vinegar, which they bring out on alloccasions.

The Samaritan might have said to the man:"Why did you not stay at Jerusalem? Whatbusiness had you to come down this road,any way, giving all this trouble?" So peoplewill sometimes say to a young man who hascome to the city and got into trouble: "Whydid you ever leave your home and come tothis wicked city?" They begin to scold andupbraid. You are never going to reach menand do them good in that way; or by puttingyourself on a high platform; you have tocome down to them and enter into theirsorrows and troubles. See how thisSamaritan "came to where he was," andinstead of lecturing him, poured the healingoil into his wounds.

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You observe there are twelve thingsmentioned in the narrative that theSamaritan did. We can dismiss in a word allthat the priest and the Levite did--they didnothing.

(1.) He "came to where he was."

(2.) He "saw him;" he did not, like the priest,pass by on the other side.

(3.) He "had compassion on him." If wewould be successful winners of souls we,too, must be moved with compassion for thelost and the perishing. We must sympathizewith men in their sorrows and troubles, if wewould hope to gain their affections and to dothem good.

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(4.) He "went to him." The Levite wenttoward him, but we are told that he, as wellas the priest, "passed by on the other side."

(5.) He "bound up his wounds." Perhaps hehad to tear up his own garments in order tobind them up.

(6.) He poured in oil and gave some wine tothe fainting man.

(7.) He "set him on his own beast." Do younot think that this poor Jew must havelooked with gratitude and tenderness on theSamaritan, as he was placed on the beast,while his deliverer walked by his side? Allthe prejudice in his heart must havedisappeared long before they got to the endof their journey.

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(8.) He "brought him to an inn."

(9.) He "took care of him." I was greatlytouched at hearing of a Christian worker inone of the districts in London where wewere, who met with a drinking man at themeeting. He saw that the man was in drink,so he took him home and stayed all nightwith him; then, when he got sober the nextmorning, he talked with him. Many are willingenough to talk with drunkards when they aresober, but how few there are who will go andhunt them up when they are in their fallencondition, and stay with them till they can bereasoned with about their salvation.

(10.) When he departed on the morrow, thegood Samaritan asked the host to care forhim.

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(11.) He gave him some money to pay thebill.

(12.) He said: "Whatever thou spendestmore, when I come again I will repay thee."

There is nothing I think in all the teachings ofChrist that brings out the whole Gospelbetter than this parable. It is a perfect pictureof Christ coming down to this world to seekand save the lost.

(1.) He came to this world of sin and sorrowwhere we were, laying by His glory for thetime, that He might assume our humannature, and put Himself on a level with thoseHe came to save.

(2.) He mingled with the poor and needy sothat He might see their condition.

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(3.) He was "moved with compassion" for themultitudes; how often this is recorded in theGospels. We are told, on more than oneoccasion, that He wept as He thought of allthe woe and distress that sin had broughtupon the human family.

(4.) Wherever Jesus Christ heard of a caseof sorrow or need He went at once. No cry ofdistress ever reached His ears in vain.

(5.) On one occasion He read from theprophets concerning Himself, "The Spirit ofthe Lord is upon me . . . . because the Lordhath . . . . sent me to bind up thebroken-hearted." He Himself was wounded,that the wounds which sin had made in usmight be bound up and healed.

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(6.) He not only comforted the sorrowing, butgave the promise of the Holy Spirit, Whowas to bring comfort and strength to Hisredeemed people.

(7.) As the good Samaritan set the woundedman on his own beast, so the Savior givesus the unfailing promise of His word onwhich we may rest during our pilgrimjourney. He Himself has promised to be withus in spirit by the way.

(8.) He brings us to the place of rest--rest inHis love, in His willingness to save, in Hispower to keep. At the last He will bring us tothe home of everlasting rest.

(9.) When He was on the earth He took apersonal interest in all that concerned Hisdisciples, and

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(10.) When He had gone up on high He sentanother Comforter who should abide with theChurch.

(11.) He has furnished the Church with allthat is needful for her support and growth ingrace.

(12.) He will come again and reward Hisservants for all their faithful service.

Do you want to know how you can reach themasses? Go to their homes and enter intosympathy with them; tell them you havecome to do them good, and let them see thatyou have a heart to feel for them. When theyfind out that you really love them, all thosethings that are in their hearts against Godand against Christianity will be swept out ofthe way. Atheists may tell them that you only

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want to get their money, and that you do notreally care for their happiness. We have tocontradict that lie by our lives, and send itback to the pit where it came from.

