======================================================================== WRITINGS OF JARRETTE E AYCOCK by Jarrette E. Aycock ======================================================================== A collection of theological writings, sermons, and essays by Jarrette E. Aycock, compiled for study and devotional reading. Chapters: 161 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ TABLE OF CONTENTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. 01.00. ADD THEM: To The Church 2. 01.01. The Church 3. 01.02. Church Membership 4. 01.03. The Pastor 5. 01.04. The Evangelist 6. 01.05. The Campaign 7. 01.06. Methods 8. 01.07. The Public Appeal 9. 01.08. Methods Comended 10. 01.09. Questions and Answers 11. 01.10. Explenation 12. 02.00. DRAWING THE NET 13. 02.000. Introduction 14. 02.01. Why This Book? 15. 02.02 Giving the Invitation 16. 02.03. The Sermon 17. 02.04. Songs 18. 02.05. Some Things to Avoid 19. 02.06. Think On These Things 20. 02.07. The Illustration 21. 02.08. Methods 22. 02.09. The Fourth Proposition 23. 02.10. A Brief Appeal 24. 02.11. Pastors Can Help 25. 02.12. "Dont's" For Fishermen 26. 02.13. "B" For Fishermen 27. 03.00. IF CHRIST HAD NOT COME 28. 03.01. If Christ Had Not Come 29. 03.02. The Home Over There 30. 03.03. The Cross 31. 03.04. The Value of the Soul 32. 03.05. What Think Ye of Christ? 33. 03.06. Salvation 34. 03.07. The Book of Revelation 35. 03.08. The Holy Spirit 36. 03.09. Christ Our Passover 37. 03.10. The Amazing Book 38. 04.00. INVITE THEM IN 39. 04.01. A Great Asset 40. 04.02. Qualifications 41. 04.03. The Raised Hand 42. 04.04. Co-Operation 43. 04.05. When Shall We Go? 44. 04.06. Pray for Guidance 45. 04.07. Have An Answer 46. 04.08. Testimony 47. 04.09. Dealing With Strangers 48. 04.10. Don't Argue 49. 04.11. Dealing With Couples 50. 04.12. One At A Time 51. 04.13. Don't Block Traffic 52. 04.14. A Time to Stop 53. 04.15. Trust God 54. 04.16. Secure a Commitment 55. 04.17. Remove Every Barrier 56. 04.18. B's for Personal Workers 57. 04.19. Sme Things to Avoid 58. 05.00. Save Some 59. 05.01. Altar Work 60. 05.02. Qualifications 61. 05.03. The Altar 62. 05.04. Work Around the Altar 63. 05.05. The Bible 64. 05.06. The Unsaved 65. 05.07. Backsliders 66. 05.08. The Unsanctified 67. 05.09. Use Wisdom 68. 05.10. Wrong Orders 69. 05.11. Be Careful 70. 05.12. Confession 71. 05.13. Your Mill 72. 05A.00. The Crimson Stream 73. 05A.01. The First Glimpse Of Blood 74. 05A.02. What Does God Do With Our Sins? 75. 05A.03. Man's Forgiveness Vs. God's 76. 05A.04. Bruce, King Of Scots 77. 05A.05. Cain And Abel 78. 05A.06. Abraham And Isaac 79. 05A.07. Our Biography 80. 05A.08. The Passover 81. 05A.09. Consecrating Of Priests 82. 05A.10. On The Train With Bryan 83. 05A.11. Salvation Through The Blood 84. 05A.12. The Blood Cleanses 85. 05A.13. Nothing But The Blood 86. 05A.14. The Only Way 87. 05A.15. We Cannot Escape The Blood 88. 06.00. THE GRAND OLD BOOK 89. 06.01. The Grand Old Book 90. 06.02. The Bible Needs No Defense 91. 06.03. It Speaks With Authority 92. 06.04. It Is An Inspired Book 93. 06.05. God Has Written A Book 94. 06.06. Great Men Have Appreciated It 95. 06.07. Good Men Have Loved It 96. 06.08. It Is A Hated Book 97. 06.09. It Is An Indestructible Book 98. 06.10. It Is A Merciful Book 99. 06.11. It Is A Staff To The Living 100. 06.12. It Is A Profound Book 101. 06.13. It Is A Comfort To The Dying 102. 06.14. The Book Of Books 103. 06.15. I Love My Bible 104. 07.00. THE STORY OF TWO PRODIGALS 105. 07.01. A Biblical Prodigal 106. 07.01.01.A. The Far Country 107. 07.01.01.B The Wrong Crowd 108. 07.01.01.C. In Want 109. 07.01.01.D. He Comes To Himself 110. 07.01.01.E. Going Home 111. 07.01.01.F. The Welcome 112. 07.02.00. A Modern Prodigal 113. 07.02.01. His First Bad Habits 114. 07.02.02. Away To School 115. 07.02.03. Breaking The Rules 116. 07.02.04. Leaving School 117. 07.02.05. Back Home 118. 07.02.06. In School Again 119. 07.02.07. Back To The Wall 120. 07.02.08. On The Road 121. 07.02.09. Christmas 122. 07.02.10. The Blizzard 123. 07.02.11. A Kind Operator 124. 07.02.12. New Year 125. 07.02.13. A Real Mother 126. 07.02.14. Thinking Back 127. 07.02.15. The River Road 128. 07.02.16. A Boy And His Dog 129. 07.02.17. Home Again 130. 07.02.18. The Old Kitchen 131. 07.02.19. Looking For Trouble 132. 07.02.20. The Pig In The Parlor 133. 07.02.21. Nearly Killed 134. 07.02.22. A Sister Comes Home 135. 07.02.23. Keeping A Promise 136. 07.02.24. A Song In The Night 137. 07.02.25. The Elder Brother 138. 07.02.26. Leaving Home 139. 07.02.27. The End Of The Trail 140. 07.02.28. The Testimony Meeting 141. 07.02.29. The Invitation 142. 07.02.30. Will He Stick? 143. 07.02.31. Back To School 144. 07.02.32. Enters Evangelistic Work 145. 08.00. TITHING -- YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED 146. 08.01. What Is The Tithe? 147. 08.02. Can One Be a Christian and Not Tithe? 148. 08.03. Who Owns the Tithe? 149. 08.04. Tithe and Offerings 150. 08.05. Whence the Tithe? 151. 08.06. How Can I Figure My Tithe? 152. 08.07. Does the NT Teach Tithing? 153. 08.08. May One Use the Tithe? 154. 08.09. May We Pay Expenses First? 155. 08.10 Where Shall We Tithe? 156. 08.11. Results of Storehouse Tithing 157. 08.12. Can I Afford to Tithe? 158. 08.13. Does Tithing Pay? 159. S. MOTHER 160. S. THE PRINCE OF THIS WORLDTitle/Content 161. S. The Nightingale of the Psalms ======================================================================== CHAPTER 1: 01.00. ADD THEM: TO THE CHURCH ======================================================================== ADD THEM: To The Church By Jarrette Aycock A series of suggestions and methods for getting people to unite with the church. "The Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved" (Acts 2:47). A Companion Book to Win Them Save Some And Invite Them Beacon Hill Press Kansas City, Mo. ---> Contents <--- 1. The Church 2. Church Membership 3. The Pastor 4. The Evangelist 5. The Campaign 6. Methods 7. The Public Appeal 8. Methods Commended 9. Questions and Answers 10. Explanation FOREWORD In my early evangelistic ministry I was convinced that the best way to conserve the results of my revivals was to get the converts to unite with the church. Immediately I began to urge this in my meetings, usually starting on the last Monday night and emphasizing it briefly in every service. As a result, many people came into the church. For a number of years, we averaged from 150 to 200 and sometimes 300 people a year who affiliated themselves with the church at the close of our campaigns. The largest number to be received in any one meeting was 69. At one time there were more than 100 members in Cleveland First Church who had joined at the close of our revivals. Some of the pastors with whom we have been associated and who have known our work along this line have urged us to put our methods and ideas in print; hence this book. In the following pages we have endeavored to set forth the things we did and said, that God used, to help get people to line up with the church. In each service we tried to say it in a different way, but always driving for the same purpose, to get people into the church. First Printing 1957 Also by Jarrette Aycock Drawing the Net Win Them Save Some If Christ Had Not Come The Grand Old Book The Story of Two Prodigals The Prince of This World The Crimson Stream Mother The Nightingale of the Psalms Tithing: Your Questions Answered Printed in the U. S.A. Printed Book No Copyright * * * * * * * ADD THEM To The Church By Jarrette Aycock A series of suggestions and methods for getting people to unite with the church. "The Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved" (Acts 2:47). A Companion Book to Win Them Save Some And Invite Them Beacon Hill Press Kansas City, Mo. First Printing 1957 Also by Jarrette Aycock Drawing the Net Win Them Save Some If Christ Had Not Come The Grand Old Book The Story of Two Prodigals The Prince of This World The Crimson Stream Mother The Nightingale of the Psalms Tithing: Your Questions Answered Printed in the U. S. A. Printed Book No Copyright * * * * * * *Digital Edition 11/05/98 By Holiness Data Ministry * * * * * * * * * * * * * * CONTENTS 1 The Church 2 Church Membership 3 The Pastor 4 The Evangelist 5The Campaign 6 Methods 7 The Public Appeal 8 Methods Commended 9 Questions and Answers 10 Explanation * * * * * * * ======================================================================== CHAPTER 2: 01.01. THE CHURCH ======================================================================== 1 THE CHURCH Men speak of the seven wonders of earth and preach on the seven wonders of heaven. But the Church is not among them; it is above them. The Church is the wonder of the universe. Divine Connection The Church is the only institution that enjoys the glory of divine origin. Christ said, "Upon this rock I will build my church." It is the only institution that has the promise of divine light Jesus said, "I am the light of the world"; and again He said, "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." The Church holds the distinction of having divine leadership. Christ said, "When... the Spirit... is come, he will guide you into all truth." Divine Commission The Church stands above all other organizations in that it has a divine commission -- a mission far superior to that of any other institution. When Christ was upon earth He healed the sick, trained and taught men’s minds, and saved their souls. On the day of His ascension from the Mount of Olives, He left this commission with His Church: "Ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth" (Acts 1:8). In Mark 16:15 He said, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel." Divine Promises The Church has a fourfold, God-given promise held by no other institution on earth. God gives assurance of divine training: "The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." God promises divine power, "Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you." and again, "If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it." God promises His divine presence, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." God promises divine protection, "Upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Organization The church is an organization. Organization is essential for the greatest progress. This is true in business, politics, peace, and war: "in unity there is strength." Organization is very vital in religion. You have heard the illustration of how flowers will grow alone in the fields and forests but they will grow stronger and more beautiful in a garden. Men may live for God anywhere, but they will be better and finer Christians if they grow up in the fellowship of the church. The highest type of Christian characters in the world have been members of some church. A coal of fire will keep alive and hot much longer on a bed of coals. Separated, it will soon become cold and lifeless. Indictments The Church has been unmercifully criticized, and the grand juries of the world have indicted her a thousand times; but in spite of all opposition, she stands today, head and shoulders above all other organizations. After you have considered all the failures who have stood in her pulpit, all the hypocrites who have occupied her pews, all the filth unholy men have laid at her doors, all the reproach which unscrupulous and unethical men, professing Christianity, have brought upon her, she is still the grandest old ship afloat. There isn’t a lodge, or a brotherhood, or an organization, or a society, or a clique, or a clan in all the world that even compares with the Church in either goodness or beauty. * * * * * * * ======================================================================== CHAPTER 3: 01.02. CHURCH MEMBERSHIP ======================================================================== 2 CHURCH MEMBERSHIP It is a privilege and a high honor to be a member of God’s great organization. I believe it is the duty of every saved individual to affiliate himself with the church. Every Christian needs protection against the fiery darts of the wicked, and church membership will greatly aid in this way. Illustration In McGuffey’s reader there is a lesson on the bundle of sticks tied together that no one could break, but when separated, they broke easily. So it is if we are bound together in spiritual church fellowship, it makes us stronger and helps us stand for God. Church membership makes Christian living easier. I could cross the continent on foot; but I can save time, energy, and make the journey with much more comfort if I use some modern means of conveyance. As long as the ducks stay close together on the lake, the bird of prey soaring above cannot catch one. He may drop and strike, but his efforts are in vain. It is when one moves away from the flock that the eagle drops upon it and carries it away. The Christian who unites with the church and is faithful to all the means of grace has more protection than the Christian who endeavors to live the life alone. A Larger Field To be identified with the church is to be identified with the best and highest institution of any community. Church membership enlarges the field of Christian service. "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations" was the commandment of Christ. Not many can do that alone, either in person or by proxy. But in the church, no matter how small our gift, we can become missionaries to all the earth. Uniting with the church is casting your influence on the right side and saying to others, "Let us not line up with the world but with the work God has launched. Most of God’s people are church members; let us join with them in pushing the Kingdom." To belong to a church is to be identified with its fourfold work, without which any Christian becomes weak and anemic. Your membership identifies you with the church at study in the Sunday school. Your membership identifies you with the church at worship in the Sunday morning hour. Your membership identifies you with the church at work in the evening evangelistic service. Your membership identifies you with the midweek prayer service. If we live for Christ, we need them all. Woodrow Wilson said, "I admire the church because it creates an atmosphere in which men acquire moral stamina and spiritual strength." * * * * * * * ======================================================================== CHAPTER 4: 01.03. THE PASTOR ======================================================================== 3 THE PASTOR There are very few places in the local church where the pastor is not the key man. This is especially true in increasing the church membership. The majority of the members in the Church of the Nazarene have been brought in by the pastor. Receiving Members When members unite with the church it should always be the pastor who receives them. He is the shepherd of the flock, the one who is to live with them and lead them, and he is the one to whom they should be loyal. In the years I worked for church members as an evangelist, I never personally received a member into the church. The evangelist should never take in members. It is the pastor’s place. I did what I could to line them up and get them ready, but when it came to the actual reception, I left that to him. A pastor may ready increase his effectiveness in securing members for his church by soliciting the help of others. Use the EvangelistI believe it would pay the pastor to take advantage of the influence his evangelist may have during the revival campaign, and co-operate with him in getting people to unite with the church. This can be done by urging the evangelist to speak of the value of church membership in his preliminary remarks and to urge upon the new converts as well as older Christians, both publicly and privately, that they should have a church home. Use Members I have found it helpful to suggest when speaking of the church, "If any of you who are now members know of someone whom you think would be a blessing to this church, speak to that one and get him in touch with the pastor." Often good results and good members have been gained by this suggestion. Pass Them On I feel we jeopardize the experience of Christians when they move to another town or city and we urge them to leave their membership with us. All over the nation I have met folk who were once members of our church but when they changed their residence they did not move their membership. They sent their tithe back for a while, but having no local church home or responsibility, they became discouraged, lost interest, and lost out. When members move, pastors should urge them to join a church in their new location. if he would send their letters, notifying the pastor of the Church of the Nazarene nearest their destination, hundreds, if not thousands, would be saved to the church and to the Kingdom. Young People The pastor is the key man with his young people. I asked a pastor who had a large group of Christian young people why he did not get them to unite with the church. He replied, "We are not anxious to take in young people. We believe in letting them battle their way through high school and college; then if they stand, we take them in." I said, "I believe the church should take in the Christian young people and help them fight their way through high school and college." Church membership alone is not salvation, but it is a wonderful arm on which our youth may lean while they fight the battles of life. Children Many pastors are missing the mark by not taking the children who are converted into the church. Church history is filled with incidents of boys and girls being converted and living as born-again children should. Why not take in these boys and girls, individually or in a group, talk to them about salvation, explaining what it means to be a Christian? Tell them about the church and what it means to be a member; then receive them publicly into full fellowship. It will help to hold them during their teen-age years. * * * * * * * ======================================================================== CHAPTER 5: 01.04. THE EVANGELIST ======================================================================== 4 THE EVANGELIST One of the best times to interest people in church membership is during a revival. New people are coming to the services, folk are getting saved, and the tactful evangelist can do a great work in helping the pastor line them up for the church. A revival campaign should not only be a time for winning souls, but a time for conserving the results by gathering them into the church. During the last week of the campaign, if the evangelist will take a few minutes in each service to speak of the advantages, the need, and the duty of every Christian having a church home, it is sure to bring results. Why Don’t They? It has bothered me that so few people unite with the church as a result of the revival campaigns on my district. On inquiry, pastors tell me that many of the evangelists will preach ten or twelve days and never mention church membership. If only sopercentwould promote joining the church in their meetings, it would mean hundreds of additions for our work. I am sure this can be done in evangelistic meetings without becoming obnoxious to our visiting guests or without driving loyal people of other denominations from us. We do not need to knock other denominations or speak unkindly about them in order to brag on and boost our own. Not a Hindrance Emphasizing church membership in our revivals should in no way hinder our zeal for souls. If we speak about it in the preliminary service, it will not keep people away from the altar. A few words from the evangelist such as, "Your coming to the altar in no way obligates you to join the Church of the Nazarene," given when he is speaking about the church or at the beginning of his invitation, will clear this matter in the minds of the people. The influence an evangelist wields over people during a series of good revival services is tremendous, and if he will use it wisely over those who do not have a church home, he can tie them to the church and pastor. * * * * * * * ======================================================================== CHAPTER 6: 01.05. THE CAMPAIGN ======================================================================== 5 THE CAMPAIGN Every revival campaign should bring souls into the Kingdom and members into the church. The writer of the Acts of the Apostles said, "The Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved." First they were saved, second they were added to the Church. The last night of a revival meeting is one of the best times to receive members. The people are there. Their interest has been increasing throughout the campaign. The young converts are on fire with zeal and enthusiasm to go all the way with God. The pastor has made many new contacts and has a better grip on old acquaintances. The evangelist is there to help, and it is easier to get people to come in then than at any other time. Don’t Wait Where the pastor can get the co-operation of the evangelist, It is a mistake to put off the reception of members until a later date. The time taken to prepare for the reception of members, and time occupied in taking them in, never hurts the revival or hinders the last service, I have known it to help greatly. There are some very definite reasons why we should "strike while the iron is hot" I have known people who would have joined at the close of the revival and I believe would have made good members; before an opportunity was given, some group who did not believe in church membership would talk them out of it, or friends prejudice them against our church. Remember, a good fisherman always strings his fish. Another very vital reason is this: It keeps our church believing in and anxious for revivals. We need that. When our folk fall to see definite results for the church from the campaigns, they begin to lose interest and may even oppose having an evangelist. The Church of the Nazarene was born in revivals, and when we cease to have them we will go spiritually as the old-line churches have gone. For this reason, if no other, I think a pastor would be wise, even if he had a group ready to join, to wait until the close of the revival to receive them into the church. I would rather take in ten members on the last night of the meeting and lose half of them than to wait ten days and not get any. TroublemakersSome think it is dangerous to urge new people to unite with the church or take them in too soon alter they are converted. However, it has been my observation that it is not the new converts and seldom the new people who cause trouble. Troublemakers are usually found among members of long standing who have lost the grace of God out of their hearts -- people who have become sour and critical, yet still profess to have an experience. * * * * * * * ======================================================================== CHAPTER 7: 01.06. METHODS ======================================================================== 6 METHODS On the last Monday night of the meeting, I usually began talking for church membership. I did this briefly in every service, endeavoring to make it a little different each time, using the following approaches. I believe every Christian should have a church home. On the last Sunday night of this meeting we want to see a number of people cast their lot with this church. If you are not a member, we would like you to consider and pray about coming with us. If you are interested, speak to the pastor or his wife at the close of the service, or speak to me and I will help you get in touch with them. We have a nice tract concerning our church we will be glad to give you; or if you prefer, we will furnish you with the Manual of our church. Should you ask me, "What church should I join?" you might be surprised at my reply. I would answer, "Join the church of your choice." Find a church with whose doctrines and government you are in agreement, cast your lot with it, and back it for all you are worth. Every young convert should immediately unite with the church. Start out with the determination to go all the way with God. Accept everything which is on His program. The Church among all others is one of the most important. I was converted in a union rescue mission’ and though I was told every child of God should unite with a church, I had no one to guide me in my choice. But I at once sought out a church in the city and asked the pastor if I could join. I was already saved, but uniting with the church gave me a responsibility that helped me to stand. It gave me the feeling, I belong. I urge you, young Christian, don’t put it off but cast your lot with the church. Every child of God should be a member of some church, should have a home base, a place he can point to as his home church. When I ask a man, "What church are you a member of?" and he answers, "Not any in particular," I wonder if he stands for anything in particular; so many do not. The church tramp who has joined the tribe of Gad, going from one service to another, is never much of a blessing anywhere. By all means find a church home. This church is a good one. Think about it, pray about it, and give us a chance to discuss it with you. Not only should every Christian have a church home, but I have a conviction that if he believes in holiness he should line up with the crowd who believes and teaches it. Folk may say, "I have the harness on." That is very fine; but you can take the best team of horses in the land, place on them the finest harness that money can buy, but they cannot pull as much as I can, unless you hitch them to something. If I am going to wear holiness harness, I want to be hitched to a holiness wagon. I want to pull something that stands for what I believe. You may be a member of a Nazarene church in some other town or city, but if you have moved here, you should place your membership here. You do not need to wait until you can get your letter -- you can come in now and the pastor will write and get your letter for you. A Layman A very outstanding layman of our church is a statistician for the U. S. Government. His position has necessitated his moving many times to various cities, and it has always been his policy to ask his pastor for his letter and the letters of his family. He takes these with him to his new place of residence and places them in the church there. He tells his new pastor, "I don’t know just how long I will be here, but while I am, I want to do my best to be a good Nazarene layman." There are hundreds of people over the country who were once good members of the church; they have moved to new places, neglected to write for their letters, and today they are backslidden and never attend church anywhere. Join now where you live and get your letter later. Never permit a pastor to persuade you to leave your membership in his church after you have moved away. Your obligation is where you live. Unite with the church there. If there are exceptions to this rule, they are few and far between. If you are a member of some other denomination but you like our church with its doctrine and rules, you do not have to wait until you receive your church letter before you join; you can come in now and the pastor can write for your letter. Or if you prefer, he can just notify your former church that you have united here. Sentimental TiesNever allow sentimentalties to keep you from casting your lot with a holiness church. Years ago I held a meeting in one of the most popular towns in the world -- a town so popular they named it twice, Walla Walla. We had been urging people throughout the week to be ready to unite with the church on the last Sunday night. On Sunday morning a dear old lady said she was coming in that night. When she arrived home her old husband said, "Mother, I don’t think you should join the Nazarene church." "Why?" she asked. "Because," he said, "I don’t think you should leave our old church. We have been in it most of our lives. We have raised our children in it and I do not think you should leave it." The old lady replied, "Father, I am not leaving my old church. My church has left me. It doesn’t stand for what it used to and what I have stood for all these years. It doesn’t care anything about me or my testimony. Here is the Church of the Nazarene, standing for what my church once stood for and what I still believe. They are my people, why shouldn’t I join them?" The old man thought for a moment, then said, "Mother, you are right. Our church has left us, hasn’t it? I am going to join with you tonight." That night they both united with the Church of the Nazarene, where they found wonderful fellowship with the people who believed as they did. Friend, are you holding on to an organization which has left you and forgotten you? A group which opposes and criticizes the experience of grace you profess? Are you going to allow bonds to hold you just because you have belonged a long time? Here is a church which believes and teaches the doctrine you have stood for and preaches the experience you have enjoyed for years. Why not unite with us and help us spread this gospel to the uttermost part of the earth? Back the doctrine you believe. Place your name as well as your presence with the group that teaches it. It does not seem consistent for a person who believes in the Wesleyan interpretation of entire sanctification to line up with and put his money into a church that fights or opposes it Cast your lot with a holiness church and put your influence and money back of it. Do not be a trunk Christian. Many who were once active workers in the church now have their letters in their trunks. If the exact church of your choice is not in the place you now live, find a spiritual church that is most like the one you prefer and join it; then when the church of your choice comes to town, line up with it Do not stay out of the church until you find one that, in your estimation, is ideal. Should you find such a church, you might not be eligible for membership or you might find you would be the only member. Do not stay out because some things in it do not suit you, but find the one nearest your choice and be a good member until one that suits you better comes to your neighborhood. I have a small card here which contains a brief statement of our doctrine and excerpts from our general rules taken from the church Manual. I do not have a sufficient number to give to everyone; but if you are interested, if you have been thinking of joining the Church of the Nazarene and have not fully made up your mind, if you would like to know more about what we teach and what we stand for, if you will raise your hand, I will ask the pastor to go down into the audience and give you this card. (This enables the pastor to see who takes the card and makes it easier for him to approach the prospect later. See contents of card on back page of this book.) We are not wholly unselfish in asking you to unite with our church; we believe you will be a blessing to us. We need you and we need your influence. We feel your coming will make us stronger for God and holiness and that you being one of us will help us build this into a larger and better work. I also believe this pastor and these people will be a blessing to you and that you will be glad you made the step. A Physician I was holding a campaign in a city of about twenty thousand population. A prominent physician was in the meeting, who, I understood, had been attending the church for two or three years but was not a member. One night after service I said to him, "Doctor, I understand you attend the Church of the Nazarene all the time. Why don’t you unite with us?" He replied, "I’ll tell you, Brother Aycock; they won’t let me join the church." "Why?" I asked. "Because I am a member of the Masonic Lodge." "Doctor, are you going to let the lodge keep you out of the church?" He answered, "Well, you know, Brother, the Masonic Lodge is a great institution; it is founded on the Bible. Scripture after scripture is in its foundation. They stand loyally by their members in time of trouble. They look after their widows, orphans, and people in time of need." "Doctor, I don’t know anything about the lodge," I said. "I was never a member of one of any kind and I did not know they were founded on the Bible and did all that good work, but I willtake your word for it. But, Doctor, do you think they would stop doing all those good deeds if you dropped out?" He smiled and answered, "No, I guess not; they did them before I became a member." "Doctor," I asked, "aren’t most of the people in the lodge men and women of the world?" "Yes," he said, "I suppose the most of them are." "You know, Doctor, there are thousands of people of the world who will carry on the good work of the lodge who are not interested in the Church, especially in the spreading of the scriptural holiness. They will give to carry on that kind of work, but they will never give a dime to a holiness church like this. "Here is a struggling holiness church, trying to build in this town and preaching the very doctrine you believe. Admitting this society is all you say, why not let the world run it and you come and lend your name and influence to help this church work for God and holiness? "Help us build in this city a Church of the Nazarene to stand for the greatest thing in the world -- a full salvation that will save from all sin. Let the worldly crowd run the worldly organizations." He stood for a moment with his head down as if thinking. Then he looked up, smiled, and said, "You know, I had never thought of it in that way. The world will run the lodge, won’t they?" Then stretching out his hand he said, "Preacher, I am going to come into the church and help support it and its message of full salvation." He came into the church and for fifteen years or more he was Sunday School superintendent and wielded a great influence for the cause of holiness before God called him home. Friend, what you stand for may be good and the organization to which you belong may do a wonderful work, but is it pointing men to Christ? The greatest organization in the world is a spiritual church crusading for souls for Jesus. The church needs you; come in and help us. * * * * * * * ======================================================================== CHAPTER 8: 01.07. THE PUBLIC APPEAL ======================================================================== 7 THE PUBLIC APPEAL I am not urging, or even suggesting, that others receive members by publicly opening the doors of the church. This is something which should be settled by the pastor, church board, or membership committee. I am merely endeavoring to set forth, as requested by pastors with whom I have worked, the methods which I used and which God seemed to bless. I do not believe in railroading or high-pressuring people into the church. I do not believe in throwing open the doors and saying, "Whosoever will may come." I have never knowingly let down the bars or compromised our standards in opening the doors of the church; but I know of some very fine people, and some who have climbed high in our denomination, who never consented to unite with a church until a public appeal was made. Seeking Approval In publicly opening the doors of the church I have always first secured the approval of the pastor and in many instances have met the church board or membership committee and explained to them just how I would go about it. Having their approval, on the last night of the meeting I proceeded in the following way. The Appeal I am still very much interested in people coming into the church, and tonight we are going to give an opportunity to those who are ready. The pastor has talked this over with the membership committee and the church board. Some of them have spoken to you also. You have thought about it, prayed about it, and it is time you did something about it. However, we want those who come with us to know exactly what they are doing and to be sold on the Church of the Nazarene, with its rules and its doctrines. Before inviting you to come forward, I want to tell you as kindly, yet as definitely as I know how, some of those things which we stand for, and stand against. After you have heard them, if you are a Christian, and would like to be a member of this kind of church, and will do your best to live up to its standards, you may come forward and the pastor will gladly receive you. On the other hand, after you have heard our standards, if you do not care to unite with us, we will not fail out with you because you do not join, and please do not fall out with us because we have some standards and are trying to live up to them. Whether you ever come our way or not, we want you to remain our friend, and continue to attend our services and be a member of our congregation. General Rules You have heard privately of our general rules; you have read them in our Manual or on the card which was given out. Now we would like to give them to you in brief, here in public. We do not receive into the church those who use intoxicating liquors or tobacco or traffic therein. We do not receive those who belong to oath-bound secret orders or fraternities. This does not mean labor unions; neither does it mean life insurance. We do not receive into fellowship those who are divorced and remarried without scriptural grounds, namely, adultery. You know if you have such grounds. Others may think they know but you know. We do not receive those who gossip, slander, and spread surmises injurious to the good name of others. We do not accept into membership those who attend theaters, circuses, and like places of worldly amusement. We ask those who come with us that they dress in Christian simplicity, as becometh men and women professing Christianity (1 Timothy 2:9-10; 1 Peter 3:3-4). We ask those who unite with us that they be saved and know it. We do not ask that they be sanctified, but we do insist that they be in harmony with our doctrines, not inveighing against them in any way. What We Have to Offer We cannot offer you the largest church. There are many which have more wealth, more members, and more commodious buildings. We take no pride in being small; but if it meant the choice of a clean work or a large one, we would rather be clean. Speaking generally, we can offer you a church of more than 7, 000 preachers, all of whom believe the old Bible from Genesis to Revelation. We do not believe it merely contains the Word of God; we believe it is the Word of God. We can offer you a church where every minister preaches the gospel of full salvation. Some may preach it better than others; but from the general superintendents to the local preacher, every one preaches a gospel that will save all men from all sin if they will come to Christ on the terms of the gospel. We can offer you a church where the money you give will not go for paying dues into worldly organizations or the use of filthy habits, but will go for the cause for which you gave it. Most of us do not have much to give and we like to feel it will be used for the glory of God. The Local ChurchSpeaking locally, we can offer you a good pastor who will love you, share your joys and sorrows, and do all he can to be a blessing to you. We can offer you here some men and women to be your brothers and sisters in Christ as fine as you will find anywhere on earth. In this church we can offer you a place of service, where you can work for the glory of God while you worship Him in the beauty of holiness. Why Unite You should unite with the church for the sake of your influence. "Don’t you think I could live a Christian outside the church?" you might ask. I would reply, "Yes, you might; but by staying out you may by your example keep out someone else who is not as strong as you. Therefore, because of your influence you should cast your lot with the church." We should tie our children to the most spiritual organization possible. The best way to do this is to set the example by uniting with a spiritual church. If you keep your membership in some dead, cold, formal organization, when you aregone you will have left your children tied in their thinking to that organization. When on some special occasion like Easter or Mother’s Day they go to church, the chances are they will attend the one of which you were a member. If they do, will they hear anything which will point them to Christ? If you join a spiritual church, your children may resent it, but when you are gone you will leave them tied to a spiritual church. If they ever attend a Church of the Nazarene anywhere around the world, they will hear enough gospel in any service to lead them to the Savior. You young people, if you are saved, should come into the church. It will not save you, but it will do a lot to help you stand for God. Children should unite with the church, and you boys and girls here tonight, if you are converted and your parents do not object, I know the pastor would be glad to welcome you. There are a number in the audience who, if you would follow your hearts, would come in tonight. You plan to come, I am sure. Eventually, why not now? Conclusion I have given you definitely and plainly what we stand for and what we stand against. If you are a Christian and would like to be a member of this church; if you will do your best to live up to its standards, and if you find you cannot, you will quickly withdraw or permit your name to be dropped-if you will come forward, under these conditions, the pastor will be happy to receive you. Reception When those wishing to unite have come to the front, I invite the church board, the membership committee, and the pastor’s wife to line up in back of them. When the pastor has received them into the church, the board, led by the pastor’s wife, gives them the hand of Christian fellowship and church fellowship. If, through this method, we have ever gotten people into the church who have caused trouble and brought reproach on the cause of holiness, I have never known it. * * * * * * * ======================================================================== CHAPTER 9: 01.08. METHODS COMENDED ======================================================================== 8 METHODS COMMENDED After hearing this appeal, the late Dr. R. T. Williams, general superintendent, said to me, "Jarrette, anyone who would lie and present himself for membership after hearing your appeal would lie to a membership committee or church board." The late General Superintendent James B. Chapman, after listening to this appeal said to a friend, "That is the sanest, safest way I have ever seen or heard anyone publicly take members into our church." Dr. E. P. Ellyson, a former general superintendent, on the last night of a revival meeting, after hearing the writer make this appeal, remarked, "That is the sanest and best method I have heard." Mr. E. S. Carmen, who united with the church in one of our meetings in Cleveland, Ohio, and who was for years one of the prominent laymen on our General Board, said, "I don’t think I would have ever united with the Church of the Nazarene if it had not been for your public appeal; it hit me just right. Many pastors and laymen have commended this method. After my using it in churches all over the nation, not one has ever written us to say that my method of talking folk into the church has caused heartache and trouble. * * * * * * * ======================================================================== CHAPTER 10: 01.09. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ======================================================================== 9 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Q. Have you ever had a pastor or church board refuse to let you use this method? A. Yes, about one in ten. Q. When you were an evangelist, did you ask to use this method in all your meetings? A. No, not in all, but in most Q. Did you ever make this appeal and no one respond? A. I do not recall that I ever did. Q. Did you ever have an undesirable person present himself for membership on this appeal? A. Yes, a few. Q. Did you take them into the church or how did you handle it? A. When they stepped into the line I said to them in an undertone, so only they could hear, "We do not wish to embarrass you and you may stand here, but you are not being taken into the church." Q. What about the troublemaker who may have been a member and might take advantage of this method to come back? A. Before making the appeal I always conferred with the pastor. If there were folk of that kind in the audience, I stated in the appeal, "We cannot receive former members of this church in this way; all such will have to confer with the church board." * * * * * * * ======================================================================== CHAPTER 11: 01.10. EXPLENATION ======================================================================== 10 EXPLANATION The following material is on the card referred to earlier in the book and which I prepared for publication in 1926. Brief Statement of Belief and Excerpts From the General Rules BRIEF STATEMENT OF BELIEF We believe in God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; we especially emphasize the deity of Jesus Christ and the personality of the Holy Spirit; that man is born in sin; that he needs the work of the Holy Spirit in regeneration; that after the work of regeneration, there is the further work of heart cleansing, or entire sanctification, which is effected by the Holy Ghost. And to each of these works of grace the Holy Spirit gives witness. We believe in eternal desting with its rewards and punishments. We believe in the resurrection of the dead, the second coming of Christ, the Bible doctrine of divine healing, and the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. EXCERPTS FROM GENERAL RULES It is required of all who desire to unite with the Church of the Nazarene that they shall show evidence of their salvation from sin by a godly walk; that they shall earnestly desire to be cleansed from all indwelling sin, and shall evidence this by avoiding evil of every kind, such as -Profanity; Sabbath desecration; the use of intoxicating liquors or tobacco, or the trafficking therein; quarreling; spreading surmises injurious to the good name of others; dishonesty; indulgence of pride in dress or behavior; "Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning... of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; but let it be the hidden man of the heart" (1 Peter 3:1-22). Such songs, literature, and entertainments as are not to the glory of God; the theater, the ballroom, the circus, and like places; games of chance; membership in or fellowship with oath-bound secret orders or fraternities. We hold that persons who have been divorced by civil law, where scriptural grounds for divorce (namely, adultery) did not exist, and have subsequently remarried, are not eligible to membership in the church. We expect those who unite with us to be in harmony with our doctrines, to attend faithfully the means of grace, and contribute to the support of the church according to the ability which God giveth. If after reading this statement of belief, and general rules, you desire to unite with the church, kindly sign your name and address on other side and HAND TO THE PASTOR, who will confer with you. The above card is intended to encourage and inform prospective members. In addition there is available the card folder entitled CHURCH OF THE NAZARENE Application for Membership This is to be used when persons have decided in favor of church membership. They use this card folder to make application. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 12: 02.00. DRAWING THE NET ======================================================================== DRAWING THE NET By Jarrette Aycock CONTENTS Introduction 1. Why this Book? 2. Giving the Invitation 3. The sermon 4. Songs 5. Some things to Avoid 6. Think on these things. 7. The illustration 8. Methods 9. The Fourth Proposition 10. A Brief Appeal 11. Pastors can help 12. "Don’t"s for fishermen 13. "B" for fishermen ------------------------------ ======================================================================== CHAPTER 13: 02.000. INTRODUCTION ======================================================================== INTRODUCTION DRAWING THE NET is born of twenty-seven fruitful years of service in the field of evangelism throughout our church in the United States and Canada. The author, Dr. Jarrette Aycock, who has been superintendent of the Kansas City District for ten years, writes to his own young preachers of his experiences and methods employed, and thus he addresses himself to all earnest ministers everywhere who would do the work of an evangelist and make full proof of their ministry. Dr. Aycock acknowledges freely our utter dependence upon the Holy Spirit in this engaging business of "drawing the net," and he warns against methods that may become mechanical and stereotyped. The style of the book is readable, direct, and "down to earth." I am sure it will prove especially helpful to all pastors and young evangelists who want to learn how to assist souls in coming to the crisis moment of seeking God for spiritual deliverance. SAMUEL YOUNG, General Superintendent ======================================================================== CHAPTER 14: 02.01. WHY THIS BOOK? ======================================================================== 1. WHY THIS BOOK? Many have said to me, "My ministry is fruitless; I fail in my invitations; I do not seem to be able to get folks forward for prayer." A pastor said to me, "Brother Aycock, for nearly thirty years you were an evangelist and God gave you many souls. Why do you not hold conferences among your pastors and tell us how you gave an invitation? I need advice and I am sure others do also." Acting on this suggestion, I held six such conferences with the pastors on my district, giving them in the very words I would use in revival campaigns the methods I have used across the years in drawing the net. They seemed to appreciate the message and in each instance voted that it be published, and that is the WHY of THIS BOOK. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 15: 02.02 GIVING THE INVITATION ======================================================================== 2. GIVING THE INVITATION The giving of an invitation for people to come to Christ is a very sacred thing. It is only by request and with an apology that I dare write upon the subject. For over twenty-seven years, almost every night, I tried to give an invitation and I am convinced that there are no definite plans or rules that will always prove effective. Often factors which seemed so helpful in getting folk forward for prayer in one service miserably fail in others. It is only through the power of God that an effective invitation can ever be given, but when the Spirit is manifested the most unlikely methods often bring results. It is "not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord." There are methods, however, which we have used across the years on which God has often placed His blessing, bringing forth thirty, sixty, and sometimes a hundred fold. These we humbly place before you, not as something new or original, but methods which are old and often tried. And if one preacher using any of these suggestions can lead one soul to Christ, I shall be eternally grateful. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 16: 02.03. THE SERMON ======================================================================== 3. THE SERMON If you want to give an invitation at the close of the service, you should plan and build your message for that purpose. Preach with a view of drawing the net and endeavor to put into your sermon that which is likely to make people think about the need of their souls. There are, however, exceptions to all rules and sometimes that sermon which has not been particularly planned for immediate results, if an invitation is given, will produce wonders. For this reason, the soul winner should always preach with his ear listening for the voice of God and his heart tuned to the urge of the Spirit. Lean on the Lord Place your dependence on God and never on your message. Dr. M., after preaching a great evangelistic message without results, returned to the parsonage and in great agitation walked the floor, saying, over and over: "I don’t understand it; when I preach that sermon I always have a large altar service. Did he depend too much on his discourse? I do not know, but I do know it always pays to lean heavily upon the Lord. Dr. J. had an effective evangelistic sermon with which he often lined the altar. However, one night in his endeavor dramatically to sweep the audience off their feet his methods reacted and he was humiliated and the amused audience went away laughing. Rev. S. used to give a very fruitful message on the four horsemen of Revelation and often the slain of the Lord were many. One night he said to a group of ministers, "We will have the altar full tonight; I am going to ride the horses." He rode the horses all right and used the same words he had at other times, but folks did not respond. Personal Reference I have a message I have tried to preach over three hundred times with over six thousand seekers resulting, and I know there is a temptation to lean upon the sermon. There have been times when God has so blessed that more than a hundred souls came forward, but there have been other times when no one was reached. We cannot emphasize too much the fact that it is "not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord." Be Careful Be careful lest your message leave the impression that it is too difficult to find God. Do not picture the task so hard that sinners will think it useless to seek the Lord. If you convince men they have committed the unpardonable sin, you have convinced them that it is hopeless for them to seek God. Humor Humor, properly used, can often be very helpful in getting the attention and holding your audience. It is easier to make people laugh than to make them cry. It is easier to move folks from laughter to crying than from gravity to weeping. Place your jokes, epigrams, funny stories, and all lightness in the beginning, or in the body of your message, never at the close. Many good appeals have been hindered and the invitation ruined by the joke or wisecrack which was placed too near the close of the message. Patience Patience is both a gift and a grace in giving an invitation. Many a service that might have been profitable has closed without results because the preacher lost patience. In my early ministry I was often defeated in this way. A Pastor’s Help Years ago, a pastor for whom I was conducting a campaign greatly helped me along this line. During the first two or three nights of the invitation he stood near me and, in tones too low for others to hear, he would say over and over, "Hold on,. God is here, don’t give up." This greatly encouraged me, increased my patience, brought results, and taught me a lesson I have never forgotten. Bud Robinson It was the last night of a great camp meeting; Bud Robinson was my co-laborer and it was my turn to preach. At the close of the message I was completely defeated. I gave an invitation but did not expect anyone to respond. Bud Robinson stood in back of me and began saying, "Hold on, they are coming, hold on." I did not think so but, because of his faith and encouragement, I held on until 125 were kneeling at the altar. This was another much needed lesson in patience. Do Not Be Defeated Do not let the devil bluff you out of an invitation. He will try it. He will make all kinds of suggestions, such as, "There is no conviction, the hour is late, you will drive folks away." Or he will pick out some individual in the audience and suggest because of him you should not give an invitation. Do not be defeated. We should always remember that the devil is a liar and the father of lies. Invitation Expected Christians expect an invitation and 90 per cent of the sinners expect it. Twice in my ministry I have received a note from the unsaved rebuking me because I did not give them an opportunity to come to the altar. We are not suggesting that an invitation should always be given or that it should always be lengthy. Yet we are saying that we should try to get the mind of God as to how and when the invitation should be given and not be defeated by a suggestion of the devil. Lethargy Do not let the fact that there seems to be a lethargy or deadness in the service defeat or deceive you. I have yielded to this feeling and closed the service and had good Christians come around and say, "God was here tonight, and lots of conviction on the people." It was I who was dead, tired, and afflicted with lethargy. I was deceived, whipped out, and defeated in what might have been a fruitful service. If we could only remember that Jesus said, "I am with you alway"; you may be tired, but "I will help thee." C. E. Cornell Dr. C. E. Cornell, the author of Hints to Fishermen and Casting the Net, and perhaps the most successful at giving the invitation of any man our church has ever known, said: "Make your sermon twenty-five or thirty minutes long, right to the point, then make your invitation as long as your message." Of course, this is not a hard and fast rule; circumstance, place, and the spirit of the service will help you in judging how long to make your invitation. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 17: 02.04. SONGS ======================================================================== 4. SONGS Choose your own invitation songs. However, do not have the number announced, as this starts people looking for the song and greatly distracts their attention. It is best to choose a familiar song, so that searching for it will not be necessary Changing Songs If people are responding during the song you have selected, be slow to change it. Sing it over and over. If there is a lull in the response, a change of song may help. I have used the same song for twenty minutes; at other times I have used a number of different songs during the same length of time. The Last Stanza I have heard a young evangelist say three times in one service, "This is positively the last stanza we will sing." This was very unwise, as it left him wide open to be called insincere and to be accused of lying. People often respond, either in coming for prayer or in doing personal work, when what they think will be the last stanza is being sung. If you make a statement as the one just related, then see you have made a mistake, either quit as you promised or apologize by saying: "I have made a mistake. I am sorry and, if you will pardon me, I would like to continue the invitation." This will put you in the clear and will head off any who may be watching for something to criticize. A Better Way It is much better in bringing your invitation to a close to say, "If there is no move among Christians to do personal work," or, "If no one comes to the altar, this is the last stanza." Or a still better way is to say, "This is the last full verse and chorus we will sing." Then if there seems to be a need of extending the invitation, you are free to repeat the chorus as often as you wish. Split Chorus There are some choruses which are very singable if cut in two. If you wish to emphasize the fact that you are bringing your invitation nearer the end, say, "This is the last full chorus we will sing." I have had many respond after such a statement as we sang over and over the part chorus, "I’ll go with Him, with Him all the way," or the last few words of the old song, "Don’t turn the Saviour away from your heart, don’t turn Him away." Last Appeal on Last Night On bringing to a close the last invitation on the last night I have often used the following song and exhortation with good results: "I am giving my last invitation to you; we are going to sing our last song. In a little while the meeting will be over and we will all be gone, never to meet this way again this side of the judgment. I may never see any of you again, but I have learned to know and appreciate you. If I know my heart, it is wrapped up in that grand old farewell hymn, ’God Be with You till We Meet Again.’ We are going to sing it; it is the last song. How many are there here who will grant me the privilege of praying for you one time before I go? Maybe you did not plan to come to the altar, but will you reconsider and grant me this privilege? I could leave with a lighter heart if you would. Come for one prayer." I have had scores respond to this appeal. If you make such a proposition, be sure to pray the first prayer. Good Songs The invitation songs I have used most often across the years are: "Almost Persuaded," "Softly and Tenderly," "Where He Leads Me," "Don’t Turn Him Away," "Just as I Am," and "Tell Mother I’ll Be There." After bringing an evangelistic message on death, I have used the old song "Nearer, My God, to Thee" with good results. "Just Inside the Eastern Gate" has proved very effective for the invitation following a sermon on heaven. A Good Closing The closing night of a revival, after the last altar service is over, after the stranger, the indifferent church member, and those who may be only slightly interested are gone, it always leaves a good feeling in the church to have the young converts and the people remaining to form a circle, join hands, and sing "Blest Be the Tie That Binds." This usually stirs the emotions and leaves a good impression in the minds of the people which will long be remembered. