57. Confessing the Master
Confessing the Master
CALAIS LIGHTHOUSE.—The keeper of the lighthouse at Calais was speaking of the brightness of his lantern, which can be seen ten leagues at sea; when a visitor said to him, “What if one of the lights should chance to go out?” “Sir,” said he, pointing to the ocean, “there are ships going by to all parts of the world. If tonight one of my burners went out, within six months would come a letter, perhaps from India, perhaps from America, perhaps from some place I never heard of, saying, such a night, at such an hour, the light of Calais burned dim. Ah, sir! sometimes in the dark nights in stormy weather, I look out to sea, and feel as if the eyes of the world were looking at my light.”
MOODY SAID:—”In a prayer-meeting at Boston I once attended, most of those who took part were old men, but a little tow-headed Norwegian boy, who could speak only broken English, got up and said: ‘If I tell the world about Christ, He will tell the Father about me,’ That wrote itself upon my heart, and I have never forgotten what that little boy said.”
SPEAKING WELL OF CHRIST.—Two ministers met one Saturday in a station as they were going to preach in their respective places on Sunday. “I hope,” said one to the other, “the Great Master will give you His face tomorrow.” “Well, if He does not,” was the reply, “I will speak well of Him behind His back.” NOT ASHAMED OF CHRIST.—A young convert once got up to say something for Christ in the open air. Not being accustomed to speak, he stammered a good deal at first, when an infidel came along and shouted out, “Young man, you ought to be ashamed of yourself, standing and talking like that.” “Well,” the young man replied, “I’m ashamed of myself, but I’m not ashamed of Christ.”
MINISTERIAL BOLDNESS.—A minister without boldness is like a smooth file, a knife without an edge, or a sentinel that is afraid to shoot. One of the reformers, on being told, “All the world are against you,” replied, “Then I am against all the world.” When the body of John Knox was laid in the grave, the Earl of Morton said: “Here lieth a man who never feared the face of man.”
LUTHER’S BOLDNESS.—”Ah!” said some to Luther when on his way to Worms, “there are so many cardinals and bishops at Worms! They will consume your body to ashes.” “Although they should make a fire that should reach from Worms to Wittenberg, and that should flame up to Heaven, in the Lord’s name, I would pass through it.” Again he was warned that he must not think of entering Worms. Luther looked steadily at the messenger, and replied, “Go tell your master, that, even although there were as many devils at Worms as there are tiles up on the roofs of the houses, I would enter it.” When told that Duke George would certainly arrest him, he reviled, “If it rain Duke Georgia for nine days together, I will go.”
DEATH OF MARTYRS.—They died in torments; and their torments were embittered by insult and derision. Some were nailed on crosses; others sewn up in the skins of wild beasts, and exposed to the fury of the dog’s; others, again, smeared over with combustible material, were used as torches to illuminate the darkness of the night. The gardens of Nero were destined for the melancholy spectacle, which was accompanied with a horse race.