We are not going to do it unless we gopersonally to them and prove that we reallylove them. There are hundreds andthousands of families that could easily bereached if we had thousands of Christiansgoing to them and entering into sympathywith their sorrows. That is what they want.This poor world is groaning and sighing forsympathy--human sympathy. I am quite sureit was that in Christ's life which touched thehearts of the common people. He madeHimself one with them. He who was rich forour sakes became poor. He was born in themanger so that He might put himself on alevel with the lowest of the low.

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I think that in this matter He teaches Hisdisciples a lesson. He wants us to convincethe world that He is their friend. They do notbelieve it. If once the world were to graspthis thought, that Jesus Christ is the Friendof the sinner, they would soon flock to Him. Iam sure that ninety-nine in every hundred ofthose out of Christ think that, instead ofloving them, God hates them. How are theyto find out their mistake? They do not attendour churches; and if they did there are manyplaces where they would not hear it. Do youthink that if those poor harlots walking thestreets of our cities really believed that JesusChrist loved them and wanted to be theirfriend--that if He were here in person Hewould not condemn them, but would takesides with them, and try to lift them up--theywould go on in their sins? Do you think thepoor drunkard who reels along the street

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really believes that Christ is his friend andloves him? The Scripture plainly teaches thatthough Christ hates sin He loves the sinner.This story of the good Samaritan is given toteach us this lesson. Let us publish abroadthe good news that Christ loves sinners, andcame into the world that He might savethem.

There was a man who lived in one of ourlarge cities. He died quite suddenly, and itwas not long before his wife followed him tothe grave. They left two boys, and there wasa wealthy citizen who took the morepromising of the boys and adopted him. Theother boy was placed in the orphan asylum.He had never been away from his father andmother during their lives, and he had notbeen separated from his brother before.Every night he would go to sleep crying for

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his brother. One night they could not findhim. Next morning he was found under thesteps of the house of the wealthy bankerwho had adopted his little brother. Whenthey asked him why he had left a goodcomfortable bed at the orphan home andstayed out there all night in the cold, he saidhe wanted to get near Charlie. He knew thatif he rang the bell and they found him at thedoor they would send him hack, and it was acomfort to him to be near Charlie, even if hehad to pass the night out there. His youngheart was craving for sympathy, and heknew that Charlie loved him as no one elsein the world did. If we can only convincethese poor lost ones that some one lovesthem, then their hearts will be moved.

During the war a little boy, Frankie Bragg,was placed in one of the hospitals. He said it

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was so hard to be there away from all thosewho loved him. The nurse who wasattending him, bent down and kissed him,and said she loved him. "Do you love me?"he said; "kiss me again; that was like mysister's kiss?" The nurse kissed him again,and he said with a smile: "It is not hard forme to die now, when I know that some oneloves me." If we had more of this sympathyfor the lost and the sorrowing, the worldwould soon feel our influence.

Shall we not learn a lesson from the goodSamaritan? Let us hear the voice of theMaster saying: "Go thou and do likewise."We can all do something. If we cannot reachthe older people, let us try and win theyoung. It is a blessed privilege to be used ofGod to bring one little lamb into the kingdom.If we are only the means of saving one child

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our life will not be a failure; we shall hear theMaster's "Well done, good and faithfulservant."

A lady started a hospital for sick crippledchildren in Edinburgh two years ago. I wasasking her if she had been blessed in thework. I shall not forget how her face lit up.She was in one of our recent meetings inLondon, and her face was beaming. Shewas telling of some very interesting cases ofconversion among the children. What aprivilege it is to lead these afflicted ones intothe kingdom of God.