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 18: 02.05. SOME THINGS TO AVOID ======================================================================== 5. SOME THINGS TO AVOID Avoid anything that detracts from the effectiveness of your message, especially near the close. Anything that detracts from the sinfulness of sin, the love of Christ, and the necessity of salvation should never be admitted into the service. Avoid using illustrations which are illogical, unreasonable, extreme, or ridiculous. In our age of travel and modern education, superstition is almost a thing of the past and anything bordering on it will prove more ridiculous than effective. Avoid making the price of salvation so high that people will feel they cannot afford it. Many things are easier explained and settled after they come to the altar. Avoid making your proposition so weak and easy that to respond becomes meaningless. The Scriptures say, He "commandeth all men every where to repent." Avoid making rash statements, such as, "The Holy Ghost left that man tonight." It might keep him from ever trying to find God; and then he might get saved in the next service, which would place you in a poor light as a prophet. Avoid speaking disparagingly of any other church. There may be people in the audience who have strong ties of kinship or sentiment with that church, and unkind remarks, even when true, may drive them away. Crowds are too small these days; we cannot afford to lose anyone from our audiences. Avoid public issues from the pulpit. You may be right, but someone is sure to take the other fellow’s side. Avoid making a hobby of nonessentials and preaching your personal convictions as though they were essential to salvation. The exhortation of the Scriptures is, "Preach the word." Avoid using illustrations that are extreme and treating them as though such instances are common. I dare say all the vivid ones you know are the exception rather than the rule. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 19: 02.06. THINK ON THESE THINGS ======================================================================== 6. THINK ON THESE THINGS Faith Faith is a definite asset in giving an invitation. Draw your net with the assurance that God is there. The meeting is His, so expect results. While you are pulling from the pulpit, God is working in the audience. Have faith; we are "workers together with God." Know Your Crowd The soul winner should study his audience. Watch faces for signs of conviction. When you see someone under conviction, slip quickly to his side and invite him to come. Just a word from the preacher at such a time has brought thousands into the Kingdom. Be Honest, Sincere Be careful never to leave a question or a doubt in anyone’s mind as to your sincerity. You are dealing with immortal souls, and on this dealing may hinge eternal life for someone. Be on the Alert Always be on the alert both to the voice of God and to a change in the attitude of your audience. Often in the midst of a hard invitation, a thought will grip you to exhort on some other line, change your proposition, or change your song. Such impulses should be obeyed and you will find they will often change the tide. Serious Thought The invitation is a time for serious, positive, deliberate thought. If there was ever a time when a man needs all his wits about him, it is when he is making this all-important decision of where he will spend eternity. Never use anything which might distract his thinking from these lines. Keep Your Invitation It is seldom wise to turn the invitation over to another or to grant anyone’s request to speak to the audience. In most cases it will hinder rather than help. Use the Pastor As a rule it is not wise for a pastor to take over the invitation unless the evangelist requests him to do so. However, the evangelist can often use the pastor to great advantage. Frequently when I have found myself failing in the invitation I have asked the pastor to make an appeal and seekers were the results. At times I have taken it back and at other times I have let him close it. Holding On After a long invitation, yet still feeling we should not quit, I have been able to get a new start and grip on the situation by saying, "This is the last stanza, unless the pastor suggests we sing another." Most pastors will sense the situation and make the suggestion, which will put you in the clear to continue your invitation. The pastor’s suggesting it will make the folk feel better about it. Move About There is usually quite a tension immediately following an evangelistic message and it is hard for the unsaved to be the first to make a move. ’This tension can be relieved and the invitation aided greatly if the pastor, or someone in the audience who is vitally interested, will step out in the aisle and move about in the audience. After several services with such tension and no move, I have privately requested the pastor or some interested layman to do this, and it has helped me in getting a break. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 20: 02.07. THE ILLUSTRATION ======================================================================== 7. THE ILLUSTRATION It has been said, "A sermon without illustrations is like a house without windows." Striking, tender, gripping, thought-provoking illustrations are some of the soul winner’s best weapons. C. E. Cornell Rev. C. E. Cornell, that prince of soul winners, said. "Use three good illustrations, one at the beginning of your message to get their attention, one in the middle to catch those going astray, and one at the close to clinch the truth you are trying to present." Regardless of the kind you use at the opening or in the body of your message, be sure those at the close are given with a view of persuasion. Your Own Are Best Your own illustrations are best if you have them. But if not, use others but never claim them as your own. Much harm has often been done in this way. Vary Your Illustrations Illustrations preceding an invitation should or may be varied. They should make men think, stir the emotions, move them to tears, challenge their courage, or frighten them with impending danger. Do not avoid sentiment. Stories of mother, home, and heaven have won many souls to Christ. However, always keep in mind that, no matter how gripping, tender, or moving the story may be, it is "not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 21: 02.08. METHODS ======================================================================== 8. METHODS All methods, plans, and practices are worthless without the blessing of God upon them, and for this blessing we should always pray earnestly. There are, however, certain methods that God often uses, methods that seem to affect some people and bring definite results. Sometimes Fail It is well to understand that no method will always work. That which at one time proved so effective and brought wonderful results, the very next time may utterly fail. There are many methods which may be effectively used in giving an invitation, and all I may suggest I have used often to the salvation of many souls. At other times I have used them with no results whatever. We cannot emphasize too much that in soul winning all methods must be anointed by the Spirit. The Raised Hand It is often well at the close of the message to ask those interested to raise their hands. I usually ask those who have been filled with the Spirit, then those who have been saved, and then those who are interested in either one or the other. This is a step toward God and it gives personal workers, as well as yourself, a chance to spot those manifesting concern. When the spirit of conviction seems to be upon the people, it often helps to ask those who have raised their hands to go a step further and stand. Most of those who respond will come to the altar. I have used this occasionally to good advantage, "How many are interested enough to step right out without a song and come and kneel at the altar?" Any who are concerned enough to do this are very close to settling the question of salvation. Individual Responsibility In your message, in your invitation, in your exhortation, and in all your methods, keep the responsibility on individuals. Emphasize the fact that God does not leave them, they leave Him. They drive Him away. They force the issue. They make it impossible for God to save them. Never say or do anything that will lead folks to believe that Christ is unwilling to save. "He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him," and He "is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish." You Act Deliberately After a sermon on walking in the light or some kindred theme, I have found the following exhortation often effective. "You have heard it said people get so excited at the revival that they do not know what they are doing, but that is not true here. You know what you are doing; your mind was never more clear and you were never acting more deliberately than you are now. "There may have been times when you have unthoughtedly turned Christ away, but not tonight. If you reject Him now, you do so consciously, willfully, deliberately, knowingly. With the light and knowledge you have of the way of salvation, can you afford to say ’no’ tonight?" Have a Goal It is sometimes good to set your heart on a certain number of seekers that should be at the altar. The spirit of your service and the liberty God has given you will help you do this after you start your invitation. When you have chosen your number, tell the audience how many you think should come forward, whether five, ten, or more, and pull for that number. For instance, "Three are here now. Where are the others? Who will be the fourth?" With prayer, faith, and persistency you will be far more likely to reach your goal than you will with no reference to the number. Inform the Audience I have found it well, when God is blessing the invitation, to inform the congregation from time to time how many are at the altar. As the number increases, both your faith and the faith of the Christians are strengthened and those needing salvation are encouraged to come forward for prayer. In the last service I held with Dr. L. A. Reed, when ninety-one came forward, at my request Dr. Reed stood near me during my invitation and informed me from time to time how many were kneeling, and I told the audience. As the number kneeling increased, many were encouraged to go out into the tabernacle urging friends and loved ones to come. Remember, however, in mentioning the number kneeling, to avoid mentioning thirteen. Some will not come with that number at the altar, or if you mention the number preceding it. Seekers Need to Be Alone I have never found it wise to urge Christians to come and pray with seekers during the invitation. I have seen two or three people so concerned over one person at the altar that the invitation was defeated. Do not be in too much of a hurry; it helps a seeker to kneel alone and think. This difficulty of workers coming too early to deal with seekers can be avoided if the preacher will say at the beginning of his invitation: "Let us hold steady, pray, and do one thing at a time; and when the invitation is finished, we will all gather around the altar and pray with those needing help." Have a plan and work it. Do one thing at a time. Have someone place the seekers, or show them where to kneel, so you can most effectively deal with them. If chairs must be used to extend the altar, turn them sideways, so the workers can deal across the chair with the seeker. Hang On Do not rush through your invitation. Hang on. Keep pulling. Ninety per cent of the invitations fail because the preacher quits too soon. If your appeal does not seem to be taking hold, stop everything’ and pray a few words, then start over again. Ask again for raised hands; appeal to those responding to come for just one prayer. This proposition has often proved helpful for me: "If you do not care to come for the altar service, are you interested enough to come for the first prayer? I will call on someone to pray, and when that prayer is finished return to your seat if you desire." I have seen scores come on this appeal. Some, of course, will return to their seats, but the majority will remain and many pray through. A Personal Appeal If during your invitation you see a face that indicates interest and conviction, go yourself and speak to that one. In this very way God has helped me to lead hundreds to Christ. Another method which has often helped in getting the unsaved to come for prayer is as follows: Call a number of fathers and mothers who are elderly people to come and kneel inside the altar. Do not call for volunteers to come but select those who are godly, respected, and in whom people have confidence. Then say: "We are going to have prayer. How many of you would like to have these good fathers and mothers pray for you? If you would, come, kneel here at the altar. Let this mother represent your mother, this father your father." I have seen gratifying results follow. A Challenge Some folks will respond to a challenge. I have used this many times with good results. "How many of you have the moral courage to step out before your friends, before this crowd, and come down to the front and kneel? I challenge your courage. I know it is not easy, it is hard to do; in fact, it takes more real courage than most have. How about it? Are you courageous enough to step out right now regardless of what others may think or say? Do you believe in your mother’s God? Would you be ashamed to let this audience know where you stand? Again I challenge your courage; come, kneel while we sing a verse of song." Surprise The element of surprise is sometimes very effective. People expect an evangelistic service at night; surprise them by planning such a service for Sunday school or at the morning worship hour. If done too often, there might be some reaction; but to do this occasionally, unannounced, once or twice a year, will do far more good than harm. I usually ask the privilege of taking over the entire Sunday-school hour, except Primary and Beginner groups, confide my plan to the pastor and superintendent only, pull for an on-time record, preach as soon after the opening as possible, start my invitation by 10:45 a.m., and do our work around the altar at the usual worship hour. This gives the people who are not particularly interested a chance to get out early. God has greatly blessed this method. Brief Suggestions Ask, "How many unsaved are here who believe the Bible? If you do, come give me your hand and return to your seat." Invite everyone in the audience who is especially interested in someone now in the service to come and stand around the altar. Then ask, "All who would like an interest in the prayers of these Christians, will you come and stand (or kneel) with them for a closing prayer?" Calling all mothers in the audience who have unsaved children to come and kneel and then making an appeal to those who are unsaved has proved effective, especially in reaching unsaved children who may be present. I have at times used this to advantage, "If you have loved ones (or a mother) in heaven and you hope to meet them someday, come and kneel with us for one prayer." Sentiment Do not be afraid of being sentimental. Do not be finicky about making an appeal based on mother, home, and heaven. Some hearts can be touched in no other way. The fact that the most popular type of songs on the air are sentimental songs, many built around the theme of mother, home, and heaven; the fact that some singers of such songs are making close to a million dollars a year, proves that sentiment still moves hearts, and we can use the right kind to win people to Christ. Ask all who were converted after they were fifty to stand. There will not be many and it will greatly help in driving home the fact, "Now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." If you can get Christians to turn and speak to someone standing near them, it will often mean a lot. Many a soul needs just that personal touch to start him on the way to the road of life. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 22: 02.09. THE FOURTH PROPOSITION ======================================================================== 9. THE FOURTH PROPOSITION God has helped me to help thousands on what I call "The Fourth Proposition." This was suggested to me by hearing Dr. Chapman say, "We invite people forward to be saved, reclaimed, and filled with the Spirit; and I sometimes wonder if we should not have a fourth proposition inviting Christians to the altar to get help." Here are about the words I use in giving this invitation. "I have been inviting you each night to come forward and seek on three counts, to be saved, to be reclaimed, or to be filled with the Spirit. The altar is still open for anyone in need of any of these three. But tonight I wish to emphasize to you a fourth proposition, not to the unsaved or backslider, but to the Christian. "This is not for reconsecration, or a ’get closer to God’ appeal, which is so often given, but a definite proposition as to your own personal needs. "How many Christians are there here who say: ’Preacher, I am not backslidden. I love God and I am trying to hold on to Him, but I will admit I have lost ground. I have seen better days spiritually. I am not at the place I used to be." "I have not gone back to the old habits, the old haunts, or the old sins but I have been so busy trying to make a living, send my children to school, and support my family that I find my soul lean. I have been so busy in legitimate things that I have neglected weightier matters." "You definitely admit you are not where you once were, and where you ought to be and want to be. Would you be willing to come and kneel and let us gather around and pray for you?" I have seen many helped in this way. Explanation At the close of the invitation on the fourth proposition, before I call the workers forward to pray, I say to those kneeling: "I said at the beginning of the invitation that the altar was open to any and all who had a definite need to be saved, reclaimed, or filled with the Spirit. Now, that we may know how to pray, I want those whose need is to be saved or reclaimed to raise your hands. Now, those who know your real need is to be filled with the Spirit, raise your hands. We know the others kneeling are here as Christians on the fourth proposition. The Bible says, ’Pray one for another,’ so we are going to gather here and pray for these according to their needs." By asking these questions, a definite division is made, and faith is strengthened rather than hurt. The Results You will find that many who come forward on the fourth appeal will, after they are on their knees, raise their hands indicating that they need to be reclaimed or they are not clear in their consecration. The writer has had many pastors say during the invitation, "I have never heard this appeal before, but it is just what many of my people need." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 23: 02.10. A BRIEF APPEAL ======================================================================== 10. A BRIEF APPEAL After an invitation that failed to bring results, I have had some wonderful services on the following proposition. "How many are there here who have something in your life over which you do not have complete victory? something over which the devil keeps fighting you, making it hard for you to keep at your best for God? "It may be one of many things. It may be some habit you have found hard to give up. It may be some thing or it may be some one. You do not need to tell me or anyone else what it is, but there is something hindering you spiritually. There is power in prayer and God is still on the throne. If you want complete victory, come and kneel and we will have the saints gather around you and pray. Prayer changes things." This appeal will nearly always bring a response, and I have known some remarkable deliverances and fixed habits of many years broken because of this appeal. Use Men The following appeal has proved worth-while. "I want every man in the audience who is a Christian, and you have definitely settled it to go with God, you are proud to take your stand for Him and you would like to recommend this way of life to the men and boys of this congregation and you urge them to take this step now, will you please stand?" While they are standing make your appeal to the unsaved. The same appeal may be made with the ladies. Personal Appeal To make your appeal somewhat personal to the individual is often effective. For instance, "I want the young man in the center section who raised his hand," or, "I want the young lady in the rear who held up her hand to step out during the first stanza of song and come forward." Appeal for Help The call for help has always appealed to some people. It was the method Jesus used with the woman by the well in Samaria, "Give me to drink." This has helped me. "I want you who raised your hands to assist me in giving this invitation. "You may think, What can I do? " "If you will step out and come forward as soon as we start singing, it will encourage others and greatly help." Couples It is thrilling to see a young couple step out for Christ. Many would like to do this, but each is waiting on the other to make the start. The following suggestion has often brought both to the altar. "If there is an unsaved young couple here, will each of you turn to the other, take his hand, and say, ’I will go if you will’?" Often that is all that is needed, and together they step out just as surely and literally as Simon Peter turned from his fishing boat to follow the Master. If either the wife or husband steps out alone, go immediately to the other and ask him to come and kneel alongside. If he is already saved, it will not hurt him; and if not, he will most likely settle it in that service. In this way, God has enabled me to win many a husband or wife to Him. Christians This appeal to Christians has aided me many times in getting a break in the invitation. "It is hard to get sinners to move out ahead of Christians who are walking back of light. Some of you are doing that now. Jesus said, ’Tarry ... until ye be endued with power.’ You haven’t done that. He said, ’Wait for the promise of the Father.’ You haven’t done that. You have never been filled with the Holy Ghost. You have thought about it. You have meant to. You know you ought to, but you have put it off. This attitude on your part is a hindrance to others. If you would step out and seek Him in all His fullness, sinners would step out and come into the Kingdom." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 24: 02.11. PASTORS CAN HELP ======================================================================== 11. PASTORS CAN HELP It is considered unwise for a pastor to tell an evangelist how and what to preach, and there are some evangelists who would resent even suggestions. However, a pastor can greatly help his revivalist, especially if the congregation is not large, by telling him whether or not he has anyone in the service to work on. He need not speak about them personally or in detail, but the whispered words, "There are several unsaved here tonight," or, "There are a number of Christians here who need the work of the Spirit," has often aided me in bringing the message and in drawing the net. Such knowledge regarding a strange audience is of untold value to the soul winner. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 25: 02.12. "DONT'S" FOR FISHERMEN ======================================================================== 12. DON’TS FOR FISHERMEN Don’t scold. Don’t pout. Don’t show discouragement. Don’t say anything or make any move that will destroy faith. Don’t ignore the pastor; he is the shepherd of the flock and must remain to lead and guide them after you are gone. Don’t try to tie the folks to yourself only so far as you may lead them to Christ. Don’t ever leave the impression that God is a tyrant anxious to punish and destroy. The Bible says He "is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." Don’t make an issue of people leaving when you start your invitation. I have never known an evangelist who could make them return, but I have known of efforts to stop them ruining many an invitation. It is best to appeal for them to stay at the beginning of the invitation; but if they start out anyway, the less said the better. Don’t blame the people if there is no response to your invitation. They may be partly to blame, but it seldom does any good to tell them so. Don’t use extreme methods, such as placing a Bible in the doorway and challenging them to walk out over it. Don’t form a circle of prayer around the building with Christians holding hands and daring sinners to break it. Don’t ask all the Christians to move to one part of the building separate from the unsaved. Such methods may move some, but those not reached are often damaged beyond repair. Don’t make propositions which may confuse. Make your appeal plain, simple, explicit. Use as few words as possible and it is often well to repeat, so your listeners will be sure to understand. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 26: 02.13. "B" FOR FISHERMEN ======================================================================== 13. "B’S" FOR FISHERMEN Be kind. Be courteous. Be a Christian. Be a lady -- a gentleman. Be interested in others. Be always dependent on God. Be prayerful at all times. Be faithful. Paul said, "Make full proof of thy ministry." * * * * * * * THE END ======================================================================== CHAPTER 27: 03.00. IF CHRIST HAD NOT COME ======================================================================== IF CHRIST HAD NOT COME And Other Sermons by Jarrette Aycock Beacon Hill Press Kansas City, Missouri Printed Book: No Date -- No Copyright * * * * * * * INTRODUCTION This volume is composed of inspirational messages used in my evangelistic campaigns throughout the nation. I acknowledge my indebtedness to many brethren in the ministry and to the many authors whose books it has been my privilege to read. As a writer of an earlier century has said, "If any man claims anything in this book I throw up both hands and surrender." Many have testified that they were blessed while listening to these messages; so I am encouraged to send them forth to the reading public with the prayer that God may bless them in printed form.Jarrette Aycock Kansas City, Mo. * * * * * * * CONTENTS 1. If Christ Had Not Come 2. The Home Over There 3. The Cross 4. The Value of The Soul 5. What Think Ye of Christ? 6. Salvation 7. The Book of Revelation 8. The Holy Spirit 9. Christ Our Passover 10. The Amazing Book * * * * * * * ======================================================================== CHAPTER 28: 03.01. IF CHRIST HAD NOT COME ======================================================================== IF CHRIST HAD NOT COME Christ was discussing with His disciples their relationship to the world when He made the statement, "If I had not come" (John 15:22). I should like to lift this statement out of its setting, change it by substituting the Name "Christ" for the personal pronoun "I," and consider the negative aspect of the Gospel: "If Christ had not come."This opens a field of thought that gives us a greater vision and a deeper appreciation for the wonderful Christ and His glorious Gospel. The Old Testament If Christ had not come the Bible would close with the last verse of Malachi: "Lest I come and smite the earth with a curse." Its messages would be as difficult for us to grasp as it was for those who lived in the days when it was written. Psalms 23:1-6 would be only a beautifully worded poem with much of its real meaning hidden from the hearts of men. Isaiah 53:1-12 would be as hard for us to fathom as it was for the Ethiopian eunuch, and the world would be asking, "Of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man?" and "How can I [understand] except some man should guide me?" No New Testament If Christ had not come we would have no New Testament, with its four Gospels portraying wonderful stories and incidents in the life of Christ; narratives, which present Him as Servant and King, Son of Man and Son of God. No Bethlehem If Christ had not come the beautiful story of the Babe in Bethlehem, which for more than nineteen hundred years has been whispered in the ears of little children by godly mothers, would never have been told; the star in the east would have failed to shine; the angelic choir would have remained in heaven; the shepherds on the Judean hills would have heard no song; there would be no "peace on earth" and no "good will toward men. No Miracles If Christ had not come, there would have been no miracles. The palsied man of Capernaum would have spent his days upon his mattress for there would have been no "Great Physician" to whom his friends could carry him. The man at the pool of Bethesda, who had suffered thirty and eight years, would have continued to suffer while others pushed ahead of him into the healing stream. The ten lepers would have grown more desperate, more wretched, more loathsome, until at last, with faces of horror and bodies of rottenness and filth, they would have fallen into the grave. The blind men by the wayside would have continued to sit begging in darkness until death came and pulled them into eternity.The widowed mother in the city of Nain would have buried her son. Mary and Martha would have continued to grieve for their brother, Lazarus, for there would have been no resurrection in Bethany. The tempest would have continued to rage, and the angry waves to dash at will, for there would have been no Master to say, "Peace, be still." The little boy with the five barley loaves and few fishes would never have known how great small things can become in the hands of God. No Parables If Christ had not come we would not have the thirty great parables. We would never have heard of the sower, the stony ground, the wayside and the good soil. The lesson of forgiveness, as taught in the parable of the unmerciful servant, would not be known. The people of the world, like the wicked servant, would have continued to bury their talents and hide them in a napkin. The lesson on preparedness, as taught in the parable of the ten virgins, would never have been known. The Good Samaritan would have passed the wounded man as did the priest and the Levite. The prodigal son would never have found his way back home. No Conversions If Christ had not come there could have been no wonderful conversions. John the Baptist could never have said, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." We would never have heard of John, the tender, timid Disciple of Love. Peter, the big-bodied, great-hearted, impetuous man, who was always blundering, yet always ready to apologize, who in one moment could thrash a fellow within an inch of his life, and the next moment weep over him, love him and bind up his wounds, would never have been saved. We would have missed much if Peter had not been converted. In no other apostle do we so plainly see the weaknesses of humanity and the magnitude of the grace and power of God.Without Peter there would have been no climbing out of the boat and walking on the water. There would have been no great sermon with five thousand conversions, and no epistles to bear his name. Who else could have so aptly worded the great confession, " Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God"? If Christ had not come, Zacchaeus, the little publican of Jericho, would have continued to defraud the people. He would never have found a better way of life. The demoniac of Gadara would have remained untamed among the tombs, neither clothed nor in his right mind. The woman of Samaria would never have heard of the water of life, but would have continued to drink from the cup of iniquity until she had drained it to its dregs. If He had not come, Saul, the little blood-thirsty Jew, would have seen no light on the road to Damascus; and the world would never have heard of the brilliant, kind-hearted Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles. No Cross If Christ had not come there would have been no Cross. Sinai with its law, fire, thunder and smoke would have been the world’s supreme monument of God’s greatest love and closest contact with man. All that sinners could do, would be to bring to a "man-made" altar the blood of bulls and goats, which has no power to take away sin. Only the priest could enter the Holy of Holies, and the veil of the Temple would have remained a solid curtain from top to bottom. If He had not come we could never have sung: "Down at the Cross where my Saviour died, Down where for cleansing from sin I cried; Thereto my heart was the blood applied; Glory’ to His Name!" Cowper could not have written: "There is a fountain filled with blood Drawn from Immanuel’s veins; And sinners plunged beneath that flood, Lose all their guilty stains." My friend, George Bennard, would have to find a new theme for his song, because the world would not know what he meant by "The Old Rugged Cross."If Christ had not come we would be trembling with fear before Sinai, instead of weeping in love before Calvary. No Resurrection If Christ had not come there would have been no Resurrection. Joseph’s tomb would have been occupied by himself or some member of his family. The stone would have been left before the door, and the seal would have remained unbroken. If He had not come the women would have gone about their work as usual. The angel would have remained in glory, and there would have been no Easter with its flowers and song, happy hearts and shining faces. Springtime with its budding life would lose much of its meaning. We would not have known that "that which is sown in weakness shall be raised in power." Without the Resurrection we would bend over the couches of our dying loved ones and say, "Good-bye forever." Our hopes would terminate with the grave, and "if in this life only we have hope in Christ we are of all me most miserable." No Book Of Acts If Christ had not come there would have bee no book of Acts, recording the Day of Pentecost, the launching of the Church, the death of Stephen, the conversion of Saul and Cornelius and the spreading of the Gospel to the Gentiles. No Epistles If Christ had not come there would be no epistles to the Church, with their doctrines, ordinances, exhortations, and plans to spread the Gospel to the "uttermost part of the earth." No Book Of Revelation If Christ had not come there would be no book of Revelation. There would be no warningof the tribulation that is to come, and no news of the final overthrow of Satan and death. We would have no description of the "city foursquare," the final abode of the saints. Without the book of Revelation there would be no climax to the Bible, no "Come, Lord Jesus." No Church If Christ had not come there would not be a Church with its many blessings to humanity. Martin Luther would never have discovered that "the just shall live by faith."Wesley would never have known that "men are justified before they are sanctified." John Knox would never have cried, "Give me Scotland or I die." Carey would have missed India. Livingstone would have missed Africa. Asbury would have missed America. D. L. Moody would have remained a shoe salesman. No Great Passages Of Scripture If Christ had not come we would not have the great passages from the New Testament to quote to those in need. The Sermon on the Mount, with its wonderful beatitudes, would never have been preached. We could not say to the sinner, "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." We could not say to the discouraged, "[Cast] all your care upon him; for he careth for you." We could not say to the doubtful, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. We could not say to the needy, "My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." If He had not come we could not tell the sick and suffering of that day when "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain." If Christ had not come what a dismal, dark, miserable world we would have! Surely, W. O. Cushing was right in his poem: Oh, to have no Christ, no Saviour! No Rock, no Refuge nigh! When the dark days ’round thee gather, When the storms sweep o’er the sky! Oh, to have no Christ, no Saviour! How lonely life would be! Like a sailor, lost and driven, On a wide and shoreless sea.Oh, to have no Christ, no Saviour! No hand to clasp my own! Through the dark, dark vale of shadows, Just to press my way alone! Oh, to have no hope in Jesus! No Friend, no Light in Jesus! Oh, to have no Christ, no Saviour! How dark this world would be! Christ Has Come! I cannot close this message without reminding YOU of something you already know -- Christ has come! The Bible The Bible does not end with Malachi’s threatened curse. We have the New Testament, with its four Gospels; its twenty-one epistles; its book of Acts, recording Pentecost; the book of Revelation, which pictures the consummation of all things, and ends with "Come, Lord Jesus." Christ has come, and His miracles stand out like stars in the firmament. The palsied man took up his bed and walked. The lame man at the pool was healed. The leper was cleansed. The blind received their sight. Christ has come, and the widowed mother did not bury her son, for he lived again. Lazarus was raised from the dead. The angry storm heard the voice of its Master and grew quiet. The lad with the loaves and fishes learned that a little in the hand of God would feed a multitude. Conversions Christ has come, and many wonderful conversions have been recorded. Simon Peter was saved, and thousands were won through his inistry.Zacchaeus climbed down from the sycamore tree to give half of his goods to the poor and restore fourfold to those he had wronged. Christ has come, and the woman at the well believed and rushed back to her neighbors saying, "Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?’ Saul, the blasphemer, was saved and became Paul, the kind, the gentle, who cried, "Yea, I count all things but loss . . . that I may win Christ.’ The Cross Christ has come, and we do not have to look away to Sinai with its law and fire, but we can look away to Calvary, the hill of grace, and sing, Down at the Cross where my Saviour died, for the world knows its meaning. Christ has come and paid the price, so that the drunkard may become sober, the thief may become honest and the harlot may become pure. Salvation has been provided for the sinner and cleansing for the believer; for Christ has come to destroy the works of the Devil. Christ has come, and William Cowper has written: There is a fountain filled with blood Drawn from Immanuel’s veins, and we can understand. George Bennard has written, On a hill far away stood an old rugged Cross, and the meaning is so evident that the world has proclaimed this the most popular sacred song. The Resurrection Christ has come, and there was a Resurrection. The Roman seal was broken; the stone was rolled from the door; the tomb was empty, for our Lord arose from the grave. We are not worshipping a dead Christ, but a living Saviour, who has become the first-fruits of them that slept, and we know that if He arose, we shall rise also. Look not at the grave. He is not there! He is risen! Now the heart can sing, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?"The Church Christ has come, and we do not have to worship within the cold gray walls of some synagogue a God that is afar off. We have a church where we can meet, sing His praises, magnify His Name and worship Him according to the dictates of our own consciences. The Scripture Message Christ has come and left us the New Testament, with its beautiful passages which contain a message for every heart. We can quote to the sinner, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." We can say to the doubting, "[He is] able to do exceeding abundantly above all that [you can] ask or think." We can remind the tempted that in every temptation He has promised to make a way of escape. To the sick, the poor and the needy we can read His blessed words: "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. Christ has come, and to those in the valley of the shadow of death we can say, "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." If there were no Christ, and had never been, To save the sinner from the throes of sin, What a dreadful place this world would be But there is Christ for you and me. * * * * * * * ======================================================================== CHAPTER 29: 03.02. THE HOME OVER THERE ======================================================================== THE HOME OVER THERE I studied about California as a boy in school, in the Indian Territory. I never dreamed of going there for it was a land far away, with no particular appeal to me. As I grew older, neighbors began to move to the West Coast. They wrote of the beautiful land they had found there. A neighbor came back and spent an afternoon telling us of the wonders of that country. Then my brother went to California and after a few years returned for a brief visit. He brought with him a suitcase filled with oranges and said, "Out West they can be bought for five cents a dozen." These things began to interest me. I found an old geography book and looked at that long yellow strip on the western slope of the United States. As I looked at that map a longing came over me to see the Golden State.One day I went to the railroad station and asked the price of a ticket to California. The agent gave me the information and a map of the country through which I would have to pass to reach my destination. I began to study the map. I read the name of every town on the route. As I thought about the trip my fever rose and I began to make plans to go. At last I got the money, purchased a ticket and boarded the train for California. I shall never forget that trip -- the wide rolling prairies (unbroken in those days by farms), the towering snowcapped mountains, the long, dark, dank tunnels and the hot, dusty, seemingly endless desert. One night as we rolled through the desert I pulled the blinds and settled back to sleep. When I awoke the next morning the desert was gone, and we were traveling through the most delightful country my eyes had ever beheld. Beautiful homes, flowers and orchards were everywhere. I was so thrilled that I forgot about the plains, the mountains, the tunnels and the desert. At last I had reached the land for which I had longed so many years! Longing For Home When a child I used to hear my mother talk about heaven. Often she went about the home singing, O think of the home over there, By the side of the river of light, Where the saints, all immortal and fair, Are robed in their garments of white! That, too, was a land far away, and I did not think very much about it. As I grew older, neighbors and loved ones began to move to that country, and so I became interested. I got the old Bible and traced the route. I made inquiry and found the conditions for passage to heaven. As I studied about that land beyond the blue, my desire to see it was increased. Now I am on the way there! Sometimes the journey is across rolling plains or over mountains cold, bleak and high. At other times it is through tunnels dark and dismal, or across deserts dry and hot. I have never become weary of the way, but sometimes I have become tired in the way. I know that someday I will fall asleep while crossing the desert of life, but I will awake to find that the plains, the mountains, the tunnels and the desert of life have been left behind. I will be rolling across the glad hills of God’s glory! Then I will know the truth of the song: The toils of the road will seem nothing When I get to the end of the way. We Are Interested In Our Homes Here We are interested in our earthly homes; so why shouldn’t we be interested in the home over there? There are many good people who know more about Boston, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Seattle than they know about heaven. You may say, "We can read of those cities." That is true. But you can also read of heaven. You say, "We have loved ones in those cities." Yes, and there are some of us who have loved ones in heaven. I do not believe anyone can give a betterreason for his interest in some city or country in this world than the Christian can give for his Interest in the home over there. Abraham Abraham became so interested in heaven that he never built a home. He was content to dwell in tabernacles of clay, "for he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." He realized that here we have no continuing city; so he sought one to come. Abraham knew that if he built a home here, the earthquakes would shatter its foundations, the winds would wither its walls and the rains would rot its roof; so he sought a home in the skies. Monotony Often the thoughts of going home will help to break the monotony of the journey. My wife made her first trip home after two years of absence. While on the train she was seized with a dreadful toothache. But the pain became lighter the nearer she came to home. She said, "Three hours before the train arrived I had the baby ready, and had on my own hat and coat. I was ready to get off the train and the toothache was forgotten." Why? She was going home. Today we are on the train of life; we are traveling home. The nearer home we get and the more we think of it, the less attention we pay to the miseries of the world. A Beautiful Passage One of the most beautiful passages referring to the home Over there is found in the words of Jesus as recorded by John: "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." Heaven Is A Place From this passage we learn that heaven is a place. Heaven is just as much a place as Chicago is a place, and I believe a much better place. You say, "Heaven is a state." I would not argue with you, but just as Chicago is a place located in the state of Illinois, I believe that heaven is a place located in the state of glory. A Prepared Place Not only is heaven a place, but it is a prepared place. I like the personal note in this passage of Scripture. Jesus said, "I go to prepare a place for you." Then, if prepared especially for us, it will exactly suit us. An old mother said to a friend in San Francisco, "Brother Mitchell, do you think I willvknow my son John when I get to heaven?"He answered, "Mother, would you be satisfied if you didn’t?" As she thought of knowing or not knowing her son, tears sprang to her eyes and she said, "No, Brother Mitchell. If I did not know John I would never be satisfied." "Then, Mother," he replied, "if it will take that to satisfy you, you are sure to know him. For when you get there, you’ll be satisfied." Made To Measure We often speak of something as fitting "like a tailor-made suit." Such a suit is made to measure. If you please, heaven is made to measure. Jesus said, "I go to prepare a place for you." A young man was injured in one of the mines of Scotland. He was brought to his home in an unconscious and dying condition. When he regained consciousness his old Scotch mother sat by his bedside weeping. He said, "Mother, why do you weep?" She replied, "O my boy, your poor head is crushed so badly." The dying boy smiled and whispered, "Don’t cry, Mother, the crown will fit it anyway," and went to be with Jesus. No matter how we may have been marred and marked by sin, if we have found pardon and cleansing in the blood of Jesus, when we get to heaven the crown will fit us anyway. No Two Alike There are no two people alike. I know the old Southern expression, "They are just as much alike as two black-eyed peas," but there were never two black-eyed peas exactly alike. Scientists tell us that there are no fingerprints the same, and no human voices register alike. No two people are the same. Jesus knows that, and knowing it, He has gone to prepare a place for you, and a place for me, and the places will suit us, because they are prepared especially for us. Billy Bray Did you ever read the story of Billy Bray? If not, you should do so at once. Billy Bray was an English miner, and a preacher of the Gospel. He would work in the mines until he had saved enough money to go forth and preach. Then when his money was gone and his clothes were shabby he would return to work again. It is said that he established more chapels than any ten preachers of his day. Billy was preaching one Sunday afternoon in Cornwall. His clothing was very shabby. His suit was frayed at the elbows, baggy at the knees and worn threadbare at the cuffs. A widow in the audience noticed the condition of his clothing and thought of the suits that had belonged to her husband. When the service was over she went to the platform and said, "Billy, I see your clothes are getting shabby.""Yes, lady," he replied. "I have worn them out preaching the Gospel." She said, "My husband passed away a few months ago. I have a number of his nice suits hanging in the wardrobe at home. And I was just thinking how nice they would be for you." Then she added doubtfully, "If I were just sure they would fit you." Quickly Billy said, "Did God tell you to give them to me?" "Yes," she answered. "I am sure that while you were preaching, God told me to give them to you." Billy said, "Then I know they will fit, for God knows my measure exactly." Friend, He knows your measure and He knows mine, and knowing that, He has gone to prepare a place for us -- a place that will satisfy every longing and desire of our earth-weary hearts. Jesus And The Spirit Jesus is now in heaven preparing a place for us. While He is up there, the Holy Spirit is down here preparing us for that place. It will ultimately be a prepared people for a prepared place. The stones that went into the Temple were so prepared that when brought together they fit perfectly without the use of a hammer or chisel or trowel. Just so will the people of God, prepared by the Holy Ghost, fit perfectly into that place that Jesus has prepared for them. The Father Encourages While Jesus is preparing a place for us and the Spirit is preparing us for the place, God the Father encourages us on the way. If it were not for His encouragement the way would often be dark. A lady with her little girl moved into a small town and hung out a sign, DRESSMAKER. Not only was she an expert seamstress, but she did beautiful needlework. One day the child, watching her mother embroider, said, "Mother, I wish you would teach me how to do work like that." "All right," said the mother. "Bring me a piece of cloth." She brought the cloth. Her mother drew a pattern on it, got a needle and thread and said, "Now, darling, do it this way." The little girl worked hard and faithfully until it was finished. Instead of showing it to her mother she placed it on the sewing table for her to find.The morning the pattern was finished they went downtown. While they were gone a neighbor came to call for the first time. She rapped at the door, but there was no answer. The door was standing open; so she stepped in and called. Receiving no response, she turned to leave when she noticed the child’s embroidery on the sewing table. She picked it up, noted the broken threads, the knots and the dropped stitches. A look of disgust came over her face, and with a sneer she threw it down and walked across the street to a neighbor. "Say," she asked, "have you seen any of the work that woman, who claims to be a seamstress, turns out?" "No," said the neighbor. "Well I have," she replied. She explained why she was in the room and said, "I saw some of her embroidery, and it was positively dirty. It was wrinkled; the threads were broken and knotted, and the stitches were dropped. You could scarcely tell the wrong side from the right. I had planned to get her to do some sewing for me, but I would not let her use a needle on anything I have." So she went from place to place telling what she had seen in the home of the new dressmaker. After a while the mother and the little girl returned. The mother went to the table and saw the finished piece. Smiling, she ran to the child and caught her in her arms, saying, "Darling, Mother is so proud of you." Then, holding up the embroidery, she continued, "Honey, it is wonderful. I never dreamed you would be able to do so well. If you keep on, you will be able to do much better than Mother." The child’s heart was glad and encouraged, and she wanted a new pattern. She was going to be able to do beautiful needlework. Glory Is Ahead We are like that sometimes. We go to church and volunteer to lead in prayer. We try to sing or testify. If no one else says anything, the Devil comes along and says, "My, that was awful. You can’t sing. You can’t pray. You are making a fool of yourself and boring every one. If I were you I would quit." Do these things hurt? Yes. But if you did what you did for His glory, you will not go very far before God places His loving arm around you and says, "Child, do not become discouraged. You are doing well, and you will be able to do better after a while." And so we will, for when He comes "we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." We may not be able to sing well now, but in that day angels will desire to listen as we sing he songs of redeeming blood. A Reminiscence The joy of the bridegroom is in the interest which the bride takes in the home he has prepared for her. Up to the time I was married I had never saved anything, though I had a very good job. As my wedding day drew near I began to look for a place to live. I walked the streets ofLos Angeles, looking for an apartment which I could rent for a week. I expected my marriage to be permanent, but I was getting my living quarters on the installment plan a week at a time. One afternoon I found a place. After I had paid the rent for one week, paid the preacher and purchased the license, I had less than three dollars and a half with which to launch out on the sea of matrimony. The place I rented was a small one-room apartment, with a tiny kitchenette, on the second floor of an old residence. It was cheaply and meagerly furnished. There was an old worn mat on the floor and no curtains at the windows. The green shades were torn. The old chairs had been broken and fastened together with bailing wire. The bed was a four-posted iron bed, and the knobs gone from the posts. The dishes were unmatched and cracked. The knives, forks and spoons were odds and ends. No two were alike. One side of the table was fastened to the wall, and the other side was nailed to a stick that rested on the floor. The water conveniences were poor, and a two-burner plate resting on an orange box was our cook stove. This was what I had to offer my bride, who had left a beautiful modern home. The day after we were married I took her to the little apartment, opened the door, and, holding her by the arm, I walked in. I watched every expression on her face, and had she turned on me with scorn, it would almost have killed me. She took it in with a glance and then, turning to me with a smile, said, "Well isn’t this dandy! And this is our little home!" When she said that my joy was complete. If my bride was happy, nothing else mattered. The illustration is poor, but I believe Jesus rejoices when His children seem interested in the place He has gone to prepare. I am interested. I would not want to miss it, Walking up those streets of gold, With the saints and martyrs, blood-washed, Playing on their harps of gold. Heaven Is A Happy Place Jesus said, "Let not your heart be troubled." I love to think of that home where trouble never comes, where sickness never enters, where death is unknown. We will be happy in the fellowship of one another. There are some in this world with whom we cannot have fellowship because there are barriers between us which are insurmountable. While waiting for a train one day I spoke to a man about Christ. He looked at me blankly, shook his head and indicated that he did not speak my language. I took out my Testament, placed it over my heart and pointed up. Instantly he smiled and shook my hand, then, saying something in hisown tongue, he pointed toward the heavens. What fellowship we might have had but for the barrier of different languages! One night in a meeting in Chicago I walked back in the congregation and invited a man to go forward for prayer. He quickly touched his lips and ear and shook his head, indicating that he as if to say, "It’s all right. I know Him." In heaven, barriers will be unknown. The confusion of tongues will be done away. Obstacles of life will be removed, and people will come from the east, and the west, the north, and the south and will dwell happily together in the home over there. Heaven Is A Place Of Rest To some people rest is unknown. From early morning until late at night they toil. They have neither vacations nor holidays. They love God, but much of the time they are too tired physically to worship Him as they would like. In heaven the struggles will be over. The weary days and dreary nights will have forever passed. There will be rest, sweet rest -- rest from toil, rest from temptation, rest of body, rest of mind and rest of soul. There we shall meet to never part again; Our toils will then be o’er; We’ll lay our burdens down at Jesus’ feet, And rest forevermore. Gregory And Margaret Did you ever hear the story of Gregory and Margaret? Because of Gregory’s love for Margaret he was banished from his highland home. Before leaving he took her in his arms and said, "Don’t cry. Bring your lantern every night; place it upon one of the high rocks near the shore, and sleep by it. As soon as I can find a home I will come back for you." Margaret returned home with a heavy heart, yet glad because he was coming back. Each night she took her lantern, went down to the shore and placed it upon a large rock. Then, wrapping herself in her great fur coat, she slept. Because of her loyalty to Gregory her own people turned her out of home. The people of the town criticized her cruelly. They called her a street-walker and a night prowler. In spite of what they said and did, each night she made her way to the rockbound shore, placed her lantern on a rock and slept in its light on the beach. One night she awoke with a start, thinking she had heard someone call her name. In the distance she heard the splash of a boatman’s oar. She sprang up and listened. There came ringing on the night air, "Margaret." She shouted back, "Gregory," and ran down to the water’s edge to meet her lover. A few days later they sailed away to the home he had prepared for her. Because our Lord loved this world, men tried to banish Him from it. But before He went away He called the few who loved Him aside and said, "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I wouldhave told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." In other words, He said, "Watch and wait. I cannot tell you the day or the hour, but as soon as I have prepared a place, I will come for you." If we are loyal to Him, loved ones may drive us from home, friends may turn against us, the world may criticize us, we may be called stargazers, fools or fanatics, but if we stay near the shore and keep our lamps trimmed and burning, one of these days we will hear the splash of the boatman’s oar. The "Old Ship of Zion" will come sailing around the bend. We will hear our names called, and with a "good-bye" to this world with its sorrow and woe, we will fling our grips on board and sail away to the home over there. I know of no better way to express my personal feelings about it than by quoting an old song I used to hear my mother sing: I’ve heard of a city, far up in the sky, I want to go there, I do. ’Tis built in the land of the sweet bye and bye, I want to go there, don’t you? There Jesus has gone, to prepare us all homes, I want to go there, I do. Where sickness and sorrow and death never come, I want to go there, don’t you? When the Old Ship of Zion shall make her last trip I want to be there, I do. With head all uncovered, to greet the old ship, I want to be there, don’t you? When all the ship’s company shall meet on the strand, I want to be there, I do. With songs on their lips and with harps in their hands, I want to be there, don’t you? I want to be there, I want to be there, I want to be there, I do. I want to be there, I mean to be there, I expect to be there, don’t you? Mother My mother was a quaint little old-fashioned woman who had been reared in the deep South. She never lived in a town and was never in a large city. She did not know a great deal about this world, but she knew much about the home over there. After I was saved, I visited her as often as my revival meetings would permit. Our yard did not have a gate, but the old-fashioned steps that went over the fence. If Mother saw me coming shewould meet me at the steps, and as soon as I reached her she would put her arms around me and say, "Son, I am so glad you have come! When are you going away?" I would have to answer, "I can stay only a few hours, or overnight." She would say, "Oh, I hoped you would stay a long time. It seems that you always have to hurry away. I wish we could be together as we used to be." I would explain to her that I had to conduct a meeting. Many times I had gone out of my way for the short visit. When the time would come for me to leave she would often bid me farewell with these words: "Good-bye, son. If I do not see you again here, I will meet you in the treetops when Jesus comes. Mother’s Death Then there came that sad day -- which has come to many of you -- when I received a telegram which said, "Come quickly. Mother not expected to live." When I reached home I found her very low, but conscious. The old country doctor, who had been our friend and family physician for over twenty-five years, said she would not recover. We called in a brilliant young doctor from the city. I shall never forget his words when he came from her room. He said, "The old doctor has told you the truth. She will not get well. She may live a week or several weeks, but she will get no better; daily she will grow weaker." I had been home several days and had to leave for a meeting in Washington. I went into her room and, kneeling beside her bed, I took her in my arms and said, "You have been one of the best mothers a boy ever had." She feebly answered in her quiet humble way, "Not as good, son, as I ought to have been." "Yes, Mother," I said. "I do not see any way in which you could have been better