A little boy was brought to Edinburgh fromFife. There was no room in the children'shospital, and he was taken to the generalhospital. He was only six years old; hisfather was dead; his mother was sick, so

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that she could not take care of him, and hehad to be brought to the hospital inEdinburgh. My friend, Rev. George Wilson,went in one day and sat at the bedside of thelittle sufferer. He was telling him that thedoctor was coming on Thursday to take offhis little leg. You parents can imagine, if oneof your children, six years old, away fromhome, and in a hospital, were told that thedoctor was coming on a certain day to takehis leg off, how he would suffer at thethought. The little fellow, of course, was ingreat trouble about it. The minister wanted toknow about his mother; she was sick and hisfather was dead. The minister wished tocomfort him, and he said: "The nurse is sucha good woman; she will help you." "Yes,"said the boy, "and perhaps Jesus will be withme." Do you have any doubt of it? NextFriday the man of God went to the hospital,

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but he found the cot was empty. The poorboy was gone; the Savior had come andtaken him to His bosom.

In our great cities are there not hundredsand thousands who are in some need ofhuman sympathy? That will speak to theirhearts a good deal louder than eloquentsermons. Many will not be moved byeloquent sermons, who would yield totenderness and gentleness and sympathy.

Said the great Dr. Chalmers: "The little that Ihave seen in the world, and know of thehistory of mankind, teaches me to look upontheir errors in sorrow, not in anger. When Itake the one poor heart that has sinned andsuffered, and represent to myself thestruggles and temptations it has passedthrough; the brief pulsation of joy; the tears

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of regret; the feebleness of purpose; thescorn of the world that has little charity; thedesolation of the soul's sanctuary andthreatening voices within; healthgone--happiness gone--I would fain leavethe erring soul of my fellowman with Himfrom whose hands it came."

Some of you may say: "How am I to get intosympathy with those who are in sorrow?"That is a very important question. Manypeople go to work for God, but they seem todo it in such a professional way. I will tell youhow you can be brought into sympathy. Ihave found this rule to be of great help tome. Put yourself in the place of thesorrowing and afflicted ones, with whom youwant to sympathize. If you do that you willsoon gain their affections and be able to helpthem.

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God taught me a lesson a few years ago thatI shall never forget. I was Superintendent ofa Sunday-school in Chicago with over 1,500scholars. In the months of July and Augustmany deaths took place among the children,and as most of the ministers were out of thecity I had to attend a great many funerals.Sometimes I had to be at four or five in oneday. I was so accustomed to it that I got todo it almost mechanically. I could see themother take her last look at the child, andsee the coffin lid closed without being movedby it.

One day when I came home my wife told methat one of the Sunday-school children hadbeen drowned, and the mother wanted tosee me. I took my little daughter with me andwe went to the house. I found the father inone corner of the room drunk. The mother

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told me that she took in washing in order toget a living for herself and her children, asher husband drank up all his wages. LittleAdelaide used to go to the river and gatherthe floating wood for the fire. That day shehad gone as usual; she saw a piece of woodout a little way from the bank; in stretchingout to reach it she slipped, and fell into thewater and was drowned. The mother told meher sad story; how she had no money to buythe shroud and the coffin, and she wantedme to help her. I took out my note-book andput down her name and address, and tookthe measure of the coffin, in order to send itto the undertakers.

The poor mother was much distressed, but itdid not seem to move me. I told her I wouldbe at the funeral, and then I left. As my littlegirl walked by my side she said to me:

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"Papa, suppose we were very poor, andmamma had to wash for a living, and I hadto go to the river to get sticks to make a fire;if I were to fall into the water and getdrowned would you feel bad?" "Feel bad!Why, my child, I do not know what I shoulddo. You are my only daughter, and if youwere taken from me I think it would break myheart." And I took her to my bosom andkissed her. "Then did you feel bad for thatmother?" How that question cut me to theheart.

I went back to the house, and took out myBible and read to the mother the fourteenthchapter of John. Then I prayed with her andendeavored to comfort her. When the day forthe funeral arrived I attended it. I had notbeen to the cemetery for a good many years;I had thought my time was too precious, as it

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was some miles away. I found the father wasstill drunk. I had got a lot in the strangers'field for little Adelaide. As we were laying thecoffin in the grave another funeralprocession came up, and the corpse wasgoing to be laid near by. Adelaide's mothersaid, as we were covering up the coffin: "Mr.Moody, it is very hard to lay her away amongstrangers. I have been moving about a gooddeal, and have lived among strangers, and Ihave never had a burying-lot. It is very hardto place my firstborn among strangers." Isaid to myself that it would be pretty hard tohave to bury my child in the strangers' field. Ihad got into full sympathy with the poormother by this time.

Next Sabbath I told the children in theSunday-school what had taken place. Isuggested that we should buy a

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Sunday-school lot, and when any of thechildren attending the school died, theywould not be laid in the strangers' field, butwould be put in our own lot. Before we couldget the title made out, a mother came andwanted to know if her little girl who had justdied could be buried in the lot. I told her Iwould give permission. I went to the funeral,and as we were lowering the little coffin Iasked what was the name. She said it wasEmma. That was the name of my own littlegirl, and I could not help but weep as Ithought of how I would feel if it were my ownEmma. Do you tell me I could notsympathize with that bereaved mother? Verysoon afterward, another mother came andwished to have her dead child buried in ourlot. She told me his name was Willie. At thattime that was the name of my only boy, and Ithought how it would be with me if it were my

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Willie who was dead. So the first childrenburied there bore the names of my twochildren. I tried to put myself in the places ofthese sorrowing mothers, and then it waseasy for me to sympathize with them in theirgrief, and point them to Him who "shall wipeaway all tears from their eyes."

About the first thing I did when I returned toChicago nine years ago, was to drive up toand see our children's lot. I thought it wouldlast a good many years, but it was about full,for many of my old Sabbath-school scholarshad gone while I had been away, and theirbodies were resting in this lot till the greatday. I understood, however, that the childrenof the Sabbath-school were about topurchase another and a larger lot whichwould suffice for many years under ordinarycircumstances. Many little ones are laid

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there, waiting for the resurrection, and Iwould like to be buried beside them, it wouldbe so sweet to be in their company when werise and meet our Lord.

Dear friends, if you would get into fullsympathy with others put yourself in theirplaces. May God fill our hearts with the spiritof the good Samaritan, so that we may befilled with tenderness and love andcompassion.

I want to give you a motto that has been agreat help to me. It was a Quaker's motto:

"I expect to pass through this world butonce. If, therefore, if there be any kindness Ican show or any good thing I can do to anyfellow human being let me do it now; let menot defer nor neglect it, for I will not pass this

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way again."

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CHAPTER IX.

"YE ARE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD."

"They that be wise shall shine as thebrightness of the firmament; and they thatturn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever."

That is the testimony of an old man, and onewho had the richest and deepest experienceof any man living on the face of the earth atthe time. He was taken down to Babylonwhen a young man; some Bible studentsthink he was not more than twenty years ofage. If any one had said, when this youngHebrew was carried away into captivity, thathe would outrank all the mighty men of thatday--that all the generals who had beenvictorious in almost every nation at that time

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were going to be eclipsed by this youngslave--probably no one would have believedit. Yet for five hundred years no man whoselife is recorded in history shone as did thisman. He outshone Nebuchadnezzar,Belshazzar, Cyrus, Darius, and all theprinces and mighty monarchs of his day.

We are not told when he was converted to aknowledge of the true God, but I think wehave good reason to believe that he hadbeen brought under the influence ofJeremiah the prophet. Evidently someearnest, Godly man, and no worldlyprofessor, had made a deep impressionupon him. Some had at any rate taught himhow he was to serve God.

We hear people nowadays talking about thehardness of the field where they labor; they

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say their position is a very peculiar one.Think of the field in which Daniel had towork. He was not only a slave, but he washeld captive by a nation that detested theHebrews. The language was unknown tohim. There he was among idolaters; yet hecommenced at once to shine. He took hisstand for God from the very first, and so hewent on through his whole life. He gave thedew of his youth to God, and he continuedfaithful right on till his pilgrimage was ended.

Notice that all those who have made a deepimpression on the world, and have shonemost brightly, have been men who lived in adark day. Look at Joseph; he was sold as aslave into Egypt by the Ishmaelites; yet hetook his God with him into captivity, asDaniel afterward did. And he remained trueto the last; he did not give up his faith

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because he had been taken away fromhome and placed among idolaters. He stoodfirm, and God stood by him.

Look at Moses, who turned his back uponthe gilded palaces of Egypt, and identifiedhimself with his despised and down-troddennation. If a man ever had a hard field it wasMoses; yet he shone brightly, and neverproved unfaithful to his God.

Elijah lived in a far darker day than we do.The whole nation was going over to idolatry.Ahab, and his queen, and all the royal courtwere throwing their influence against theworship of the true God. Yet Elijah stoodfirm, and shone brightly in that dark and evilday. How his name stands out on the pageof history!