than you have." Again she said, "Not as good as I ought to have been." I said, "Mother, I have to leave. I have a meeting to conduct, and if I do not go now I cannot get there in time. She placed her withered old arms about my neck, and with a faith that for more than sixty of her eighty-three years had been based upon the teachings of the Bible, said, "Good-bye, son, I will meet you in that better land where there will be no sad partings." I loosed her arms from around my neck, folded them upon her breast and walked out. I never saw her again. A few weeks later I was handed a telegram as I entered the pulpit in Boise, Idaho. It read: "Mother went home at seven-ten tonight." When We Meet Again That is not the end of the story. I said I never saw her again, and that is true. But by the grace of God I expect to see her in that home over there. I have often wondered if, when by His grace I enter that beautiful city and meet my mother again, she will throw her arms around my neck and say, "Son, I am so glad you have come. When are you going away?" In that day I will be able to answer, "Mother, I am not going away. I have held my last meeting. I have made my last trip. I am not going away this time, Mother. I have come home to stay." We’ll never say good-bye in heaven, We’ll never say good-bye. For in that land of joy and song, They never say good-bye. * * * * * * * ======================================================================== CHAPTER 30: 03.03. THE CROSS ======================================================================== THE CROSS Today men look upon the Cross as an ornament. It is used to decorate churches. Some use it as a charm; others pin it on their lapels. In the days of Jesus this was not so. The Cross was a symbol of shame. Methods Of Execution The world has had many methods of execution: the stone, the stake, the poison hemlock, the firing squad, the axe, the gallows, the electric chair as well as crucifixion. Many of these, however, have so often been associated with honor that much of the stigma has been removed. Not so with the cross. Its victim, nailed to the rough tree and left hanging, naked, torn and bleeding before the throng, has always been looked upon as a specimen of disgraced and degraded humanity, more to be mocked than pitied. All the world looked upon the cross as a disgrace. It seems that God must have purposely allowed this idea of crucifixion universally to root itself in the minds of men in order that a place more vile, more despicable and lower than any other might be provided where Christ could take the sinner’s place and become the great outcast from God. He took my place, His life He freely gave; He took my place, My soul from sin to save; He took my place Upon the cruel tree; He took the guilty sinner’s place,And I am free. In the days of Jesus, stoning was the Jewish method of putting criminals to death, whereas crucifixion was the Roman method. Therefore, for the Jews to clamor for the crucifixion of Christ was another way of saying, "Let Him die the most shameful death. Let Him die a death so despicable that it will not only show Him to be an outcast from the race but an outcast from the world." A Rumor Spreads For years men had looked upon the cross as a place of shame, a place of weakness, a place of darkness. After the crucifixion of Christ, a rumor began to spread that the cross was a place of honor instead of shame; strength instead of weakness; light instead of darkness. The Apostle Paul said, "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." The world sneered at such a statement. The thought that a man should glory in a thing so disgraceful as the cross seemed to the world foolishness. The Cross A Power Paul and his companions, though few, knew whereof they spoke. The moment Christ cried, "It is finished," the Cross became a power; a power that went forth quietly, yet irresistibly, smiting all religions, smiting all shrines, smiting all altars; a power that spared neither superstition nor philosophy; a power that flattered no priesthood and submitted to no statesmanship; a power that drew no sword in its own defense, yet refused to yield or retreat before the armies of men and of nations; a "power of God unto salvation." The Cross is no longer a place of shame, for Christ has lifted it. What Is The Cross? What is the Cross as we know it today? The Cross is the crisis of man. The Cross is the crisis of the world. The Cross is the crisis of Satan. The Cross is the crisis of the Christ. The Cross is the central theme of Christianity. The Cross is the central fact of Christian revelation. The Cross is the climax of all sin offerings and sacrifices. The Cross is the weapon that rent the veil in twain.The Cross is the highest peak in God’s mountain range of grace. The Cross is the fulfillment of God’s greatest promise to man. Because He has kept His greatest promise, we know we can depend upon all the others. The Cross is a bridge spanning a hitherto impassable gulf by which man can reach God, and dwell "in the secret place of the most high," and "abide under the shadow of the Almighty." The Cross is God’s pulpit from which He calls to the world, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." The glory of the Cross was first proclaimed by a few persecuted, lonely Christians amid jeers and mockery. Soon it was seen by others and it began to spread. In spite of dungeon, fire and sword. Today, after nineteen hundred years, the inspired words about the Cross have been translated into a thousand languages and dialects and are being spoken, preached and sung by people of every kindred and tongue, and millions gladly sing, In the Cross of Christ I glory, Tow’ring o’er the wrecks of time. The Contradictions Of The Cross The Cross is amazing in its contradictions. It illuminates, yet it darkens. It interprets, yet it confounds. It raises questions, but refuses to answer all that it has raised. It solves difficulties, yet it also creates them. It locks, yet it unlocks. It closes some doors, yet it opens others. It is wisdom, yet it is foolishness. It is pardon and condemnation. It is joy and sorrow.It is antidote and poison. It is hope and despair. It is law, yet it is the only deliverance from the law. It was the humiliation of Christ, yet at the same time it was His exaltation. It was Satan’s greatest victory, yet his most woeful defeat. It is sin doing its worst. It is love at its best. It is the door to heaven, yet it is the gate to hell. Take the right attitude toward the Cross and you will live forever. Take the wrong attitude toward the Cross and you will be forever lost. The Cross Is A Revelation Of Man The Cross is a revelation of man. Nowhere else do we see humanity as we see it in the light of Calvary. On no other occasion was the totally depraved heart of man so completely laid bare. For centuries man had looked upon the cross as the most shameful, disgraceful death that one could die and yet, so wicked was his heart that he considered it the most appropriate death for the Son of God. How he must have gloried in such a thought, for, remember, it was not privately but openly that man clamored for His crucifixion. In the midst of circumstances that should have called forth nothing but love, man exhibited the most terrible hatred the world has ever known. What Think Ye of Christ?" God said, "What think ye of Christ?" Sinful man laid hold on Jesus, dragged Him to Calvary, nailed Him to the Cross, lifted it to an upright position and said, "Do you wish to know what we think of Your Son? Behold Him dying between two thieves the shameful death of the Cross. That is what we think of Him." Calvary is a picture of man taking sides with the Devil against God. Here the camouflage of man’s religion is torn away and his heart of hell is revealed. Yet it was for this heart that Christ died and with a full knowledge of its condition He prayed, "Father, forgive them." I saw One hanging on a tree In agony and blood; He fixed His languid eyes on me As near His Cross I stood. Sure never till my latest breath Shall I forget that look; He seemed to charge me with His death, Though not a word He spoke. My conscience felt and owned the guilt And plunged me in despair; I knew my sins His blood had spilt, And helped to nail Him there. A second look He gave, which said, "I freely all forgive; This blood is for thy ransom shed; I die that you may live." The Cross Is The Revelation Of The Law The Cross is a revelation of the law. Nowhere else do we see the unchangeableness, the sternness, the power and the grandeur of the law as we see it at Calvary. There it is revealed to be holy, just and good. The Law Is Strict Some would have us believe that the law is too strict, too rigid, too stern, and that Christ came to temper it. No! Had it been too rigid, would God have permitted His only Son to face its full penalty? Remember, Christ kept the law, yet when He took the sinner’s place He received no mercy at its hands. Rigid, relentless, uncompromising law said to Jesus, "If You would substitute for the sinner, You must fulfill all my precepts, You must endure all my penalties, as if You were guilty of the sins of all the world." Knowing this, Jesus marched unswervingly to Calvary to bear your sins and my sins in His own body on the tree. Surely J. W. Van De Venter was right: He paid my debt upon the Cross; He died to set me free; When nothing else could pay the loss, He gave Himself for me. The Cross Is A Revelation Of God The Cross is a revelation of God. God was majestic in creation when He made the heavens and the earth, when He formed man of the dust of the ground, breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and made him a living soul.God was great at Sinai, when He appeared on the mountain top in the pillar of cloud and fire and wrote with His own finger the Ten Commandments on tables of stone. God was wonderful in the Incarnation, when He left His throne in glory, came all the way to earth, wrapped Himself in a baby’s skin and was born of a virgin. John leads up to it by saying, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made . . . And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." No wonder angels sang, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men"! No wonder stars went on parade! No wonder shepherds left their flocks and wise men came from afar to worship! The world will never cease to sing: Silent night! Holy night! All is calm, all is bright ’Round yon virgin mother and Child! Holy Infant, so tender and mild, Sleep in heavenly peace. That night God came to earth. That night the Redeemer was born. That was the Incarnation. The Incarnation Is Not All With all its wonder and glory, the Incarnation is not the whole of the Gospel, nor the half of it. It is at Calvary, not in creation, not on Sinai, not at Bethlehem that we get our first full revelation of God. The Cross is a revelation of God’s character. The Cross is a revelation of God’s love. The Cross is a revelation of His heart. The Cross is a revelation of the distance God will traverse for the sinner. The Cross is a revelation of love being put to the extreme test. Even the angels who had been with Him from the beginning had never before seen so much of God. When I think of the Cross and its pictures of God, I feel like singing: Jesus, keep me near the Cross, There a precious fountain Free to all -- a healing stream,Flows from Calvary’s mountain. In the Cross, in the Cross, Be my glory ever; Till my raptured soul shall find Rest beyond the river. The Cross Is A Revelation Of The Gospel The Cross is a revelation of the Gospel. The Gospel is good news; and the Cross towers "o’er the wrecks of time," a great transmitter broadcasting Good News to the world. What news emanates from the Cross? News that the first far-off prophecy has been fulfilled: the serpent’s head is bruised. News that the age-old prophecy of Jacob has been completed: "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come." News that the prophesy of Isaiah has come to pass: "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." News that He who left "Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah" has arrived. News that types and shadows are done away and the "Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" has come. News that man may be reconciled to God. News that there is an answer to every question raised by law or righteousness. News that there is a solution to every problem raised by God or conscience. News that there is an honorable settlement for every claim that is made against the sinner. News that "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." News that "ye who . . . were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ." News that "now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life." News that "we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life." News that "if this earthly house of our tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."No wonder E. A. Hoffman wrote: Down at the Cross where my Saviour died, Down where for cleansing from sin I cried; There to my heart was the blood applied; Glory to His Name! No wonder he concluded each verse with the expression "Glory to His Name!" and used it as a refrain. When I think of that wonderful Cross and the Good News that has emanated from it to all the world, even to my own soul, my heart cries out with Elisha A. Hoffman, "Glory to His Name!" The Cross Is More Durable Than Time The Cross will not pass with the years. It is more durable than time. It was in God’s plan from the beginning. For centuries God and all the people who had eyes to see, looked forward to the Cross, and FOREVER men will look back upon it. Everything hinges upon the Cross. The Cross was the decisive battle between heaven and hell. The Cross was the climax of a deliberate plan. By virtue of the Cross, Christ will return. By virtue of the Cross, the prince of this world will be cast into the lake of fire. By virtue of the Cross, the last enemy, which is death, shall be put down. By virtue of the Cross, "the kingdoms of this world [will] become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever." Scoffers The Bible teaches that in the last days there will arise scoffers. They are here now. They say, "The Cross is time-worn and time-honored. Its preaching is ineffectual. The Christ of the past and the Christ of the present are vastly different." They tell us that we need a modern Gospel. Faith of Our Fathers We do not need a new Gospel, for the faith of our fathers is living still. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. The power of the Cross still lives.The preaching of the Cross is as effectual today as it was the day it changed John Bunyan from the swearing tinker to the immortal dreamer of Bedford Jail, and brought from his pen that great book Pilgrim’s Progress. The Cross has as much power today as it did when it took Dwight L. Moody from a Boston shoe store and made him a flaming evangelist. The Cross is as efficacious today as it was when it lifted Jerry McCauley, the river thief, from his prison cell and made him an apostle to the lost. The Cross is not time-worn The Cross is not time-honored. The Cross is not out-of-date. The power of the Cross still lives, and so does the Christ who hung upon it. We speak that which we do know, and testify of those things which we have seen, which we have heard and which we. have felt in our hearts. The power of the Cross and its Christ has wrought a change in my life, and I can say with the apostle, "I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day." Let the Heathen Rage Let "the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing." Let the infidel howl. Let the critic scoff, the agnostic doubt, the atheist sneer. Let them come upon us singly, in groups or as an army. Let them take our chart. Let them take our compass. Let them break our mast, strip our sails, wreck our rudder and sink our boat. We will take the "Old Rugged Cross" for a raft and push out on the ocean of eternity to meet a sin-avenging God with only one plea upon our lips: In my hand no price I bring, Simply to Thy Cross I cling. When I think of the Cross With its arms stretching wide, For you and for me, And the whole world beside, my soul sings with George Bennard: I’ll cherish the old rugged Cross, Till my trophies at last I lay down; I will cling to the old rugged Cross, And exchange it some day for a crown. * * * * * * * ======================================================================== CHAPTER 31: 03.04. THE VALUE OF THE SOUL ======================================================================== THE VALUE OF THE SOUL Introduction A few years ago in the city of Washington a great Conservation Congress was held to devise means whereby the coal, iron and timber of the United States could be conserved. Experts were there with their statistics, showing the value of the products and the great amounts that were being wasted. When I read that article I thought, Oh, that we could call a meeting in this nation for the conservation of the souls of men! We are greatly concerned about the timber and minerals of our land and spare no effort to conserve them. We have within our country more than one hundred million people, each possessing a soul, according to the words of Jesus, more valuable than the entire world. The majority of these souls are being wasted and lost, yet we are putting forth such meager efforts to tell men of Jesus and His power to save. As the experts at Washington stirred the Congress with their facts regarding the forests, the iron ore and the coal of our land, so I trust God will help me to stir someone regarding the value of a soul. Origin Of The Soul We realize something of the value of the soul when we consider its origin. In Genesis 2:7 we read: "The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." The soul is not the product of earth or evolution; it came forth direct from the hand of its Creator. Redemption Of The Soul We see its value when we consider the price paid for its redemption. Jesus valued it to the extent that He counted His own life as naught that He might redeem it. Do you wonder that He asked the question "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" Devils Fight For It The soul is so valuable that for six thousand years the devil has marshaled and remarshaled the Legions of hell and waged war against the forces of God and righteousness; and for one purpose only -- that he might gain possession of the soul. What Is The Soul? We also see its value when we consider what it is. What is the soul? It is the real man. It is that which we fellowship, that with which we associate and which we love. The most loathsome thing in the world is a body without a soul. We often speak of beauty of form and face. In what does this have its origin? The soul. Remove the soul and the eyes will lose their luster, the cheek will lose its glow and the graceful form will be no more attractive than chiseled marble on the cold dead earth from whence it came. You attend church and enjoy the company of your friends. You linger to converse with them after the service. But if the souls were suddenly snatched from these friends, their presence would become loathsome, and you would want to get away. Of What Does The Soul Consist? We can see its value when we consider of what it consists. The soul has capacity; it has ability; it has duration; it is progressive. It is immense in its capacity, powerful in its ability, eternal in its duration and endless in its progression. Immense In Capacity The soul has capacity both to receive and to contain. Other things mature and can become no larger, are filled and can hold no more. The physical reaches a maturity it cannot exceed. The oak attains a height beyond which it cannot go. The ocean has its bounds. Nations reach their limits. The soul does not. It is so immense in its capacity that it has no fixed bounds. The rich man’s barns became too small and were torn down for greater ones. But no such thing is necessary with the soul. It is immense in its capacity. It can contain either the glory of heaven or the damnation of hell. Think of its capacity to receive and contain the past. With the recording pen of memory it writes on the tablets of the heart every thought and act of life. It can reach back twenty or thirty years and bring forth something you thought forgotten and make it as plain and visible to the mind as if it had happened only yesterday. Powerful In Ability The soul is powerful in its ability both to suffer and to enjoy. Joy cannot overcome it; suffering cannot annihilate it. Both joy and suffering often overcome the body. We have heard of people who had such an abundance of unexpected joy that their bodies were overcome and theydied. It is not an uncommon thing for people to suffer such agony that the body cannot endure it and life departs. The soul is powerful in its ability. All of us have seen men step to platforms and sway audiences with eloquence, enliven them with wit, melt them with pathos, hold them with argument and charm them with music. All this indicates the power of the soul. The artist takes his brush and portrays upon the canvas a picture almost as real as life. That, too, is the power of the soul. Take the soul from the artist and the brush will fall from the dead fingers, the colors will run together and the picture will become meaningless. The great inventions of the day are the result of the power of the soul; for example, the automobile, the airplane, the wireless, the telephone and the radio. When we read the biographies of the inventors, they tell us of struggles, privations, apprenticeships, education and training. But behind the struggles, behind the training, behind the apprenticeship and behind the education, was the power of the soul. How powerful is the soul in knowledge! To what dizzy heights of human wisdom men have climbed! If it is possible for man to climb in fifty years as high in the tree of knowledge as we know some have ascended, to what heights could man climb if he could but remain upon the earth for one hundred, five hundred or a thousand years? What will be the possibilities of the redeemed soul when he enters that sinless clime where he can follow his pursuits forever without the hindrances of sin, sickness, or death? The Soul’s Thirst For Knowledge The soul is endued with an amazing thirst for knowledge. How it cries out for information regarding every new thing it sees! Make your way to the foot of a mountain. Gaze at the snowcapped peak and something within you will say, "I want to know what is on that mountain." Climb its rugged sides to the top, gaze down into the valley below and something within you will say, "I want to know what is in that valley." Stand upon the shore of the mighty deep. Watch the ships as they slip from view over the rim of the world and something within you will cry, as it did in the days of Columbus, "I want to know what is there." Look at the moon more than forty thousand miles away as it casts its beams over the earth. Scientists tell us that it is a dead planet, a burned cinder having no light of itself, only reflecting the light of the sun. We accept that explanation because we have nothing better to take its place. But something within us says, "I should like to know."We look at the king of day, ninety two million miles from earth. They tell us that the sun, too, is another planet. We think of what oceans, what lakes, what rivers, what mountains, what valleys, what peoples or what nations it might have. We accept the scientist’s statement for we have no alternative. But I admit there is something in me that says, I should like to know; I should like to know." Eternal In Its Duration The soul is immense in its capacity, powerful in its ability and eternal in its duration. The soul dies but never ceases to exist. In eternity it will have all the ability to suffer or to enjoy and all the capacity to receive or to contain that it has now. If this were not true, the soul never could enjoy heaven. The destiny, the fate, the doom of the soul is settled in this life. When the soul leaves this body it will go into eternity and into heaven to enjoy the blessings, the peace and the glory of God, or it will go into hell to endure forever the agony, the woe and the torments of the lost and damned. A Home You have a home in which you live. You pass from room to room in that home. You occupy various chairs. But the home that knows you now will soon know you no more. Other hands will clasp the knob on your door, other feet will wend their way through your room. Other people will occupy your chairs. But you will have a home in eternity, as surely as you have one here. You will walk along the streets of the city of God and through the rooms of those mansions fair, or you will tread the paths of eternal destruction, through valleys of midnight darkness and dungeons of eternal despair. Father, mother, that child you hold in your arms is the most helpless of all creatures. It has no instinct. It has no knowledge, no power to preserve its life for even one day. It is more dependent than the worm crawling beneath your feet. Yet there is wrapped in that little bundle of flesh a soul that is immense in its capacity, powerful in its ability and eternal in its duration -- a soul destined to exist somewhere forever. What are you doing to conserve it? If there were only one person destined to live forever, what a difference that would make. The great and mighty of earth would make a beaten path to his door. Men would travel from the uttermost parts of the earth to gaze into the face and hear the voice of one who would never die. Papers would comment and authors would speculate regarding the things that he would view a million years hence. But immortality is not the privilege of one person or of a chosen few. It is the created condition of every soul. You may speculate concerning the objects along the shores of eternity, but someday speculation will give place to sight.If a million years from now the archfiend of hell contrives a new and more terrible way of punishing the wicked, every unsaved soul will see it. If a million years hence, God, in His mighty wisdom and power, creates some new beauty, some new glory for His saints, every redeemed soul will see it. Endless In Its Progression Consider also the endless progression of the soul. That it progresses in this life there is not a doubt. Whether in righteousness or sin, the soul is continually on the stretch. How it grows! How it expands and reaches out! At times it seems to make its way to the door of this temple of clay and there, like some mighty bird of prey, stretch its wings as if it would tear itself away from its earthly mooring. It must have been on such an occasion as this that David cried, "Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest." A Glimpse Of Heaven Because I know that it will someday be our eternal home, the more I think of the city of God, and the more I read about it, the more convinced I am that one look within the lovely portals will more than pay us for all we may have endured here. I read the story of an orphan boy whose little sister was extremely ill. He dreamed that if he could find a leaf of the tree of life she would get well. His search for the garden in which the tree grew was long and tedious; few knew of its location. At last he found it and begged the gatekeeper to give him one leaf for his dying sister. The keeper replied, "If she gets well are you sure she will never be sick again? Will people always be good to her?" The boy said he did not know. "Then," said the keeper, "look into the garden, to the place to which she will come if she does not get well. Then if you still want a leaf I’ll go myself to the God of the garden and get one for you." He opened the gate a little and the boy looked in. He caught a glimpse of the glory of the garden of God, and turning away with tears in his eyes, he said, "I guess I’ll not take the leaf. I wish God would bring me here, too." Just one look will be worth a world like this. Just To Look Upon His Face If one look will be so wonderful, how wonderful it will be to be on the inside, to be as familiar with angels and archangels, with cherubims and seraphims as we are with our closest friends! Men speak of an "abundant entrance." How wonderful, how glorious it will be merely to enter, to stand beside the crystal stream, to know that after all our doubts and fears, after all our struggles and trials, we are in heaven at last!Then we will not be dreaming, not hoping, not believing, but realizing and seeing! What a privilege to look on the face of Jesus, to have Him speak our names and clasp our hands! A story is told of Dives and Lazarus. When they died, each was escorted to his eternal abode by the same angel. The angel said to Lazarus, "Lazarus, I have been told to give you anything you desire; please make your request." Lazarus replied, "Do you have a stool here somewhere that I could have?" "Yes," said the angel, "but what do you want with a stool?" "I want to go over to the throne, sit at the feet and look upon the face of the Man who died for me." The angel said to the rich man, "What is your request?" Dives replied, "I want the finest place to live that you can secure. I want the finest food on my table. I want a paper to come to my room every day, and be sure that you bring me gold. I want plenty of money. "All right," said the angel, "you may have your desire." Time passed. One day the rich man saw the angel flying by, and he cried out, "Angel, get me out of here. This is not heaven; this is hell. I have eaten food until I am gorged. I have counted money until it burns my fingers and my soul as if it were fire. This is hell, I tell you. Get me out." "Yes," said the angel, "that is hell; but I cannot get you out, for between you and heaven is a great gulf, over which you can never pass." After much time had passed the angel walked over to Lazarus and said, "You have been here a long time. This morning I am taking a group of saints out on the glad hills of God’s glory, and showing them some of the scenery and beauties of heaven. Wouldn’t you like to go?" Lazarus replied, "No, angel; go and show others the beauty of heaven; this is scenery enough for me. I want to see Jesus." I want to see Jesus, don’t you? My Saviour so faithful and true. When I reach the strand Of that loved bright land, I want to see Jesus, don’t you? Progressing In RighteousnessJust to enter those pearly gates will be wonderful; but the soul will continue to progress. The thought is overwhelming. Not only will the redeemed move from this temple of clay into glory, but there they shall continue to grow in grace and the knowledge of God. There they shall move on and climb on and rise on, until the most humble saint today will someday pass the present exalted seat of the greatest Christian in heaven now. In the wake of these growing saints the humble will follow, ever seeing new beauties, beholding greater glories, becoming more and more like the Christ whom they love and serve. As eternity rolls on they will have an ever greater ability to enjoy and an ever increasing capacity to receive and contain the grace, the love and the glory of God. Progressing In Wickedness If the soul is lost, what will it mean? Men grow in sin here. Some seem to have an alarming capacity for iniquity. To what depths men have plunged in this life! Our newspapers are filled with such accounts of horror that we can hardly conceive of souls which would sink so low. To be lost will be awful, for it will mean to be shut out from God, shut out from love, shut out from light, shut out from heaven. It will mean to be stripped of everything that is beautiful and lovely. It will mean to be shut in with corruption, wickedness and all that is vile. It will mean having as companions howling fiends and hissing devils. To be lost will mean far more. The soul will progress in hell. The moral man here will no longer be a moral man in eternity. You are sinking now, and if you die in sin you will sink on forever into greater sin, until the time will come when the most moral man will pass the present position of the vilest sinner, ever falling lower and lower into sin, with a greater capacity to receive and contain, and a greater ability to suffer the woes of the lost forever. * * * * * * * ======================================================================== CHAPTER 32: 03.05. WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST? ======================================================================== WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST? In Matthew 22:1-46, Jesus Christ asked a question which was destined to become one of the most famous questions of the ages: "What think ye of Christ, whose son is he?" It is the question on the lips of religionists all over the world today. It is the question of Jesus to the multitudes. It is the question of God to the world today: "What think ye of My Son?" It is a question that has come down through the ages. The Church should consider this question and make her way through sandy desert, over the barren wastes, climb the highest mountains, descend into the darkest valleys, cross the widest streams, hail all whom she meets and ask of them, "What think ye of Christ?" This is the real issue between the Fundamentalists and the Modernists. The issue is not the inspiration of the Scriptures. The real issue is Jesus. Whose Son is He? The answer to that question ends all arguments. A Subtle AttackIn this chapter of Matthew we have a picture of certain people who were trying to confuse the Master with difficult questions. The first who came were the Herodians, trying to ensnare Him regarding the law. With much flattery they said, "Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not?" But perceiving their wickedness, Jesus said, "Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? .... Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s." And when they heard these words they marveled and went away. Next came the Sadducees. They tried to ensnare Him regarding the law of Moses and the resurrection by questioning Him regarding marriage after the resurrection. Without hesitation He answered them, and the Scriptures say that they were astonished at His doctrine. When the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees they came questioning Him regarding the commandments. Whereupon, as soon as He had answered them, He also asked them a question, saying, ’What think ye of Christ? whose son is he?" A Fair Question Many questions are foolish, but a more sane question could not be asked than the words of the text. Many questions are unfair, but there is nothing deceptive about this. If I asked you what you thought of the President, you would not hesitate to give your opinion. If I asked you what you thought of one of your friends, you would be quick to answer. At certain periods each year we hear ringing from pulpit and press statements of what the world thinks of such men as Washington, Lincoln and other great leaders of the past. What you may think of the present leaders of our nation, or the leaders of the past, is not extremely important. But "What think ye of Christ?" is the most significant question you will ever hear. Not only will your answer affect you in this world, but it concerns your eternal destiny. Many Answers For more than two thousand years men have been trying to answer that question, and their answers have been varied and many. Some would have us believe that Jesus was a good man nothing more. Some say that He was a willful impostor. Others tell us that He was a deluded enthusiast. Some say He was the product of evolution; that what we are now, God used to be; that what God is now we all will be someday; that Jesus was "just a little ahead" of His fellow men. There are some who believe that He was born of earthly parents, just as other men, and that He became the Son of God. There are others who tell us that He is, that He always was and ever shall be the Son of the Everlasting God.To this latter theory I hold with all my heart. I believe that Jesus was God incarnate, God come down to live among men; that He was born of a human mother, but He was conceived by the Holy Ghost; that He was both human and divine. Christ Is Divine I believe in the divinity of Christ because of the Biblical evidence, the miracles He performed, the words He spoke and the arguments found in His conversations. I believe In His divinity because of the life He lived. I believe in His divinity because the belief harmonizes with the thoughts of the greatest minds who have lived since His day. I believe in His divinity because of His power over sin. And last, I believe in His divinity because of a personal experience which I have in my own heart. Wonderful Isaiah said He was "wonderful." Who has looked into the life of Jesus of Nazareth and refused to agree with the prophet? He was wonderful in the fact that He did not view the people as a crowd; He did not see them as a mass; He saw them as individuals. He never sought the multitude, yet never passed by an individual who needed attention. His heart went out to people. His impulse was to pity them, sympathize with them and help them. "He took their pain, laid it on His own heart, until tears were His meat and drink, by day and by night." He became a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief." He took upon Him the woes of the world until He was bowed as with the weight of years. His cheeks were grooved with the tears of sympathy. He was wonderful because He was a beneficent man -- not only a well-wisher, but a well-doer. He was continually doing good; opening blind eyes, healing the sick, cleansing the leper, raising the dead, breaking the bands of Satan and loosening the serpent’s coils. Those who followed Him declared that He did all things well. He was wonderful in the way He spoke. Police sent to arrest Him remained silent. When they heard His voice their murmurings were silenced, hushed was their tumult, and they returned to their superiors, saying, "Never man spake like this man. He was wonderful because He was unselfish. He emptied Himself and made room in His soul for the lives of others. He had no hours in which to greet the public. He was readily accessible at all times. No private secretaries had to be interviewed before one could see Him. He Claimed To Be God What think ye of Christ in His claims to divinity? That He made such assertions no one can deny. Someone has said, "There are nearly one hundred and fifty such claims in the Gospels." In CapernaumIt was evening in Capernaum, the city of our Lord. The streets were crowded, and what a crowd it was! The lame, the halt, the blind were there. Here was a deaf-mute with a foolish grin, there a leper drawing his tattered garments about him, while with sad voice he cried, "Unclean, unclean." Yonder was a man whose face was hardened by the lines of sin and shame, while his eyes flashed the hellish fire of the demon that dwelt within. In the midst of the crowd was a low building which was filled to the doors with an eager throng. In the center of the building stood Jesus of Nazareth, healing the sick and teaching them the way of life. Down the street came a strange procession. Four men were bearing a paralytic on a mattress. They made their way to the door but were unable to enter because of the crowd. They went to the windows, but they were filled. Then, climbing onto the low roof, they removed the tile and lowered the sick man into the presence of Jesus. Had one asked those about Him, "What do you think of Jesus?" they would have answered, "He is a great man, a wonderful teacher and a mighty healer." But when Jesus saw the faith of those who had brought the sick man, He said to the paralytic, "Son, thy sins be forgiven thee." At once there was an uproar. The leading men declared that it was blasphemy and asked, "Who can forgive sins but God?" In this question they were right. Man cannot forgive sins. Again and again the Scriptures teach that forgiveness comes from God. When Jesus announced that this man’s sins were forgiven He clearly and definitely announced the fact that He Himself was God. Philip Jesus claimed to be God when He was talking to His disciples. You will remember that Philip said, "Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us." Jesus answered, "Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?" Prayer He claimed to be God from all eternity when He prayed, "And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was." In this statement He referred to the days when God created the world and hung it in space, beyond the beginning of time, into the unfathomable eternity, and declared that even then He was clothed with the glory of the very Selfhood of God. When Conversing with the Jews He claimed this title when conversing with the Jews and answered their questions by saying, "Before Abraham was, I am." And in that answer He claimed to be of greater antiquity than their father Abraham, as great as that might be. He claimed to be the same one who spoke to Moses from the burning bush. He claimed to be the great I AM, who was the God of Abraham, Isaac andJacob. When the Jews heard that assertion they understood what He meant and immediately seized stones to stone Him, but He passed from their midst. At another time, while talking in their presence, He made the statement, "I and my Father are one. Again they were about to stone Him when He calmly said, "Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?" They answered, "For a good work we stone thee not; but for a blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God." The Jews were not deceived. They knew that He claimed to be God. His Own Arguments His own arguments proved that He claimed to be God inherit eternal life?" Jesus answered, "Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is God." What is the argument here? Simply this: "You call Me good. There is none good but God. If I am not God, I am not good." "What think ye of Christ? whose son is he?" Was He a good Man? If He was God, yes. But if He was riot God, He was not good, but the greatest impostor that ever lived. If He was not God, then not only does disaster fall upon Him, but upon all His followers. If He was not God, then He has never forgiven the sins of a single soul, and all those who have died in the past two thousand years trusting in His Name have died unsaved and have gone into eternity without God. If He Is Not Divine You remember the condition of your own heart, your heavy burden and your loathsome sin. You abhorred yourself, and your situation seemed hopeless. But in your distress you called upon Christ for help. You accepted Him as your Saviour, your Sacrifice, your Substitute and your God. Now you say, "I’m saved, I’m saved." All this and more you have felt in your heart and confessed before men. But, if Jesus was not God, He never forgave your sin; you have been deceived; your peace has been a false peace; your hopes have been in vain. Your paradise has been a fool’s paradise. If He is not God He has no power to forgive sin. If He is not God then away with the New Testament, for it tells us that He is. If the New Testament is a fraud then away with the Old Testament, for it has its fulfillment in the New. When Christ goes out of the Bible, God goes out, too, and we are left hopeless and wrecked on the sands of time. His Holy Life "What think ye of Christ?" His holy life proved Him to be God.He was holy. He was harmless. He was sinless. He said, "Which of you convinceth me of sin?" Someone has said, "For two thousand years He has been discussed by a hostile world. The strongest searchlights of criticism have been turned on the land in which He lived. Every rod of ground upon which He traveled has been dug up, surveyed or trodden. His words have been measured and then weighed in the balances of the greatest scholars of the world. The most powerful X rays have been turned upon every sentence endeavoring to detect a flaw, a break or an error. His very words have been split open as you would break a rock, and their contents poured into the crucible of criticism." His teachings have been, as it were, technically dissolved and each part analyzed. Still, after two thousand years of the closest scrutiny by the greatest minds of earth, not an authoritative lip can make a charge against Him. Still the challenge is flung at the feet of a wicked and godless world, "Which of you convinceth me of sin?" Like the Sadducees of old, men are silent. Great Minds "What think ye of Christ?" Every great mind has been engaged with the thought of Him. "He has towered in the world as its central figure, so human that the most humble and the poor are at home with Him, so divine that the greatest have looked up to Him. His influence has penetrated the civilized world, and His words have been translated into almost every language under heaven." Geniuses The greatest geniuses of earth have bowed to Jesus. Poets, scientists, artists, philosophers, statesmen and warriors have paid Him tribute, and many of them have stood ready to crown Him Lord of all. Poets "What think ye of Christ?" Our greatest poets believed in Him. Jean Paul Richter writes, "The life of Christ concerns Him who being the holiest among the mighty and the mightiest among the holy, lifted with His nail-pierced hands empires from off their hinges, turned the stream of centuries out of its channels and still governs the ages." Scientists Ask the scientists, "What think ye of Christ?" You will find that such men of science as Galileo, Newton, Bacon and Kepler set the Name of Jesus above every other as the Name by which man must be saved. Pasteur, one of the brightest lights in science, a Catholic, died clasping a crucifix as evidence of his faith and hope in Christ. Philosophers Philosophers think well of Him. None has passed Him in silence. Carlyle called Him "our divinest symbol." Channing confessed, "The character of Jesus is unexplainable on human principles." Statesmen Make your way into the presence of the greatest statesmen of time, and you will find that such men as Gladstone and Webster believed in Him. William Jennings Bryan said, "It is easier to believe Him divine than to explain in any other way what He said, what He did, and what He was." Soldiers Ask the heroes of the great battlefields of the past, "What think ye of Christ?" You will find that they believed in Him. Napoleon once remarked to an officer, "Do you know who Jesus Christ is?" When the officer declined to answer, the great general said, "Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne and I founded great empires. Upon what did these empires depend? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded His empire upon love, and to this very hour millions would die for Him. I think I understand something of human nature and I tell you that these were men and I am a man, but Jesus Christ was more than a man." His Enemies His enemies spoke well of Him. Pilate thrice spoke in the presence of the throng, saying, "I find no fault in him." His wife declared Him to be a just man. Mark tells us that the centurion who saw Him die said, "Truly this man was the Son of God." Ask Judas, and hear him say, "I have betrayed the innocent blood." Ask the devils, and hear them answer, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?" I have read that Voltaire, the infidel, in death cried, "I am abandoned by God and man! I shall go to hell! O Christ! O Jesus Christ!" Thomas Paine, the greatest of American infidels, died quoting the words of Jesus on the Cross. Artists The great artists had faith in Him. It has been said that Raphael’s pictures of the Transfiguration and of Christ bearing the Cross are evidence of his faith and hope. When he finished his wonderful picture of the Madonna, he threw himself on his face and wept. There was a picture in his heart which he could not paint. Masters In Song As for the masters in song, their love for Christ and their thoughts concerning Him are expressed in every word and song, and are sent over the world, announcing their praise of Him who gave His life that man might be redeemed. Ask Charles Wesley "What think ye of Christ?" and hear him sing: Jesus, Lover of my soul, Let me to Thy bosom fly, While the nearer waters roll, While the tempest still is high. Hide me, O my Saviour, hide, Till the storm of life is past; Safe into the haven guide; O receive my soul at last. Ask A. J. Gordon "What think ye of Christ?" and hear him answer: My Jesus, I love Thee, I know Thou art mine; For Thee all the follies of sin I resign. My gracious Redeemer, my Saviour art Thou; If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now. Ask Joseph Scriven, and hear him say: What a Friend we have in Jesus, All our sins and griefs to hear! What a privilege to carry Everything to God in prayer! O what a peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we hear, All because we do not carry Everything to God in prayer. Ask Fanny Crosby, the little blind poet of Bridgeport, Connecticut, "What think ye of Christ?" Then hear her lift her voice and sing: Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine! Heir of salvation, purchase of God,Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood. Edward Perronet voices the sentiments of every Christian of every age when he sings: All hail the pow’r of Jesus’ Name, Let angels prostrate fall; Bring forth the royal diadem, And crown Him Lord of all. Ye chosen seed of Israel’s race, Ye ransomed from the fall, Hail Him who saved you by His grace, And crown Him Lord of all. Let ev’ry kindred, ev’ry tribe, On this terrestrial ball, To Him all majesty ascribe, And crown Him Lord of all. O that with yonder sacred throng We at His feet may fall; We’ll join the everlasting song, And crown Him Lord of all. Christ’s Power Over Sin Christ’s power over sin proves Him to be God. "For two thousand years in every age, in every clime, among all classes of men, from the refined infidel to the vilest sinner, from the cold-hearted atheist to the brutal idolater, men have been changed through faith in His Name." Men who have been vile; men who have been bondslaves to the god of lusts, whose base passions have been set on fire of hell; men with low thoughts, rotting bodies and sin-cursed souls, have flung themselves at the feet of Christ and heard His words, "Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace." They have arisen to find that "old things are passed away and all things are become new." No one can save men but God; Jesus saves men; therefore, Jesus must be God. A man was speaking to a group of students in Glasgow. He had been magnifying the power of Christ to save from the lowest sin. In the midst of his message he lifted a piece of paper in his hand and said, "I have a letter here from one of your number, asking how it is possible for one who has been low and vile to be lifted out of sin and made pure and clean." Then, turning to the open window, he pointed to a fleecy white cloud that hung a thing of beauty in the heavens and said, "O cloud, from whence did you come? The cloud answers me, saying, ’I came from the low, dark, muddy streets of the city. The sun of heaven reached down and lifted me up, up, up, and with its rays purified me. Now his shining upon me makes the thing of beauty you behold.’ " The speaker continued, "To you who wrote this letter, and all others, let me say that the Sun of Righteousness can reach down and lift you out of the mire and clay, transform your life and make you a new creature." Do You Doubt? If you doubt Christ’s power on earth to forgive sin, find the drug addict that has been cured, the thief that has been made honest, the harlot that has become pure, and ask them, "What think ye of Christ?" They will sing to you that -- There is a fountain filled with blood, Drawn from Immanuel’s veins; And sinners, plunged beneath that flood, Lose all their guilty stains. If you doubt His power to save find the redeemed drunkard, the man who had tried every cure, broken every pledge, in whose breast had burned fires of hell; and when you have found him as he sits in some mission hall, in some church or under his own vine and fig tree, sober and happy, ask him how it happened, and he will sing, too, of how -- Jesus paid it all, All to Him I owe; Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow. Personal Experience I believe in the divinity of Christ because of a personal experience in my own heart. I, too, was bound by sin, broken in heart and life, but I came to Christ on the recommendation of others. They said He could help me. I called upon Him, and He forgave my sin. I know He lives today, for He lives in me. I know He is divine, for He has done a divine work in my heart. The old Welsh mother said to her friend, "I believe that when Jesus was on earth He spoke Welsh." The other old saint replied, "I don’t know if He spoke Welsh then or not, but I know He speaks it now for He was talking to me today." I know He speaks to men, for He has spoken to my own soul. I was once far away from the Saviour, As vile as a sinner could he, And I wondered if Christ the Redeemer Could save a poor sinner like me. I wandered on in the darkness, No ray of hope could I see. The thought filled my heart with sadness, "There’s no hope for a sinner like me."And then in that dark lonely hour A voice sweetly whispered to me, Saying, "Christ the Redeemer hath power, To save a poor sinner like thee." I listened and, lo, ’twas the Saviour That was speaking so kindly to me; I cried, "I’m the chief of sinners," And He saved a poor sinner like me. * * * * * * * ======================================================================== CHAPTER 33: 03.06. SALVATION ======================================================================== SALVATION I preached one morning on the subject of salvation. At the close of the service I heard a man ask a lady how she liked the message. She replied, "He did very well, but he did not cover his subject." She was correct. I did not cover it then, and I do not expect to cover it now. In fact, I never expect to cover it completely. Salvation is too big a subject to cover in any one sermon or in any number of sermons. Although we have no hope of exhausting our theme or covering our subject in this message, there are three things regarding salvation which we would like to submit for your consideration: (1) it is universal in its extent; (2) it is present in its application; (3) it is eternal in its duration. 1. Universal In Extent It is universal in its extent. I believe that when Christ died, He died not for a chosen few, a small number or a select crowd, but that all who would come to Him might be saved. Of this fact the Bible abounds in proof. Hear Jesus saying in John 3:16 : "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Paul says in Romans 1:16 : "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth." The book of Hebrews tells that "he [tasted] death for every man"; the Apostle Peter declares, "The Lord is not ... willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." Salvation is universal in its extent. Helpless Man It has been well said, "When man sinned he fell away from God and a gulf intervened as bottomless as hell and as black as midnight, and throughout those yawning depths devils howled and demons hissed, while thunders rolled and lightnings flashed, and no genius of man could bridge it and no contrivance of man could cross it and hell held high carnival over man’s lost condition. But in the midst of their glee Jesus Christ left His home in glory and came to this world, and at the cost of His life flung a bridge across that hitherto impassable gulf, and called it salvation, and announced to the world that ’I am come that [ye] might have life, and . . . have it more abundantly.’ And for nearly two thousand years poor old sin-cursed and sin-wreckedhumanity has been staggering across salvation’s bridge into the arms of a loving God and finding that though their ’sins be as scarlet,’ He will make them ’white as snow,’ and ’though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.’ O the love that drew salvation’s plan! O the grace that brought it down to man! O the mighty gulf that God did span At Calvary! All Invited There are many things which are not universal, and many things which all of us will never be able to have. We cannot all be millionaires, but the salvation of the Lord maketh rich, and we can all have that. We may never be able to climb to the lofty tops of the great mountains and gaze upon the grandeur of this world, but we can all climb to the mountain peaks of full salvation and behold the beauty of the Lord and inquire in His temple; for salvation is universal. When the great and mighty of this earth make a feast, they may not invite their neighbors or tell the man across the street, but they will send invitations across the town and across the country and across the ocean and invite their chosen few and their select crowds to partake of the feasts they have prepared; but when God had provided the feast of salvation He sent out an invitation, saying, "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price." To make sure that no one was slighted, He said to His servants, "Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage." He said, "Pay no attention to their nationality; do not notice their tattered garments. No matter how poor they may be or how low in sin, be sure to tell them I said that they should come." Then, to make us all feel welcome, He broadened His invitation and said, "The Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely." Hope for All Salvation is universal in its extent, and there is not a walk of life, nor a class or race of people into which the King of kings has not made His way and snatched some of them as brands from the burning and by the power of salvation changed them into ambassadors of heaven. Go among the rich, and regardless of the difficulties in the way, salvation has reached many of them. We love to think of such men as John Wanamaker, Charles N. Crittenton and H. J. Heinz, who used their wealth for the Lord. Go to the poor, and regardless of their poverty, there is salvation for them. One of the utterances which fell from the lips of Jesus was: "The poor have the gospel preached to them." This is one table from which none has ever been turned away hungry. Go to the colleges and universities of our land, where the wise men are eating of the fruit of the tree of knowledge, and no matter how learned they are, there is salvation for them. Some of the wisest men of earth have placed their all at the feet of Jesus and accepted salvation on the simple terms of the Gospel. Mr. Gladstone said of the sixty great men with whom he was personally acquainted, ’ ’Fifty-seven of them are Christians.’ ’Consider the prisons of our country where men are caged and guarded like lions, herded like cattle, shut out of society and wanted by no one, and there is salvation for them. Some of the brightest lights the Christian world has ever known came from behind prison bars. We have heard it said that the Negro does not have a soul. But can anyone who has been in the Southland and seen their black faces shine under the power and glory of God doubt for one moment that the same Christ who gave His life for the white man died that the black man might be saved? The black race has produced such Christian characters and soul-winners as Booker T. Washington, C. A. Tindley, John Jasper, Amanda Smith, George Washington Carver and many others. It was a Negro who wrote that wonderful song: There’s nothing between my soul and my Saviour, Naught of this world’s delusive dreams I have renounced all sinful pleasure, Jesus is mine, there’s nothing between. It was Charles P. Jones, the colored song writer of the South, who wrote: There is no one in the world like Jesus, He’s the treasure of my soul, When in trouble He dispels my sorrow, When I’m sick He makes me whole. Oh, I love to tell the merits of my Saviour Every soul I can to win. Oh! I love to tell the story of His power, How He saves and keeps from sin. If you doubt the universality of salvation, go to the heathen lands and see the inroads which Christianity has made. Go to China and see men turning from idols to God; go to Japan and see men turning from Buddha to Christ; go to India where men threw their children to the crocodiles and see them now as they place them before the feet of Him who said, "Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of heaven." Go to the islands of the sea, among the cannibals, and see them as they cease to feed upon human flesh and begin to feast upon that flesh which is meat indeed. Then you will begin to understand what Jesus meant when He said, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." Why this "go"? I’ll tell you why. Jesus died not for a chosen few, but for every man "from Greenland’s icy mountains to India’s coral strand," and "from the great river to the ends of the earth." Salvation is universal! 