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Look at John the Baptist. I used to think Iwould like to live in the days of the prophets;but I have given up that idea. You may besure that when a prophet appears on thescene, everything is dark, and the professingChurch of God has gone over to the serviceof the god of this world. So it was when Johnthe Baptist made his appearance. See howhis name shines out to-day! Eighteencenturies have rolled away, and yet the fameof that wilderness preacher shines brighterthan ever. He was looked down upon in hisday and generation, but he has outlived allhis enemies; his name will be reverencedand his work remembered as long as theChurch is on the earth.

Talk about your field being a hard one! Seehow Paul shone for God as he went out, thefirst missionary to the heathen, telling them

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of the God whom he served, and Who hadsent His Son to die a cruel death in order tosave the world. Men reviled him and histeachings; they laughed him to scorn whenhe spoke of the Crucified One. But he wenton preaching the Gospel of the Son of God.He was regarded as a poor tent-maker bythe great and mighty ones of his day; but noone can now tell the name of any of hispersecutors, or of those who lived at thattime, unless their names happen to beassociated with his, and they were broughtinto contact with him.

Now the fact is, all men like to shine. Wemay as well acknowledge it at once. You gointo business circles and see how menstruggle to get into the front rank. Every onewants to outshine his neighbor and to standat the head of his profession. Go into the

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political world and see how there is astruggle going on as to who shall be thegreatest. If you go into a school you find thatthere is a rivalry among the boys and girls.They all want to stand at the top of the class.When a boy does reach this position andoutranks all the rest the mother is very proudof it. She will manage to tell all the neighborshow Johnnie has got on, and what a numberof prizes he has gained.

You go into the army and you find the samething--one trying to outstrip the other; everyone is very anxious to shine and rise abovehis comrades. Go among the young men intheir games and see how anxious the one isto outdo the other. So we have all that desirein us; we like to shine above our fellows.

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And yet there are very few who can reallyshine in the world. Once in a while one manwill outstrip all his competitors. Every fouryears what a struggle goes on throughoutour country as to who shall be the Presidentof the United States, the battle raging for sixmonths or a year. Yet only one man can getthe prize. There a good many struggling toget the place, but many are disappointed,because only one can attain the covetedprize. But in the kingdom of God the veryleast and the very weakest may shine if theywill. Not only can one obtain the prize, but allmay have it if they will.

It does not say in this passage that theStatesmen are going to shine as thebrightness of the firmament. The Statesmenof Babylon are gone; their very names areforgotten.

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It does not say that the nobility are going toshine. Earth's nobility are soon forgotten.John Bunyan, the Bedford tinker, hasoutlived the whole crowd of those who werethe nobility in his day. They lived for self, andtheir memory is blotted out. He lived for Godand for souls, and his name is as fragrant asever it was.

We are not told that the merchants are goingto shine. Who can tell the name of any of themillionaires of Daniel's day? They were allburied in oblivion a few years after theirdeath. Who were the mighty conquerors ofthat day? But few can tell. It is true that wehear of Nebuchadnezzar, but probably weshould not have known very much about himbut for his relations to the prophet Daniel.

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How different with this faithful prophet of theLord. Twenty-five centuries have passedaway, and his name shines on, and on, andon, brighter and brighter. And it is going toshine while the Church of God exists. "Theythat be wise shall shine as the brightness ofthe firmament; and they that turn many torighteousness as the stars for ever andever."

How quickly the glory of this world fadesaway! Seventy-five years ago the greatNapoleon almost made the earth to tremble.How he blazed and shone as an earthlywarrior for a little while! A few years passed,and a little island held that once proud andmighty conqueror; he died as a poorbroken-hearted prisoner. Where is heto-day? Almost forgotten. Who in all theworld will say that Napoleon lives in their

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heart's affections?

But look at this despised and hated Hebrewprophet. They wanted to put him into thelions' den because he was toosanctimonious and too religious. Yet seehow green his memory is to-day! How hisname is loved and honored for hisfaithfulness to his God.

Seventeen years ago I was in Paris at thetime of the Great Exhibition. Napoleon theThird was then in his glory. Cheer aftercheer would rise up as he drove along thestreets of the city. A few short years and hefell from his lofty estate. He died an exilefrom his country and his throne, and whereis his name today? Very few think about himat all, and if his name is mentioned it is notwith love and esteem. How empty and

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short-lived are the glory and the pride of thisworld! if we are wise we will live for God andeternity; we will get outside of ourselves, andwill care nothing for the honor and glory ofthis world.

In Proverbs we read: "He that winneth soulsis wise." If any man, woman, or child by aGodly life and example can win one soul toGod, their life will not have been a failure.They will have outshone all the mighty menof their day, because they will have set astream in motion that will flow on and on forever and ever. That little boy may shine inGod's kingdom if he will.

God has left us down here to shine. We arenot here to buy and sell and get gain, toaccumulate wealth, to acquire worldlyposition. This earth, if we are Christians, is

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not our home; it is up yonder. God has sentus into the world to shine for Him--to light upthis dark world. Christ came to be the Lightof the world, but men put out that light. Theytook it to Calvary and blew it out. BeforeChrist went up on high He said to Hisdisciples: "Ye are the light of the world. Yeare my witnesses. Go forth and carry theGospel to the perishing nations of the earth."

So God has called us to shine, just as muchas Daniel was sent into Babylon to shine. Letno man of woman say that they cannot shinebecause they have not so much influence assome others may have. What God wantsyou to do is to use the influence you have.Daniel probably did not have much influencedown in Babylon at first, but God soon gavehim more, because he was faithful and usedwhat he had.

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Remember a small light will do a good dealwhen it is in a very dark place. You put onelittle tallow candle in the middle of a largehall, and it will give a good deal of light.

Away out in the prairie regions, whenmeetings are held at night in the logschool-houses, the announcement of themeeting is given out in this way: "A meetingwill be held by early candle-light." The firstman who comes brings a tallow-dip with him.It is perhaps all he has; but he brings it andsets it on the desk. It does not light thebuilding much; but it is better than none atall. The next man brings his candle; and thenext family bring their candles. By the timethe house is full, there is plenty of light. So ifwe all shine a little, there will be a good dealof light. That is what God wants us to do. Ifwe cannot all be lighthouses, any one of us

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can at any rate be a tallow candle.

A little light will sometimes do a great deal.The city of Chicago was set on fire by a cowkicking over a lamp, and a hundredthousand people were burnt out of houseand home. Do not let Satan get theadvantage of you, and make you think thatbecause you cannot do any great thing youcannot do anything at all.

Then we must remember that we are to letour light shine. It does not say, "Make yourlight shine." You do not have to make light toshine; all you have to do is to let it shine.

I remember hearing of a man at sea whowas very sea-sick. If there is a time when aman feels that he cannot do any work for theLord it is then--in my opinion. While this man

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was sick he heard that a man had fallenoverboard. He was wondering if he could doanything to help to save the man. He laidhold of a light and held it up to the port-hole.The drowning man was saved. When thisman got over his attack of sickness he gotup on deck one day, and was talking with theman who was rescued. The saved man gavethis testimony. He said he had gone downthe second time, and was just going downagain for the last time, when he put out hishand. Just then, he said, some one held alight at the port-hole, and the light fell on hishand. A man caught him by the hand andpulled him into the lifeboat.

It seemed a small thing to do to hold up thelight; yet it saved the man's life. If you cannotdo some great thing you can hold the lightfor some poor, perishing drunkard, who may

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be won to Christ and delivered fromdestruction. Let us take the torch of salvationand go into these dark homes, and hold upChrist to the people as the Savior of theworld. If these perishing masses are to bereached we must lay our lives rightalongside theirs, and pray with them andlabor for them. I would not give much for aman's Christianity, if he is saved himself andis not willing to try and save others. It seemsto me the basest ingratitude if we do notreach out the hand to others who are downin the same pit from which we weredelivered. Who is able to reach and helpthese drinking men like those who havethemselves been slaves to the intoxicatingcup? Will you not go out this very day andseek to rescue these men? If we were all todo what we can we should soon empty thedrinking saloons.

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I remember reading of a blind man who wasfound sitting at the corner of a street in agreat city with a lantern beside him. Someone went up to him and asked what he hadthe lantern there for, seeing that he wasblind, and the light was the same to him asthe darkness. The blind man replied: "I haveit so that no one may stumble over me."

Dear friends, let us think of that. Where oneman reads the Bible, a hundred read youand me. That is what Paul meant when hesaid we were to be living epistles of Christ,known and read of all men. I would not givemuch for all that can be done by sermons, ifwe do not preach Christ by our lives. If wedo not commend the Gospel to people byour holy walk and conversation, we shall notwin them to Christ. Some little act ofkindness will perhaps do more to influence

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them than any number of long sermons.

A vessel was caught in a storm on LakeErie, and they were trying to make for theharbor of Cleveland. At the entrance of thatport they had what are called the upperlights and the lower lights. Away back on thebluffs were the upper lights burning brightlyenough; but when they came near theharbor they could not see the lights showingthe entrance to it. The pilot said he thoughtthey had better get back on the lake again.The Captain said he was sure they would godown if they went back, and he urged thepilot to do what he could to gain the harbor.The pilot said there was very little hope ofmaking for the harbor, as he had nothing toguide him as to how he should steer theship. They tried all they could to get her intothe harbor. She rode on the top of the

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waves, and then into the trough of the sea,and at last they found themselves strandedon the beach, where the vessel was dashedto pieces. Some one had neglected thelower lights and they had gone out.

Let us take warning. God keeps the upperlights burning as brightly as ever, but He hasleft us down here to keep the lower lightsburning. We are to represent Him here, asChrist represents us up yonder. I sometimesthink if we had as poor a representative inthe courts above as God has down here onearth, we would have a pretty poor chanceof heaven. Let us have our loins girt and ourlights brightly burning, so that others maysee the way and not walk in darkness.

In the book of Revelation we read: "Blessedare the dead which die in the Lord from

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henceforth: yea, saith the Spirit, that theymay rest from their labors; and their worksdo follow them."

There are many mentioned in the Scripturesof whom we read that they lived so manyyears and then they died. The cradle and thegrave are brought close together: they livedand they died, and that is all we know aboutthem. So in these days you could write onthe tombstone of a great many professingChristians that they were born on such a dayand they died on such a day; there is nothingwhatever between.

But there is one thing you cannot bury with agood man; his influence still lives. They havenot buried Daniel yet; his influence is asgreat to-day as ever it was. Do you tell methat Joseph is dead? His influence still lives

CHAPTER IX. 292

and will continue to live on and on. You maybury the frail tenement of clay that a goodman lives in, but you cannot get rid of hisinfluence and example. Paul was nevermore powerful than he is to-day.

Do you tell me that John Howard, who wentinto so many of the dark prisons in Europe,is dead? Is Henry Martyn, or Wilberforce, orJohn Bunyan dead? Go into the SouthernStates and there you will find from three tofour millions of men and women who oncewere slaves. You mention to any of them thename of Wilberforce, and see how quicklythe eye will light up. He lived for somethingelse besides himself, and his memory willnever die out of the hearts of those for whomhe lived and labored.

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Is Wesley or Whitefield dead? The names ofthose great evangelists were never morehonored than they are now. Is John Knoxdead? You can go to any part of Scotlandto-day and you will feel the power of hisinfluence.

I will not tell you who are dead. The enemiesof these servants of God--those whopersecuted them and told lies about them.But the men themselves have outlived all thelies that were uttered concerning them. Notonly that; they will shine in another world.How true are the words of the old Book:"They that be wise shall shine as thebrightness of the firmament; and they thatturn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever."

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Let us go on turning as many as we can torighteousness. Let us be dead to the world,to its lies, its pleasures, and its ambitions.Let us live for God, continually going forth towin souls for Him.

Let me quote a few words by Dr. Chalmers."Thousands of men breathe, move and live,pass off the stage of life, and are heard of nomore--Why? They do not partake of good inthe world, and none were blessed by them;none could point to them as the means oftheir redemption; not a line they wrote, not aword they spoke could be recalled; and sothey perished; their light went out indarkness, and they were not rememberedmore than insects of yesterday. Will you thuslive and die, O man immortal? Live forsomething. Do good, and leave behind you amonument of virtue that the storm of time

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can never destroy. Write your name inkindness, love and mercy, on the hearts ofthe thousands you come in contact with yearby year; you will never be forgotten. No, yourname, your deeds will be as legible on thehearts you leave behind as the stars on thebrow of evening. Good deeds will shine asthe stars of heaven."

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