2. Present In Its Application Salvation is present in its application. We do not need help for yesterday. Yesterday is gone. It will never return, and the very best you and I can hope for concerning yesterday is mercy and forgiveness. We do not need help for tomorrow. it may never come. But, oh, if I know anything about the needs of humanity, and if I know anything about your heart and mine, what we need issomething that will help us today. Thank God, salvation will do that. Titus 2:11-12 says: "The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this PRESENT world." If you could come to Christ today and accept salvation, and it failed to stop one sin or break one habit, and you derived no benefits from it whatever until the hour you died, it would still be worth more than all this world. But, thank God, a man does not have to wait until he dies to reap its benefits; it becomes effective as soon as he believes it. Most insurance policies pay their dividends at death, but this is one that begins paying the moment you take it out. Notice the present application in the following passages of Scripture. John 8:32 says, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." If you are not free, you do not have the truth. In Romans 8:1-2 we read, "There is therefore NOW no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." Romans 6:22 tells us: "But NOW being made free from sin -- not after a while, but NOW], and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life." Immediate Results The drunkard in the prison today is not drinking, the gambler is not gambling, and the thief is not stealing, but they are not free; they are in bondage. If released the drunkard will drink at the first opportunity, the gambler will gamble and the thief will steal. But if salvation comes into their lives, the drunkard will pass a dozen saloons in one block and never look in, the gambler will brush the cards aside and bet no more and the thief will become known for his honesty. I have seen a drunkard who had not drawn a sober breath for months come to an altar of prayer and in five minutes find salvation and walk out sober, never to touch liquor again. I have seen a thief come, and go away an honest man; a liar come, and go away truthful; and I have seen a blasphemer come and find this salvation and go away with a "new song in [his] mouth, even praises unto our God." Down in the human heart, Crushed by the tempter, Feelings lie buried that grace can restore Touched by a loving heart, Wakened by kindness, Chords that are broken will vibrate once more. A Help in Trouble Not only is salvation present in its application in regard to our sins, but David says, "The salvation of the righteous is of the Lord: he is their strength in the time of trouble." It also has a present application in trouble. A friend of ours in the South told us that when her only little girl passed away, she threw herself across the bed, and it seemed as if her heart would break. Stretching her hands to God, she said, "O Lord, if you ever helped, help me now." A voice seemed to say, "Daughter, underneath are the everlasting arms"; and that little mother followed her child tothe city of the dead and shouted while the clods fell on the coffin lid. Why? Because salvation is a strength in time of trouble. And when fate sweeps away your job and all you have, and there is no money in the bank and little to eat, when rent is due, credit gone and loved ones are ill, you can sing with Isaac Watts: I’m glad salvation’s free, I’m glad salvation’s free, Salvation’s free for you and me, I’m glad salvation’s free. Mother I was reared by an old-fashioned mother, and she dearly loved to sing. She was not a trained singer, but you could understand every word she said. She loved the old songs, and although I never heard her sing in public, she sang all day long as she went about her work. Our home was very poor and many times there was no money for pressing needs. Often we children grieved her heart either by our waywardness or by our neglecting to write. She was growing old and the burdens were heavy upon her shoulders. I did not realize it then, for I was godless and unsaved. But I can hear her now as I used to hear her then, and I am beginning to understand the thoughts of her heart as she sang: In every condition, in sickness in health, In poverty’s vale or abounding in wealth, At home or abroad, on the land on the sea, As thy days may demand shall thy strength ever be. There was one other stanza about which I wondered. I could not understand it then, but now, after many years of trying to live for God and finding that the Devil tries to contest every inch of ground, and also finding how near Jesus is to His own, I know what mother meant when she sang: The soul that on Jesus doth lean for repose, I will not, I will not desert to his foes, That soul, tho’ all hell should endeavor to shake, I’ll never, no never, no never forsake! 3. Eternal In Its Duration Salvation is eternal in its duration; it never grows threadbare or wears out. The world is hungry. In this all of us are alike. Man is an eternal being, and there is an eternal longing in every human heart, and an eternal salvation is required to satisfy the eternal longing of the soul. That there is pleasure in the world we do not deny. We know there is pleasure in the dance, in the card party, in the theater. But if you indulge in such pleasures, after all is over and you make your way to your home and pillow your tired head, there is an aching emptiness in your heart which the pleasures of the world cannot satisfy. Hungry Hearts Mark Twain was perhaps the greatest humorist of his or any other age, yet it is said "that while he laughed with the world, his lonely spirit struggled with the sadness of human life and sought to find the key." Beneath the laughter was a hungry soul that fun could not satisfy. Charlie Chaplain, the world’s greatest comedian, recently said, "I am oppressed at times with what the world calls ’world weariness’; I then feel a total stranger to life, as though I were upon the wrong star, and I am disgusted with the character that circumstances has forced me to create, and dissatisfied with the matter that limitations have forced upon my will." What does this mean? Simply this: in spite of his two-million-dollar home in Hollywood, in spite of the fact that he is the fun god of the world and, in spite of his wealth, in the breast of Charlie Chaplain there is an eternal longing -- as there is in the heart of every other man -- that pleasure and money cannot satisfy. The greatest chasms of earth are to be found not in the regions of mountains and deserts, but in the heart of humanity. You cannot fill the human heart. If you could throw all the mountains of the earth into the human heart, they would not fill it. If you were to put into it New York, London, Paris and the other great cities of the world, they would sink from view. If you threw into this heart-chasm money, power and pleasure, and upon that all the isms and false religions of the world, they would never fill nor satisfy it. Yet with all its vastness it can be filled. What will fill it? No genius of science nor knowledge of man, but the Salvation of Jesus Christ. When salvation comes into the heart of man it goes to the deepest depths, it rises to the highest heights, it reaches the farthest outposts, it fills every nook, every crevice and every cranny of the human heart. The aching emptiness is gone, and the soul begins to sing: I’m satisfied with Jesus here, He’s everything to me"; His wondrous love has filled my heart, From sin He’s set me free. A great preacher, at the close of a sermon which he preached one night in a Midwestern city, was approached by a very intelligent young woman, a university graduate, who asked him if he had considered Christian Science. He told her that he had not, and did not care to do so. She replied that since she had come and listened to him he should permit her to tell what Christian Science had done for her. He answered, "Very well, what has Christian Science done for you?" She told him three or four physical and mental benefits she had received, the different outlook it had given her on life and other advantages. When she had finished he said, "What else has it done for you?" She answered, "I believe that is all." The preacher said, "Jesus Christ and salvation have done for me what you say Christian Science has done for you -- and then some. She looked up and said, "What do you mean by ’then some’?" He answered, "Christ has given me the consciousness that my sins are forgiven and that I know God." As the tears came into the eyes of the young woman she took a step forward and said, "Oh, brother, that is what I want!" You may receive some help and find some truth in the isms of the world, but if you want your sins forgiven and that eternallonging in your heart satisfied, you will have to get the salvation of Jesus Christ which is eternal in its duration. Salvation, since it is eternal in its duration, goes with us not only through life but through death. It does not stop at the banks of the river, but crosses over. Paul realized that Nero’s axe might sever his head, but not his salvation. He declared triumphantly, "Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord . . . shall give me at that day." David realized this truth when he said, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death." He knew that in salvation he had something that would not leave him in the darkness but, being eternal, would take him through into the sunlight on the other side. John Newton in that wonderful old song "Amazing Grace," emphasizes the three phases of salvation. In the first stanza he sings of the depths to which it goes -- it is universal in its extent; in the second he sings of its power to preserve in this life -- it is present in its application; in the last he sings of its scope in the world to come -- it is eternal in its duration. Amazing grace! how sweet the sound, That sav’d a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found, Was blind, but now I see. Through many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come; ’Tis grace hath bro’t me safe thus far, And grace will lead me home. When we’ve been there ten thousand years, Bright shining as the sun, We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise Than when we first begun. * * * * * * * ======================================================================== CHAPTER 34: 03.07. THE BOOK OF REVELATION ======================================================================== THE BOOK OF REVELATION There is not a more interesting book in the Bible than the book of Revelation; there is no book which more clearly describes the future. It has been called by some a sealed book, a book of mystery, a theological puzzle, a religious conundrum. Because of this, many Christians have passed it by as unfathomable and have thereby missed untold blessing.. Others who read it look upon its language as figurative and its incidents as allegorical. To them it is a book of speculation. The Key It is said that every book in the Bible has its key chapter, every chapter its key verse and every verse its key word. To me, the key to Revelation is found in the lock of the door as we enter the book. "The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John." Here we find five things about the book. 1. What it is: "The Revelation of Jesus Christ." 2. Whence it came: "Which God gave unto him." 3. Why it was written: "To shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass. 4. How it came: "Signified ... by his angel." 5. Unto whom it came: "Unto his servant John." It does not seem reasonable that God should write a book for His people for the specific purpose of showing them things which would be hereafter, place it among the other inspired writings where they could see it and handle it, yet so camouflage it and veil it in mystery that it could not be understood. Many houses for years have been considered haunted because no one took the time or trouble to investigate. When investigation was made the weird noises and ghostlike sounds were easily explained. As It Reads Dr. J. A. Seiss, author of one of the best commentaries on Revelation, has said that the book is more easily understood if we accept it as it reads instead of trying to make it mean something else. This is reasonable. If God did not mean what He said, surely He would have said what He meant. Do you not believe that if we will earnestly study it, devotedly read it, and diligently earch it, God will open it unto us? I believe He will. Do You Understand It? You ask: "Do you understand the book of Revelation?" I must answer, "No, not all of it." I would have to give you the same answer regarding any other book of the Bible. I do not understand all of the book of Genesis, but I have learned from reading it the origin of the earth, for it says, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." I have also foundin it the origin of my own being, for it declares, "God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." This is priceless knowledge. If I never learn anything else about the first book of the Bible, the knowledge of these facts will be more than worth all the time I might have spent in studying it. The Book Of Job Consider one of the great central books of the Bible, the book of Job. I do not understand all of it, but I have learned from reading it that God can take a man through any and every kind of difficulty, keep him from sin and enable him to emerge a conqueror. This knowledge has paid me for all the time I have spent in studying the book of Job. The Psalms Consider another great central book of the Old Testament, the book of Psalms. I do not understand all of it, but while reading it I discovered that The Lord is my shepherd: I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. The Book Of Malachi I cannot comprehend the entire book of Malachi, but while studying it, I learned that God is interested in the most minute things concerning His people; that He listens to their common conversations. In Malachi I read, "They that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name. Is this not exceedingly valuable knowledge? The Book Of Matthew I do not understand all of the book of Matthew, but I found while reading it that Jesus said, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." I have tested that promise and found it to be true. The Apocalypse No, I do not understand the entire book of Revelation, but Revelation 1:1 tells me that it is a "Revelation of Jesus Christ." That alone makes me want to read it and learn more about it. Read it, study it and you will find that Jesus Christ has not an attribute which is not revealed in this wonderful book. In it He is revealed to be what Isaiah prophesied when he said, "Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David . . . The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this." How He Is Revealed He is revealed as a Judge, striking terror to the heart of the wicked and lawless. He is revealed as a Mighty Warrior, leading His holy army to conquest and to victory. He is revealed as a great General, going forth conquering and to conquer. He is revealed as a Comforter, strengthening the weak and binding up the brokenhearted. He is revealed as a Father, pitying and protecting His children. He is revealed as a Saviour, rescuing the lost and hopeless. He is revealed as the Prince of Peace, abolishing strife and discord and restoring harmony and contentment. He is revealed as an Emancipator, breaking the shackles of slavery and setting free those who all their lives have been subject to the bondage of sin. He is revealed as a Pioneer, opening a new and a better country for His people. He is revealed as a Philanthropist, building homes for the needy and with His gifts making glad the hearts of the poor. He is revealed in majesty, honor, and glory, the King of kings, the Lord of lords, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today, and forever. Alpha And Omega Revelation 1:1-20 contains the most wonderful word picture of the glorious personality of the Son of God that ever came from tongue or pen.There He is revealed as the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last. His snow-white hair, His flaming eyes, His voice like the sound of many waters and His stirring identification testimony, "I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death," proclaim Him to be the Glorious One. Message To The Church Revelation 2:1-29 and Revelation 3:1-22 reveal Christ’s attitude to and desire for His Church in what is called the message to the seven churches. In a sense these are not seven messages but one great message to the seven churches which compose the congregation. Christ is in the pulpit and the seven churches occupy the pews. This message reveals Him to be a God of love and a God of mercy; a God of justice and a God of judgment; a God who is keenly interested in every act of our lives and has an infinite knowledge of all our ways. Things Hereafter Revelation 4:1-11 initiates the specific revelation of those things which are to come. John introduces the revelation by saying, "I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter." Before this time John was like a little boy watching a ball game through a knothole in a fence. He could not see all the players. The entire field did not come within his range of vision. Occasionally he heard the crack of the bat on the ball and saw a player dash by, but John could not tell whether it was a "two bagger" or a home run. He could not see whether it was stopped by a baseman or one of the fielders. Then God seemed to say, "John, get away from the knothole. Come over the fence. Let us go up into the grandstand where you can see the entire field, the diamond, the bases and all the players. Come up where you can see who makes a home run, and where you can see who wins the pennant, and, John, if you will stay with Me, I will show you who will win the world series." We miss much today because we live on a low plane. God is saying to every one of us, "Come up higher, and I will show you more." The higher we climb in grace, and the higher we rise above the world, the greater revelation will God be able to give us. John, caught up in the Spirit, began to look and listen. As he saw and heard, he wrote, chapter after chapter, concerning seals, and trumpets of woes, and vials -- a terrible picture of sin, ripe unto harvest, and bearing the fruit of death, of hell and of carnage. He saw a picture of Satan’s power and wicked reign. He observed tribulation judgments, and had occasional glimpses of divine mercy. The TribulationFrom his exalted position John saw the opening of the seals. He saw the red horse and his rider, War, as they dashed forth upon the race course of time with power to take peace from the earth. Before their terrible charge, peace palaces crumbled; peace conferences were disbanded. He saw leagues of nations and leagues of notions come to naught as nations broke their peace pacts and sprang at the throats of one another. John saw the black horse of sin and his rider, Famine, as they joined the eternal race accompanied by drought and pestilence, followed by plague and starvation. He saw the pale horse and his rider, Death, as they, too, joined the race. He carried his scythe of destruction, and the rich, the poor, the young, the old fell before him like ripened grain before the reaper’s blade. The Sixth Seal John saw the opening of the sixth seal. And lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and the rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand? I used to hear my now sainted mother sing an old song with weird words and doleful melody which was based upon this passage of Scripture: I’ve a long time heard that the sun will be darkened And the moon will be bleeding in that day. O sinner, and where will you stand in that day? You will cry to the rocks, and the rocks will flee away, And the rocks will flee away in that day; In that day, in that day, O where will you stand in that day?I do not know where you will stand, but I do know Christ assures us He will never forsake the soul which flees to Him for refuge. Hell itself is powerless against the soul which trusts the Saviour. I do not presume to predict dates, but I know that whether that day come soon or late, if you will give your heart to Christ, you can say with the apostle, "I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day." The Trumpets John heard the blasting of the trumpets. He saw hail and fire mingled with blood cast upon the earth. The third part of the trees and the third part of the creatures in the sea died. He saw hell opened and those horrible locust-like creatures, with poisonous tentacles and maddening sting, come forth into the earth with power to torment the bodies of men for five months. He saw men in such agony of body and mind that they desired to die. They sought death, but death fled from them. John saw men, as it were, place revolvers to their temples to blow out their brains, but the bullets failed to find vital spots, and their agonies were increased. He saw others lift vials of poison to their lips, but death would not release them, and their misery was augmented. They prayed for death, but their prayers were unanswered. The False Prophet John saw the rise and reign of the false prophet. He saw him spread himself in great power. He saw him perform great miracles, bring down fire from the sky and give life to an image made with hands. John saw him become so popular and powerful that the multitudes gathered about him. The world worshipped at his shrine, and laws were passed which provided that all who failed to worship him should be put to death. Vials Of Wrath John saw the vials of the wrath of God poured out upon men who did not repent and who worshipped the beast and the false prophet. He saw horrible sores, similar to leprosy, break out upon their bodies. Agony, torment and pain were their companions day and night. He saw the sun or some other planet swing so close to earth that men’s bodies were scorched with great heat. Their misery was so unbearable that they gnawed their tongues for pain; yet they repented not, but blasphemed the God of heaven. Babylon He saw Babylon rise and climb into world glory until she was seen and admired by all the wicked of earth; then John saw her fall and her glory was taken away because of the wrath of God. The General JudgmentJohn saw the general judgment and the doom of the unbelieving dead, which he described in these words: And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. A Dark Picture So dark are most of the scenes described by the apostle, that if we looked only upon them, we would cry out with the dying infidel, "All is lost -- finally and irrevocably lost. All is dark and doubtful." But, remember, when you read the last book of the Bible, that it is a revelation of Jesus Christ. I care not how dark the picture, how terrible the scene, how awful the tragedy, look closely and you will see behind every dark cloud, every dark picture, every tragedy the hand of the Master, moving, molding, forming and planning to bring out of that dark chaos a redeemed world in which His people may serve Him without fear in holiness forever and forever. The New Heaven And New Earth John saw a new heaven and a new earth. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. The Holy City John saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven and he said:I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there. A Book Of Invitations The Bible is a book of invitations. From the day God called Adam in the garden to the present moment, He has been calling, calling, calling. Old Testament Invitations He called Noah into the Ark; He called Abraham out of Haran, Israel out of Egypt, Moses to Sinai, Joshua into Canaan and David to a closer walk and fellowship with Him. He climaxed the invitations of the Old Testament when He said through the lips of His prophet Isaiah: "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without price." New Testament Invitations Listen as you turn the pages of the New Testament and you will hear the bells of invitation ring. He called fishermen and tax-gatherers to be His apostles, publicans to be His disciples, sinners to be His friends and climaxed His earthly life with the invitation: "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. "For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." The Crowning Invitation It was left to the Apostle John in the last book of the Bible, Revelation 22:17, to record the crowning invitation of the Bible, of the world, of the universe: "And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come." Then he reached out and touched the length and the breadth and the height and the depth of all the world; he included the white man, the red man, the black man and the yellow man, men ofevery kindred, people and tongue, when he said, "Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." Let him come and escape the ravages of sin. Let him come and escape the terrors of the tribulation Let him come and escape the damnation of hell. Let him come and find hope. Let him come and find life. Let him come and find Christ. Let him come and find heaven. This crowning invitation, with its grand word, "whosoever," reveals the height of His love, the depth of His compassion, the breadth of His mercy, the triumph of His power and the infinity of His grace. This climactic invitation with its grand word "whosoever" Is within itself a revelation of Jesus Christ. When John heard the voice saying, "Surely I come quickly," he was moved to conclude the last book of the Bible with the prayer of Christians through the ages, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus." Then follows the beautiful benediction, "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen." * * * * * * * ======================================================================== CHAPTER 35: 03.08. THE HOLY SPIRIT ======================================================================== THE HOLY SPIRIT The Holy Spirit is first mentioned in Genesis 1:2 : "And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." There we find He was a co-worker with the Father; and He has never worked apart from Him. When God created man He said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." The Holy Spirit has always been associated with every divine act, but His manifestations in the Old Testament were exceedingly different from His work today. In The Old Testament In the Old Testament He is specifically mentioned more than eighty times, and there are at least four operations ascribed to Him. The Old Testament gives examples of His filling men for a specific purpose. It speaks of His abiding or dwelling in men. It tells of His coming upon men. There are other passages in which the original language implies His coming mightily upon men. The Holy Spirit filled men. The Holy Spirit dwelt in men. The Holy Spirit came upon men. The Holy Spirit came mightily upon men. The Holy Spirit came upon men for a special occasion. or a specific purpose. It is interesting to note the times, the ways and the occasions in which these manifestations took place. The Holy Spirit Filled Men When the Tabernacle was being built, the Holy Spirit filled men for a specific purpose. In Exodus 31:3-5 we read: "I have filled him [Bezaleel] with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, to devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving of timber, to work in all manner of workmanship." Here we have an example which shows that the Holy Spirit filled a man in order that he m ght be a better blacksmith, a better stone mason, a better wood carver, a better carpenter, a better architect. Though we live in a later dispensation, it is still true that the filling of the Spirit equips a man for better workmanship in any walk of life. Let Him come into your heart. He will make you a better workman, a better salesman, a better executive. He Dwelt In Men The Old Testament, in at least two instances, tells us that the Holy Spirit dwelt in men. In Genesis 41:38-39 we read that Pharaoh, king of Egypt, described Joseph as a man who was qualified as a ruler. He placed him over the affairs of his kingdom, and specifically stated that he did it because Joseph was indwelt by the Spirit of God, and was discreet and wise. Again, in Numbers 27:18, we read that God appointed Joshua to succeed Moses as a leader of Israel. "The Lord said unto Moses, Take thee Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit," and commanded that he be placed over Israel.In both Joseph and Joshua the Holy Spirit developed qualifications for leadership. However, His presence and power were manifested not in imperialism or totalitarianism, but in discretion, wisdom and gentleness. These fruits of the Spirit revealed so long ago in the lives of Joseph and Joshua are evidenced today in the lives of all who yield themselves into His keeping. He Came Upon Men In the Old Dispensation the Holy Spirit many times came upon men to qualify them for a particular task. In Judges 6:34 we are told, "The Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet; and Abiezer was gathered after him." This is an example of His coming upon a man to qualify him for leadership and victory. In 1 Chronicles 12:18 we read that the Holy Spirit came upon a man to prove to King David that Benjamin and Judah were loyal. "Then the spirit came upon Amasai, who was chief of the captains, and he said, Thine are we, David, and on thy side, thou son of Jesse: peace, peace be unto thee, and peace be to thine helpers. Then David received them." Here the Holy Spirit came upon a man to make him a messenger of peace. In 2 Chronicles 24:20 we learn of His coming upon Zechariah to enable him to protest against idolatry. "The Spirit of God came upon Zechariah . . . and said unto them, Thus saith God, Why transgress ye the commandments of the Lord, that ye cannot prosper? because ye have forsaken the Lord, he hath also forsaken you." In each of these instances we are told that His coming upon these men meant that He clothed Himself with them. They did not put Him on. He, the Holy Spirit, put them on. The Holy Spirit put on Gideon like a garment, made him a leader in Israel and gave him victory over the Midianites. The Holy Spirit wrapped Himself with Amasai and convinced King David that Benjamin and Judah had not come to betray him, but that they were loyal and dependable. The Holy Spirit put on Zechariah like a coat, and gave him the will, the voice and the power to protest against idolatry, though he knew it would cost him his life. Let me remind you that today when the Spirit comes to our hearts, we do not put Him on. He puts us on. We do not use Him. He uses us. It is not our power. The power is His. "Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you. He Came Mightily Upon Men Dr. G. Campbell Morgan calls our attention to three passages in the Old Testament in which the original language implies that the Holy Spirit came mightily upon men. We read in Judges 14:6 that a lion roared against Samson: "And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid, and he had nothing in his hand." Here the Spirit manifested Himself in great strength. A second passage is 1 Samuel 10:10, which tells us that the Spirit of God came upon Saul, the first king of Israel, and he prophesied. In 1 Samuel 16:13 we read that the Spirit of God came upon David for the governing of the people. "Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward." The Original Thought The original thought in these Scripture passages is that of forcing forward or pushing. The literal thought is this: the Holy Spirit attacked these men. The Holy Spirit attacked Samson, forced him into a battle with a lion and gave him such physical strength that "he rent him as he would have rent a kid, and he had nothing in his hand." The Holy Spirit attacked King Saul and wrung from his lips prophetic utterances which so stirred the people who heard him that they said one to another, "What is this that is come unto the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?" The Holy Spirit attacked David, forced him into the rulership of a great nation and made him the world’s greatest king. Each Did A Specific Work It is interesting to note that each of these men did a specific thing. Samson slew a lion. Saul prophesied. David ruled a nation. Yet each was under the compulsion of the same Spirit. The Spirit Is Everywhere The hand of the Holy Spirit is seen throughout the Old Dispensation. As someone has said, "He was the Spirit of conviction while sin worked itself out from the fall to the Flood. "He was the Spirit of detailed service while the people of God were being organized into a nation. "He was the Spirit of strength while they were fighting for the land and casting out the opposers of God and His cause."He was the Spirit of hope during the days of wandering and was continually going about among them, speaking to everyone who would listen, and pointing ahead for those who would see, and reminding them, by type and by shadow that there were better days to come. The Old Dispensation Manifestation Of The Spirit However, few in the Old Dispensation, with all its manifestations of the Holy Spirit, knew Him as we know Him today, as the Sanctifier of individual lives in the sense of cleansing and keeping. These marvelous manifestations of His power were reserved for a later dispensation. It is our privilege to live in this later dispensation and to have the Spirit in all His wonderful power and blessing. In the Old Dispensation He seemed at times to come upon men irrespective of character. When He needed a man He chose one, filled him and put him on like a garment; or He attacked him, forced him into the gap and accomplished great things with him. The Old Has Passed The Old Dispensation has passed and the New Dispensation has come, but the Spirit is the same. It is the same Holy Spirit that moved upon the face of the water. It is the same Holy Spirit to whom the Father referred when He said, "Let us make man in our image and after our likeness." It is the same Holy Spirit that filled Bezaleel with wisdom and knowledge and all manner of workmanship. It is the same Holy Spirit that clothed Himself with Gideon and defeated the Midianites. It is the same Holy Spirit that put on Zechariah like a garment and protested against the idolatry of Israel. No longer does He come upon men irrespective of their characters or regardless of their wills. Today the Holy Spirit comes upon men who are tired of sin and willing to forsake it He regenerates them, blots out their transgressions, forgives their iniquities and adopts them into the family of God. No Longer Compulsion In the Old Dispensation the Holy Spirit compelled men to do His bidding. He forced Samson to do battle with a lion. He wrung from the lips of Saul prophetic utterances. He forced David into the kingship of a nation.In this New Dispensation the Holy Spirit forces no man; but to every believer who will fully consecrate his life, placing his all upon Jesus Christ, the Christian’s altar, the Holy Spirit will come upon him with His burning, purging, cleansing power. The Spirit will so burn, so purge, so cleanse, so renovate and fill his soul that it will not be necessary to force him to do God’s bidding. The natural cry of his cleansed heart will be, "I delight to do thy will, O my God." Pentecost The Holy Ghost Dispensation was ushered in on the day of Pentecost. It was the coming into the world of a new temple -- not a temple of wood and stone, of brass and iron, but a temple of human beings indwelt by the Spirit of God. Centuries before, when two young men were prophesying in the camps of Israel, Joshua tried to get Moses to stop them and Moses said, "Would God that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit upon them!" On the day of Pentecost, Moses’ prayer was answered. The Spirit came upon all the people of God. We are still living in that glorious dispensation. Today every man may have the Spirit in all His wonderful manifestations. Pentecost was the beginning of the fulfillment of the prophesy of Joel, "I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: and also upon the servants and the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit." Simon Peter, having received the fullness of the Spirit, took up the message, looked across the centuries to the people of every generation of every race, and said, "The promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call." The Fruit And The Work Paul tells us that the fruit of the Spirit is "love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." This is the fruit that springs from a Spirit-filled heart. There is also a definite work of the Spirit. The work of the Holy Spirit is to regenerate, to cleanse, to abide, to teach, to remind and to comfort. He Comes To Abide Jesus said, "I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever." Perhaps the disciples said, "Master, you have been with us three years. Now you are going away, but You have promised to send us another. How long will He stay? Will He die? Will He be crucified?" Possibly Jesus answered, "No, do not look for death. He will never die. Do not talk about departure. He will never leave you. When He comes He will abide forever."Friends in a certain city took me to see a beautiful mansion which was deteriorating. It was situated in the center of a plot of ground the size of a city block and was completely surrounded by beautiful trees. The house needed to be repaired. The grounds were unkempt and covered with weeds. Years before the place had been advertised for sale. A stranger came to the city, saw the mansion and after some investigation purchased it. He hired workmen who cleaned the grounds and repainted and redecorated the building inside and out. Then he furnished it elaborately. One day, however, he was seen to leave the building, enter his car and drive away. He never returned. No one has heard of him since. The building has fallen into decay. The Holy Spirit does not renew, cleanse, furnish the heart, and then abandon it. He comes to abide. He abides, He abides, The Spirit now abides with me. He’ll not leave me on the way, He’ll be with me every day, For He’s promised to abide with me. The Home Of The Spirit I once said to a carpenter, who was taking great pains with a house which he was building, "Why are you taking such pains?" He replied, "I am not building this place to sell or to rent. I am building it for my home. I am going to live here." The Spirit of God does not purchase the heart of man to build, cleanse, polish and furnish in order that He may sell it or make of it a rooming house or tourist camp for the Devil. He purchases the heart of man to make it His home. "Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost?" He comes in to abide. He Comes As A Teacher The Holy Spirit comes into our hearts as a Teacher. Jesus said, "He shall teach you all things." He is the Author of the Scriptures: "Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." It is a great privilege to sit at the feet of a Spirit-filled Bible teacher and listen to him expound and explain the Word of the Lord, but no teacher, however holy or well trained, can take the place of the Holy Spirit as a Teacher in the heart. The Bible will not move you or thrill you until you know the Author and have His presence in your soul. The Holy Spirit teaches us that true honor is to serve God. He teaches us that true nobility is to be born of God.He teaches us that true riches are to be found in the grace of God. He teaches us that true happiness is the peace of God. He teaches us that true life is to know God. He teaches us that the only true security is to be hidden with Christ in God. He teaches us how rightly to divide the Word of Truth. He teaches us the difference between right and wrong. He teaches us the true value of spiritual things. He teaches us that "the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable." He teaches us that "denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world." He Comes As A Reminder "He shall . . . bring all things to your remembrance," said the Master regarding the Holy Spirit. In no other work has the Holy Spirit been more faithful than in this task of reminding. He reminds us of our duties and privileges in Jesus Christ. He reminds us of promises and vows we have made to our Maker. He reminds us of helpful promises from the Bible just when we need them most. He reminds us that we are pilgrims and strangers in a strange land. He reminds us that here we have no continuing city. He reminds us that we are heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus, and equal heirs with Christ our Lord. He reminds us "that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." He Is A Comforter Jesus said, "Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, l will send him unto you." The long, long night is past, The morning breaks at last; The Holy Ghost from heav’n, The Father’s promise giv’n;O spread the tidings round, Wherever man is found The Comforter has come! We are told that the word "Comforter" as used in the Bible does not mean the same as it does today. Nevertheless, the Holy Spirit is a Comforter in the fullest sense in which we use the word. He comforts us with the assurance that our sins have been forgiven. Though we may yet have to reap some of the harvest of the wild oats we have sown, all the past is under the blood. He comforts us with the knowledge that our hearts have been cleansed from sin, and our hateful dogs of temper can no longer break their leash and spring upon our friends. They have been taken away and crucified with Jesus Christ. He comforts us in the hour of temptation. When it seems that we can hold out no longer, He whispers, "You do not have to yield, for ’there hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.’ He comforts us in the time of sorrow. When there is a crepe on the door and grief in the heart of man, He stands beside the heartbroken one, points to the Man of Sorrows and says, "[Cast] all your care upon him; for he careth for you. In Battle He comforts us in the hour of death. When the voices of hell surround you, when the submarines of the pit are rising beneath you, when the bombers of perdition are roaring above you, when the cohorts of destruction are strafing you, the Holy Spirit will rush to your side, O warring saint, and shout, "Fight on! Fight on! Fight on! The greatest harm that men and devils Can do to you is to take life from your body. I guarantee the safety of your soul." In Death He comforts us in the hour of death. When the voices of friends recede, when our eyes grow dim and the sights of the world disappear, He reminds us of the Psalmist’s wonderful assurance: "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." In our last hour on earth the Spirit will sweetly whisper, "Fear thou not; for I am with thee; be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. * * * * * * * ======================================================================== CHAPTER 36: 03.09. CHRIST OUR PASSOVER ======================================================================== CHRIST OUR PASSOVER The Jews’ Passover was nigh at hand: and many went out of the country up to Jerusalem before the Passover, to purify themselves. Then sought they for Jesus, and spake among themselves, as they stood in the temple, What think ye, that he will not come to the feast? Now both the chief priests and the Pharisees had given a commandment, that, if any man knew where he were, he should shew it, that they might take him (John 11:55-57). The question ’What think ye, that he will not come to the feast?" was asked by three classes of people: strangers, Christ’s friends and His enemies. In asking this, they proved that they were blind. The Beginning Let us go back to the beginning. What were the coats of skin with which the Lord God clothed the first pair in the Garden of Eden? A type and a shadow. What were the firstlings of Abel’s flock which he offered as a sacrifice to God? A type, and a shadow. What was the altar which Noah built on Mount Ararat after he came forth from the ark and upon which he offered clean beasts to the Lord? A type and a shadow. When Abraham took his only son, Isaac, into the land of Moriah to offer him as a burnt offering to God, and was stopped by the angel of the Lord, who provided a ram for a substitute, What was this? A type and a shadow. The children of Israel had been in Egyptian bondage for four hundred years when God sought to deliver them by the hand of His servant Moses. He brought nine great plagues upon Egypt, but Pharaoh hardened his heart and refused to let Israel go. One day God said to Moses, "Take a lamb without blemish, and kill it. And . . . take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses. For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast . . . and the blood shall be to you for a token . . . when I see the blood, I will pass over you." The children of Israel did as the Lord commanded Moses, and that night the destroying angel passed through the land. Everywhere there was tragedy, heartache and death, except in those homes where the blood was on the door. What was that? The first Passover? Yes, and more. A test of faith? Yes, and more. An example of God’s delivering power? Yes, and more -- much more!What was it? It was a type, a shadow of One who would someday come into the world and deliver man from a greater bondage than the bondage of Egypt -- One who would deliver him from the bondage of sin and Satan. When the Lord passed over Egypt There was weeping everywhere, For an angel smote the first-born Of each family dwelling there; But some houses he passed over, As His Word had said before, And death entered not the portals Where the blood was on the door. We are in a land of danger, And death lurks on every hand, But that soul has perfect safety Who obeys our Lord’s command, For secure in God’s pavilion He can watch life’s breakers roar; For God’s angel guards the dwelling Where the blood is on the door. Not the blood of lambs or cattle Sprinkled over any part, But the blood of Christ the Saviour Can redeem a human heart; Then when death these ties shall sever, And we walk on earth no more, We may live with Christ forever If His blood is on the door. A Twofold Purpose God commanded Israel to keep the Passover throughout their generations. He gave it to them for a twofold purpose: to remind them of His delivering power and to point to the Coming One. He wanted them to look backward in remembrance and to look forward in expectancy. He wanted them to look backward with thanksgiving and to look forward with praise. They were faithful in keeping the feast of the Passover, but there came a time when they forgot to look backward and failed to look forward. The Passover had degenerated. ThanksgivingThe Passover degenerated as has our Thanksgiving, a day instituted by our fathers in the early years of our country, a day on which people should gather in their homes and churches and praise God for the yield of the land and thank Him for the gifts which His bountiful hand provides. But, alas, our Thanksgiving has degenerated. It has become a day of feasting, a day of games and sports. During the last few years it has been juggled in the hands of politicians. Some want. to observe the third Thursday of November and others wish to recognize the fourth Thursday as Thanksgiving. This discussion has not been motivated by the desire to give thanks for the yield of the land, but rather to decide which day will be the most practical for their games and gate receipts, and enable merchants to sell the most merchandise. Christmas The Passover degenerated as has our Christmas, a day set aside for celebrating the birth of our Lord, a day in which we present gifts in memory of the fact that God so freely gave His only begotten Son that the world might have life. Our Christmas has degenerated. It has become a day of reveling and mirth, a day of feasting and drinking. There is perhaps no day in all the year more dissipated than is Christmas. Thousands celebrate this day without any real knowledge as to why it is a holiday; thousands of others observe it without remembering its real intent; without remembering Jesus, God’s wonderful gift to the world. The Sabbath The Passover degenerated as our Sabbath has. Originally a day instituted by the Almighty as a day of rest, a day of worship, the Sabbath has degenerated into a holiday rather than a holy day. It has become a day of feasting, sports and games. Many churches dismiss or shorten their services so that their communicants may have more time on the golf course or at the ball game. Many professed Christians, who have too much religion to attend in person such Sunday games, stay at home beside their radios and listen to men who are desecrating the holy Sabbath of God. The Passover The Jews continued to keep the Passover, but they forgot to look backward; they observed the feast, but they failed to look forward. The Passover had degenerated into a great religious picnic, a great national holiday. It was a day to which the politicians looked forward, a day on which they could rub elbows with the multitude and gain influence for their cause. It was a day to which the merchants looked forward, when great crowds came to the city, and they could raise their prices and sell their wares at larger profits. The real meaning of the Passover was forgotten. God Never ForgetsMen may forget, but God never. Days may degenerate with man, but never with God. He still longs for the people of America to gather in their homes and churches on Thanksgiving Day to thank God for the yield of the land, and His bountiful gifts. God still longs on Christmas, when men present their gifts, for them to remember that He freely gave His only Son to die that they might have life -- everlasting life. God still says, "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy." That commandment is just as binding today as the day He wrote it with His own finger on a tablet of stone and gave it to Moses. God never forgot the Passover. Each year when Israel met on that occasion, God looked backward to that night in Egypt and remembered its significance. Each year God looked forward to the time when at the Passover He would fulfill His promise and send the Lamb of God to die for all the world. That far-off day was a type and a shadow. Another Passover Another Passover was at hand and many had come up to Jerusalem to the feast, but this year there was a new interest. It was the young Prophet of Galilee. His mighty works and messages had stirred all who had heard Him, and His fame had spread throughout the land. There were strangers who came up to the feast, who had heard of the Galilean, and they hoped that on this occasion they might see Him. When they did not find Him in the Temple they asked one another, "What think ye, that he will not come to the feast?" There were also at the feast friends of Jesus, who had heard Him in Samaria of Galilee. They were expecting to see Him at the feast, but when He did not appear in the Temple court, they asked, "What think ye, that he will not come to the feast?" The chief priests and scribes were there. They hoped on this occasion to find something against Christ, that they might destroy Him, for they hated Him. But when they saw Him nowhere about the Temple, they asked, "What think ye, that he will not come to the feast?" With the strangers it was a question of curiosity. With His friends it was a question of anxiety. With the chief priests and scribes it was a question of hate. But whether the question was prompted by curiosity, anxiety or hate, in asking it, they proved they were blind. They did not fathom its meaning. They did not understand. He Could Not Miss It They asked, "What think ye, that he will not come to the feast?" They did not know that He could not miss that feast. They did not know that He had been on His way to that feast for more than four thousand years. He had started to that feast when He walked through the garden calling, "Adam, where art thou?" It was the cry of a brokenhearted father for a lost child.He was thinking of this feast when He said, "The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent’s head." There is scarcely a page or a chapter in all the Old Testament in which you will not find the footprints of the Son of God on His way to the feast. On The Road He was coming to this feast when He passed the altar of Abel and accepted his sacrifice. He was on His way when He paused on Mount Ararat to receive the offering of Noah. He was on the journey when He passed through the land of Moriah and provided a ram for a substitute for Isaac, whom Abraham was about to offer as a burnt offering. On The Way Jacob saw Him one dark night as He crossed the Brook Jabbok at a place called Peniel. Jacob wrestled with Him throughout the night, but as the day was breaking, He touched his thigh, changed his walk, transformed his life and went on His way to the feast. He was journeying to this feast when He paused at the house of the Israelite on the night of the first Passover. When the death angel came, He pointed to the blood drops on the door post and on the lintel. Moses saw His shadow, and heard His stately steps as He passed Mount Sinai on His way to the feast. Elisha said, "He will be there, for I saw Him pass in a fiery chariot with horses of fire," and Elijah, the first "hitchhiker," caught a free ride to the city of God. Other Witnesses Job said, "I did not see Him but I know He will be there, for I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another.’" The Psalmist said, "He will be there, for I heard Him say, ’Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, 0 my God.’" David said His journey would lead him through the valley of the shadow of death, and he planned to secure Him as a guide when he passed through that valley. Isaiah knew He would be there, for He saw Him coming from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah.Malachi said, "The Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple." John the Baptist heard Him coming and sprang forth before Him, saying, "Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight." Yet there were many who stood around the Temple that day and asked one another, "What think ye, that he will not come to the feast?" They were blind. He could not miss that feast. The Birth Of Christ He was on His way to the feast that night when the angelic choir sang: "Glory to God in the highest, On earth peace, Good will toward men." He was coming when the angel said to the shepherds, "Behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." He was on the road to the feast when the wise men saw His star in the East and came to worship Him. "On that night when in Judean skies The mystic star dispensed its light, A blind man moved in sleep, And dreamed that he had sight. "That night when shepherds heard the song, Of hosts angelic choiring near, A deaf man moved in slumber’s spell, And dreamed that he could hear. "That night when in the cattle stall Slept Child and mother, cheek by jowl, A cripple moved his twisted limbs, And dreamed that he was whole. That night when o’er the new-born Babe The tender Mary rose to lean, A loathsome leper smiled in sleep, And dreamed that he was clean. That night when to the mother’s breast The little King was held secure, A harlot slept a happy sleep,And dreamed that she was pure. That night when in the manger lay, The Sanctified who came to save, A man moved in the sleep of death, And dreamed there was no grave. -- Author Unknown -- The Journey Continues Jesus was on His way to that feast when He met Nicodemus and talked to him of the new birth. He was on the journey when he paused to rest on the well curb in Samaria and talked to the woman about the Water of Life. He was coming when He passed the pool of Bethesda and healed the man who had not walked for thirty-eight years. He was on His way to the feast when He stopped beneath a sycamore tree in the city of Jericho, and said, "Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down, for to day I must abide at thy house." It was on this same street that Jesus encountered blind Bartimaeus, brought daylight into his blind eyes, and sent him away a healed and happy citizen. Will He Be At The Feast? "What think ye, that he will not come to the feast?" He could not miss that feast. It was for this cause that He was born. It was for this purpose that He came into the world. He was on His way to this feast when He healed the woman of the issue of blood, when He raised Lazarus from the dead, when He met the bier at the gate of the city of Nain, when He raised the dead boy to life, when He interrupted the funeral and sent the mother and son away rejoicing. He Came To The Feast Jesus came to the feast, but why was He there? Not for any social privileges it might offer. Not to gain political prestige with the rabble. Not to appease physical appetite or desire. Not to satisfy the curiosity of the strangers.Not to gratify the admiration of His friends. Not to defy the hatred of the scribes and Pharisees. Not as a type and shadow of something yet to come. Not to sprinkle the blood of bulls and goats on a material dwelling. Why Was He At The Feast? He was there as the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world. He was there as the Passover Lamb of which there had been many types and shadows. He was there to sprinkle the blood of the Son of God upon the door posts of the hearts of humanity. He was there to enter once into the Holy Place and obtain eternal redemption for all. He was there to die that we might have life, and have it more abundantly. He was there to taste death for every man. He was there to bear our sins in His own body on the tree. He who knew no sin was there to be made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. He was there to suffer without the gate that He might sanctify the people with His own blood. Christ Our Passover Though each step of the way grew darker and more palling, He never for a moment swerved from the purpose for which He had come. He willingly submitted to the sinful men who came to arrest Him. He spoke kindly to Judas who betrayed Him. He patiently received the crown of thorns. He humbly wore the purple robe and carried the reed down the streets of Jerusalem, a mock king, while Herod and the rabble ridiculed Him. He staggered under the heavy Cross to the hill called Calvary.Without force, of His own accord, He stretched His hands for the cruel nails, and held His quivering feet still while they drove the spike through the skin and flesh into the wood beneath. Like a sheep before her shearers, He was dumb when they lifted the heavy Cross and dropped it into the socket in the rock. Oh, that you could see Him, that I could see Him, as He hung upon the Cross! Oh, that we could fully realize who it was that died upon that tree! It was Jesus -- the man. But it was also Christ -- God. God And Man Have you seen the picture the poet has painted of that tragedy, which showed that Christ was both God and man? His holy fingers formed the bough Where grew the thorns that crowned His brow. He grew the forest whence there sprung The tree on which His body hung. He died upon a cross of wood, Yet built the hill on which it stood. The nails that in His hands were driven Were made from iron that He had given. The spear that spilled His precious blood Was tempered in the fires of God. The tomb wherein His form was laid Was hewn from rocks that He had made. -- Author Unknown -- It Is Finished Hanging upon the middle cross, Jesus, the God-man, our Passover Lamb, clenched His hands over the nails and, looking down upon the vilest, guiltiest sinners taking part in His crucifixion, said, "Father, forgive them." Then He cried with a loud voice, "It is finished," and dismissed His spirit. Instantly the veil of the Temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. A way was made into the Holy of Holies, and since that day, no bishop, no pope, no priest nor anyone else can come closer to the great throbbing heart of God than you or I. Thank God, He came to the feast! * * * * * * * ======================================================================== CHAPTER 37: 03.10. THE AMAZING BOOK ======================================================================== THE AMAZING BOOK Do you want something old, something settled and sure, That has stood through the ages and still shall endure; Reliable records of all that is past, Indelibly graven, forever to last? Then come to the Bible and the message it brings, The Book of Beginnings, first cause and first things, Creator, creation, a story sublime, The darkness of chaos, the dawning of time; The world that once was, the world that now is; Man made by God’s hand, in His image, all His. Do you want something modern and startling and new, As fresh as the morning, as dear as the dew; Today’s current topics brought quite down to date, Forecast of tomorrow that’s never too late? Then come to the Bible, for its prophecies hold The symbols of all that the years shall unfold, A wonderful outline of history’s course From a truly authentic and trustworthy source. While the vivid events of the past it can tell, And the future’s great drama is pictured as well, Satisfying and full is the message it brings; The Book of Completion, the end of all things. -- Author Unknown -- When we consider this Book, which is both old and new, both ancient and modern, realize the attacks that have been made upon it, the efforts that have been put forth to destroy it, the laws in some states barring it from the public schools and ponder the fact that it is virtually the only book which teachers are forbidden to read to their classes, then, on the other hand, when we consider the grip it has on the world and the heartstrings of humanity, we stand before it in awe and exclaim, "Amazing Book!" Amazed am I in its presence, This wonderful, Holy Word, Containing the sweetest story That mortals ever heard. The Bible And Great MenThe Bible, which is said to be the first book printed, stands as a peer among all other books; and since it left the press it has held first place in the minds of the great; it is the world’s masterpiece in literature. No book has been so highly and so universally recommended by the great and near great of earth as the Bible, and no other book has been so universally used by such men. Not only did they study, reverence and recommend this Book because they were brilliant men, but because they found that the use of the Bible enriched their minds, refined their natures and improved their tastes for that which was good and noble, thus helping to make them noble characters who are among men as Rainier, Hood, Whitney and Shasta are among the mountains of our country. Tributes We would like to present here tributes to this amazing Book made by men who have helped to make history. Thomas Carlyle, the great philosopher, said: "The Bible is the Book wherein the spirit of man can find light and nourishment for that which is deepest in his heart." Henrich Heine, the Jewish poet and journalist, said: "What a Book, vast and wide as the world, sunrise and sunset, promise and fulfillment, birth and death, the whole drama of humanity in this one volume." William Jennings Bryan, the silver-tongued orator of the Platte, said: "To the young man who is building character, I would present the Bible. It furnishes wise counsel for the youth, it throws light on the pathway of those in mature years, and is the only Book one wishes to have by him when he knows the end is near; then it is, he finds comfort in the Book of books." Daniel Webster, whose name still heads the list of American statesmen, said: "From the time at my mother’s feet and my father’s knee, the Bible has been my daily study and vigilant contemplation; if we abide by its principles, our country will go on prospering and to prosper." William E. Gladstone, whose name heads the list of British statesmen, referred to the Bible as "an old, old story, in an old, old Book which is the greatest and grandest guide ever given to mankind." If the Bible was worth while to such characters as these, if it found a place in their lives, surely there is a place and a need for it in the heart of every man and woman today. Open your heart to the influence of this amazing Book. It will enlarge your soul, weed out of your life those tares which would hinder and degrade; increase your capacity for love and beauty; develop those passions which are pure and noble and tune your heartstrings to a higher key. PresidentsIf the President of our country should come to you and recommend a concern in which it was worth while to invest, a book that you should read, or a painting that you should see; if you had money, would you not invest it, would you not read that book, and if possible, see that painting? The answer is obvious -- certainly you would. Then let me remind you that a group of men, all Presidents of this great nation, have given to us a recommendation of the Bible and urge by example and direct statement that we give it a place in our lives. Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States, who drafted the Declaration of Independence, a man who for forty years was in the public life of our country, and who might be properly called the father of democracy in America, said: "I have always said, and always will say, that the perusal of the Sacred Scriptures will make us better citizens, better husbands and better fathers." John Quincy Adams, sixth President of our nation, whose body lies beneath the aisle of an old New England church, said: "The Bible is the Book of all others, to be read by all ages and in all conditions of human life, and never to be omitted unless by some o’erwhelming necessity." Andrew Jackson, our seventh President, as he lay dying, pointed at the Bible, saying, "That Book, sir, is the Rock on which our republic rests." Ulysses S. Grant, the eighteenth President, one of the most courageous men who ever led an army to battle, and who showed his true greatness by refusing to take the sword from the defeated General Lee, said: "Hold fast to the Bible as the sheet anchor of your liberties. Write its precepts upon your heart and practice them in your life." Woodrow Wilson, the World War President, wrote to the young men in the army: "When you have read your Bible you will know that it is the Word of God, because in it you will have found the key to your own heart." Herbert Hoover, the "depression" President, said, "There is no other book so full of concentrated wisdom, whether it be of law, business or morals; he who seeks for guidance in any of these things may look inside its covers and find illumination, for it is the world’s richest library of human experience." Were these men fools and fanatics? Were they deceived as to the content and value of this Book? Certainly not. They knew whereof they spoke. Was it not faith in the God of whom the Bible speaks that caused President Washington to kneel and pray during the terrible winter at Valley Forge? If Abraham Lincoln had been in doubt as to the value of this Book would he have spent a night in prayer with Bishop Simpson for God to save the Union?Would President James A. Garfield have been a preacher of the Gospel if he did not believe in the only Book in which that Gospel is written? The fact that Theodore Roosevelt made his way on many a Sunday to the little Dutch Reformed Church and often filled the pulpit is not only evidence that he believed in God but also in the Book of God. If the Bible has found a place in the hearts and lives of the men who have stood at the head of our nation, shall it not have a place in your life and mine? If their recommendation regarding other things is valued, appreciated and accepted, shall we not accept their recommendation of the Bible, the Book of books, and make it the guide for our lives, the companions of our hearts and the foundations for our characters? The story is told of a young man who went to the city seeking work. With grip in hand he made his way into a manufacturer’s office and applied for a job. The manufacturer asked him if he had recommendations, whereupon the boy opened his suitcase and began to search for his papers. As he did so, a Bible dropped out. "What is that book?" asked the man. "A Bible, sir," answered the boy. "Do you intend to practice it?" the man asked. "Yes," was the reply. "That is recommendation enough," the manufacturer replied. "The position is yours." Take the Bible into your heart and life. Queen Victoria said that it was the secret of England’s greatness. It will be a foundation stone for your life, and if you possess any qualities for greatness it will arouse them, stir them and direct them in the path of truth and right where most can be accomplished. The Bible -- A Book Of Authority The Bible is a Book of authority. It does not speak of everything, but of what it does speak it speaks with authority. It has been said that "the best ancient history man ever wrote was found to contain two thousand mistakes, but the widest learning that skepticism can command has failed to demonstrate one historic inaccuracy in this record." Lieutenant Maury said: "Whenever, in my investigation of any scientific problem, I find anything said on that subject in the Bible, I always find the Bible statement is the safest platform on which to speak." Professor Clay said: "Nearly every historic statement of the Old Testament has been confirmed." These are only a few among many statements which might be quoted from eminent scholars of the world to show that though scientists have changed their guesses again and again, they have always come back to the Bible to find that what seemed to be merely a hint or a casual sentence was not an error but a peephole into a vast storehouse of scientific knowledge. Many men, greatly inflated over some new discovery or invention, have had their balloons punctured by some old saint who looked into the Bible and found that their "new" discovery had been hinted at or prophesied thousands of years ago, and they have been made to feel that Solomon was not a fool when he said, "There is no new thing under the sun."We search the world for truth, we cull The good, the true, the beautiful, From graven stone and written scroll, And all old flower fields of the soul; And, weary seekers of the best, We come back laden from our quest To find that all the sages said Is in the Book our mothers read. An Authority on Religion The Bible was not written as a book of science; it is not a treatment of geology; it is not a work of astronomy; what it says regarding scientific subjects is rather illustrative or incidental. The Bible is a book on religion; it is the history of humanity and the story of God’s love for a fallen race. It was written to tell us whence we came and whither we are bound, to give us the choice between two destinies, to show us how to live and what to do to achieve the better of the two destinies. It was written to set forth the principles of the Christian religion, and it is an absolute and final authority upon that. A religion that does not affect man’s emotions is worthless. A religion which affects only the emotions is equally worthless, but we are not to view our consciences or our emotions as our guide to right living; we must look to the Bible. "This should be both our rule of faith and practice." At the same time, if we adhere to the Word and follow its guidance and precepts, it will stir our emotions to their depths and give us a conscience void of offense toward God. I went one day to a printing establishment and asked for a price on some cards I wished printed. A man took the card, measured it and examined it. Then, after having consulted a book, he quoted me a price. I told him I had been having cards printed for less and he replied, "Well, I don’t know about that. This is a union shop, and this is the price the book says we must charge. We go by the book." I thought, That is the keynote of our religion; we do not go upon theory, tradition or emotions; we go by the Book. The Bible is a Book of authority. "The young should read it to know how to live, the old to know how to die, the ignorant for wisdom, the learned for humility; the rich for warning, the poor for enrichment, and all for salvation, for it is the Book for all sorts and conditions of men." An Authority on Problems of Life The Bible speaks with authority on the problems of life. It may not always be possible to ask or follow the well-known slogan of Dr. Sheldon, "What would Jesus do?" But it is possible and it is practical to apply the principles of Christ taught in the Word to every problem that may confront us. We may meet, and no doubt will have, problems which are not mentioned in the Scriptures, but no condition, no matter how new or strange, will be so isolated that we cannot find principlesin the Word which are applicable to it. Read the biography of almost any Bible character and see how closely his problems of thousands of years ago resemble the problems we are facing today: they were confronted and had to grapple with love and hate, courage and fear, wealth and poverty, friends and foes, joy and sorrow, popularity and loneliness, prosperity and adversity just as we do. I read the story of a Chinaman, burning with hatred for some man who had wronged him, who came to a missionary and had a knife with which to kill his enemy. He asked the missionary how he could kill him in a way that would cause the most pain and suffering. The man of God told him he had a Book that would tell him just how to do it; so he took the knife and gave him a copy of the New Testament. The Chinaman went away and after ten days returned, saying, "This book say best way is not to kill him but love him. You keep knife. I keep Book." He had found the principle that best solved his problem. Friend, do you desire to know how to answer the questions of life and cope with the dangers along the way, whether seen or unseen? Do you desire to face the issues and handle the difficulties? Then obey the exhortation of the Apostle Paul: "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." O friend of mine, let me urge you who may have laid aside your Bible for other interests, go back to the Bible; for be these other interests ever so wholesome, they cannot take the place of the Word of God. Go back to the Bible, the Book of authority, from which all other worth-while books draw their inspiration. Thou truest friend man ever knew, Thy constancy I’ve tried; When all were false, I found thee true, My counselor and guide. The mines of earth no treasures give That could this volume buy; In teaching me the way to live, It tells me how to die. The Bible Commands Respect A Book so profound in its teachings, so authoritative in its statements, so clear in its doctrines, so indestructible in its contents, calls for respect, and if we are sometimes appalled at the neglect and indifference to it, at the same time when we stop to consider we are amazed at the reverence and respect it is given, not only by the people of God, but also by multitudes who have never known Him. Our government so respects the Word that no man takes the oath which makes him President of the United States without the use of the Bible. When Chief Justice Taft administered the oath which made Calvin Coolidge the President, the Chief Executive said, "So help me God," and lifted a small Bible which his parents had given to him when he was a boy and kissed it. The Gideons The Gideons, as an organization of Christian businessmen, have accomplished a great work for God and Christianity by placing well-bound copies of the Bible in millions of hotel rooms all over America and other countries. This has opened the door to hearts of multiplied thousands of people. Before I was converted I often stayed in a hotel room where there was a Bible and although I did not read it, I always looked upon it with respect, for it was the volume which my mother had taught me was the Book of God. For more than twenty-five years I have been traveling through the United States as an evangelist, and in the majority of the hotels where I stay there are Gideon Bibles. I have observed with thankfulness that these have been carefully preserved. This does not mean that they are ignored, for some have born marks of considerable use, but they have not been used for scratch pads; the leaves have neither been torn nor mutilated. This indicates a profound respect for the Bible by people from all walks of life. A Shield of Temptation The very presence of this amazing Book is a shield against temptation, for not only do men respect the Bible, but also the person who carries it. Young people, particularly, will find that those with whom they work and with whom they associate will respect the man or woman who reads and cherishes the Word of God. In Literature Again we exclaim, "Amazing Book!" when we consider its place in literature. Goethe said: "The Bible has served me as a guide in all my literary work." Although he was a professed skeptic, the walls of his home were covered with religious maps and pictures. The Bible has been called the fountainhead and the foundation stone of all good literature, and if all the books in the world which have borrowed from the Bible were set on fire today, 90 per cent of the world’s great libraries would be in ashes tomorrow. A noted English writer tells us that the finest gems in both poetry and prose are to be found within its pages, and that the account of Paul’s shipwreck is the most perfect narrative in print. ’The world’s greatest model of peerless eloquence," he said, "is not to be found in the orations of great orators of the writings of great men, but in Matthew 11:1-30 in the words of Jesus, ’Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.’ Men who know, tell us that books which live longest are those which follow the pattern of the Bible and which contain the most quotations from Scripture. Alfred Lord Tennyson included three hundred and seventy-five passages from Holy Writ among his writings; William Shakespeare, in giving his literature to the world, gave with it five hundred and fifty-seven quotations from the Word of God; John Ruskin, the great English writer, saturated his literaturewith passages of Scripture, quoting from the Bible nearly a thousand times. When asked for his opinion of the Word he said: "Make it the first morning business of your life to understand some portion of the Sacred Scriptures; then practice it throughout the day." Talmage So closely is the Bible allied with the literature of the world that DeWitt Talmage said: "Every great book that has been published since the first printing press was lifted has directly or indirectly derived much of its power from the Sacred Oracles; Milton’s Paradise Lost is borrowed from the Bible; Spenser’s writings are imitations of the parables; John Bunyan saw in a dream what Saint John had previously seen in a vision; Macaulay crowns his most gigantic sentences with Scripture quotations; Walter Scott’s characters are Bible men and women under different names; Hobbs stole from this ’Castle of Truth’ the weapons with which he afterward attacked it; and the writings of Pope are saturated with Isaiah. The Bible is the fountain of truth from which other good books dip their life." "Holy Bible, Book divine, Precious treasure, thou art mine; Mine to tell me whence I came; Mine to teach me what I am. "Close I press thee to my heart, All I am I owe to thee. We will never, never part, ’Til my Saviour’s face I see. "Precious Book, God’s Word to me, Revealer of immortality, Guide me ’till reach life’s goal; Be a guest within my soul." The Most Popular Book -- The Bible There is no field in which the Bible does not excel. It is the most popular Book in the world. Whether judged by its theme, its content, its influence, its sale or popular usage, it is always in the lead. Its Theme The theme of the Bible is holiness, and there is not a chapter in it that does not teach or point to this great doctrine. It is holy in quality, eternal in its duration and its content is inexhaustible. There are shallows where a child can play and depths where a Titanic can sail -- and can sink. Its heights have never been scaled, its depths have never been fathomed and its breadth is still unmeasured.For centuries the greatest minds of earth have been mining its ore, yet the veins have never been depleted, and the content of this wonderful Book concerns every phase of human life, offers a balm for every soul, an answer to every question and a solution to every problem. "There’s many a nugget hidden there, Of silver and of gold. There’s many a jewel rich and rare, The half has ne’er been told." Its Influence The Bible excels in its influence. There are seven wonders of the world, but the Bible is not among them; it is above them. Just as the Grand Canyon of the Colorado in Arizona exceeds in width and depth, in beauty and grandeur, in length and splendor of color all others, and has been so since God by His omnipotent power scooped it out with His mighty hand, and there is no possibility that any other will equal its magnificence, in an infinitely and much greater way does the Bible excel in influence, power, wisdom and beauty all other books. No other book has even approached the popularity of the Bible, and those men who have foolishly attempted to write a better book have lived to see their folly, and those who have dipped their pens in its fountain and patterned their books after it have found it the strongest part of their foundation. "All that Homer had to say has been translated into only twenty languages, all that Shakespeare wrote into forty, Count Tolstoy’s works into sixty, Thomas a’ Kempis’ Imitation of Christ into forty-five, John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress into one hundred and eighteen different languages, but the Bible or some portion of it has been translated into over a thousand different languages and dialects." If the world stands, the words of this wonderful Book will soon be translated into every language and dialect known to man. The Bible never follows civilization; it precedes it; decay and degeneration will follow its removal from a nation. It has wielded the widest influence; it has never been bad, but always good. See what the Bible has done in the countries of the world. It has checked the organizations of vice, inspired the building of homes, churches, schools and hospitals and is the foundation stone of every worth-while institution. The Best-Seller The Bible stands as a peer among the best-selling books of the world. Other books sell well for a while, then drop to second place, then third and finally most of them cease to sell at all. From the day the Bible left the press it has been the best-seller. In a recent year thirty-five million copies of the Bible were sold. Millions are printed every year and the demand is increasing.No other book can be translated into so many languages and dialects with the assurance of a sale as the Bible. No other book can be divided into so many portions, printed, bound and placed on the market with no fear of being overstocked. The Bible has been published in more sizes, binding, prices, than any other book, and every copy finds a buyer. A complete Bible can be purchased for twenty-five cents; on the other hand, an ancient copy of the Word of God sold a few years ago for nearly one hundred thousand dollars, and there are other copies not for sale at any price. The Two Extremes The largest Bible in the world was written by hand in 1922, and was the work of twelve thousand people; it is five feet two inches in height, three feet six inches in width and twelve goatskins were required to make the cover. The smallest Bible is leather bound, one and three-fourths inches in height, and one and one-fourth inches in width. Either of these volumes would find a ready market if placed on sale, whereas any other book so published would be virtually a total loss. The Bible is the only book in the world which a salesman can sell to a man for his own use when he already has from one to a dozen copies. I wrote to a friend of mine, a Bible agent, and asked, "Did you ever sell a man a Bible who already had a copy?" He replied, "I sold a man a copy yesterday who said when he paid me, ’I don’t know why I am buying this. I have eight copies of the Bible in my home now. Popular Usage "The Bible excels in popular usage, it is read in all churches and temples in our country, it can be found on the table in almost every home, be it palace or hut, from the brown stone mansion of the rich, to the humble cabin of the plantation Negro. It is one of the few books found in the libraries of the Pullman train, and no battleship goes to war, and no great liner from a civilized country sails the deep that does not carry a copy of the Word of God." It has circled the globe with the navigator, pierced the air with the aviator and accompanied the explorer on his trip to the pole. Soldiers have died with it upon their hearts and many starving travelers have clung to the Bible when, because of their weakness, they have had to discard his other earthly possessions. It is the one Book concerning which men have almost universally agreed with Scott that it was the only Book when the shades of eternity were gathering about their cots. Men who have spent their days fighting the Bible have often used their last rapidly waning strength on their deathbeds to rue their folly and to recommend the Book.It is the only Book used in the inauguration of the President of our country; it is used in taking the oath of virtually every worth-while office in the land; it is used every time a witness is sworn in court. When the club of infidels of which he was a member called upon Lord Lyttleton to burn the Bible, he took the Book and approached the fire, then turned and laid it upon the stand, saying, "We will not burn this Book until we have found a better one." That better one, and a more popular one, has never been written. The soldier who, single-handed, overcame his enemies and walks forth from the fight battle-scarred but victorious, is applauded for his success and decorated for his bravery’. So let us applaud and decorate this amazing Book-hero of ten thousand battles, attacked by infidels and skeptics for centuries, besieged openly by enemies on the one hand, and ambushed by wolves in sheeps’ clothing on the other, yet standing today like a Gibraltar, the impregnable Rock on which our religion rests. Book of our fathers! living still In spite of skeptics’ cruel knife, Book of our fathers! holy Book! We will be true to thee through life. * * * * * * * THE END Other Books by Jarrette Aycock The Nightingale of the Psalms The Crimson Stream The Grand Old Book The Two Prodigals The Prince of This World Win Them ======================================================================== CHAPTER 38: 04.00. INVITE THEM IN ======================================================================== INVITE THEM IN By Jarrette Aycock -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FOREWORD My books on soul winning, Win Them, Save Some, and Drawing the Net, have been so well received that I make bold to launch a companion book, INVITE THEM, on the sea of soul winning. Jesus said, "Go out and INVITE them to come." Nowhere does the soul winner, unless it is while dealing with seekers as they kneel in prayer, need more tact, more courtesy, more common sense, and more grace than when doing personal work during an invitation. In my early evangelistic ministry I saw this need and often gathered chosen workers together and gave this message. Now, with a prayer that it may help others, I present these suggestions by means of the printed page. Jarrette Aycock CONTENTS 1. A Great Asset 2. Qualifications 3. The Raised Hand 4. Co-operation 5. When Shall We Go? 6. Pray for Guidance 7. Have an Answer 8. Testimony 9. Dealing with Strangers 10. Don’t Argue 11. Dealing with Couples 12. One at a Time 13. Don’t Block Traffic 14. A Time to Stop 15. Trust God 16. Secure a Commitment 17. Remove Every Barrier 18. B’s for Personal Workers 19. Some Things to Avoid ======================================================================== CHAPTER 39: 04.01. A GREAT ASSET ======================================================================== 1. A GREAT ASSET One of the greatest assets in any revival or other evangelistic service is sane, spiritual personal work during the invitation. In the twenty-seven years of my own evangelistic work my best meetings have been in places where there were a few good Christian people who went out into the audience and invited men to come and definitely seek the Lord. The objection is often raised that doing personal work during a revival will drive people away. That is true, if it is improperly done, but the right kind will not drive anyone away but will have a tendency to hold people and eventually bring them to Christ. Knowing the value of the right kind and the danger of the improper kind of personal work during the invitation, I offer the following suggestion: Let the pastor, or the evangelist and pastor, choose spiritual people in whom folks have confidence. Call them together to instruct them in the best methods of approaching people about their souls. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 40: 04.02. QUALIFICATIONS ======================================================================== 2. QUALIFICATIONS There are certain definite qualifications necessary in order to be an efficient personal worker and soul winner. You should have a sincere passion for souls. This comes, and will increase, through prayer and practice. If you would gain a burden for souls, begin to pray for souls and work to bring them to Christ and the passion or burden will come automatically. You should be tactful, gentle, sincere, and courteous. These graces are always in order. You should have a personal and scriptural knowledge of salvation. The man who goes forth to deal with others must know that he himself is right with God. You may have all these qualifications and yet be "as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal," if God be not with you in the work. Keep in mind it is "not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." Illustration Dr. Biederwolf once asked a prominent churchman, who stood at the front seat during the invitation, to go into the audience and do personal work. The man responded, but when he spoke to an individual, one standing near heard this reply: "Who are you to come back and talk to me? What is it that I do that you do not do? I swear and you swear. I drink and so do you, for we have drunk together. I play poker and so do you, for I have played with you. Who are you to ask me to get saved? You had better get saved yourself." The churchman turned and walked back to the front. When Dr. Biederwolf looked questioningly at him he said, "Doctor, I guess I am not adapted to this kind of work." Neither is anyone else unless he personally knows Christ. Pleasant Breath There is yet another qualification which many may lack, yet which all may do something about. That is, one should have a pleasant breath. Bad breath has repulsed many an individual and has been so offensive he could not listen to the worker’s appeal. A pastor friend told me that he spoke to a businessman about going forward for prayer. The preacher said: "I looked upon him as my friend, but he seemed cold and retiring and I could not understand it. "I met him the next day and, calling me by name, he said, ’John, if you ever speak to anyone else about becoming a Christian, before doing so, take something for your breath to keep it from being so offensive. Then when you draw near him he can listen to what you have to say.’" The words which the man used were cruel and cutting. Nevertheless, the advice was good. "Watch your breath." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 41: 04.03. THE RAISED HAND ======================================================================== 3. THE RAISED HAND It is always best to sit toward the rear in a revival service where, without being conspicuous, you can have a good view of the audience and see who raise their hands. The raised hand is a step toward God and an indication of interest in prayer. It gives the worker who sees it an advantage. He can make his approach with much more confidence, knowing that the person is interested. When you speak to the individual, do not mention the raised hand. If he does not yield in that service, he will be slow to lift his hand again lest he attract someone to him. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 42: 04.04. CO-OPERATION ======================================================================== 4. CO-OPERATION Always co-operate, no matter who is in charge of the service. Work when and as the leader suggests. You may not always agree with the method, but unless there is a principle involved, co-operate in the plan proposed or being used. After all, "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord" (Isaiah 55:8). Even when Jesus was on earth, there were some whose methods did not suit the disciples, yet their work bore fruit and the Master said, "Forbid them not." If the leader says, "Everyone bow your head," co-operate. You can do that and still watch for the raised hand. If he asks everyone to cease talking for a moment, stop immediately, so the one with whom you are dealing can hear the speaker. The appeal he is making may be the very thing that will cause your prospect to yield and go forward. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 43: 04.05. WHEN SHALL WE GO? ======================================================================== 5. WHEN SHALL WE GO? The best time to do personal work, unless the leader has instructed otherwise, is to start immediately. Start as soon as the Invitation is given. At the close of a searching evangelistic message that has gripped the hearts of the people and when the spirit of conviction is on them, the tension is very great. It is difficult, at such a time, for a sinner to step out alone and go forward for prayer. When workers are moving around, it helps to break that tension and makes it easier for the unsaved to move out. As a rule there is more conviction immediately after the message than there is later on. Therefore, immediate action is more likely to pay off. Don’t Wait Never wait to start your personal work until the leader has said, "We will sing just one more stanza and close the invitation." If you start then, the stanza may be over before you reach the individual whom you wish to win. The preacher must keep faith with his audience, and if he promises to close after one stanza is finished he should do it. Yet the work that you might have accomplished if you had started sooner may be lost. Don’t wait. Lose Yourself If you are near the front of the church and you wish to speak to some individual, it is always best to lose yourself in the crowd before you approach him. People are prone to watch a worker to see to whom he is going. Sometimes this attracts attention and proves embarrassing. It is better to move down some other aisle and inconspicuously approach the one to whom you wish to speak. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 44: 04.06. PRAY FOR GUIDANCE ======================================================================== 6. PRAY FOR GUIDANCE As you go into an audience to speak to the unsaved, it should always be with a spirit of prayer. Ask God to guide you to the right person and help you to speak the right words. Never wait until you feel definitely led before you go. The devil will hinder you at this point. He will try to keep you from feeling led and some soul may be lost. Jesus said, "When ... the Spirit ... is come, he will guide you ..." (John 16:13). It is my opinion that we should go forth in the strength of the Lord, praying for Him to guide us to the person with whom He would have us deal. Illustration I remember one night in a great camp meeting when my colaborer, who was preaching, reached the invitation and there seemed to be considerable lethargy on the part of the Christians. I know it was on me. I did not feel led to do anything. However, duty and a knowledge of the fact that there were souls there who were lost caused me to leave the platform and make my way around the tabernacle. As I walked, I prayed for God to guide me to someone. I felt no leading whatever and started walking down the center aisle back to the platform. As I passed a young woman it seemed to me that something suggested, "Speak to her." I did. She went forward and was converted and in a few weeks she died and went to heaven. Suppose I had waited until I felt led; she might never have been saved. Go! Go at once! Trust God and pray for guidance. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 45: 04.07. HAVE AN ANSWER ======================================================================== 7. HAVE AN ANSWER "But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear" (1 Peter 3:15). When you speak to an individual, pray while you wait for his reply. Always have a scripture ready for the excuse the unsaved may make. In my little book Win Them, I give twenty-five different excuses commonly made by the unsaved and under each from six to nine verses of scripture answering the excuse. Every worker should know these scriptures and be ready to give a Bible answer to those who endeavor to give a reason for not seeking God. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 46: 04.08. TESTIMONY ======================================================================== 8. TESTIMONY An effective weapon, when you are dealing with souls about seeking the Lord, is your personal testimony. This is why it is so necessary for a soul winner to know God. When the unsaved meet you with such excuses as, "I am too great a sinner," "I have gone too far," or, "God does not love me," you can give a direct answer by quoting Isaiah 1:18 and John 3:16, and then you have your personal testimony. Tell them what Jesus did for you. Tell them how you thought there was no use, that you could never be saved. Tell them how you felt, if you were once saved, that you could never live the Christian life. Tell them how you were finally persuaded to seek God and how He wonderfully saved you. Tell them how, by His grace, for all these months or years He has graciously kept you. Tell them, if you were bound by some habit, how God delivered you. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 47: 04.09. DEALING WITH STRANGERS ======================================================================== 9. DEALING WITH STRANGERS Do not be too urgent with strangers who may be in the audience for the first time. It is all right to approach them and courteously inquire if they are saved or if they would like to go forward for prayer. However, if they decline, tell them you are glad to have them in the service. Urge them to return and courteously promise to pray for them. This will usually help and it will not offend. On the other hand, to put pressure on them in the first service may drive them away. I know there are exceptions, but in most instances you will find that caution at this point is worth while. Are You Saved? It is seldom wise for a worker to ask, "Are you a Christian?" There are several denominations that have the word "Christian" attached to their names, and to people who are not used to revivals it is often confusing. Illustration I once asked a young man in Dallas, "Is your mother a Christian?" He answered, "No. She is a Methodist." I said, "Wouldn’t she be glad for you to be a Christian?" He replied, "No. But she would like for me to be a Methodist." The young man was confused and thinking only of the Christian church. A better way of putting it would be, "Are you saved?" or, "Have you been born again?" Accept Testimony If you ask a person, "Are you saved?" and he answers in the affirmative, always accept his testimony. Even if you feel sure he has not been converted, it is not best to act as if you doubt him or question his statement. I have often said, "I am glad that you are saved and I wonder if you have a deeper need and would like to go forward and let us talk and pray with you." Oftentimes, after such an approach people have stepped out and definitely settled things with God. A Church Member You will find many people who will answer your question, "Are you saved?" with the reply, "I am a church member." Often they will mention the name of their church. Never cast reflections on any denomination whether you think the doctrine is straight or not. We never know what strong ties of friends or loved ones may center in a denomination. To criticize that church may do serious damage. A better way would be to say, "We are not asking you to join our church, but wouldn’t you like to let us pray with you that you might find a closer walk with God?" This is an age-old method, but it has its appeal and thousands of members of formal churches have been swept into the Kingdom by it. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 48: 04.10. DON'T ARGUE ======================================================================== 10. DON’T ARGUE The wise worker will never argue with the one to whom he is speaking. There are three good reasons for this. The invitation is no time or place for an argument. Argument will attract the attention of those around you and will detract from the work of the evangelist or pastor. An argumentative person is seldom under conviction and contending with him will not likely help him. When you find someone so inclined, it is best to pass on quickly to someone else. I have known people who delighted in attending a revival and arguing with every worker who came to them. In almost every instance it greatly hinders the invitation. Do Not Offend Be careful never to bore or embarrass the person with whom you are dealing. If you find you have offended him, be quick to apologize. In such instances I have said: "I am very sorry if I have offended you. I was only interested in your soul. Please forgive me. I will not bother you again but I will pray for you." Such a spirit of humility and courtesy will help you and it will help the one offended. He will leave with less resentment but with a feeling of shame that he has taken a wrong attitude. More than once I have had such individuals return and get saved, and later testify that they left the service feeling mean and miserable because they had taken that attitude toward a worker who was interested in their souls. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 49: 04.11. DEALING WITH COUPLES ======================================================================== 11. DEALING WITH COUPLES In dealing with a couple, if one goes forward, I have often been able to get the other to go by saying: "Why don’t you go and kneel with him? You may not be interested but it will help him and will not hurt you. Don’t you believe if it was the other way around he would come and kneel by you?" I can recall many instances, after such an appeal, the individual has responded and both received definite help from God. When the one not responding to the invitation claims to be a Christian, appeal to him to go and pray for his companion or friend. I have known this appeal to be the beginning of a closer walk with God for those to whom it was made. A Married Couple If you are dealing with a married couple with children, appeal to them on behalf of their little ones. Impress upon them how every child needs a Christian home, a Christian father and mother, and it is not only their privilege but their duty to give such a home to their children. Out of Place "Wisecracks," silly or humorous remarks are always out of place when dealing with a soul. Never make cutting or harsh statements. Crude, cutting, and unkind words have no place in the vocabulary of one when he is inviting a man or woman to the altar of prayer. Resentment If you find resentment in the persons whom you approach, leave them immediately. There may be various reasons for their attitude. It may be that they do not like your looks. Personalities of some people clash on sight. Perhaps they just do not wish to be bothered. They may have heard something about you which makes them doubt you. Unwholesome rumors may have come to them which they believe. If they resent you, they have a reason or think they have. Their resentment, however, is no excuse for you to give them up. If you cannot reach them personally, you may be able to find someone else who can deal with them and win them to Christ. Illustration I remember the night I was converted. I very much resented the man who came and spoke to me. I did not know the man. It was just a personality clash. I did not like his looks and he sensed it and quickly left. This worker was not only as "harmless as a dove" but "wise as a serpent." Unknown to me he went around to another individual and, pointing me out, said, "I want you to go and invite that young man to come to the altar and I will stay here and pray for you." The worker he solicited to help him came and spoke words that caused me to yield and go forward and give my heart to God. If one resents you, do not give him up but try to reach him in another way. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 50: 04.12. ONE AT A TIME ======================================================================== 12. ONE AT A TIME Unless you are the evangelist, avoid approaching a person with whom someone else is dealing. If you feel you must speak to him, it is best to stand waiting for a moment, and most workers not making headway themselves will give you an opportunity. However, if you are the one who brought the message, a few words from you may be just the thing to bring about a decision to seek God. Your Enemy Never try to work with a person with whom you have had difficulty or a misunderstanding. You may be innocent but he does not think so. If you are especially interested in his salvation, pray for him. Send others to him but stay away from him yourself until he has settled the question with God. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 51: 04.13. DON'T BLOCK TRAFFIC ======================================================================== 13. DON’T BLOCK TRAFFIC Avoid standing in the way, physically, of the person whom you are trying to win. I have seen a worker stand between the seats, and the person with whom he was dealing would have difficulty getting past him into the aisle. Always stand to one side. Make it easy for him to move. Say to him, "If you will come, I am sure these folks will be glad to let you pass." Sometimes it is well to say to the person between him and the aisle, "Would you please step aside and permit him to pass?" Use the same type of courtesy you would with a guest in your home. Scores of times when I have seen a worker "blocking" the way, I have walked back and said, "I am sure this friend wants to come; please let him pass," and immediately he has stepped out. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 52: 04.14. A TIME TO STOP ======================================================================== 14. A TIME TO STOP It is not often wise to continue dealing with a person after the invitation is finished. As a rule most of the Christians go forward to work with those who are seeking the Lord. Those who do not, usually take their seats. This makes the person to whom you are speaking more conspicuous than when many were standing around you. As a result, he is often embarrassed and sometimes very resentful. Sometimes, as a last resort, as the invitation closes it is possible to get him to kneel at his seat. It is worth trying, but I have known few who received definite help. If he does not quickly respond to your appeal to kneel where he is, immediately leave him and go work with those who have manifested enough interest to go forward. Illustration A businessman attended a revival service I was holding in Montana. He was known to the pastor and some of the people but had never been in the church before. When the invitation started, an overzealous lady began talking to him and continued talking after the invitation closed. He courteously kept standing. They were the only two people in the church on their feet When she finally left him, without even being seated he picked up his hat, walked out, and never returned. I have always felt that he might have come back if she had been more tactful, for he seemed very interested during the earlier part of the service. The Handshake If you are dealing with one of your own sex, it is usually best when you approach him to shake hands and endeavor to hold his hand while you talk with him. Sometimes a gentle pressure forward is just what is needed to get him to go. However, never try to pull or force people to the altar or inquiry room. I have seen this a few times, but it seldom works and often drives folks away. If you are dealing with the opposite sex, always be careful. People are watching. Over-familiarity brings criticism. The meeting, souls, and you yourself may be harmed. Solomon said, "He that winneth souls is wise." This wisdom will manifest itself in many ways and one sign of wisdom is carefulness in dealing with the opposite sex. This is one way and place that the soul winner should always be wise. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 53: 04.15. TRUST GOD ======================================================================== 15. TRUST GOD Do not be discouraged because the person to whom you speak does not respond. Remember the battle is God’s. We are "workers together with him" (2 Corinthians 6:1), and the fact that you do not see immediate results is no sign that God was not with you and blessing in all you did. It sometimes takes many days and weeks and even many people, many months, and many years to bring a soul to Christ. Looking back across the years leading up to my conversion, I can now see where there were eight different people, some far removed and unknown to others, who had a definite part in bringing me to Christ. Some passed on to heaven without ever knowing that the godless boy for whom they prayed was finally saved. Listen If the evangelist makes a proposition while you are speaking to an individual, always cease talking immediately and give him a chance to hear what the preacher has to say. What he is proposing may have more influence upon your prospect than what you are saying. As soon as the leader has finished, urge an acceptance of the appeal and try to get him to go forward at once. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 54: 04.16. SECURE A COMMITMENT ======================================================================== 16. SECURE A COMMITMENT If you cannot get the one to whom you are talking to go forward, always endeavor to get him to make a commitment before he leaves. Get him to promise to read some scripture, that you may designate, and to pray for his own soul. Assure him that God will meet him anywhere, that He will save him on his way home or by his bedside or anywhere else when the conditions are met. Sometimes you can get him to promise to return and settle it at the next service. Urge him to come back, and assure him you will be there to help him and pray for him. Make It Short It is usually not best to deal with an individual too long. If you don’t seem to be making progress, leave him and perhaps someone else can be more successful. I know there have often been times in my own experience that I made no progress whatever the first time, but I have gone away and later in the same service returned and spoken again and the one spoken to yielded. I have had good results by going to an unsaved person who was regularly attending services and saying, not merely for effect, but because it was true, "God has placed you on my heart and I am praying definitely for you." I have spoken to such in a similar way several times before actually trying to get them to go forward. The results have been very gratifying. Church Membership In many church meetings today, to respond to the invitation means to join that particular church. Therefore, we should always make it plain that responding to the call to go forward for prayer does not obligate anyone, in any way, to join the church. Tell folks that every Christian should have a church home and they may be satisfied with the church where they now attend. Say to them: "We are not trying to get you to join the church. We want to help you to a closer walk with God; church membership is a matter for you to settle personally after this is done." I have dealt with scores who, after being assured we were not trying to line them up with the church, stepped out for Christ and let Him have His way in their hearts. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 55: 04.17. REMOVE EVERY BARRIER ======================================================================== 17. REMOVE EVERY BARRIER In dealing with an individual, remember there is a soul in your hands. Remove every barrier possible to help him to go forward for prayer. We should also recognize that not all problems are likely to be settled during the invitation, but can best be settled while the seeker kneels and talks with God. Then there are some things that will be settled only after the soul is saved and as he walks in the light. All methods are useless and all words are in vain unless anointed by the Spirit of God. As we work to win men to Christ, let us continually be conscious of the fact that it is "not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 56: 04.18. B'S FOR PERSONAL WORKERS ======================================================================== 18. B’S FOR PERSONAL WORKERS Be "wise as serpents." Be "harmless as doves." Be prayerful. Be patient. Be positive. Be sincere. Be scriptural. Be faithful. Be friendly. Be humble. Be kind. Be definite. Be brief. Be courteous. Be constructive. Be co-operative with the leader. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 57: 04.19. SME THINGS TO AVOID ======================================================================== 19. SOME THINGS TO AVOID Avoid arguments. Avoid reflecting on other churches. Avoid lightness. Avoid loud speaking. Avoid gestures, talking with hands. Avoid being conspicuous. Avoid offense. Avoid lingering too long. Avoid compromise. Avoid embarrassing those with whom you deal. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 58: 05.00. SAVE SOME ======================================================================== SAVE SOME By Jarrette Aycock A series of suggestions for dealing with souls at an altar of prayer Paul said, "... I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means SAVE SOME" (1 Corinthians 9:22). Printed in the U.S.A. Printed Book No Copyright * * * * * * * PREFACE Paul said: "To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means SAVE SOME" (1 Corinthians 9:22). After forty years of active Christian work, I have found no greater thrill, no deeper joy than winning a soul for Christ. Drawing upon these forty years of soul winning, I take the liberty of giving some advice and presenting some methods I have found worthwhile in dealing with people at the altar. There is no substitute for prayer or repentance, but there are times when a bit of counsel may help a man’s faith to lay hold upon the Lord. These suggestions have helped me, they have helped others. I pass them on to you. * * * * * * * CONTENTS 1. Altar Work 2. Qualifications 3. The Altar 4. Work Around the Altar 5. The Bible 6. The Unsaved 7. Backsliders 8. The Unsanctified 9. Use Wisdom 10. Wrong Orders 11. Be Careful 12. Confession 13. Your Mill * * * * * * * A Companion Book to WIN THEM Beacon Hill Press Kansas City, Mo. First Printing, 1953 Also by Jarrette Aycock Drawing the Net Win Them If Christ Had Not Come The Grand Old Book The Story of Two Prodigals The Prince of This World The Crimson Stream Mother The Nightingale of the Psalms ======================================================================== CHAPTER 59: 05.01. ALTAR WORK ======================================================================== 1. ALTAR WORK One of the most important factors in a revival campaign is the work done at the altar. Here the battle is so often won or lost. Here decisions are made, not only for life, but for eternity. Training During the years of my revival work I realized more and more the need of sane, careful, and scriptural work at this point. Because of this realization, I began to pick, with the help of the pastor, a spiritual group and in the early part of the campaign talk to them along this line. This message is the result of those talks. Recently at one of our largest church camp meetings, I spoke on this subject to a number of ministers and laymen and was urged to put the material into print. Hence this book. Need of Prayer While this message contains largely suggestions on how to deal with seekers at the altar, I realize and recognize that there should always be a season of sincere, earnest prayer by both the worker and the seeker before instruction, in any major sense, begins. In every suggestion made, there is the supposition that there has been a time of prayer and that the seeker has reached a place where he needs help to grasp the truth of the way of salvation. Know He Is Saved To deal with souls one should have a personal knowledge of salvation. He should be able to Say, "I know Jesus can save, for He saved me."He should know he is saved according to the Scriptures and be able to give chapter and verse for the scriptures on which he bases his salvation. The Bible says: "Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear" (1 Peter 3:15). The Only Plan The Bible contains the only divine plan of salvation and any person who does not know, according to the Word, that he is saved is disqualified to deal with a seeker about his soul. If I did not have a scriptural knowledge of salvation, I would not rest this night until I had searched the Scriptures and searched my soul until I could say, "I know because I have met the conditions of the Word." * * * * * * * ======================================================================== CHAPTER 60: 05.02. QUALIFICATIONS ======================================================================== 2. QUALIFICATIONS The scripture, "He that winneth souls is wise," has a twofold meaning. Soul winning is a wise work; it pays big dividends and it offers a shining and an eternal crown. But it takes wisdom, spiritual wisdom, to be efficient in it. Just as surely as there are certain essentials necessary for the gospel preacher and the gospel singer, there are definite qualifications for the man who would be a successful altar worker. Essentials He should be tactful. So much depends on what you say and how you say it. He should be courteous. This is a Christian grace that is always in order. Roughness, crudeness, and harshness have no place at an altar of prayer. He should be sincere. Lightness, insincerity, and levity are a hindrance to people who are seeking God. He should be firm and without compromise. There may be many ways to get into the church but there is only one way into the kingdom of God. That is through faith and repentance. He should have a passion for souls. This will come and increase if he will work faithfully to win men to Christ. Any man with these graces, if he will work, will win, whether he has other talents or not After all, the Scriptures teach that it is "... not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts" (Zechariah 4:6). * * * * * * * ======================================================================== CHAPTER 61: 05.03. THE ALTAR ======================================================================== 3. THE ALTAR We who believe in the "old-fashioned mourners’ bench" and use it as a means of helping people come to a decision for God should be careful and not deify it as essential. We should never leave the impression that any one particular place is necessary in order to seek and find the Lord. I believe in the altar. I was saved at one and sanctified at one. So were my family. I know it is an effective place and a blessed place to deal with seekers and I hope it will never be relegated to a back room in our church, but I also know that God will meet anywhere those who desire to know Him. I have had men find God where they sat while the message was being delivered. I have seen them saved on their way to an altar of prayer. Scores of testimonies could be had from people who found the Lord at home, in the field, in the store, the shop, the factory, or on the highway. Anywhere men earnestly seek Christ He will be found of them. Parting of the Ways A worker should approach the altar in awe, with fear and trembling. The person kneeling there is at the parting of the ways. What he does here may settle the whole course of his life for time and eternity. What he does here may settle the course of lives yet unborn. There is a life, a soul, in your hands. Deal carefully. If he takes the right way, he may go forth to live for many years a good life and bless others. If he takes the wrong road, it may mean to go forth into a life of sin and disgrace, to be a curse, contaminating all whom he touches or influences. What you do or what you say may help to turn him right or wrong. Deal carefully. * * * * * * * ======================================================================== CHAPTER 62: 05.04. WORK AROUND THE ALTAR ======================================================================== 4. WORK AROUND THE ALTAR During the Invitation It is not often wise, to start the work around the altar until the invitation is over unless the evangelist requests it. In that case, we should kneel on the opposite side of the altar from the seeker and deal quietly with him until the invitation is finished. Your going early may cause other workers to come also, and often the call for seekers is hindered. Room for Others A worker kneeling at an altar to deal with seekers, especially if it is during the invitation,should be careful to leave room for others. Kneel in front of the one with whom you deal, as some seeker may need the place beside him. It is also well to remember there are other workers. Be sure you leave room for them to kneel on either side of you. Prayer At the beginning of an altar service there should be a time of prayer with someone leading. This will prove very helpful. A seeker needs time to think, to face facts, to be alone with God, and there is no better time or place than during an earnest season of prayer. Why is The Seeker at the Altar? After the season of prayer, I would suggest that the worker find out from the seeker why he is at the altar. The best way is to ask him, "Why are you here? Do you want to be saved? Are you seeking to be reclaimed?" Or, "Are you a Christian seeking to be filled with the Holy Ghost?" Only when you know why he is there can you give definite instructions and pray most effectively. If he knows what he wants and you know what he wants, he can pray more definitely, you can pray more definitely, and God can give a definite answer. Do Not Assume Never assume a seeker’s need. You cannot always take the word of a friend or loved one. I have known folks to say, regarding a seeker, "He wants to be sanctified." Inquiry proved they were mistaken; the seeker was backslidden and needed to be saved. Ask the seeker. He should know better than anyone else. His admission of his need also will help him. I have known a worker to pray earnestly for a seeker to be saved when he had come to the altar to be sanctified. God could bless the worker for his earnestness, but how much better it would be to inquire and know for what he should pray! If He Does Not Know Sometimes a seeker will claim that he does not know where he stands. I question this, for I believe the Spirit testifies to the condition of the soul. However, I have found this to be a good way to deal with a seeker who claims ignorance as to where he stands with God. Say: "If you are not sure where you stand, let us get our feet on solid ground where we will know we are right. Just consider you are not anywhere; begin at thebottom and ask God to save you right now." In this way God has helped me to get many on solid ground. Illustration I remember hearing and seeing a young woman praying earnestly for another for fully ten minutes. I finally knelt by her and said, "What is the young lady seeking?" She replied, "I don’t know." Surely God could bless this lady for her earnestness, but her work and prayer would have been far more effective if she had known specifically what the seeker was praying for. Urge Prayer After ascertaining the need of the seeker, the wise worker will urge him to pray. Tell him that prayer is like talking to a friend and God is man’s best Friend. Urge him to tell God right from his heart just what he wants. If his need is salvation, remind him that to be saved he must forsake every known sin. Jesus said, "... Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish" (Luke 13:3). If he is seeking sanctification, tell him that to "sanctify the people with his own blood, [Jesus] suffered without the gate" (Hebrews 13:12). To obtain this experience we must die out to the world of self. We must consecrate our all to God. Instruction After these few brief words to get the seeker on the right road, do not be too hasty to begin any extended instruction. If he is praying, wait awhile; let him pray and talk to God. Nothing helps the seeker more than praying for himself. When you feel he is ready for instruction, begin by urging him to believe,* but be sure you tell him what to believe. Believe in God? No. It is that, but more than that. Believe His Word, believe His promises. Believe He will do exactly what He has said He would do. [*There are seekers who need instruction, but who are not yet on "believing ground." Therefore, when a seeker is "ready for instruction," it is not always proper to "begin by urging him to believe." He may need to repent, to confess, to make a restitution, or to die to self, or to meet some other demand that God is at that point requiring of him before he can truly "believe". -- DVM] Have Faith In urging a seeker to believe or have faith, be careful lest you confuse him. When as a youth I knelt at an altar of prayer, a worker said to me over and over, "Just believe, believe, believe." I did not really know what he meant and left the altar unsaved and confused.So few seekers know anything about the plan of salvation. Even from Christian homes they know very little. If you will deal with all as though they did not know the way, you will hit it more often than you will miss it. When you urge them to believe, to have faith, give them some promise to which they may pin their faith. * * * * * * * ======================================================================== CHAPTER 63: 05.05. THE BIBLE ======================================================================== 5. THE BIBLE As you instruct a penitent toward the way of life, use your Bible. Read to him the promises of God. Get him to read them right from the Bible or Testament. Emphasize the promises as he reads them, that God "who cannot lie," has said this, and if the seeker will meet the conditions God will do the rest. Should any question or criticize you for using the Bible, ask him what he has or knows that is better than the Word of God. The Best Tools The best tool for the altar worker is a copy of the Christian Worker’s Testament. In this the best promises to use in dealing with seekers are marked. Memorize the Word Every Christian worker should commit to memory those great and precious promises which seem to be especially written for the sinner, the backslider, and the unsanctified. In dealing with a seeker, whether you are praying or talking, these promises should be quoted often. As you use them, they will inspire your own faith and then find a way through your voice into the ear and heart of the one with whom you are dealing, inspiring him to trust and believe. * * * * * * * ======================================================================== CHAPTER 64: 05.06. THE UNSAVED ======================================================================== 6. THE UNSAVED I have found the following promises very wonderful to quote and read to the unsaved. "... whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Romans 10:13). "... him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out" (John 6:37)."Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28). "Ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart" (Jeremiah 29:13). "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9). "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool" (Isaiah 1:18). * * * * * * * ======================================================================== CHAPTER 65: 05.07. BACKSLIDERS ======================================================================== 7. BACKSLIDERS In dealing with seekers desiring to be reclaimed, you will find the following promises of untold value. "Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord; for I am married unto you ..." (Jeremiah 3:14). Here God said, "I am married to the backslider." "... Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts ..." (Malachi 3:7). "I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away ..." (Hosea 14:4). "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon" (Isaiah 55:7). Exhortation The following exhortation has often helped me in dealing with backsliders at an altar of prayer. I would say to the seeker: "You may not feel at first as you did when you were saved; not many backsliders do. Remember, God did not leave you; you left Him. "Your getting back to God depends on your being willing to give up every known sin, step out on His promise, and trust Him to take you back. "Can you make this your prayer? ’Lord, after You saved me, I went back on You, but here and now I return; by Your help, I will give up every sin. I will pick up my cross where I laid itdown and, feeling or no feeling, the best I know how, I take You back and I trust You to take me because You said You would. From this moment on I am going to live for You.’ "If you will do this and really mean it, He will take you back now; and though at first you may not have the feeling you once had, as you go He will restore your joys and give you a better experience than you had before." Many, longing to be back with God, are held up just at the border line, and some simple word of instruction or exhortation is all they need to enable their faith to take hold and claim the victory. Isaiah 55:7 Isaiah 55:7 is a wonderful promise to quote in dealing with a backslider. I have used it in this way. "God said: ’Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.’ "God asks the backslider to do two things, forsake his sins and return unto the Lord. "God, in turn, offers to do two things for the backslider who will do this, i.e., have mercy upon him and abundantly pardon him. God doesn’t give a little pardon. "A sinner is a man who has never been converted, has never known God; therefore he cannot return to Him. "This verse seems to be written especially for the backslider. He has known God, has gone away from him, and God calls to him, ’Return unto Me.’ "Do you right now give up every known sin and return unto God the best you know how? "What did God say He would do for the man who would return? Two things, have mercy and pardon him. "If you have returned, what does He do for you right now?" Scores of times, after using this scripture in this simple way, I have seen the light break over the face of the seeker and he would rise to testify to God’s reclaiming grace. * * * * * * * ======================================================================== CHAPTER 66: 05.08. THE UNSANCTIFIED ======================================================================== 8. THE UNSANCTIFIED To be saved and sanctified means far more than two trips to the altar. The sanctification of a believer is a definite work, a great Blood-bought experience of grace. It is a dying out to self and a complete consecration to God on man’s part. It is a cleansing of the heart and the filling with the Holy Ghost on God’s part. Demonstration We do not belittle demonstration; the joy which comes with the blessing or the stirring of the emotions is often manifested when the Spirit comes. We glory in the shouting of the saints. However, these are only manifestations that may or may not appear. They come and go. This grace is deeper than that. The real evidence is an experience that cleanses the heart from all sin, that works in the hard places and keeps one sweet in the testing time. In dealing with a believer seeking to be sanctified, a worker should be careful always to give him something tangible to which he can pin his faith, some promise on which to stand when emotions have subsided and feelings are gone. Promises We have always found the following promises very helpful in leading believers into this deeper work of grace. "If ye then, being evil [human], know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?" (Matthew 7:11.) "This is the will of God, even your sanctification ..." (1 Thessalonians 4:3). "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly ..." (1 Thessalonians 5:23). "Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate" (Hebrews 13:12). "If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin" (1 John 1:7). We read in Acts 15:9 that God purifies the heart by faith. Jesus said, "... the altar ... sanctifieth the gift" (Matthew 23:19). "... Whatsoever toucheth the altar shall be holy" (Exodus 29:37). "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls" (Matthew 11:29). Illustration It was Sunday morning during a campaign I was conducting in a large church in the far West. The altar was lined with seekers, among them a fine looking man near fifty. I inquired of the pastor about him and was told he was a good man, lived clean, and had been seeking to be sanctified for years but somehow could not seem to grasp it. Kneeling by him I said, "Brother, what do you want God to do for you?" He answered, "I want Him to sanctify me." I asked him, "Are you sure you are saved?" He replied by saying: "Yes, I have no doubts there. I know my sins are forgiven and I have been seeking for a long time to be sanctified, but I just can’t seem to get anywhere." I continued: "Have you consecrated your all to God, your past, your present, your future? -- all you have and all you ever expect to have?" He responded, "Yes, everything is on the altar." I said: "Do you understand that when we speak of the altar in a spiritual sense we do not mean the place where we kneel to pray but that Jesus Christ is the Christian’s Altar?" He replied, "Yes, I know that." I asked, "Then have you turned everything over to Christ?" Again he replied, "Yes, everything." I inquired, "Can you say with the poet, "Here I give my all to Thee, Friends and time and earthly store, Soul and body Thine to be, Wholly thine forevermore?" He responded, "Yes, that is my desire and my prayer." I encouraged him by saying: "If this be true, then you are on believing ground. You must believe God, take Him at His word. The Bible says, ’The altar sanctifies the gift.’ "If the altar sanctifieth the gift," I said, "and you are the gift and Jesus is the Altar, and the altar sanctifies the gift, what does Jesus (the Altar) do for you right now?" He sprang to his feet, his face shining, and said, "He sanctifies me now, and I have sought the blessing for sixteen years and never saw it until this morning." For several years we kept track of this man and he lived as though he had the blessing. This man is only one of many we have seen sanctified and satisfied after dealing with them in this way. Walking in the Light I knelt one night beside a man who for a long time had been seeking to be sanctified. He had ceased to weep and struggle and was kneeling with a look on his face that depicted he was deep in thought. After questioning him on his need and the completeness of his consecration, I opened my Testament and had him read that wonderful verse, 1 John 1:7 : "If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." When he had read it, I asked: "Why is the person he is talking about cleansed from all sin? Is it because he works hard, gives his money to God, feels good, or is it because he is walking in the light?" He replied, "Because he is walking in the light." I asked him, "Are you walking in all the light you have?" He answered, "Yes, I am." I said, "If God should give you new light, no matter what it is, are you willing to walk in it?" He quickly answered, "I sure will." I said, "To be sanctified means to be cleansed from all sin. Is that what you want God to do for you?" He responded, "Yes, that is what I want." I said, "If the Blood cleanses the man who walks in the light, and you are walking in the light, what does the Blood do for you right now?" He lifted his face to mine and with a new light and a new hope in his eyes he said, "The Blood cleanses me and God sanctifies me now." The Promise Is True The promise won’t save, Though the promise is true; ’Tis the Blood we get under That cleanses us through. It cleanses me now, Hallelujah to God! I’m out on His promise; I’m under the Blood.All on the Altar Some called him a chronic seeker because in almost every meeting, if the minister gave an invitation, he would come seeking to be sanctified. He was a good man, lived clean, believed in holiness, but seemed unable to grasp the truth for himself. Kneeling by his side at the altar in a camp meeting, I said, "Brother Will, do you believe God has the power to cleanse your soul from all sin and sanctify you wholly?" He answered, "Brother Aycock, I know He does." I continued: "The Bible teaches that when we come to Him we must believe that ’he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.’ Do you believe God is willing to sanctify you?" He replied, "Sure I do. I would not be here if I didn’t." I said: "Brother Will, to be sanctified, we must consecrate our all to God. We must put everything upon Jesus Christ, the Christian’s Altar. Are you willing to do that?" He responded, "I have already done that; I am not holding anything back." "Right now," I said, "you are all on the altar?" "Yes, right now," he replied. I led him on by saying, "Brother Will, God speaking through His servant Moses, in Exodus 29:37, of the sacredness of the ancient altar, which was typical of Jesus Christ, your Altar and mine, said, ’Whatsoever toucheth the altar shall be holy.’ "You say you are all on the altar. God says, ’Whatsoever toucheth the altar shall be holy.’ He did not say it may be or can be but it ’shall be holy.’" I further stated, "If you are all on the altar, you must be touching it; and if whatsoever toucheth the altar shall be holy and you are on it, what must be your condition now?" At that moment the light broke in upon his soul. He stopped seeking and began praising God for His cleansing, sanctifying power. Let Them See Never tell people they are saved, reclaimed, or sanctified. Lead them as near the light as you can, quote to them the promises of God, then wait and pray for the light to dawn upon them. If their faith fails to take hold, start over again. This will require more faith and patience on your part, more prayer and more promises from the Word. Often the worker must go over the same pathmany, many times before the seeker is gripped by the truth. However, it pays; for when he does see the truth, he has a foundation on which to stand. * * * * * * * ======================================================================== CHAPTER 67: 05.09. USE WISDOM ======================================================================== 9. USE WISDOM It is unwise for two people to talk to a seeker at the same time. They may both be sincere and good, they may both desire the same result, yet it must be very confusing to the seeker. Try to concentrate on something you are reading and at the same time listen to the radio. Try listening to two conversations being conducted, one on either side of you. If this is difficult, how much more difficult it must be for the penitent soul when someone is talking in each ear! Illustration A humorous story is told of the seeker with whom three people were dealing at the same time. The one on the right was saying, "Brother, just hold on, just hold on." The one on the left was saying, "Brother, just turn loose, just turn loose." A third, kneeling just back of the seeker, kept patting him on the shoulder, saying, "Brother, just be faithful, just be faithful." The poor confused man did not know whether to be faithful in turning loose or holding on. A Better Way Instead of trying to talk to a seeker while others are speaking to him, it is better to say kindly and courteously to the worker, "Would you please let me talk to him for a few minutes? Perhaps I can help him." If you do not seem to be making headway, move on and give someone else a chance. I have seen many a person find victory shortly after I turned him over to another, although I had done my utmost to help him. Loud Praying Praying audibly around the altar is all right and loud praying is not to be despised. Some workers seem to have more liberty and freedom in prayer if they can lift up their voices. However, one should avoid praying in too loud a voice too near those who are seeking, especially if some worker is talking with them. This can be as confusing as two talking at once. Study the Seekers Study the seekers as you deal with them. Notice to what they seem to respond in word or song. People are different; therefore, they cannot all be handled alike. Resentment Study the seeker for his response or resentment to different workers. Some seem to resent loved ones. This is especially true of teen-agers. The wise worker will not take this as evidence that the loved one is not what he professes, but he will tactfully arrange for someone else to work with the seeker. Pray Out I heard a lady say to a seeker: "Pray out, pray out if you expect to be saved. God can’t hear you if you don’t." She was a good woman. She meant well, but her instructions were wrong. There are some, if you can just get them to pray aloud or to lift up their hands, who seem to be able to break loose some tension or reservations, which helps them to get through. If you are dealing with such a soul, encourage him to lift up his voice to God. There are others who seem to shrink from such efforts. The more you urge them to pray audibly, the more you seem to hinder them. They just can’t. If you are dealing with one like this, urge him to pray in his own way. Assure him: "God can hear you whether I do or not. Just in your heart tell Him what you want Him to do for you. He can hear the faintest whisper of the soul." Deaf-mutes Years ago I was holding a campaign in the city of Chicago. One night five deaf and dumb men came to the altar. No audible prayer was heard, no voice was lifted, no word was uttered. They knelt for a time with bowed heads, then an upward look, one hand on the heart, the other lifted, and shining face was the only outward evidence manifested -- but it spoke volumes. It spoke of sins forgiven, of inward peace and soul satisfaction. Illustration When I was a young man and a student in Pasadena College, I went to the altar to be sanctified. A group gathered around and began to urge me to pray aloud. I was sincere. I wanted to but it seemed I could not; neither my tongue nor my lips would move. Presently a big student took me by the shoulders and gave me a shake that almost rattled my teeth and said, "If you were here for any good, you would pray out loud." That ended my seeking, at least for that time. He probably eant well, but he failed to help me. Study your seeker and deal with him accordingly. * * * * * * * ======================================================================== CHAPTER 68: 05.10. WRONG ORDERS ======================================================================== 10. WRONG ORDERS One night a passenger train slowly battled its way through a Montana snowstorm. It stopped for a few minutes and a salesman said to a woman and child, "Lady, this is your station. I’ll help you off." He did, and the train immediately moved on. Later the conductor, walking through the car, missed the lady and made inquiry about her. The salesman said, "I put her off whenwe stopped at her station." "Man," said the conductor, "that was not a station; it was just a siding." Later they found the mother and baby frozen to death. The salesman may have been a good man and may have been trying to help, but he was not familiar with the road and gave the wrong instructions. How often at an altar of prayer workers have given the wrong orders -- instructions which, if followed, might hinder the seeker from ever finding peace! A worker should not only study the seeker but he should be familiar with the way of salvation. Illustration One night, in a Southern revival, several came forward for prayer. A young woman, kneeling somewhat apart from the others, was earnestly seeking to be saved. Her hand was raised, the tears were rolling down her uplifted face as she softly but audibly prayed: "Jesus, please forgive me. I’ll never go back on You. I’ll die before I’ll go back. Please forgive me." A minister friend listened to her prayer for a moment. Then kneeling by her, he asked, "Lady, does Jesus forgive you?" She opened her tear-wet eyes and in a pitiful voice answered, "I believe I have Him almost persuaded to do it." Someone had given her wrong instructions. Impress upon seekers that Jesus is not only faithful and just but willing to "cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9). We do not have to pray to persuade Christ to forgive us. It sometimes takes considerable praying on our part before we are willing to let Him, but He is ready and willing now. Restitution He gives the wrong instruction who advises a seeker to leave the altar to go and make restitution. I know it has been done and has worked out well. Yet I also know that at times dire results have followed. When a soul leaves the altar to make restitution, the devil follows him and in his endeavor to defeat the seeker he paints the results so black the seeker may lose heart and not go through with his purpose and he may never come back. Do not send the seeker away on such a mission alone. Tell him that God will take him on credit. All God wants is his willingness to make things right and He will save him now and go with him to fix things up. I have known many more who made restitution after leaving the altar with God in their hearts to help them than I have where they were sent away alone to fix things in their own strength. * * * * * * * ======================================================================== CHAPTER 69: 05.11. BE CAREFUL ======================================================================== 11. BE CAREFUL If you have had differences or difficulties with someone who is a seeker at the altar, do not try to deal with him. Pray for him. Send others to him but stay away yourself until he has settled that for which he came to the altar. Then go to him. Possibly you were not at fault and he may have been all in the wrong; but perhaps he does not see it that way, and when you try to deal with him these old things rise up in his mind and hinder. Even after he has prayed through, when you go to him do not bring up the trouble. If he should mention it, no matter how you feel about it, shoulder just as much of the blame as your conscience and your God will let you. Remember you are dealing with an immortal soul, a babe in Christ. Arguments People who raise their heads and smile when you approach them at the altar, who seem inclined to carry on a conversation, ask questions, and raise arguments are usually better off left alone. They are not convicted very deeply, seldom if ever receive help, and will likely hinder others who are kneeling near enough to overhear. The truly penitent soul, like the publican of old, will "not so much as lift up his head." If he has an argument, it is, "I’ve gone too far. My sin is too great. I have waited too long." If he has a question, it is, "Can Jesus save a sinner like me? Do you think there is any hope?" You can help a person like that. For such a soul there is great hope, immediate help; and if you know your Bible you have an answer for every question and a scripture for every argument. Will You Preach? Whether a person is seeking to be saved, reclaimed, or sanctified, it is neither fair nor wise to test his sincerity by asking him, "If God will take you, will you be willing to preach or go as a missionary?" I know a seeker must submit to God’s will; but remember it is God’s will, not your suggestion. Seekers questioned on these things have been known to leave the altar and never return -- not because, as some thought, God had called them to preach, but because of a fear in their hearts that He would, and their souls, minds, and bodies rebelled against it. Possibly such a thought had never entered the mind of God.The world has had too many "man-called" preachers and missionaries. It is high time we left all calling of workers to the Lord. It is also well to remind those who may be struggling over what they fear is a call to the ministry that God is just as pleased with the man who plows as He is with the man who preaches, if that is the work for which he is best suited. Accept Testimony Missing from the altar a man whom I had previously noticed, I said to a worker, "Did the man kneeling there get through?" Often I have received the answer, "He said he did, but he did not." I think such an attitude or answer is a grave mistake. Suppose the man overheard the question and answer, or suppose someone told him. It would be shock enough to wreck his faith, if he had any. I believe, if a person professes to be saved, reclaimed, or sanctified, we should accept his testimony. No matter how much he may have missed your particular standard, if he claims the work is done, take his word for it until you see something in his life that disproves his statement. A Heart Work Salvation is a work wrought in the heart, and there is no immediate or outward sign or demonstration that will prove conclusively what has taken place within. I have known many who at the beginning seemed so unpromising, yet they remained steadfast and went on to know the Lord in His fullness. Others who seemed at first so bright and clear, and in whom we had such great hope, fell by the wayside. The least a worker can do is to take the seeker at his word. Faith, Not Feeling The devil, who fights a soul all the way to the altar and all the time he is at the altar, does not give up the battle when that soul is saved. True, he has lost ground; but he now makes ready to contest every inch of progress and to instill every doubt possible. Christian workers, unintentionally, often in the questions they ask the young convert, open the way for the enemy to sow seeds of doubt. Such questions as, "How do you feel?" "Is the burden gone?" "Do you feel better?" "Don’t you feel like shouting?" -- these play right into the hands of Satan. Such questions have a tendency to get the eyes of the young convert on himself and his feelings rather than on the Lord. If you must interrogate the seeker, ask such questions as will keep his mind and heart centered on Christ. Ask, "How is your faith?" "Do you believe He saves you?" "Are you going tokeep trusting Him?" "He made good His promise, didn’t He?" "Are you determined to go through with Him?" This type of question encourages his faith, strengthens his soul, and keeps his mind on God. Stand Up for Jesus Often I have seen a man settle the question, seemingly so clearly and definitely -- no doubts, but a simple trust in God. Yet for no apparent reason he remained kneeling at the altar while workers prayed with other seekers. I have seen a good, but unwise, worker kneel by the new convert and say, "Are you really sure you are saved?" After a few questions on feelings and kindred subjects, I have seen his face fall, his head go down in doubt, and Satan had won a victory. Many, after being so clear and definite at first, have left the altar unsatisfied. To the Rescue I have never believed in professing people through or telling them they have settled it. On the other hand, I have seen so much doubt instilled into hearts by unwise workers that I want to urge workers to deal carefully with the new convert. I am convinced that if a person of his own free will professes to have found what he is seeking, it is best to say immediately, "If you have settled it and you are going through with God, stand on your feet as a testimony for Jesus, that others here may know what has taken place." Standing up then is a testimony and a confession of Christ before others. It will strengthen the faith of the new convert and prove a definite hindrance to the chronic spreaders of doubt. * * * * * * * ======================================================================== CHAPTER 70: 05.12. CONFESSION ======================================================================== 12. CONFESSION As a worker, dealing with seekers, never leave the impression that it is either wise or necessary for them to confess their sins to you. Much harm has been done at this point. Confidences have been betrayed, homes broken, and no doubt many souls have been lost because of such action. Urge the seeker to confess his sins to God, not to the pastor, evangelist, or some worker. It is God who forgives and it is God who saves. The Pharisees were wrong in their application, but right in their thinking when they reasoned, "... who can forgive sins but God only?" (Mark 2:7.) I suppose, during forty years of ministry, I could have heard many confessions. I have heard only a few, and these were unnecessary and did not help anyone. Exceptions There may at times be exceptions. Some seem to think it will help them to unburden their heart to someone, but so often such people seem to take pride in telling everyone and it oftenbrings a reproach on the cause. Such things are better left with God. However, let me urge all who deal with seeking souls, should someone pour out his heart to you, never break that confidence. Public Confession Some preachers have been known to encourage public confessions. I think this is wrong, all wrong. I have never known one to be wholesome. Confess to God and to the one you have sinned against. One night in our meeting a widow, a mother of two teen-age daughters, quickly arose from the altar and, before anyone realized what was going to happen, said to the entire congregation, "I want to confess that I have been living in adultery." What possible good could come from such a statement? Always prevent such things if you can. In most instances they will be damaging both to the confessor and to the hearers. Usually they bring reproach on the individual, the family, the church, and, most of all, the cause of Christ. * * * * * * * ======================================================================== CHAPTER 71: 05.13. YOUR MILL ======================================================================== 13. YOUR MILL No tactful Christian worker will try to put a seeker through his own mill. Yours may be good and it may have worked wonders in your case, but remember there are many others which have worked just as well. There is nothing wrong in telling a seeker how you found the Lord and what took place when it happened, but never leave the impression that his experience will be exactly the same as yours. Three Steps The steps to salvation are few and simple. I would list three, though in reality there are only two, for one is implied in the other. The three steps are: First -- Repent Second -- Pray, or call upon God. Third -- Faith, believe God. Repentance means a turning from sin unto God. That within itself implies a calling upon Him. Then have faith. Believe God, believe His Word, and believe His promises. "... believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him" (Hebrews 11:6). Personal Experience With me, it was so quickly settled, and my experience probably was different from that of many who read these lines. Just a few whispered words of a suggested prayer, a few quoted promises falling upon my ear, and it came to me so clearly. I had done my part and God would and did do His. Doubts lifted like a cloud from my sin-sick soul and a consciousness that He saved me filled my heart. Yours Was Different Your experience was much different. Yes, I know it was. There were probably long hours of seeking, there were bitter tears of repentance, and when He came a wave of holy emotion flooded your soul and you shouted with new-found joy. I think your experience was wonderful, and so was mine. Let us not discount either. If you and I are wise workers for God, we will not try to bring the seeker with whom we deal through our experiences but we will prayerfully point out the way of Salvation and leave the results with God. * * * * * * * THE END ======================================================================== CHAPTER 72: 05A.00. THE CRIMSON STREAM ======================================================================== THE CRIMSON STREAM By Jarrette E. Aycock A Devotional Sermon On The Blood By Evangelist Jarrette E. Aycock Author Of "The Nightingale Of The Psalms" And "The Grand Old Book" Second Printing Tenth Thousand Nazarene Publishing House 2923 Troost Ave., Kansas City, Mo. Copyright 1927 By Nazarene Publishing House Crimson Stream is written by Nazarene author Jarrette Aycock, and it is a compilation of 15 chapters of thoughts and sermons on the blood of Christ, and the atonement. * * * * * * * CONTENTS A Fountain Flowing For Me -- Poem By The Author Introduction -- By Roy Tilman (R. T.) Williams The Crimson Stream -- Introduction 1. The First Glimpse Of Blood 2. What Does God Do With Our Sins? 3. Man’s Forgiveness Vs. God’s 4. Bruce, King Of Scots 5. Cain And Abel 6. Abraham And Isaac 7. Our Biography 8. The Passover 9. Consecrating Of Priests 10. On The Train With Bryan 11. Salvation Through The Blood 12. The Blood Cleanses 13. Nothing But The Blood 14. The Only Way 15. We Cannot Escape The Blood ******* ABOUT THIS DIGITAL FILE I created and numbered the above Table of Contents, which did not appear in the printed booklet. The poem below appeared on the front cover of the booklet beneath the drawing of "The Crimson Stream" flowing from the cross. The print in the graphic was poor, so I replaced it with the picture of the author, which picture appeared opposite page 1 in the booklet. -- Duane V. Maxey, Holiness Data Ministry, Surprise, Arizona, April 17, 2009.] ******* A FOUNTAIN FLOWING FOR ME By Jarrette E. Aycock There’s a fountain for the cleansing of the soul, Where the wicked wash away their sin and shame; Where the heart can be forevermore made whole, And lose all its guilty stains. For the healing of the nations is its flow, Come ye millions plunge into the crimson tide; O the precious blood will cleanse you as you go, And you will be satisfied. While the fountain’s standing open heed the cry, Whosoever will may come into the flood; Plunge, O plunge into the fountain ere you die, For ’tis filled with Jesus’ blood. ******* INTRODUCTION -- By Roy Tilman (R. T.) Williams The doctrine of the atonement as taught by the Bible and long held as one of the sacred and fundamental teachings of Christianity is today being vigorously attacked by those "unbelievers" who "seem to be religious." The blood of Christ, the shedding of blood, are terms held in derision by many "professors." They frankly tell us that the day of a "blood" or "bloody shirt" religion is at an end. They say Christ came to the world to save men by the power of a right example, the irresistible force of correct ideals, that He came to show men the way of life by precept and example, that the death of Christ was altogether unnecessary. The Bible emphatically states that without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins. Ought not Christ to have suffered? Was it not said that He could save others but Himself, He could not save? We have redemption through His blood, we are redeemed through the precious blood of Christ, are expressions of the word of God. Such statements must not and cannot be ignored if the Bible is to be considered as authority in matters of salvation. The shedding of blood is a revelation of God’s desire to save men. It is a revelation of His hatred for sin. It is a revelation of the basis of salvation. It is a revelation of the value God places upon a soul. It is a revelation of the Love of God and His great passion to save all who come unto Him by Christ Jesus. God alone could make such a glorious plan of salvation and reveal it to the mind and heart of man. It is indeed fitting that books should be written on this fascinating theme. Songs about the blood, sermons on the blood, books emphasizing the blood, will live when the common expressions of human sentiment, gush, and jazz are forgotten forever. Rev. Jarrette Aycock, the author of this splendid little book, "The Crimson Stream," is presenting to the lovers of truth, the believers in the fundamentals of the faith once delivered to the saints, a publication full of interest, light, and essential facts bearing upon a right attitude toward God, the Bible, and personal salvation. He has placed emphasis where it is most needed. The sacrificial element in salvation and in the lives of God’s people cannot be ignored. The book will reveal to the readers something of the secrets of the success that has crowned the efforts of this outstanding young man in the field of evangelism. "The Crimson Stream" should be widely scattered and read by thousands of honest and earnest seekers after truth and righteousness such as will stand the test of time and of eternity. R. T. Williams ******* THE CRIMSON STREAM -- INTRODUCTION We are living in a day when the genius of science and the knowledge of man are attaching a "less" to almost every modern achievement. For example, we have the horseless carriage, the smokeless powder and the reportless gun. In our homes we find the fireless cooker and the iceless refrigerator. Go into the offices and see the wireless telephone and noiseless typewriter; into the fields and see the beardless wheat; into the orchard and find the seedless fruit. So when you go into many churches you will find a bloodless religion. A carriage can run without horses, refrigerators can keep cool without ice, fruit may grow without seed and people may talk across the continent without wires; but man can never be saved without the blood. Some say, "Away with Christianity for it is a bloody religion; away with the Bible for it is a book of gore." But we reply, "If it were not for the crimson stream that flows from Genesis to Revelation, which is a true history of the living stream that flows from the cross of Calvary, our religion would be vain and we would be in our sins." Christian Science says, "The blood of Jesus had no more saving efficacy when it flowed from His wounds upon the cross, than when it flowed through His veins while He walked the earth." But the writer to the Hebrews says, "Almost all things are by the law purged with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no remission." "And when you take the blood from our religion and the cross from our lives it is like taking the sun from our day and the stars from our night," and leaves us wrecked on the sea of time without compass or chart. I am told that in every rope of the English navy there runs a scarlet thread, this is the identification mark. And the blood is the identification mark of the Christian religion. No matter where you go, when you find Christianity you will find the scarlet thread. No matter how fine the church, how high the steeple, how elaborate the furnishings, how eloquent the preacher, how unctuous the message, if the blood is denied it is not the religion of Jesus. Never line up with any church, subscribe to any creed, or accept any religion unless it bears this trademark: "The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin." Let us follow this crimson stream as it winds through the Book of God and examine some of the blood-red spots along its way from the Garden to the Cross. * * * * * * * ======================================================================== CHAPTER 73: 05A.01. THE FIRST GLIMPSE OF BLOOD ======================================================================== 01 -- THE FIRST GLIMPSE OF BLOOD When Adam sinned he made himself a covering of leaves and hid in the shrubbery and behind the giant oaks of the garden, just as people today are trying to hide their sins with the fig leaves of society, amidst the shrubbery of the church or behind the giant oaks of organization; but the covering was hardly completed when God came, calling, "Adam, where art thou?" And in spite of his hiding place he came forth and was revealed in his true and natural state. And some day God will call the people of today just as He called Adam. And when God speaks, m spite of their covering, men will be revealed in all their sins. When God found Adam He made him a coat of skin. Some animal was killed, blood was shed, a life was taken, that Adam might be placed in a presentable condition before Him. In that far away crimson spot we get our first glimpse of that blood which was poured out upon the cross that we might be placed in a presentable condition before God. There is only one place man may hide his sins where they will never be uncovered, and that is under the blood of Jesus. A preacher once asked a little boy, "Is there anything impossible with God?" "Yes," said the boy, "it is impossible for God to see my sins when they are covered by the blood." By shedding the blood of an animal God covered the sin of Adam; and by the blood of Jesus, he washes our sins away. There’s a fountain for the cleansing of the soul, Where the wicked wash away their sin and shame, Where the heart can be forever more made whole, And lose all its guilty stains. * * * * * * * ======================================================================== CHAPTER 74: 05A.02. WHAT DOES GOD DO WITH OUR SINS? ======================================================================== 02 -- WHAT DOES GOD DO WITH OUR SINS? Have you ever considered what becomes of our sins when they are covered by the blood? Ask David, and hear him answer, "As far as the east is from the west so far hath he removed our transgressions from us." Do you know how far that is? It is so far that should you start east now and travel in that direction until you again reached this spot, you would not have reached the west, but would still be going east; and "So far hath he removed our transgressions from us." Ask Micah, and hear him say, "Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea." Some have called this "The sea of forgetfulness." Where it is I do not know. The histories of the world in their list of seas do not mention it, the maps of the world do not mark it, no explorer has brought us news of its location, no mariner has ever sounded its depths; yet in this unknown and undiscovered sea God hath cast all our sins. And should some far traveling explorer discover it, would he find our sins? No! for God hath cast them into the depths. Ask Isaiah, and he will say, "Thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back." Where God’s back is I do not know, His face seems to be everywhere. But somewhere behind God’s back, where man can’t see, and where man can’t go. There He hath cast all my sins. Ask Jeremiah, and he will tell you God said, "I will forgive their iniquity, I will remember their sin no more." When a young man, I caused my mother many tears and much worry because of my wayward ways and indifference to religion. And for years she prayed for my conversion. Some fifteen years before her death her prayers were answered and I was saved, and then I tried in a measure to atone for the heartaches I had caused her. A few months before her death, when she was in her eightieth year, together with Mrs. Aycock and my only living sister, I visited her at the old home place. The day we were to leave, mother sat by the open door nervously picking at her apron, a habit of her declining years. My sister was telling Mrs. Aycock (whom I did not meet until after my conversion), what a bad boy I used to be, and the picture she was painting was not a good one. For a time mother said nothing, but presently she turned to my sister and said, "Allie, what are you talking about? I never new Jarrette was such a bad boy." My sister replied, "Why mother! He kept you crying half the time and you were worrying from morning till night." "Well if he was a bad boy," said mother, "I have forgotten it, for it seems to me he has always been a good boy." What was that? A mother’s love. And if the love of my mother could forget the sins of my youth, do you think our Savior who has forgiven us is still harboring the sins of our past? I tell you no, for He says, "I will remember thy sins no more," and "As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you." * * * * * * * ======================================================================== CHAPTER 75: 05A.03. MAN'S FORGIVENESS VS. GOD'S ======================================================================== 03 -- MAN’S FORGIVENESS VS. GOD’S What a difference in the forgiveness of our Lord and that we see manifested among so many individuals today! When you take the promise in Isaiah and the one in Jeremiah and place them together it virtually reads, "I will place them behind my back and remember them no more." That is God’s way. That is covered by the blood. Man’s way is too often different. To illustrate: John has been an awful sinner, his life was bad, he has wronged his neighbor, but repenting of his sins he gets forgiveness from God and then coming to his neighbor says, "Bill, I want to live a Christian life; I have wronged you shamefully, but I am sorry, and want you to forgive me." Bill answers, "All right, John, I freely forgive you; we will count it all settled and let by-gones be by-gones." That is what he says to John, but by his actions and after life he says, "John, I do forgive you and I will just place these old wrongs behind my back and never forget them as long as I live. Yes, John, I forgive you but every time I see you I will think of the way you treated me. When the pastor comes I will tell him, I will rehearse it to the evangelist when he arrives, and will keep it behind my back but never forget it as long as I live." What a shame and what a pity; and yet often, far too often, human forgiveness is like that. But O, when Jesus forgives, He forgets and sends us away singing, "They are covered by the blood, They are covered by the blood, My sins are all covered by the blood. My iniquities so vast have been blotted out at last, My sins are all covered by the blood." * * * * * * * ======================================================================== CHAPTER 76: 05A.04. BRUCE, KING OF SCOTS ======================================================================== 04 -- BRUCE, KING OF SCOTS There is a story in Scottish history of Bruce the king, how that when he was being pursued by his enemies, they secured his own bloodhounds and put them on his trail. When he heard their baying and realized that they were his own dogs, knowing their keenness of scent, he gave himself up for lost. But as he ran through the forest he came upon a stream, plunged in and swam across. And when the hounds reached the stream they lost the track and Bruce was saved. And so in our life when the hosts of sin were assailing us, and the forces of hell were pursuing us, they placed the bloodhounds of our life, our passions and appetites upon our trail, and when we heard their voices we, too, thought we were lost; but as we ran through the forest of sin we came upon Calvary’s stream, and plunging in, the bloodhounds lost the trail, the hosts of hell were defeated and we were saved through the blood of Jesus. * * * * * * * ======================================================================== CHAPTER 77: 05A.05. CAIN AND ABEL ======================================================================== 05 -- CAIN AND ABEL The next crimson spot I would call to your attention is the story of Cain and Abel, told in the 4th chapter of Genesis. They were born of the same parents, reared under the same environment and evidently came to God about the same time. Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground, beautiful to the eye, pleasant to the touch, and easily prepared; but God had cursed the ground and Cain and his offering were rejected. Abel evidently acted under previous instructions, for the book of Hebrews tells us, "By faith Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice than Cain;" and faith literally means, taking God at His word. And taking God at His word, he brought an offering of his flock, not the work of his hands, but the sacrifice of a life, blood was shed, and he was accepted. In this far away incident, we have a story of the redeeming blood. God started with blood when He made coats of skins, Cain planned a new way but was rejected. All down through the ages we have had the two ways, God’s way and man’s way, the blood and the bloodless; the religion of Cain and the religion of Calvary. "I’ve often heard tell of a popular way, To mansions of gold in the skies, Of an easier route than the way of the cross, To reach that blest home upon high, "No thorns line this path and no clouds ever come, From trims and crosses it’s free. Let others who will take this popular line, The old fashioned way suits me." I believe it was Charles G. Finney who illustrated the value of the blood by picturing people as they approached the city of God and demanded an entrance. The gates to the city were closed, the angel gate-keeper stood in his place. There approached the gate an officer of the army; his uniform was spotless, his buttons shone, his saber gleamed in the light, his trappings denoted that his rank was that of a general. Saluting, he said, "Sir, will you please open the gate, I would like to pass in." "By what right?" asked the angel. "Because," replied the General, "I have fought for religious liberty; I have fought for the widow and orphan; I am an officer from a Christian nation and have kept our flag from the grasp of the heathen." "That is all very good, sir," said the gatekeeper, "and there are times when people must fight, but that is not the password; I am sorry but I cannot let you in." In sorrow the General turned away and was soon lost in the distance and darkness. Another approached whose paraphernalia bespoke wealth and culture, and when he asked that the gates be opened, the angel asked, "Upon what, friend, do you base your right to enter here?" "I have given of my wealth to the causes of Christianity," said the rich man, "I have builded schools, established orphan asylums, sent missionaries to the heathen and builded churches in the home land." "You are to be commended," said the angel, "for money is needed to carry on the work of the Lord in the world, but we cannot open these gates because of any work that you have done." He too turned away and was soon lost to sight, and in the distance was heard wailing and gnashing of teeth. Behold, another approached the city. It was a woman; her clothing showed signs of poverty, her face of suffering, her hands of toil. But as she neared the gate she lifted her hand and began to sing, "O the blood, the blood ’tis all my plea, Hallelujah it cleanses me, O the blood, the blood, ’tis all my plea, Hallelujah for it cleanses me." The angel without a word stepped to one side, and of their own accord the gates swung open and she marched in and all heaven joined in the chorus, "O the blood, the blood ’tis all my plea, Hallelujah it cleanses me, O the blood, the blood, ’tis all my plea, Hallelujah for it cleanses me." * * * * * * ======================================================================== CHAPTER 78: 05A.06. ABRAHAM AND ISAAC ======================================================================== 06 -- ABRAHAM AND ISAAC Another marked place on this river of blood is the offering of Isaac by his father Abraham. He was about 22 years of age, they tell us, when God said to Abraham, "Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee to the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of." Without hesitating, Abraham took Isaac with all the necessary equipment for an offering and made his way to the mountain top. He erected an altar, and binding his son, he placed him upon it. But just as he was about to drive the knife into his son’s heart, God stayed his hand. And Abraham lifted his eyes and saw a ram caught by the horns in the bushes near by, and taking that he offered it up instead of his son. Isaac was spared, "but not without blood." There was a death that morning on the mountain, a life was sacrificed; blood was shed and the crimson spots could be seen upon the rocks round about the altar; and in that age-old story of the ram taking the place of Isaac upon the altar, dying that he might live, we see a type of the Lamb of God taking our place upon the cross and dying for us. Two thousand years later Jesus said to the Jews, "Abraham saw my day and was glad." Mr. Moody said, "I think it must have been from the top of Mount Moriah that Abraham saw his day." He had just seen a substitute for his son, a death in his stead and looking down through the years, he saw the world guilty before God, every man about to die for his own sins, seemingly no eye to spare and no one to pity, when lo the windows of heaven were opened and a Lamb without spot or blemish came and took His place at the head of that company and marched to the cross of Calvary and was "there made to be sin for us, who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." "There he bore our sins in his own body on the tree." There he tasted death for every man and shed his blood that you and I might live. O thank God for the blood! Thank God for the blood! Someone has said, "One drop of blood could well atone for all my sins, one drop alone." But I do not think so, if one drop would have sufficed, surely those brought forth during His agony in the garden would have been sufficient. Why not one drop from that thorn pierced brow? Then He would have been spared the cross. But no! instead of one drop, it took the blood from His brow, the blood from His hands, the blood from His feet, the blood from His lacerated back, and his heart blood that poured forth from His spear-pierced side. The lamb that took the place of Isaac was placed on the altar without consulting it, but Jesus gladly gave His life for us, and said, "I lay it down of myself and no man taketh it from me." Thank God for redeeming blood. No wonder the man who was about to have an operation on his tongue, on being told by the surgeon he would never speak again asked him to wait until he could sing once more, "There is a fountain filled with blood, Drawn from Emmanuel’s veins, And sinners plunged beneath that flood, Lose all their guilty stains." * * * * * * * ======================================================================== CHAPTER 79: 05A.07. OUR BIOGRAPHY ======================================================================== 07 -- OUR BIOGRAPHY I read of a man who was spending the winter at a noted resort, the guests noticed him from time to time, as he sat around the hotel, take a little book from his pocket, and when he would open it there would come an expression of sadness upon his face, he would turn the page and his expression would change to one of love and appreciation, then turning the second page a look of happiness would come, and with a smile he would close the book and return it to his pocket. They saw this repeated so many times and always these same expressions following each other as he turned the pages, that the curiosity of many was aroused. After he had been there some days, a guest more bold than the others engaged him in conversation and finally said, "I have noticed you a number of times looking at a little book and from the expressions on your face I would judge that you value it very highly." "Yes," said the gentleman, taking the book from his pocket, "this is my biography." "Your biography," said the questioner, "it does not look large enough for that, it only has a few pages." "Only three," said the gentleman. "And it is your biography?" he asked, "how can that be?" "This," he said opening the little book to the first page which was black, "was the natural condition of my heart." Then turning the next page which was red he said, "This stands for the blood of Jesus." Then turning to the last page which was white, he continued, "This is how my heart has looked since it passed through the blood." This is also our biography, if we have been cleansed through the blood of Jesus. "Savior, thou the debt hast paid, By thy cleansing I am made Whiter than the snow, whiter than the snow." * * * * * * * ======================================================================== CHAPTER 80: 05A.08. THE PASSOVER ======================================================================== 08 -- THE PASSOVER When it looked as though escape from the hand of Pharaoh for Israel was impossible, God said to Moses, "Tell the children of Israel to take a lamb without blemish, put it up on the 10th day of the month and on the 14th day kill it and take of the blood and sprinkle it upon the door post and on the lintel, and in that night I will pass through the land and destroy all the first born, and the blood shall be to you for a token and when I see the blood I will pass over you." They did as the Lord commanded and when the night arrived the only token they had of safety was the blood. But that was enough, for had not God said, "When I see the blood I will pass over you." And the angel who executed the judgment of God did not look for the name plate on the door, he noticed not whether it was a palace or hut, a mansion or hovel. He looked for the blood and when he saw that he passed over. Friend, when he passes your way he will not look for your church letter, your social, your political or your financial standing; he will look for the blood. Every true Israelite had the blood of the Lamb upon his door on that memorable night long ago, and every true Christian has the blood of Christ upon his heart in the life that now is. Rev. Johnson Oatman, Jr., has beautifully told this story of the ancient passover and of Christ, our paschal Lamb, in his poem, "The Blood Upon the Door." "When the Lord pass’d over Egypt, There was weeping everywhere, For the angel smote the first-born Of each family dwelling there; But some houses he passed over, As his word had said before, And death entered not the portals, Where the blood was on the door. "Not the blood of lambs or cattle, Sprinkled over any part, But the blood of Christ, the Savior, Can redeem a human heart, Then when death these ties shall sever, And we walk on earth no more, We may live with Christ forever, If His blood is on the door. "Precious blood upon the door, Saving blood upon the door, O my soul, there is no danger, When the blood is on the door." * * * * * * * ======================================================================== CHAPTER 81: 05A.09. CONSECRATING OF PRIESTS ======================================================================== 09 -- CONSECRATING OF PRIESTS How crimson that spot in the wilderness where the first priests were consecrated; and among many other things for which blood was used, they sprinkled it round about the altar. Now if they sprinkled it round about the altar, to get to the altar meant the passing through the blood, and it means the same today. Jesus tells us in the tenth chapter of John, "He that entereth into the sheepfold except by the door but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber." And in the ninth verse, He says, "I am the door, by me, if any man enter in he shall be saved and go in and out and find pasture." Jesus is the door now, it was Jesus who shed His blood; therefore to get into the Kingdom now, means passing through the blood of Christ as much as getting to the altar in the days of Moses meant passing through the blood of the animals slain. There are many hills in the world, but there is only one Calvary. There are many trees in the world, but only one that is streaked with blood. There are many fountains in the world, but only one that was opened in the house of David for sin and uncleanness; and if we ever find God we must climb that hill; we must pass that tree, we must wash in that fountain. While the fountain’s standing open, heed the cry, Come ye, millions, plunge into the crimson flood. Plunge, O plunge into the fountain ere you die, For ’tis filled with Jesus’ blood. * * * * * * * ======================================================================== CHAPTER 82: 05A.10. ON THE TRAIN WITH BRYAN ======================================================================== 10 -- ON THE TRAIN WITH BRYAN I once rode on the train with the late William Jennings Bryan, a man known all over the world and loved and respected by thousands. I shall never forget how, when he entered the coach, men quit reading their papers and turned in their seats to watch the great commoner as he passed down the aisle; how some moved their grips from their seats thinking perhaps he would sit by them; and how attentive the old Negro porter seemed to be. When I got on the train it was different. No one quit reading his paper to look at me, and no one made a place for me to sit. The old Negro porter did not even seem to notice me. I had to find a seat without help. As the train pulled out, I sat musing on the greatness of the man, his world-wide reputation and the influence he wielded in the affairs of our country, when I was aroused by the voice of the conductor saying, "Tickets please, have your tickets ready." And I noticed this great man had to produce a ticket to ride on the train the same as I did. So it is on the trip to glory. Your money, your prestige, your reputation may get you by many places and through many things in this life, but on that trip, it will take the blood. * * * * * * * ======================================================================== CHAPTER 83: 05A.11. SALVATION THROUGH THE BLOOD ======================================================================== 11 -- SALVATION THROUGH THE BLOOD Wherever you find a sinner saved, you will find the blood of Jesus. For salvation comes only through the blood. Scripture after scripture and verse after verse point us to the, "Fountain opened to the house of David for sin and uncleanness." Ask for a testimony from the books of the New Testament, and hear Romans say, "Much more then, being now justified by his blood; we shall be saved from wrath through him." "My testimony," says Ephesians, "is in whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins." "If you will look in the 14th verse of my first chapter," says Colossians, "you will find Ephesians’ testimony is mine exactly." "Peter, do you know the blood?" "Yes," he answers, "for we were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ." "Is there another?" "Yes," replies the book of Hebrews, "I have a long testimony, ’Into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people. But Christ being come an high priest, -- Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood entered once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without the shedding of blood is no remission.’" "Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, is my testimony," says Revelation. "Let me speak," says the Old Testament, "for it is the blood that makes an atonement for the soul." "The blood, the blood, our only hope," rings again and again from the book of God. Paul said to the Ephesians, "You hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins." The sinner, we see, is dead. "The life," says the Scriptures, "is in the blood." Therefore the sinner must come in contact with the blood of Jesus in order to become alive unto God. "Nor silver nor gold hath obtained my redemption, No riches of earth could have saved my poor soul, The blood of the cross is my only salvation, The death of my Savior now maketh me whole. "I am redeemed, but not with silver, I am bought, but not with gold, Bought with a price, the blood of Jesus, Precious price of love untold." * * * * * * * ======================================================================== CHAPTER 84: 05A.12. THE BLOOD CLEANSES ======================================================================== 12 -- THE BLOOD CLEANSES By the blood we are redeemed and by the blood we are cleansed. How often the Scriptures make this clear. Let us hear a few testimonies from the Book. "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God." "He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy. . . . Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing." "Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate." "If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." "O now I see the crimson wave, I hear the speaking blood; It speaks, -- polluted nature dies, Sinks ’neath the cleansing flood, The cleansing stream I see, I see, I plunge, and Oh, it cleanseth me!" * * * * * * * ======================================================================== CHAPTER 85: 05A.13. NOTHING BUT THE BLOOD ======================================================================== 13 -- NOTHING BUT THE BLOOD Nothing in the Bible receives more prominence than the blood, and all through the book you will find those blood-red arrows pointing toward the cross. "Adam, what was shed when the Lord made coats of skins?" "Blood." "Abel, will you please tell us what was the peculiar difference in your offering and that of Cain?" He answers, "Blood." "Tell us, Moses, what was sprinkled on the door post the night the destroying angel passed through Egypt." And we hear him answer, "Blood." Ask the priest what flowed from the altar of the ancient sacrifice, and he will tell you, "Blood." "Rahab, what is the color of that thread in your window?" "Red as blood." "O priest of God, what have you in your vessel and why enter the holy of holies?" He answers, "Blood for myself and the errors of my people." "O Jesus, like what were your sweat drops in the Garden?" "Like blood." "O Savior, what flowed from your wounds upon the cross?" From every wound, we hear the answer, "Blood." "O Apostle, tell us what the sacramental wine typifies. He tells us, "Blood." O sinner, what can wash away our sin? "Nothing but the blood of Jesus." "O precious is the flow, That makes me white as snow, No other fount I know, Nothing but the blood of Jesus." The redeemed whom John saw in glory had "washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." They had overcome through the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony. And the new song he heard them singing was, "For thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation." Thank God for the blood of Jesus. * * * * * * * ======================================================================== CHAPTER 86: 05A.14. THE ONLY WAY ======================================================================== 14 -- THE ONLY WAY There is a story, that during the Civil War the conduct of some of the soldiers in the camps near Washington, D. C., was such that President Lincoln issued an order that no more furloughs be granted. Shortly after this order was issued, a soldier received word that his wife was at the point of death; "Come home at once." He applied to his commanding officer for leave of absence but was refused on the ground of the President’s order. He made his way to the General’s headquarters and placed the letter before him; he read it and as he brushed the tears from his eyes he said, "My dear man, I wish I could grant you this, but Mr. Lincoln has issued an order that no furloughs be granted, I am sorry but I cannot do it." With a sad heart the man turned from the General’s tent and started back to his own quarters. He had gone only a little distance when he heard the General calling him. As he turned back to the officer’s tent, the General said, "Don’t let your hopes get too high, but I have been thinking if you could get into the presence of Abraham Lincoln and get his signature on a furlough you could go home. There is not one chance in a thousand that you can see him, but here is a pass that will get you through the lines and it is up to you to see the President when you get to the White House." Taking the pass he thanked the General and made his way past guard after guard until at last he stood outside the door leading into the president’s office. As he approached, a guard standing on either side of the door lifted their guns and said, "Halt." "What do you want?" they asked. "I want to see the President." "You can’t see him." "But I must." "But you can’t," said the guards. "It is a case of life and death," said the man, "and I must see him." "It is also a case of life and death with us," the guards replied, "and you cannot." He handed them the letter he had received from home; they read it and as the tears trickled down their cheeks they handed it back saying, "We are sorry we cannot help you, for we too have loved ones at home; but we are placed here with an order to allow no one to pass without permission from the President and if we broke that order we should be shot before sunrise, and we cannot let you by." So close and yet so far, the poor man turned away and walked out of the White House; his heart was crushed and the tears were flowing freely down his cheeks. When he reached the entrance the President’s little son sat on the steps playing; looking up at the man and seeing the tears on his cheeks he said, "What’s the matter, mister?" Not knowing who he was, but glad to find someone who wanted to share his sorrow, the man told him of his dying wife at home; how she was calling for him, and of the efforts he had made to see the President and get a furlough, but had been unable to see him. "You come with me," said the boy. Taking him by the hand, he led him down the hall until they came to the president’s door, the guards again placed their guns across the door and said, "Halt." The boy said nothing but stopped in front of the door and waited. Presently it opened from the inside and a gentleman who had been talking to the President walked out; the guards stepped aside to let him pass and quick as a flash the boy sprang to the door and said, "Papa, can I come in?" "Yes, son," said Mr. Lincoln, "you may come in." "Papa, can I bring my friend in?" The great President for a moment forgetting the affairs of war, and anxious to please his son said, "Yes you may bring your friend in if you want to." The guards then lowered their guns, the boy reached back and caught the man by the hand and led him into the presence of his father. He handed the letter to Mr. Lincoln who read it, and taking up a pen he wrote out for the man a furlough, and with a grateful heart and a word of thanks the man hurried away to the loved ones at home. The thought I want you to get from this story is the fact that the only way this man could get into the presence of Abraham Lincoln was through his son; and the only way you and I will ever get into the presence of God is through the blood of his Son the Lord Jesus Christ. * * * * * * * ======================================================================== CHAPTER 87: 05A.15. WE CANNOT ESCAPE THE BLOOD ======================================================================== 15 -- WE CANNOT ESCAPE THE BLOOD The most precious thing ever poured out upon this earth was the blood of Jesus, it is the only remedy for sin, the only cure for iniquity, the only hope of the sinner anywhere you find him, and turn where you will you cannot escape the blood. Suppose our government took possession of a fountain and placed a soldier there to guard it, how would you ever be able to enter? Only in one way, and that by the soldier. There would be two ways you could gain entrance by him, one through his kindness and courtesy, the other in defiance of him and in opposition to him. If you entered through his courtesy all right, if in defiance of him you would subject yourself to the severest punishment, and if while thrusting him aside he took your life, our government would clear him of crime for he would do it protecting the fountain he had been placed there to guard. Just so God has opened a fountain to the house of David for sin and uncleanness and placed the Holy Ghost as perpetual guard. We can enter only by the Holy Ghost, either through His kindness and courtesy for pardon and cleansing, or in defiance and opposition to Him, thus trampling it under foot. Beyond that fountain are the gates of heaven, beyond that fountain are the doors of hell. If we go to heaven we must pass through the blood for pardon and cleansing; if we go to hell we must trample it under foot. Man cannot get away from the blood; it must be reckoned with. If we enter that fountain by the kindness and courtesy of the Holy Spirit, well and good; but if in spite of Him and in opposition to Him we enter to trample it underfoot, we become transgressors, and blood rejectors and make ourselves two-fold more the children of hell; for there is no sin under heaven like trampling under foot the blood of Jesus; and when you do this, if the Holy Ghost should strike you dead, or if He should lift His glistening wings and leave you forever, all heaven would clear Him of folly, for in doing so, He would do it in defense of the most precious and valuable thing in the universe of God; and if it were not for the love of God, the compassion of Christ, and the patience of the Holy Ghost, that is what He would do. O sinner, that crimson stream flowing from Calvary’s cross is at your feet; will you plunge in for pardon and cleansing, and be saved, or will you trample it under foot and be eternally lost? For the healing of the nations is its flow, Come, ye millions, plunge into the crimson tide; O the precious blood will cleanse you as you go, And you will be satisfied. ******* THE END ======================================================================== CHAPTER 88: 06.00. THE GRAND OLD BOOK ======================================================================== THE GRAND OLD BOOK A Sermon on the Bible By Evangelist Jarrette E. Aycock This work is a 15 chapter work (all chapters are very short) on the Greatness and Glory of the Bible. Aycock extols the virtues of the Bible against those who hate and want to destroy this wonderful book. ---> Contents <--- Introduction 1. The Grand Old Book 2. The Bible Needs No Defense 3. It Speaks With Authority 4. It Is An Inspired Book 5. God Has Written A Book 6. Great Men Have Appreciated It 7. Good Men Have Loved It 8. It Is A Hated Book 9. It Is An Indestructible Book 10. It Is A Merciful Book 11. It Is A Staff To The Living 12. It Is A Profound Book 13. It Is A Comfort To The Dying 14. The Book Of Books 15. I Love My Bible Author of The Nightingale of the Psalms The Crimson Stream Second Edition 10, 000 printed Copyright 1929. By Jarrette E. Aycock Nazarene Publishing House 2923 Troost Ave., Kansas City, Mo. Printed in U. S. A. INTRODUCTION In the dark and tangled maze of life the soul of man groping for the Light cries out, "Which way shall I take? Which way shall I take?" Thank God there is an answer and to the listening soul the Psalmist replies, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path." Thank God for the Book! the unchanging Book, the Book of all ages, the Book of God. Tradition and custom may pass but the Word of God abides. Institutions and even civilization may pass but the Word of God remains forever a light to guide the traveler home. How safe, how contented, how blest is that man who from his heart can sing: "I believe the Bible; O it is divine, Heaven’s golden sunlight In its pages shine, Lights my way to glory And I’m surely going through, I believe the Bible For ’tis ever true." What I should have done had it not been for the Blessed Old Book, I do not know. Through the years of my boyhood every night at my father’s family altar, the Book was read. Its commandments awed me. Its stories thrilled me. Its prayers lifted me into the presence of God. Its doctrines became my creed. Its characters were my heroes. Its Christ became my Savior and its God my God. Glory be to God for the Book. the Bible! It is upon this theme that the Grand Old Book is written. The author in his own interesting and individual style here presents the unusual. a devotional study on the Bible. However many books you may have read on the Bible you will find this one to be distinctive. Study it carefully, reverently and prayerfully. It is safe to predict that thousands will read it and multiplied thousands will be blessed by it. A. K. Bracken, President, Bethany-Peniel College ======================================================================== CHAPTER 89: 06.01. THE GRAND OLD BOOK ======================================================================== 1. THE GRAND OLD BOOK Whenever you see a crowd stopping at a given point, looking in some window, examining some object, interested in some article, whether their comment is favorable or unfavorable, you know they have found something out of the ordinary. In a city of the Northwest it was a beautiful wild lynx held captive in a show window, in Philadelphia it was the Liberty Bell, in Washington, D. C., it was the original copy of the Declaration of Independence, and having elbowed my way through so many crowds I have become convinced without doubt that it is the unusual, the something different that attracts the multitude. There is one article on the streets of time which the world has never passed with indifference, that is the Bible. The high, the low, the rich and poor have stopped to look on this book, some for a moment, others for years, some to praise, others to criticize. Surely no ordinary book could attract such attention down through the years. What can be the attraction? Not the binding, for that is ordinary, medium paper and common print, it cannot be that, the attraction of this book is its message to man. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 90: 06.02. THE BIBLE NEEDS NO DEFENSE ======================================================================== 2. THE BIBLE NEEDS NO DEFENSE In bringing you this message on the Bible it is not with any intention of trying to defend it, it does not need it, it has defended me. When I hear men speak of defending the Bible it reminds me of the story of the circus train which was wrecked near a country village and a flat car containing the cage of a large African lion was thrown into the ditch, the people of the village came in great numbers to view the wreck and with them came their dogs and scenting the lion they set up a baying that was deafening, whereupon an old farmer became greatly excited and began to shout, "Defend the lion, defend the lion," but one of the old circus men spoke up in disgust, "Let him loose and he will defend himself." And so it has been the cry of many, "Defend the Bible, defend the Bible," but the Grand Old Book needs no defense, just let it loose and it will defend itself. They have preached its funeral ten thousand times but they have never gotten it buried, before they can get it into the grave it is up and out again carrying its message of hope, cheer and salvation to the uttermost parts of the earth. No, it is not to defend the Bible I come to you in this message, but I do come to stir up your minds by way of remembrance, to call your attention to some things you already know, and to remind you of "What a treasure we have in this wonderful Book ’Tis the word of the Lord to my soul, So secure that no critic can mine it away; While the years of eternity roll." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 91: 06.03. IT SPEAKS WITH AUTHORITY ======================================================================== 3. IT SPEAKS WITH AUTHORITY It is the only book that speaks with authority on where our earth came from, in Genesis 1:1 we read, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." It is the only book that speaks with authority on the origin of man, Genesis 2:7 says, "The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." No other book gives that information. The Bible is the only book that tells us what man is, without it we would not know which was man and which was monkey. Some people have not read their Bible and have not yet found out, but the Christian who has read this Book, is not worrying about his ancestors. He knows which is man and which is monkey. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 92: 06.04. IT IS AN INSPIRED BOOK ======================================================================== 4. IT IS AN INSPIRED BOOK "Holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." "All scripture is given by inspiration of God." The Bible is an inspired book. Dr. Adam Clarke said, "Good men could not have written the Bible if they would, and bad men would not have written it if they could." His argument was this, that again and again in the Bible there are claims to inspiration, and for good men to claim their writings were inspired when they were not would be lying, and good men do not lie, therefore good men could not have written it if they would. And the Bible speaks so plainly against sin that bad men would not have written it if they could, for bad men do not write thus plainly about themselves. Man is only the stenographer, the Bible is the word of God. The hand of God is seen in the fact that the writings of the Bible cover a period of fifteen hundred years, written by more than thirty-five different authors, in at least three languages, men from different walks of life, rich and poor, learned and unlearned. And yet when their writings are brought together they fit into one great volume of sixty-six books without a friction or a jar, and when we read it we find it is a love story, the story of God’s love for our poor wayward race. If I did not believe that God had written this book I would not want it around my home. More than twenty-seven hundred times you will find in the Bible a claim to inspiration, and if it be not the word of God, then there are more than twenty-seven hundred lies within its pages, and I would not want a book in my home fostering so many falsehoods. But these statements are not false, they are true. The Bible is God’s book, I do not believe it contains the word of God, I believe it is the Word of God. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 93: 06.05. GOD HAS WRITTEN A BOOK ======================================================================== 5. GOD HAS WRITTEN A BOOK When the great of earth turn aside to write, the world clamors for their books. If an angel should take up the role of authorship all the world would become interested in his writings, but the wonder of wonders is, God has written a book. He has builded many worlds, but has written just one book. He has created many suns and stars, but only once has He taken up His pen to write, but in this one book He has revealed Himself in a greater way, than in all His other works combined. The worlds He has builded seem to hide Him, the suns and stars He has created seem to veil His face, but when we come to the Bible we find God. And when we have found Himhere then we can see Him in everything else, and we cry out with Isaiah, "Holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory." As some one has so beautifully said, "The Bible is not a history, yet it gives the origin, progress and destiny of the human race. It is not a book of science, yet it contains a storehouse of knowledge on scientific subjects. It is not a book of botany, yet it gives us a beautiful picture of the Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the Valley. It is not a work on geology, yet speaks of the Rock of Ages. Not a treatise on philosophy or psychology, but filled with philosophical truth and tells the future state of the soul. Not on mathematics, yet it gives us a description of the most magnificent superstructure ever beheld, a city whose latitude, longitude and altitude have never been surpassed. Not on astronomy, yet it speaks of the sun and moon and tells of a day when the stars sang together. It is not a book of poetry yet contains the most beautiful verse that ever fell from the lips of man." A book so complete that nothing is passed over, no one is ignored and nothing is left out and from the little child to the aged parent, from the ignorant Hottentot to the learned professor, all may come and find in this Grand Old Book help for their every need. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 94: 06.06. GREAT MEN HAVE APPRECIATED IT ======================================================================== 6. GREAT MEN HAVE APPRECIATED IT The Bible is an appreciated book. Daniel Webster after reading the Sermon on the Mount rose pale and trembling and laying the Bible reverently on the table said, "Those are the words of more than mortal man." At another time he said, "If there is anything in my writings that commend themselves I attribute it to my mother who taught me to love the scriptures." Milton said, "There are no songs to be compared with the songs of Zion and no orations like those of the prophets." Isaac Newton said, "We account the scriptures of God to be the most divine philosophy. I find surer marks of authenticity in the Bible than in any profane history in the world." While Herschel, the great astronomer, said, "All human discoveries seem to be made only for the purpose of confirming more and more strongly the truths contained in the Holy Scriptures. To John Adams it was, "The best book in the world." And it was William Jennings Bryan who said, "I know of no theory that has ever been suggested as a substitute for the Bible that was as rational and as easy to believe. To the young man who is building character I present the Bible as a book that is useful always and everywhere. It guides the footsteps of the young, it throws light on the pathway during mature years, and it is the only book that one cares to have beside him when the darkness gathers and he knows that the end is near. Then he finds comfort in the Book of Books." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 95: 06.07. GOOD MEN HAVE LOVED IT ======================================================================== 7. GOOD MEN HAVE LOVED IT Great men have appreciated this book and good men have loved it. When Martin Luther turned from Pilate’s stairway, which he had been climbing on his knees to appease the wrath ofGod, and made his way back to the University of Wittenburg, it was not to study the origin of the species or the science of astronomy, but it was to study the chained Bible, convinced in his heart that, "The just shall live by faith." It was the reading of this book that fired the hearts of John and Charles Wesley and through its teachings God raised them up and thrust them out to spread scriptural holiness over the earth. From its pages the good man Bunyan found his inspiration for the immortal dream, "The Pilgrim’s Progress." Fired by its doctrines David Brainerd braved the hardships of the North American wilderness and entered the savage camps of the red men that he might carry to them its message of hope and cheer. It is the book that old Bishop Asbury loved, read and carried in his saddle bags as he traveled the thousands of miles on horse back in the early days of our country. Good men have loved it in the past, and good men love it today. Old Dr. L. W. Munhall, when eighty-four years of age, held up the Bible before an audience of several thousand people and as the tears trickled down his old face said, "Thou precious word of God, I love thee with every drop of blood in my veins; I esteem thee more than my necessary food. Thou art sweeter to me than the drippings of the honeycomb. Thou art honey out of the rock, the finest of the wheat. Were there one drop of blood in my veins that did not love thee I would let it out before I rest this night." Oh, I repeat it again, great men have appreciated this book and good men have loved it. You never saw a good man who did not love the Bible, and the man in olden times who gave a load of hay for a few pages of this book got the top price for his stock-food. No book is loved like the Bible. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 96: 06.08. IT IS A HATED BOOK ======================================================================== 8. IT IS A HATED BOOK While it is a fact that no book is loved like the Bible, it is also a fact that it is the most hated book in the world. There are people today who will almost gnash upon you with their teeth if you mention it to them, they have thrust it out of their home, out of their life and out of their conversation, they will have nothing to do with it, and do not want to hear anything about it. There is a reason why this book is so terribly hated. The Bible is a photographer, it takes man’s picture but does no retouching. No one would have his picture if it wasn’t retouched. I went into one of the largest studios in America and asked for a picture to be made as quickly as possible. I was told to return at a certain time. When I came back they handed me the picture, but I did not like it; it was terribly like me, every line on my face stood out boldly. I said, "Lady, what is the matter with this picture? I don’t want a thing like that.’: She replied, "You wanted it in a hurry and we have not had time to retouch it." I left the picture, to be gone over. When we go to a photographer we want him to leave out the lines, remove the freckles, smooth out the wrinkles and camouflage all the scars, and when he presents it to us in that way, we say, "That is fine, it looks natural, I’ll take a dozen." But we know it does not, if it did we would not want them. That is the reason the slogan of every photographer is, "Where there is beauty we take it, where there isn’t we make it." The Bible does no retouching, when it takes man’s picture it is real, and if there is a blur, a blot, a scar or wrinkle it shows it, and man doesn’t like a picture like that. The Bible takes man’s picture and reveals, "The whole head is sick, the whole heart is faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores: They have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment." Men don’t want a picture like that. In Jeremiah it makes an X-ray of the heart and reveals, "That it is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked." The Bible is a biographer, it writes man’s history, but without an apology. It is not an outline, it is complete. In Mr. Wells’ book you will find what he calls an outline of history, but in this book you will find an outline of Mr. Wells. When the Bible writes man’s history where does it begin? Not with atoms, and plasm, not with worms and fish, monkeys and anthropoid apes. It does not begin with the cabin home in the clearing with the old fashioned woman for a mother and the old pioneer for a father. It does not begin with the little log schoolhouse and the blue back speller. Here is where the Bible begins, "Behold they were shapen in iniquity and in sin did their mother conceive them, they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies, they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: Their feet are swift to shed blood: Destruction and misery are in their ways: There is no fear of God before their eyes and the ways of peace have they not known, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Men hate this book because it tells them what they are. It never flatters, it never apologizes, it never praises man for his natural endowments and it often derides his wisdom. Even when he has climbed to the top-most bough of the tree of knowledge and there sways to the applause of the multitude, the old book seems to look up and say, "The wisdom of man is foolishness with God." It even hints that the creatures of God are capable of teaching man lessons, thus we hear him say, "Go to the ant thou sluggard," and again, "Ask the beast and he shall teach thee, the fowls of the air and they shall tell thee, the fishes of the sea and they shall declare unto thee," and with a bit of sarcasm it adds, "Yea, who knoweth not such things as these?" Men do not hate the Bible because it is unsafe, for its influence has never been bad, its doctrines have never endangered a community and it was never known to promote vice, but they hate it because it shows up the real character of the unregenerate. A man once said to an infidel, "Why don’t you let the Bible alone? When you don’t like an editor you will not read hiseditorials, when you don’t like a book you won’t purchase it, if you don’t like the Bible, why don’t you let it alone?" and the infidel was honest enough to answer, "Because it won’t let me alone." There is the secret, there is the reason the wicked world will not let the Bible alone, because it won’t let them alone. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 97: 06.09. IT IS AN INDESTRUCTIBLE BOOK ======================================================================== 9. IT IS AN INDESTRUCTIBLE BOOK Men not only hate this book but they have tried for centuries to destroy it. They have tried to dispose of it by tearing it up. And they have lifted words out of the sentence, lines out of the verses, verses out of the chapter, chapters out of the book and books out of the Bible. They have ripped it and torn it, hacked it, mutilated and chopped it to pieces, and with what result? Do you remember the stories we used to hear when we were children, of the joint snake, which you might find and break into as many pieces as you liked and before the sun went down every joint would crawl back to its place and the snake would crawl away alive? I cannot vouch for the joint snake, I have never seen one, and I have never seen anyone that had seen one, but oh! I can tell you about the Bible. No matter how they may tear it and cut it, no matter how they may mutilate and abuse it, before the sun goes down every word is back in the sentence, the sentence is back in the verse, every verse is back in the chapter, every chapter is back in the book and every book is back in the Bible and in spite of the skeptics and destructive critics of the world we have a whole Bible carrying its message of hope and salvation to the uttermost part of the earth. It is an indestructible book. You have heard the story of the man who seeing a great many worn and broken hammers around the blacksmith’s door said, "How many anvils have you used To wear these hammers so? Only one, said the blacksmith, For the anvil wears the hammers out you know." So we say with the poet of the old Presbyterian hymn book, "Hammer away ye hostile bands, Your hammers break, God’s anvil stands." Men have endeavored to turn attention from the Bible by writing a better book. I know a man now who spends hours alone in his private study, where he says he is writing a better book than the Bible. Years ago a man said, "Within an hundred years the Bible will be a back number." But before the century had passed away his books had become back numbers and the very printing establishment that had published his book, was publishing Bibles. Bob Ingersol at a cost of $17, 000. 00 wrote and published a work on the mistakes of Moses, but people have ceased to read it and publishers have ceased to print it and you can buy his writings today for a song, while the Bible which contains an account of the mistakes of Bob Ingersol is in greater demand than ever before in the history of the world. "Dying men write dying books, men die and so do their books, but the living God has written a living book, God is not dead, neither is His book." Men have thought to destroy the Bible by burning it. But the task would be too great. Some one has called attention to the fact that to burn all the Bibles a man would have to be a world traveler, he would have to go among the head hunters of Africa and the cannibals of the South Sea islands, he would have to make his way far into the interior where the foot of white man never trod, for there are Bibles there, brought from some mission station by a half naked savage, and they often find them worshipping the book, though they know not the God of the Book. He would also have to be worth many millions of dollars, for there are millions of Bibles in the world, and at the least they would cost him on an average of no less than a dollar apiece, and I know some dear old people who do not own a foot of land, not a home in which to live, and who exist on the plainest fare, and yet they have an old three dollar Bible which they would not sell for the wealth of the world if they thought it was wanted to burn. There are some Bibles, thank God, that are not for sale. But if he gathered them all and built his fire, would the Bible be destroyed? No, he would have to gather all the books, newspapers and magazines containing quotations from the Word of God, and that would destroy ninety per cent of the world’s great libraries. He would then have to go to the world’s great art galleries and destroy the great paintings and hunt up the reproductions scattered over the earth. Would that destroy the Bible? No! He would have to go to the cemeteries and remove the inscriptions from the majority of tombstones in civilization. Would it then be gone? No! Before you destroy this Bible you will have to break the arm of every Christian that is able to write and clip the tongue of every saint that is able to talk, and by that time some old sinner would become so indignant that he would get him a pen and try to write a new Bible from the Scriptures his mother taught him when a child. It is an indestructible book. But there is a better reason for our knowing that it is indestructible. Jesus said, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away." When He made that statement, humanly speaking He was a Galilean peasant, He stood on a hillside in Judea, Greece had just passed through the twilight of her golden age, Rome was towering on the other hand as mighty in war as Greece had ever been in art, at his feet lay Jerusalem with her mighty temple which was forty and six years in building, Jesus virtually said, all these shall pass away but my word shall not pass away. He made that statement when speeches were neither printed nor reported, nineteen hundred years have rolled away, and what has been the result? Where is Greece with her art? Gone! Where is Rome with her seven hills? Gone! Where is Jerusalem with her great temple? Struggling to rise again to fulfill another prophecy. While the Word of God is being sought after in greater quantities today than ever before. It is an indestructible book. Don’t worry about their taking away our Bible for every day the task becomes greater. It has not been off the press for more than four hundred and sixty years, they are printing more than ten thousand copies every hour, one million copies were recently shipped to Japan alone andthere are more than thirty million copies of the Bible or portions of it sold every year and the printing presses are straining their bolts day and night to supply the great demand for the Word of God. And those who laugh at it and try to destroy it, would no doubt be delighted if they could produce as good a seller. It is the best book in the world and the best seller among the books of earth. Book of our fathers, living still, In spite of critic’s knife and sword; O how our hearts beat high with joy When e’er we read His glorious Word. Book of our fathers Holy Book, We will be true to thee till death. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 98: 06.10. IT IS A MERCIFUL BOOK ======================================================================== 10. IT IS A MERCIFUL BOOK The Bible contains the foundation of all law, yet it is a book of mercy. After telling man his "heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked," it says, "A new heart also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh." David heard this message, submitted to the operation and as soon as he came out from under the anesthetic we hear him shout, "My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed." It writes man’s history, but says to him if you don’t like it, "If any man be in Christ he is a new creature." Thank God we can get rid of the old life and the old biography and have a new one in Christ Jesus. The Bible assures man he is lost, then tells him that the "Son of man has come to seek and to save that which was lost." It is a merciful book, and after showing up man with his sin, writing his biography and taking his picture, in spite of his hatred for the Word of God and all he has done to destroy it, it comes in mercy with the message, "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 99: 06.11. IT IS A STAFF TO THE LIVING ======================================================================== 11. IT IS A STAFF TO THE LIVING A young man once entered an office to apply for a position and was asked for a recommendation. He opened his suitcase and began looking for one which he had brought along, and in doing so revealed his Bible, whereupon the man said, "What is that book you have there?" "A Bible," said the young man. "Do you intend to read it and live by it?" "I do, sir." "That is recommendation enough," said the employer, "the job is yours." In youth, in middle life and old age, it offers true and tried counsel for every perplexing problem. It is a refuge in the days of empty chairs and broken hearts. It is a tonic in the darkhours of doubt and difficulties. It is food in the time of poverty and depression. A light when everything else is dark and a friend when forsaken by loved ones and misunderstood by friends and acquaintances. How oft have I heard my old mother sing, "’Tis a lamp in the wilderness of sorrow, ’Tis a light on the weary pilgrim’s way; Leading up from earth to eternal glory, Shining more and more unto that perfect day. O the Bible, my precious Bible, Gift of God, the lamp of life, my beautiful Bible. I will cling to the dear and Holy Bible. As I hasten to the city of our God." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 100: 06.12. IT IS A PROFOUND BOOK ======================================================================== 12. IT IS A PROFOUND BOOK It is a profound book, so profound that the learned have studied it for years without exhausting it, and yet so simple that the little child can enjoy it and the poor and uneducated can find rest and comfort in its pages. My father was a southern soldier in the Civil War. He was young when the war broke out and was deprived of an education, only attending one term of school in his life. I never saw him try to read a book or a magazine, but how often in the summer afternoons have I seen him take the old large print Bible, and picking up the old round post chair with the hickory bark bottom, he would make his way out under the shade of the big oak tree and following the lines with his finger like a little boy in his first reader, he would slowly spell out the words of the Book of God until he found help and comfort for his old heart. Never a day passed in our home but what my mother turned to this book for help, for strength and for guidance, and never a letter came to me when I was a godless boy away from home but what contained kind and helpful counsel gathered from the pages of the Word of God. "There’s a dear and precious book, Though it’s worn and faded now, That recalls the happy days of long ago, When I sat at mother’s knee With her hand upon my brow, And I heard her voice in gentle tones and low. Blessed Book, precious Book On thy dear old tear stained leaves I love to look. Thou art sweeter day by day, As I walk the narrow way, That leads at last to that bright home above." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 101: 06.13. IT IS A COMFORT TO THE DYING ======================================================================== 13. IT IS A COMFORT TO THE DYING It is said that when Sir Walter Scott lay dying he said to the attendant, "Bring me the Book." "What Book?" asked the attendant. "There is only one Book," said the dying man, "and that is the Bible." Nowhere else can we find such comfort when the mists are gathering round our bed. There is no comfort in infidelity. I call the infidel to my dying bedside and say, "I’m dying, give me something on which I can pillow my head, give me oars to steer my boat, give me something to lean on as I pass over the tide." And the world’s greatest infidel leans over my dying cot and says, "Life is a narrow veil betwixt the cold barren peaks of two eternities, we strive in vain to reach the heights, we cry aloud and the only answer is the echo of our own dying voice." Oh, there is no comfort in that, there is nothing there on which I can lean. Bring me the Bible and let me read, "Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." Let me place my ear to this old book and hear the immortal question of Job as it comes ringing down through the ages, "If a man die shall he live again?" Let me listen as the answer comes ringing back from the lips of the Son of God, "Yes! for the day shall come when the dead shall hear his voice and they that sleep in the grave shall come forth." Oh, there is comfort in that, such comfort that I am willing to stake my life on it while living and pillow my head upon it when I breathe my last. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 102: 06.14. THE BOOK OF BOOKS ======================================================================== 14. THE BOOK OF BOOKS The Bible is the "only" book, it is "The Book of Books." Nowhere else can we find what we are, where we came from and whither we are bound. It is the only book that tells of a salvation from sin and the Christ who made it possible. It is the only book that pushes civilization before it wherever it goes, and it is the only book that decay will follow its removal. If you build a school, a church or a home and want it to stand, build it on this Grand Old Book. Come and build you a home on this Rock, the Bible, It is safe you can there abide, Though the tempest may howl, not a wave can reach you, In its cleft you can safely hide. Here is shelter from the cold, from the storm and tempest, And there’s manna for the soul every day. I am building my home on this Rock, the Bible, I am building my home to stay. Dr. Baldwin of Troy, New York, in closing his pastorate of forty-one years, said, "I can testify that at thirty, after examining the religions and philosophies of the world, I said, "There is nothing better than the Bible." At forty when burdens began to press heavily and years seemed to hasten, I said, "Nothing is as good as the Bible."At fifty when there were empty chairs in my home and the mound builders had done me service, I said, "There is nothing to be compared with the Bible." At sixty when my second sight saw through the illusions and vanities of earthly things, I said, "There is nothing but the Bible." And now at seventy amid the many limitations and deprivations of declining years I can sing, "Should all the forms which men devise, Attack my faith with treacherous dart, I’d call them vanity and lies, And bind the Bible to my heart." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 103: 06.15. I LOVE MY BIBLE ======================================================================== 15. I LOVE MY BIBLE I don’t know how others feel about it, but I love my Bible. Mother read to me from its sacred page, before I learned the letters of the alphabet. For sixty-one years it furnished the foundation for the home wherein I was born, and when I looked into the face of my dying mother for the last time, she placed her frail old arms about my neck and with a faith based upon the teaching of this Grand Old Book said, "Good-by, son, I’ll meet you in that better land where there’ll be no more sad partings." Years ago I turned from my wicked life and anchoring my faith in the promises of this book, I accepted Christ as my Savior. For seventeen years I have been trying to walk in its light, listen to its voice and order my life according to its teaching. I am not tired of it yet, but expect to read it while my sight will permit, and if my vision fails I pray God will strengthen my hearing that I may listen while it is read to me. I want a copy placed under my pillow when I lie on my last bed of illness, I want someone to read to me from its blessed pages while I breathe my last, I want its promises quoted at my funeral, and you may call it what you please, but I hope someone will slip a copy of this Grand Old Book in my casket before they lower it into the grave, and I want every devil in hell, every infidel and skeptic on the earth and every demon in the universe to know that the body of this preacher is lying full length on the everlasting, unchangeable promises of the Word of God. I want to serve notice on every greedy germ, and every hungry worm and microbe that if they ever destroy this body they will have first to crawl over the declaration of Job, "I know that my redeemer liveth and that he shall stand in the latter day upon the earth, and though the skin worms devour this body yet in my flesh shall I see God and my eyes shall behold for myself and not another." And I want to notify corruption that if it ever devours the body of this preacher it will have to do it in the clear light and knowledge of those scriptures which say, "That which was sown in weakness shall be raised in power, and that which was sown in dishonor shall be raised in glory and this natural body shall become a spiritual body, this mortal shall put on immortality and this corruption shall put on incorruption." In the day of the resurrection I expect to come forth from among the living or out from among the dead riding upon the promise of the Grand Old Book, "The dead in Christ shall risefirst and we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord." "What a treasure we have in this wonderful Book, ’Tis the Word of the Lord to our soul, So secure that no critic can mine it away, While the years of eternity roll." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 104: 07.00. THE STORY OF TWO PRODIGALS ======================================================================== THE STORY OF TWO PRODIGALS By Jarrette E. Aycock A True Story In this work, Aycock compares the Bible story of the Prodigal Son with a modern day parallel. ---> Contents <--- PART I. A BIBLE PRODIGAL A. The Far Country B. The Wrong Crowd C. In Want D. He Comes To Himself E. Going Home F. The Welcome PART II. A MODERN PRODIGAL 1. His First Bad Habits 2. Away To School 3. Breaking The Rules 4. Leaving School 5. Back Home 6. In School Again 7. Back To The Wall 8. On The Road 9. Christmas 10. The Blizzard 11. A Kind Operator 12. New Year 13. A Real Mother 14. Thinking Back 15. The River Road 16. A Boy And His Dog 17. Home Again 18. The Old Kitchen 19. Looking For Trouble 20. The Pig In The Parlor 21. Nearly Killed 22. A Sister Comes Home 23. Keeping A Promise 24. A Song In The Night 25. The Elder Brother 26. Leaving Home 27. The End Of The Trail 28. The Testimony Meeting 29. The Invitation 30. Will He Stick? 31. Back To School 32. Enters Evangelistic Work By The Author of: The Nightingale of the Psalms The Crimson Stream The Grand Old Book Win Them Second Edition [15th Thousand] Copyright 1930. Jarrette E. Aycock Printed in U. S. A. Nazarene Publishing House 2923 Troost Ave. Kansas City, Missouri ======================================================================== CHAPTER 105: 07.01. A BIBLICAL PRODIGAL ======================================================================== PART I. A BIBLE PRODIGAL A. The Far Country B. The Wrong Crowd C. In Want D. He Comes To Himself E. Going Home F. The Welcome PART I. A BIBLE PRODIGAL This is not a sermon, but a story of two young men, one ancient, the other modern. One lived at the time of Christ, the other in our own day, and though separated by nearly two thousand years of time, they had many things in common, and sin proved to be the downfall of both. The first prodigal was a young man whose story we have from the lips of Jesus of Nazareth, published in Luke 15:1-32. Luke 15:11-24 And he said, A certain man had two sons: And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. nd he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:nd bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry:For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry. I have never looked upon this young man as being the type that many have pictured him, i. e., a lying, drinking, gambling boy disgracing his father and breaking the heart of his mother. His father was rich, and there was no law to force him to give away the half of his fortune, and any father who had sense enough to make a fortune would have known before he gave it, just what would become of it. I believe in the beginning the prodigal was a worthy and an ambitious young man, that his prospects were bright and when he came to his father and asked for his portion, his father gave it to him with a proud heart feeling that he would properly handle it and make a name for himself in this new country where the future seemed so promising. When his portion of his fathr’s estate was given him, he bade a fond farewell to his parents and brother and took his journey into a far country, determined to make good at any cost, and come back to his father’s house with a greater fortune and better name than when he left. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 106: 07.01.01.A. THE FAR COUNTRY ======================================================================== A. THE FAR COUNTRY We do not know how many miles this country was from his boyhood home, or how long it may have taken him to make the journey. Possibly only a few miles, and the journey was made quickly; and then it may have been many miles requiring weeks to get there. We do not know what bounded it on the north, south, east, or west; we only know that it was a far country. So far that no word ever came to cheer the father’s and mother’s heart, and between them there was a great gulf over which no communication ever passed. Some people have the idea that to be a prodigal, one must run away and spend many years from home, but that is not necessary. There are many prodigals today who were never a fortnight away from home, who have missed few meals at their father’s table, yet they have taken this journey into the far country and between their souls and their parents there is a gulf fixed over which no communication ever passes. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 107: 07.01.01.B THE WRONG CROWD ======================================================================== B. THE WRONG CROWD When the prodigal son reached his destination, his social nature craved companionship, and in seeking it he fell in with the wrong crowd. Oh, the young men who have been wrecked in just this way! When you run with a crowd you must keep up with it, and in doing so this boy wasted his substance in riotous living. All some people can see in this statement is the money he carried away from home, but that was the least of what he had. When he left his home he was an ambitious young man, but he wasted his ambition in riotous living. He was honest, sober and chaste, but these good qualities were wasted. He was no doubt a strong young man physically and his physical strength went also. And last and least, he had the half of a father’s fortune, but it was wasted in riotous living. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 108: 07.01.01.C. IN WANT ======================================================================== C. IN WANT No wonder when these things were wasted that "he began to be in want." When one loses those God given virtues or characteristics which go to make real manhood, he may possess the whole of a father’s fortune and yet have a lack and a "want" in his soul that "no man" can supply. Dropped by the crowd, which always occurs when one is down, he hires to a farmer to feed swine, and thus to meet his physical needs, but the wages were so small that "he would fain have filled himself with the husks that the swine did eat and no man gave unto him." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 109: 07.01.01.D. HE COMES TO HIMSELF ======================================================================== D. HE COMES TO HIMSELF It must have been some Jewish feast day, or holiday that turned his thoughts back to his old home. There is no day in our time that will arouse and stir a young man’s heart like Thanksgiving or Christmas. As he watched the swine eating their food, he thought, here I am the son of a good father, who has comfortable quarters and plenty of food for his servants, and this old farmer feeds his hogs better than he does me. I am perishing with hunger. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 110: 07.01.01.E. GOING HOME ======================================================================== E. GOING HOME I am going home, I will tell father I am sorry, that I am not asking him to take me back as a son, but to give me a job as a servant. Anything at home is better than what I get here. That was a good resolution, a good start, and many have gone that far and stopped, and it did them no good, but this young man did not stop with making resolutions. "He arose and came to his father." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 111: 07.01.01.F. THE WELCOME ======================================================================== F. THE WELCOME "When he was yet a great way off his father saw him." He must have been watching for him. I know our Heavenly Father is always watching for the home coming of his wandering children. When the old father recognized him he ran to meet him, embraced him and kissed him, and when the boy started to make his confession, the old father interrupted him by ordering the servants to bring the "best robe and put it on him, put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet, and bring hither the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and be merry, for this my son was dead and is alive, he was lost and is found, and they began to be merry." Such a welcome, and yet no greater than our Heavenly Father gives those who return to him. "Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God and he will abundantly pardon." Thus ends the story of the prodigal son, or our conception of it, as given in the New Testament. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 112: 07.02.00. A MODERN PRODIGAL ======================================================================== PART II. A MODERN PRODIGAL 1. His First Bad Habits 2. Away To School 3. Breaking The Rules 4. Leaving School 5. Back Home 6. In School Again 7. Back To The Wall 8. On The Road 9. Christmas 10. The Blizzard 11. A Kind Operator 12. New Year 13. A Real Mother 14. Thinking Back 15. The River Road 16. A Boy And His Dog 17. Home Again 18. The Old Kitchen 19. Looking For Trouble 20. The Pig In The Parlor 21. Nearly Killed 22. A Sister Comes Home 23. Keeping A Promise 24. A Song In The Night 25. The Elder Brother 26. Leaving Home 27. The End Of The Trail 28. The Testimony Meeting 29. The Invitation 30. Will He Stick? 31. Back To School 32. Enters Evangelistic Work PART II. A MODERN PRODIGAL The second prodigal is the story of a young man of our own day. This also is a true story. We do not know the name of the ancient Prodigal, the record does not say, but the name of the modern prodigal whose story we wish to give you, was Todd. This was a pet name his mother gave him when a child, and sometimes when she wished to speak to him in a more loving way, she called him Possum-Todd. Todd was born on a farm in a Southern State. He was the youngest of eight children, and the one next to him was nine years his senior. There was nothing eventful in his child life to make him different from other children, and he was greatly loved by those brothers and sisters who were yet at home. Todd’s home, though poor and located seventy-five miles from the railroad, was, nevertheless, a Christian home. a place where prayer was wont to be made and where the family Bible held preeminence over the newspaper and the mail-order catalog. One of the first things Todd learned at his mother’s knee was the story of Jesus, the babe born in a manger; the little boy who was lost; the young man from Nazareth who was so unappreciated and misunderstood; the wonderful life that he lived, the death that he died, his resurrection and ascension into heaven fromwhence he would some day return to gather those who had lived for him to be forever his own. These truths were so implanted in his boyish heart and mind, that skepticism was never able to uproot them. When he was five years of age his father sold out the old homestead and moved west to the Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). The country was new, advantages few and the ways of men were wild and rough. It was on this trip, made in the old farm wagon pulled by two horses, that Todd saw his first train. After more than three weary weeks of travel (a trip which can now be made by auto in one day) the journey was ended and the family settled in a small two room log cabin. The country was mostly an open range, the farms were small and far between, the neighbors few and opportunities for schooling pitifully meager. He had but few toys but as soon as he was old enough he was given a horse and saddle, a dog and a gun. Small game was plentiful and he had a good time riding and hunting. One day when Todd had ridden his pony, a two year old colt, down to the country store and post office a mile from his home, a man gave him a beautiful black dog. He was very proud of it, so he took one of his bridle reins, tied it around the dog’s neck, and tied the other end of the rein to his saddle horn. He turned his pony loose for a moment and it started to walk away; the dog pulled back which frightened the pony and away it ran toward home dragging the dog. Todd followed as fast as he could. When the pony had run about half way home the rein broke releasing the dog but when Todd reached him he was dead. He hurried on home and found his pony safe, but his beautiful dog was gone. When he was six years of age he started to school in a small one room log school house which bore the high sounding name of "Red Mud," christened such bemuse the cracks were daubed with red clay. An opening was sawed in either side of the building for windows with wooden shutters and leather hinges. The seats were made of the plainest boards and some were without backs. His first school book was the old blue back speller like the one his parents had used more than forty years before. School lasted only three months, each student paying one dollar per month for its support. Todd’s brothers and sisters were in many ways model young men and women, having no bad habits, never swearing, drinking or using tobacco in any way. They were always obedient to their parents, but Todd was different. Whether the difference was due to the fact that being the youngest he was indulged more than the others, will never be known. At any rate he seemed born with a wild and reckless nature, and while from his earliest recollection he was ambitious, and really wanted to make his mark in the world, this pull in the wrong direction throttled his ambitions and caused him to make a long, black, crooked mark instead. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 113: 07.02.01. HIS FIRST BAD HABITS ======================================================================== 1. HIS FIRST BAD HABITS At the age of nine he began to slip out with the boys during recess at school, to smoke cigarettes. Little did he dream when he started this habit that the time would come when it would sap his vitality, dwarf his mind, help to poison his tongue, ruin his dreams for the future, andbecome a staff on which his broken body would lean. He did not know that it would hinder him in health, happiness and education, and that his body would one day so cry out for nicotine that he would spend his last penny for cigarettes and go hungry rather than deny the craving appetite. He did not know that it was the first in a series of steps that would push him from home, from school, and from friends and send him staggering helpless and friendless down the path of time. Todd had one characteristic, which, had it been directed in the right channel would have been a blessing but which proved to be a curse. Whatever he did, he did with all his might. When he started a thing he would "go its length." He never said, "Go on," but "Come on." In forming habits this characteristic was manifested and it was not long after beginning to smoke cigarettes until he was chewing tobacco, smoking a pipe and using snuff. The time finally came in his life when he used seven and eight sacks of tobacco a week, smoking almost constantly. It was the last thing at night and the first thing in the morning. By the time he had reached his teens it had already begun to tell on his life. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 114: 07.02.02. AWAY TO SCHOOL ======================================================================== 2. AWAY TO SCHOOL When he was about fourteen years of age his mother began to take a religious paper, in which was carried each week an announcement of a religious school in another state. As the mother read and talked to him about the school Todd’s ambitions to make something of himself were aroused and he began to beg his father to let him go away to school. His mother interceded for him and though his father was poor, with the assistance of one of Todd’s brothers, when the school opened in September Todd was there ready to enter and with a determination to make good at any cost. It was against the rules of this school to use tobacco and having promised his mother he would quit smoking and obey the rules, before he reached his destination he threw away his cigarettes with no thought of ever taking them up again. Naturally the first thing a young man would do in a strange place would be to look around for companionship, but instead of the Christian young men of that school coming forward and giving him a cordial reception and welcoming him into their ranks, they waited to see what kind of boy he was and where he would land;. a mistake too often made by Christian people, which has meant the ruination of souls. The worldly crowd, however, did differently. They met him smiling and with hearty hand shakes saying, "Come on, Todd, we’ll show you a good time, and not let you get homesick." And being hungry for companionship, he accepted their advances and in a few days was established in their graces and counted "one of the bunch." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 115: 07.02.03. BREAKING THE RULES ======================================================================== 3. BREAKING THE RULES Todd was only fourteen years of age and the three young men with whom he associated most were nearly twenty. When he was seen with these boys, he was not warned but classified. Allwent well for a time, but one afternoon as they strolled down the railroad right-of-way which ran through the little town, one of the young men started to smoke. Todd was astonished and spoke to him about it, whereupon he said, "Oh, that’s nothing, lots of them do it; you can get by. They will never catch you; take one." All these days he had been fighting the desire for a cigarette and now being assured that there was no danger he yielded and took his first step toward breaking the rules of the school and the promise he had made to his mother. It is never hard to take the second step and from that afternoon he became a rebel to the school government. Bad habits can be acquired anywhere. No place in this world is immune from the devil’s crowd. Sometimes parents send their children to Christian schools with the hope of reforming them. Often this happens, but how many times instead of being reformed the boys and girls are associated with other young people who teach them vices that drag them down. When Todd entered that school he had never sworn an oath in his life, but while there he learned to scorch his lips with vile and awful oaths. Before leaving his home he had never seen a playing card, but one day stepping into the room of one of his friends he found them playing poker and making a place for him, they taught him the game. He had never been to a picture show, or a pool hall but they taught him to slip out nights and go to both. Getting a taste, he became bolder in transgressing the rules until finally after several reprimands by the faculty his three companions were expelled from school and he was given a large number of demerits, the faculty being lenient with him because of his age. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 116: 07.02.04. LEAVING SCHOOL ======================================================================== 4. LEAVING SCHOOL Angered and ashamed, when the announcement of his friends’ expulsion was made at chapel, he packed his grip and started for home. As he passed down the hall of the Administration building, the president of the school met him and said, "Todd, are you leaving us?" "Todd, what do you hope to ever make of yourself doing this way?" and he answered, "I don’t know." "Well, good-bye, Todd," said the president, "I’m sorry to see you leave this way; you can make a man of yourself if you want to." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 117: 07.02.05. BACK HOME ======================================================================== 5. BACK HOME Todd returned home to a disappointed father and mother, and their disappointment was increased when they found that new and worse habits had fastened upon his life. He had passed during those few months from boyhood to young manhood, and now began to run with the young men of the community some of whom drank heavily. Being a boy whom most of them liked they would often give him whiskey and this too began to tell upon his life. He entered the public school at home, for Indian Territory had now become the State of Oklahoma and schools were better, but he did not get along with the teacher and soon gave that up. The months went by and most of his time was spent in association with those whose company was a menace rather than a blessing to him. This does not mean that all his friends were bad for they were not. He had boyhood chumswho came from noble families and who were model young men and had he chosen them, results would have been different; but he had a way of running with both crowds, and too often the rowdies were given the preference. Every little while his old self, his real self, would rise up and cry out against these things and long to be a real man, and one summer evening as he sat with his parents out in the yard in front of the little log house, he said, "I see now where I missed it in the other school. I got in with the wrong crowd, and some of my friends here are of the wrong kind; I just can’t make good in this environment, but if I could get into another school I would make good." Immediately their old hearts leaped with joy and confidence, and like all good parents they were ready to try anything if it would only help their boy make good, but when it was mentioned to the brother who had helped him to enter school before, he said, "No; he won’t do right and I’ll not help him any more." But another brother, nine years Todd’s senior, was consulted and he said, "Yes, I’ll help." So his father sold a horse and with the help of this brother, Todd was fitted out with new clothes, a nice trunk and with a hundred dollars in money he again started out. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 118: 07.02.06. IN SCHOOL AGAIN ======================================================================== 6. IN SCHOOL AGAIN When he boarded the train and started away it was with the full intention of doing what was right, and as the train rolled across the new state now fast becoming dotted with farms and ranches Todd resolved to come back home with education, money and honor. He said, "I’ll show my brother who thinks I won’t make good where he is wrong, and there will come a day when he will be proud of me; I will take my old parents out of the old log house and put them in a home where they will not have to work and my mother will not have to drag the heavy cotton sack clown the row and go like a hired hand to the field of corn." That was a good resolution, but he made the mistake that thousands have made. he left God out. When he entered the new school he found the same crowd he had known in the first one. Of course they had different names and different faces, but they represented the same forces. the powers of hell. and before he realized it, he had forgotten his resolutions and promises and was drifting from bad to worse. Here he spent much of his after-school-time in the pool hall, and in this way became acquainted with some of the toughs of the town. While he did not sell whiskey, he often accompanied them to the place where they kept it hidden; they liked him and often gave it to him to drink, and sometimes had him deliver it for them. More than once he made his way to his room staggering under the influence of strong drink. One morning, after such a night, when he entered the school for the opening exercises his name was called and he was publicly suspended, and asked to leave the building at once. Angry and chagrined he walked out in disgrace and as soon as he could left town going to a school in another state. And it was about this time that the last brother who had assisted him wrote home, saying, "I am through with him, I am convinced he will never amount to anything." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 119: 07.02.07. BACK TO THE WALL ======================================================================== 7. BACK TO THE WALL "This time," said he, "I’ll show them." He arrived in town on Saturday, secured a place to board and room and being lonesome as he strolled down the street he entered a pool hall to pass the time. My dear young reader, let me urge you right here that if you are ever alone in a town or city, never go to the pool hall to find company for they are, generally speaking, patronized by the most shiftless "bunch" on earth. Again he was with the wrong crowd and spent that first Saturday night and all day Sunday drinking and playing cards. just a boy in his teens, but drifting, drifting downward. Monday morning he entered school but his interest had been destroyed before he began. He had developed some skill at pool and there was a place where he could play without paying; therefore, he spent more time in the pool room than he did in the class room. Of course this could only bring trouble, his money was now gone and he was having to wash dishes in a restaurant for his board; his brothers had dropped him, his father could not write and his mother was the only one he ever heard from and she was broken hearted and this left him discouraged and fighting with his back to the wall. So when a chance opened for him to become night cook in the restaurant he gave up the fight, quit school, stopped writing home, and gave himself over to the current of the stream down which he was drifting. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 120: 07.02.08. ON THE ROAD ======================================================================== 8. ON THE ROAD After working at his job for a few weeks and spending his money as fast as he made it in riotous living, he made his way one night down to the railroad to bum his way out of town. He had sold and expressed home all his belongings but the clothing he had on and with seven dollars in money, he waited at the water tank for a train to pass through. "Stepped up to the brakeman And put up a line of talk. He said if you have the money, sir, I’ll take you to New York. I have no money or ticket, Pity me, I’m poor; Get out of there! the brakeman said, And locked the box car door. "All around the water tank, Waiting there for trains, Tired and hungry I lay down, Talk! ’twas all in vain. Thinking of those good old days, Wish I was home again, But I’m a thousand miles from home, Beating an old freight train." About midnight a red-ball freight came through and stopped to take on water and he climbed aboard, little dreaming that this was just another spurt on a career of suffering and sin and that box cars would be his means of conveyance over many, many weary miles. When he finally left this train it was in a city and a state where they had the open saloon. He had never seen one in his life, but passing the open door of one and seeing no one inside but the bartender, he entered, placed his dollar on the bar and called for his first glass of beer, and although the sign on the door said "no minors allowed," it was served without comment. That was the first time. Oh! that it had been the last time, but it was repeated again and again, until the day came when he would ask men for money to buy food and go spend it over the bar for beer. Had Todd’s mother sung that evening as she so often did, "Where is my wandering boy tonight, The boy of my tenderest care, The boy who was once my joy and life, The child of my love and prayer." the answer would have been, "Down, down, down, down, Down in the licensed saloon." He did not write home now, and it was a long time before his mother or any of his people ever saw him or heard from him again. There were times when he had a good job and the work was easy, and there were other times when he swung the pick and shovel and worked at the hardest manual labor. There were times when he could enter a restaurant and order a square meal; at other times he would make his way to the back door of some humble home and ask for bread to keep soul and body together. There were times when he had a good room in a hotel, and times when he spread newspapers on the floor of some box car and shivered in the cold throughout the night. When he traveled he sometimes bought a ticket and rode the cushions, but more often he was broke and beat his way, riding the "blind baggage," the "Side-Door Pullman," or almost any place on the train where he could hide from the crew. During all these months he did not stay long in any one town, but drifted from place to place, like the prodigal son "wasting his substance in riotous living." On one occasion he passed within less than a mile of his sister’s home but did not go to see her or let her know he was near, although he had not seen her for years. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 121: 07.02.09. CHRISTMAS ======================================================================== 9. CHRISTMAS It was Christmas evening; the snow lay some twelve or fourteen inches deep when the freight train on which Todd was riding rolled into a western town where he got off, tired, cold and hungry. He had lost his coat, his shoes were almost gone, and he had not eaten anything for more than a day. He had no money and no one seemed kind or thoughtful enough to give him any. He had stopped at the bakery and stood with his cold, pinched face against the window looking at the good things on the inside, but they were not for him. He had watched other young men enter the restaurants and as the door would open the fragrance of wholesome food would be wafted to him, making him hungrier than ever. As he walked shivering down the street he passed home after home and could see the families gathered around the tables which were bountifully spread, partaking of their Christmas supper. He stopped at three of these homes and knocked upon the back door, only to be greeted by stony stares and when he asked for food the doors were shut in his face. When he was turned down the third time, he said, "I’ll have something to eat if I have to go to every house in town." By this time he was near the end of the street where stood a small, three room house. He knocked at what he thought was the kitchen door, but when the door was opened by an old man, he saw that it was the dining room. Todd told his story and the old man, took him by the hand, saying, "Come in; supper will be ready in a few minutes." He stepped into the room and saw the table all set for the Christmas meal; the turkey, the cranberry sauce, the pumpkin pie and all that goes with a Christmas supper. He glanced into the front room and saw a number of young people talking and having a good time. The old man said, "Sit down son, we’ll have supper right away." "No," said Todd, "I’m not fit to eat at your table; just give me a sandwich and I’ll be thankful." "Then, if you won’t eat at the table with us," said the old man, "you shall eat at the first table." And he placed a chair for him, filled his plate with good things, then said, "Mother, bring this young man a cup of coffee." When he said that, the boy looked in the kitchen and saw an old woman bending over a wood stove with an old fashioned coffee pot in her hand. A blur came before his eyes and a lump in his throat; his appetite was gone, for he saw in his imagination hundreds of miles away another home, another table set with the Christmas supper, and another old fashioned woman, his mother, going about serving the meal; and he saw a chair he might have been occupying had not sin ruled his life. His very soul cried out with the prodigal son, "My father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare and I perish with hunger." He hastily ate a few bites of the food and arose to leave. As he passed out the door, the old man shook hands with him and with a "God bless you, son," left a coin in his hand. Todd hastened down to the depot; a passenger train had just pulled in and he climbed on the "blind baggage" and rode out of town, anxious to put as much distance between him and a place that made him think of home and mother as he possibly could. "She’s a little old fashioned, that sweet mother of mine. There are many whose beauty will my mother’s outshine; She’s a little old fashioned, as I plainly can see, But she is the dearest, sweetest mother to me. "She’s a little old fashioned, that sweet mother of mine," Though even her plainness now my heart strings entwine; Other hands may be whiter, but none other so dear, For they smoothed my pillow for many a year. "She has gone home to glory, that sweet mother of mine, To the land of the angels, where the sun always shines; Add some day I shall join her, in that home of the free, And she’ll be in heaven, sweetest mother to me." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 122: 07.02.10. THE BLIZZARD ======================================================================== 10. THE BLIZZARD Todd and his pal had shipped out of a western city to a job back in the mountains. It took them all day to reach the place of work after they arrived at the nearest station. They only worked one day when his buddy was fired, so Todd quit and together they started to walk the weary miles back into town, there was only one house on the road, a placed called the half way house, where freighters spent the night, for it took a loaded wagon two days to make the trip. They left the camp at noon, and before dark a blizzard came up, fine snow began to fall, which stung their faces like nettles, and was so blinding that they could not see their way, and could only tell they were in the road by feeling the worn track made by the constant travel of horses. Hour after hour they struggled, cold and tired, yet afraid to stop for fear of freezing to death. Late at night they reached the half way house, but having no money the proprietor would not let them stay in the house, but told them they could sleep in the barn, which was an open building and the wind and snow came blowing through the cracks and they knew if they stayed there they would be frozen to death. A shack stood in the yard and in this the freighters made their beds and spent the night. It had a dirt floor but was equipped with a stove, and was a protection from the wind and snow, so making their way to this shack they told the freighters their plight, and two of them offered to share their blankets, so the boys crawled in with them, and their lives were saved. The next morning the freighters gave the boys breakfast and let them ride into town. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 123: 07.02.11. A KIND OPERATOR ======================================================================== 11. A KIND OPERATOR One day Todd had been put off the train miles from a town or station. He walked for hours; he was hungry and every bone in his body ached. He came shortly after nightfall to a small station located high up in the Rocky Mountains, far removed from any town. Just as he entered the little waiting room an old tramp also entered and started to lie down upon a seat. The operator came to the window, and cursing the tramp made him get out. Then turning to Todd he said, "Lad, you look cold and tired; come into the office where it is warm." When he entered the office he was told to climb upon a table where he could lie down. The operator then took a big, forty-five caliber revolver out of his overcoat pocket. When Todd saw this he was frightened, but there was no danger, for laying the revolver down on his desk he spread the big coat over Todd who slept snugly and warm throughout the night. When he awoke the sun was shining and thanking the operator for his night of rest, he went on his way. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 124: 07.02.12. NEW YEAR ======================================================================== 12. NEW YEAR It was the last night of the old year and bitter cold when Todd, riding on the top of a passenger train rolled into a city of the middle west. He climbed down as soon as the train stoppedand seeing a policeman coming toward him, darted through the crowd and ran down the street. As soon as he was safe he began to look for a place to spend the night. He entered a depot only to have a policeman order him out. It was nearing eleven o’clock and the wind was blowing a gale from the north, the streets were thronged with a merry crowd out to watch the passing of the old year and the coming of the new. But there was no gladness in Todd’s heart. He was broke, cold and hungry and he knew if he did not find a place to sleep he would freeze. He had no money; in fact the only thing he had left was a stick pin which had been a gift and which he had tried to keep, but now he had to choose between the pin and his life. Making his way into a cheap hotel he gave it to the proprietor in exchange for permission to sleep on a cot. He went to sleep a little before midnight and awoke on New Year’s morning to find that during the night he had been paralyzed, that his face was all twisted out of shape, that many words he was unable to speak, that eating and drinking had become difficult and his entire left side felt as if it were asleep. Making his way down the street he met a man who asked him for enough money to buy his breakfast, and when Todd told the man that he too was broke and had had no breakfast, the man handed him a half dollar and said, "Go on kid and get you something to eat, and I’ll get it back out of the next fellow." After getting something to eat, he started out of the city, partially paralyzed in body and with a heart that was almost paralyzed with fear as to what might be the outcome of his condition. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 125: 07.02.13. A REAL MOTHER ======================================================================== 13. A REAL MOTHER One night he came into a town and made his way to what had the appearance of an humble home to ask for something to eat. There came in answer to his knock a motherly looking old lady, and when told that he was away from home and out of work she said, "Come in, young man, supper will be ready in a few minutes. Daughter and I live here alone, but I have two boys somewhere in the world tonight and I would be mighty thankful if some one would be kind to them." When they sat down to the table the old mother bowed her head and prayed, "Lord bless this young man and save him from sin. He probably has a mother tonight who is praying for him; and bless my own two boys who may be alone and hungry and may some mother be kind to them." When she had prayed she began to pass him things to eat, but her prayer had spoiled his supper and he was anxious to get away as soon as possible. When he started to go she said, "I have no place for you to sleep, but you can eat here until you get a job and are able to pay." He thanked her and hurried away, anxious to leave town and put distance between him and those things that reminded him of mother, God and home. "Can a boy forget his mother’s prayer, Although he’s wandered, God knows where? No! down the path of sin and shame, A mother’s prayers are just the same. Come back my boy, come back I say, And travel in your mother’s way." Todd in many ways was not a bad boy; he was not criminal, but just like thousands of mothers’ boys today, bound by habits, broken in spirit and will power, he was staggering along the shores of time where the alligators of crime were likely to drag him down at any moment; and it isa miracle indeed that he kept free from those things. He often met vicious criminal characters and because of his youth they talked freely before him. At one time such a man tried very hard to get him to take dope and it must have been the mercy of God that held him back, for one taste would have no doubt meant his ruin forever. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 126: 07.02.14. THINKING BACK ======================================================================== 14. THINKING BACK It was Sunday in midwinter. Todd had secured a job on a cattle ranch. He had been there but one week and had been given the use of a nice horse and saddle. He had ridden with one of the hands to a dance the night before but his clothing was such and his face was so twisted and drawn that he would not go in. It had been a long time since he had seen any of the social side of life and the following morning, Sunday, he began to think of the old home miles away, and with those thoughts came the desire to go back; at least close enough to see and find out how things were going. Without telling his employer or asking for his week’s wages he walked off the place and with not a cent in his pocket he started to beat his way the long, weary journey home. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 127: 07.02.15. THE RIVER ROAD ======================================================================== 15. THE RIVER ROAD It was a dark winter night when the freight train on which Todd was riding rolled into the little town six miles from his home. The brakeman had put him off six times during the last thirty miles, but the pull for home was so strong that each time he caught it again and finally arrived. He did not tarry in the little town but started immediately on his six mile hike out over the old river road. As he walked through the darkness with the river rolling along on his left hand and the high bluff towering on his right, he began for the first time to really take an inventory of his condition. When he left his home he was well dressed, but as he shivered in his shabby and worn clothing he knew that like the prodigal he had wasted all in riotous living. When he left home he had money, but now dig as deeply as he might in his pockets, not a penny could he find. When he left home he was strong physically, but as he felt of his pale, pinched and twisted features and coughed the awful hacking cigarette cough that seemed to tear his lungs, he knew his physical strength was gone. Young men, you cannot play with sin and come out of it physically or mentally what you were when you went in. When he went away he had plans, hopes, and ambitions, but all had been shattered. "I can never meet mother like this," he said, "I must have some story to tell her." The devil is always ready with a suggestion to put one deeper in trouble. Todd had a scar on his side that his folks did not know of so the devil suggested that he tell them he had been through an operation, was too proud to write for money and therefore beat his way in, showing the scar for evidence. It seemed a plausible story so he planned to make that his alibi. He had covered more than half the journey when he heard voices and the sound of horses’ hoofs on the road ahead. He crawled out in the bushes and hid until they passed. He knew the riders, for they were neighbor boys, and he also knew the horses, which brought again the memoryof his own good horse and saddle that had been wasted in riotous living. When the riders were gone he walked on up the road until he came to where the highway turned sharply to the right and on ahead lay the old road that led through the trees down across the ravine and up the hill to his home, a quarter of a mile away. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 128: 07.02.16. A BOY AND HIS DOG ======================================================================== 16. A BOY AND HIS DOG Todd had a dog at home, a big black fellow, a spaniel who was considered quite vicious and inclined to bite strangers at night. As the boy walked through the leaves that had fallen in the road, the old dog heard him and came charging toward him. Todd knew his viciousness, and wondered just what he should do. When the dog was several yards away, Todd spoke his name and immediately the big fellow stopped. He spoke to him again and with a joyous bark the old dog bounded to meet him. He would jump up and try to lick his face, then circle around him and run toward the house and back to meet him again. He did not see the pale, twisted features and ragged clothing; he only saw the boy who had played with him in his puppy days and who had scampered with him over the hills after the rabbit and the squirrel, and in his dog fashion, welcomed him back home. To most people there would be nothing touching in such actions from a dumb brute but to Todd, who had gone for months without hearing a kind word, or seeing a friend, who had gone for three weeks without sleeping in a bed, and for many hours without food, the welcome of a dog meant much and he put his arm around the old fellow and wept on his neck. Then he told him to be quiet, for on the hill just ahead he could see the outhne of the little two room log house, "Home." There he must meet father and mother and give to them a reason for his condition and with the story he had made up firmly fixed in his mind, he walked up the road to the house. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 129: 07.02.17. HOME AGAIN ======================================================================== 17. HOME AGAIN It was late at night when Todd opened the gate and passed up the little stone walk. A light was shining under the door and he knew his parents had not yet retired. He knew that inside by the old fashioned fireplace sat an old man and woman, his father and mother. It was not a fine room elaborately furnished which he was about to enter; just a sixteen by eighteen foot room, celled overhead with canvas and around the sides with building paper. In one corner to the right of the fireplace stood a small stand table. In the other, to the left, was a cabinet machine on which was the old family Bible and a two burner oil lamp. Each of the other corners contained a full sized bed. He knew that on the right hand side of the fireplace sat his father in a straight backed chair with hickory bark seat; that over near the lamp his mother would be sitting in an old, homemade rocker, made of hickory withes. No, it was not fine, but it was Todd’s home and he longed, yet hesitated and feared to enter. Steeling himself as best he could to face the ordeal, he knocked upon the door, and what do you suppose he heard? He had other brothers who were away from home. In fact, no one lived athome now but father and mother. Todd had not been home for a long time and they had not heard from him in months; they did not know whether he was dead or alive, but when he knocked he heard his mother say, "I wonder if that is Todd come home?" His old father opened the door and when he saw the boy, he had so changed that he scarcely recognized him and he said, "Is that you, son?" Todd answered, "Yes, sir." When they heard that, the old mother did not push him away and say, "Where is the money we gave you? What about the promises you made us? Why are you coming home in this condition?" But with a cry of "Thank God it is my baby boy," she ran across the room, threw her arms about his neck, pulled his head down on her shoulder and pressed kiss after kiss upon his pale, drawn face. She did not see his ragged clothing, nor his twisted features, but glimpsing back into the past she saw the baby boy for whom she had gone into the valley of the shadow of death to give life and she welcomed him back home His old father with tears in his eyes, gripped his hand and patted his shoulder in a way that spoke louder than words. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 130: 07.02.18. THE OLD KITCHEN ======================================================================== 18. THE OLD KITCHEN It was late when Todd arrived, but mother went immediately to the kitchen and built a fire in the old wood stove and cooked him the first warm meal he had eaten in a long time. The kitchen was just a large log room with one small window, and with a door leading out into the yard. An old fashioned safe stood in the corner, the kind that was made of tin with small air holes like nail holes, and in the center of the room stood a long home made table, for the room served for both dining room and kitchen and when company came large pallets were made on the floor and it became a bedroom also. There is no place about the home that so grips the heart of a boy as the kitchen and especially a boy like Todd, for his mother’s kitchen was free, the key that was made to lock the safe had been thrown away, and only a wooden button stood between her children and the things she had to eat. "Far back in my musings, my thoughts have been cast, To the cot where the hours of my childhood were passed. I loved all its rooms to the pantry and hall But that blessed old kitchen was dearer than all. Its chairs and its table, none plainer could be, But all its surroundings were sacred to me; From the nail in the ceiling to the latch on the door, I loved every knot in that old kitchen floor. "But the dearest of memories I’ve laid up in store, Is the mother that trod that old kitchen floor Day in and day out from morning till night, Her footsteps were busy, her heart always light; And it seemed to me then, that she knew not a care, The smile was so gentle, her face used to wear, I remember with pleasure what joy filled our eyes, When she told us the stories that children so prize. They were new every night, though we’d heard them beforeFrom her place in her chair on the old kitchen floor." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 131: 07.02.19. LOOKING FOR TROUBLE ======================================================================== 19. LOOKING FOR TROUBLE When he had finished his supper they went back into the front room and Todd kept listening for the harsh words that he felt sure would come concerning his condition, but they were never spoken. But every little while his mother, as she talked about things in general would look at his pinched, twisted face and then taking the corner of her old gingham apron would wipe the tears from her eyes, but not once did she ask him where, or why. Ah! she knew and father knew; they did not need to ask; it was sin that bound their child. And the old father ran his hand in his pocket and pulled out the money for which he had worked so hard, and handing it to him said, "Son, go clown town in the morning and get a new suit and what other clothes you need." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 132: 07.02.20. THE PIG IN THE PARLOR ======================================================================== 20. THE PIG IN THE PARLOR You can’t change a pig by putting it in the parlor; try it and see which changes the quickest. Todd took the money and bought the clothes, but he lined up with some of the Godless crowd in the community and became more wild than ever. It takes more than kind treatment and environment to change a person. He drifted deeper in sin, growing more wild and reckless, and drinking at every opportunity. Never will he forget the night he entered his home and that precious old mother who came to meet him at the door staggered back saying, "My God! my boy is drunk." During all this time of recklessness and seeming indifference, he was fighting a battle in his heart; and ever and anon something would rise up and want him to break away from the things that damned, a something that wanted him to do right. No doubt it was God speaking to his heart. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 133: 07.02.21. NEARLY KILLED ======================================================================== 21. NEARLY KILLED One day when Todd was drinking he went down to a depot in a town near his home to buy a ticket to the next town. They told him the train had just gone. A red ball freight was passing through, running fast, and Todd tried to catch it; only a crazy or half drunk person would ever have attempted it. When he caught the rod his feet slipped and he was dragged some distance along the track, then miraculously rolled out of the way of the wheels escaping unhurt. Those who saw the incident said they would not have given a feather for his life, yet God spared him, and spoke to him that day as he walked back up town saying, "If that had been fatal, where would your soul be?" Not long after that one night at the close of a dance, he would have been killed had not a friend intervened and when he realized the next day how near eternity he had been, God again seemed to say, "Where would your soul be now?" But flinging these suggestions aside he drifted on in sin. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 134: 07.02.22. A SISTER COMES HOME ======================================================================== 22. A SISTER COMES HOME One morning as Todd stood leaning on the front gate, smoking a cigarette, a sister who lived in another state and whom he had not seen for some years, came walking up the road. She had come home unexpectedly that morning and getting off the train at a small station two miles from home, had walked. When she saw him she began clapping her hands, saying, "Well, well; if it isn’t my baby brother," and when she kissed him said, "Todd, God is going to save you and make a preacher out of you." He laughed and replied, "If He is, He hasn’t mentioned it to me." But she answered, "You can laugh if you want to, but I have been praying for you and God gave me the assurance that he would save you and make a preacher of you." And nothing that he could say seemed to shake her faith. Todd was very hard those days and would not stay in the house when the family had prayers, and sometimes when they started to pray he would pick up a French harp and going out in the yard would play a jazz or ragtime tune to show his indifference to the things of God. This would cause his mother to weep and say, "I just almost lose hope some times," but his sister would say, "Mother, don’t you worry, Todd is going to be saved; I know he is." And from this hope she seemed never to waver. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 135: 07.02.23. KEEPING A PROMISE ======================================================================== 23. KEEPING A PROMISE Todd saddled his horse one morning and was just starting to ride away when his father called to him. He rode up to the gate and his father put his hand on his knee saying, "Son, cigarettes are killing you; you cough all night long, and the way you are living is breaking your mother’s heart," and as the tears ran down his face he continued, "It hurts me also, and I want you to promise me that for mother’s sake and mine, you will quit and live differently." Todd leaned over in his saddle and giving him his hand said, "Father, I will try, I’ll do my best, and if I can’t quit I will come and tell you," and rode away. For two days he fought the appetite in his life and the hell in his heart and then he rode back home and going up to his father he said, "Father, I can’t do it." He wanted to, but sin had so wrapped its slimy folds about his young life he was unable in his own strength to break them. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 136: 07.02.24. A SONG IN THE NIGHT ======================================================================== 24. A SONG IN THE NIGHT One night Todd was out with a group of fellows fishing. About ten o’clock it became chilly and they built a fire and sat around warming and telling yarns. A short distance up the creek was a farm house and while they were talking, a lady came out on the porch and began to sing. The boys stopped talking to listen and this is what they heard floating on the night air."Do you see the signal, brother, of the Royal Gospel Train, Warning you now to be ready, and your ticket to obtain, Should you let it pass your station you will then be found too late, You will plead and cry for mercy, when you see your awful fate. "’Tis the only train that’s running on the standard schedule time, It is going straight to heaven on the Royal Gospel line. It will make complete connections, nothing will this train delay, Gospel coaches travel only on this straight and narrow way." How it affected the others that night we do not know, but the song sank deeply in Todd’s heart and he never got away from it. For years in his more thoughtful moments, the words of the song would come back, "Should you let it pass your station, you will then be found too late, You will plead and cry for mercy, when you see your awful fate." The woman never knew the outcome of her song in the night, but God in his divine providence, was using it to reach the heart of a wayward boy and bring him back from sin. "I shot an arrow into the air, It fell to earth, I knew not where. I breathed a song into the air, It fell to earth, I knew not where. Long, long afterward in an oak, I found the arrow still unbroke, And the song from beginning to end, I found again in the heart of a friend." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 137: 07.02.25. THE ELDER BROTHER ======================================================================== 25. THE ELDER BROTHER A brother twenty-five years his senior who had been away from home during most of Todd’s lifetime came for a visit, and hearing of the recklessness of the younger brother said, "I believe I can handle him." One day he asked him to go for a walk and when they were well away from the house he said, "Now, Todd, I want to help you, and if you will promise me that you will quit cigarettes, never drink and never swear, I will do something for you." When he had finished the boy said, "I will not promise anything." "Why?" "Because I have promised my other brothers, and I have made promises to my father and mother which I did not keep, and I am not going to make any more, and I will not promise you that I will ever try to do any different." When he said that, the big brother turned in seeming disgust and walked back to the house leaving him alone. Todd did not take that attitude because he was all bad, or wanted to be bad, but because he did not want to add any more broken promises to those already against him. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 138: 07.02.26. LEAVING HOME ======================================================================== 26. LEAVING HOME A few days after this talk he said to his mother, "I am going away," and he mentioned a city some two thousand miles distant. His mother began crying and said, "Son, please don’t go; every time you leave home you come back in a worse condition. If you were a Christian I would not mind it, but I am afraid if you leave again you will never be saved." But he had made up his mind and her pleadings could not stop him. Next day when he started to leave she placed her arms about his neck and said, "Son, promise me you won’t drink." He answered, "Mother, I won’t." Todd meant that, but he did not keep it. In less than two hours he had fallen in with a crowd who drank, and his will power failed him. When he arrived at his destination he secured a position in an office and was drawing a very good salary, but it was a saloon town and Todd could not stay out of the saloon. More than once he came into the office, his breath polluted with whiskey and he knew that his time was short, that he would soon lose his job. Each day he grew more and more restless, and for no particular reason he became bitter toward his brothers and every one who meant anything to him. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 139: 07.02.27. THE END OF THE TRAIL ======================================================================== 27. THE END OF THE TRAIL It was Monday night, and Todd with a cigarette in his lips walked slowly down one of the worst streets in the city. He was bitter that night; bitter against his brothers, bitter against his parents, bitter against God and bitter against life. He had no reason to be; his parents had idolized him, his brothers had been good to him, God had spared his life and protected him again and again, and life had not misused him, he had misused life. He made up his mind that he was through. He would give up his job leave that part of the country and never write home again. "I’ll not live long at the pace I’m going," he mused, "and when I’m gone, they’ll be better off and I don’t suppose they’ll care." As he walked along he heard singing and noticed some people in a little mission hall were holding a service. The door was open and as he stopped on the side walk to listen, a man standing on the curb placed his hand on his shoulder and said, "Go in, lad, you might hear something that would do you good." On the window he noticed these words, "There is hope for all who enter here." The mission was an old store building with a saloon on either side of it. When Todd sat down he looked around and saw mottoes and verses of scripture on the wails. One said, "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest." Another said, "Though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as snow, and though they be red like crimson they shall be as wool." Under the clock were the words, "Now is the accepted time," and a large sign over the platform stretching the entire width of the building read, "How long since you wrote to mother?"The building was well filled that night. Perhaps two hundred people were present, mostly men, and such a crowd as they were l Some were dead drunk, some just drunk enough to be noisy and others not drunk but dirty, ragged and hungry. Todd was well dressed that night, but as he looked about something seemed to say, "You’ve been like that and some day you cannot be any other way." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 140: 07.02.28. THE TESTIMONY MEETING ======================================================================== 28. THE TESTIMONY MEETING After the message they had testimonies. One man after another arose to his feet and told his story. There were young men who seemed to have lived just as he had. They told how they had been bound by habits, how they had beat their way around the country; hungry and cold, unable to hold a job, and how their mothers were heart broken over their lives and their brothers and friends had no confidence in them, and they would climax their testimony by saying, "We came in here one night and found Jesus, and he took away the old desires and made new men out of us. We don’t want the old things any more, we have a good job, mother isn’t worrying about us, we have regained our old friends and have made many new ones, and best of all, we have Jesus." Todd had heard lots of preaching but he had never heard religion brought down to the practical, every day life as these men did in their testimonies. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 141: 07.02.29. THE INVITATION ======================================================================== 29. THE INVITATION When the testimony service was over a young man got up and said, "Fellows we have a game here that you can’t beat," and he began to tell what Christ had done for him, and it seemed to Todd that he was telling the story of his own life and when he had finished he said, "Men, this salvation has been working for over ten years and I wonder if there is a man in the house that would like to take a chance on it; if so, put up your hand," and Todd shot up his hand. "If you mean business," said the young man, "stand to your feet," and he arose to his feet. "Now," said the man giving the invitation, "if you really want to get rid of sin, come and kneel at this altar," and with a number of others Todd went forward. We don’t know what became of the others, but when Todd knelt a man beside him said, "Young man, if you want to be saved, you must pray," and when Todd told him he couldn’t pray, he said, "Say God be merciful to me a sinner and save me now from all my sins for Jesus’ sake." And he repeated it over. He urged him to pray it again, and when he had repeated it two or three times he quoted him God’s promises, "Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out"; "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved"; "If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Then he said, "Young man, if you have really come with all your heart tonight and asked Him to save you, what does he do for you?" And Todd answered, "If he does what he says He will, he saves me now," and arose to his feet with the consciousness that his sins had been blotted out. Some cigars were protruding from his breast pocket and the man said, "Do you want these any more?" He answered, "No, sir," and he never touched them again. Oaths, whiskey, cards, cigarettes and evil habits had gone out of his life forever. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 142: 07.02.30. WILL HE STICK? ======================================================================== 30. WILL HE STICK? Todd did not regain at once the confidence of his friends and loved ones. Some thought his profession was only a camouflage, his brothers said he would not make good. When his mother heard the news she said, "I am afraid son will not hold out." When the people in the mission sized him up, some said, "That young man is not here for any good, he will never stick," but almost a score of years have rolled by since that wonderful night, and Todd is still sticking, by the grace of God. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 143: 07.02.31. BACK TO SCHOOL ======================================================================== 31. BACK TO SCHOOL Some time after Todd’s conversion he entered a school in a nearby town to prepare himself for the call which God had given him to the ministry. He was surprised when making application for admission to find that the president was the same man who filled that office in the first school he had attended, and who had said, "You can be a man if you want to." When he entered the room and the president recognized him he said, "Well, well, if it is not my old friend, Todd, what can I do for you?" Todd said, "Doctor, I have come to see about entering school." The president remembering the old days, hesitated for a moment, then said, "Todd, what do you want to go to school for?" When he replied, "To study for the ministry," the good president sprang to his feet and giving him a glad hand said, "Well, we are delighted to have you then." Two years after his conversion God gave him man’s greatest temporal blessing, a good wife, a true Christian helpmeet. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 144: 07.02.32. ENTERS EVANGELISTIC WORK ======================================================================== 32. ENTERS EVANGELISTIC WORK Three years after he was saved, Todd entered the evangelistic field. This step into the work of the Lord was not an easy one, for he had only one meeting to start with, and there was no one to boost for him, and for three years he served what might be called an apprenticeship, getting no calls from churches, yet keeping everlastingly at it, preaching in school houses, in old store buildings, blacksmith shops, under brush arbors, tents and some times out under the stars with only the trees for shelter. His pay was small, at one time receiving only forty cents for a ten day meeting and often getting less than ten dollars. It seemed he would never get before the people, but refusing to be discouraged he preached on until at the end of about three years, the struggle stopped instantly. He had just closed a ten day meeting in a school house for which he received twenty-five dollars, and the very next day a call came from a good church. This was immediately followed by another, and another until they finally came from all the states but four and others came from most of the provinces of Canada. In these evangelistic tours, he was able to go back to the old dance hall and for three weeks preach Christ where he was wont to dance. He went into the old pool hall where he had idled so many, many hours away and kneeling down gave thanks to God for deliverance He made his way to the hotel where he was paralyzed and thanked God for a face straightened and a character reformed. He walked down to the old water tank where he had caught his first freight, and there bowed his head in gratitude to God that he was now a passenger on the train for heaven. Todd’s father and mother lived for some fifteen years after he was redeemed, but they did not worry about him any more, and when he would drop in between meetings, they would have delightful times around the family altar together. His sisters who had prayed for him so often saw their prayers fully answered, and his brothers regained their lost confidence in him. This story of Todd is written that those who have wayward brothers, that those parents who have erring children, may take courage and hold on to God, and mothers’ boys who have gone astray may know that there is hope for them, for the Christ who saved Todd is "the same yesterday, today and forever." "When I was but a little child, How well I recollect, How I would grieve my mother With my folly and neglect, And now that she has gone to heaven I miss her tender care, Oh! Savior, tell my mother, I’ll be there. Tell mother, I’ll be there, In answer to her prayer, This message, blessed Savior To her bear, Tell mother I’ll be there, Heaven’s joys with her to share, Oh, Savior, tell my mother I’ll be there." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 145: 08.00. TITHING -- YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED ======================================================================== TITHING -- YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED By Jarrette Aycock Printed In The United States Of America TITHING SCRIPTURE LESSON: Malachi 3:8-12 INTRODUCTION There is need of a real awakening in the church on tithing. We assume the tithe as a Custom rather than a command of God and the teaching of the Scriptures. God commands that all people everywhere should tithe. There is no method that will solve the financial problems of the church as readily as all the people bringing all their tithes into the storehouse. In this message I desire, in a personal, heart-to-heart way, to discuss with you a few simple questions about tithing. Table of Contents 1. What is the tithe? 2. Can One be a Christian and not tithe? 3. Who owns the tithe? 4. Tithe and Offerings 5. Whence The Tithe? 6. How Can I Figure My Tithe? 7. Does The New Testament Teach Tithing? 8. May One Use The Tithe? 9. May We Pay Expenses First? 10. Where Shall We Tithe? 11. Results Of Storehouse Tithing 12. Can I Afford To Tithe? 13. Does Tithing Pay? ======================================================================== CHAPTER 146: 08.01. WHAT IS THE TITHE? ======================================================================== 1. WHAT IS THE TITHE? What do we mean by the tithe? What do we mean by giving a tithe? A tithe is one-tenth of our earnings. It is one dime out of each dollar. It is one dollar out of every ten. It is ten out of every hundred. It is one hundred out of a thousand. This is the part that God asks of His people. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 147: 08.02. CAN ONE BE A CHRISTIAN AND NOT TITHE? ======================================================================== 2. CAN ONE BE A CHRISTIAN AND NOT TITHE? "Can one be a Christian and not tithe?" I have often heard this question asked. I have heard preachers give the impression that one could not. My answer to it would be, "Yes." Our salvation does not depend upon our tithing. One can be a Christian and not tithe but, I believe, he can be a better Christian if he will tithe. Other than repentance and faith, our conversion does not depend upon anything we do. However, after we are saved, keeping our salvation depends much upon our conduct. To keep victory and grace in our hearts we must walk in the light that God gives us. Illustration It was about one year after my conversion that I first heard of tithing. I do not recall ever hearing it mentioned before. I had been given a little book, the title of which was Soul Food, by Dr. George D. Watson. It was a series of articles on various subjects. One day as I sat reading this book I came across a chapter on tithing. I do not even know what phase it was but I do know that, as I read it, it dawned upon me for the first time in my life that one-tenth of what I made belonged to God. What was that? It was light. Up to that time I had kept a good experience by giving little or nothing of what I made to God. But now God had given me light. The only way that I could keep victory and an experience of grace in my heart was to walk in the light and pay my tithe. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 148: 08.03. WHO OWNS THE TITHE? ======================================================================== 3. WHO OWNS THE TITHE? "To whom does the tithe belong?" I would like to answer this question with scripture, "The tithe is the Lord’s." In Leviticus 27:30 we read, "All the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord’s: it is holy unto the Lord." Some may quote, "The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof," or, "Everything belongs to God." Yes, that is true; but God has given man the earth to use, and the tithe is the rent He asks for the use of it. Illustration My father was a tenant farmer in Oklahoma; our land was rented from an old Indian. He said to my father: "You may live in that house. You may have what land you desire for gardens and things of that kind; you may use the barn, the pasture for your horses and cattle. But the major portion of the land I want planted in cotton and corn, and for the use of all this I want one-third of the corn and one-fourth of the cotton." That was the rent for the use of that particular farm. We called it "renting on the third and fourth." A third of all the corn and a fourth of all the cotton we raised belonged to the man who owned the land. It did not belong to my father. It is true he tended it, gathered it, and sold it. But unless the money was turned to the landlord, my father could have been brought into court, and judgment would have been found against him. Walking in Light God does not ask a third or a fourth, but God does ask that we give Him the "tithe" of all that the land bringeth forth, or a tenth of our earnings. When it dawned upon me at that noon hour in my office long ago that one-tenth of my earnings belonged to God, I did not have to get down upon my knees and take out a dollar and pray: "Lord, I have just discovered that one dime out of this dollar belongs to You but I don’t want to give it to You. It is true that You have told me that I could use nine dimes if I would give You one. But, Lord, my selfish heart wants all ten dimes. I don’t want to give You even a tenth of the dollar." No! I did not have to do that. You say, "That would be blasphemy." Yes, that is true. Yet there are thousands of people who claim to love and follow the Lord who do not even pray about it. They just keep all the dimes of every dollar they earn. A Thrill to Tithe I know of nothing that thrilled me as much as awakening to the fact that I was God’s steward and one-tenth of all I made belonged to Him. I had nothing to give at the time, for I had spent all I had. But as soon as I received my check on Saturday, I went to the bank window and cashed it. I put nine-tenths in one pocket and I put the tithe in the other. I eagerly and quickly made my way, at the first opportunity, to the house of God, in order that I might pay my tithe. "THE TITHE IS THE LORD’S." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 149: 08.04. TITHE AND OFFERINGS ======================================================================== 4. TITHE AND OFFERINGS "What is the difference between the tithe and offerings?" The tithe is one-tenth of our earnings. The Scriptures have said, "The tithe is the Lord’s." That leaves us nine-tenths. Our offerings come from that A person who pays only his tithe has never given anything to God. Thousands of people feel that when they pay their tithes they are doing wonders. Neighbor, that is only giving what is due. That is only paying the rent. If you give anything to God, it must be from your nine-tenths. Only the Tithe A man said to me, "When I go to the church on Sunday and place the tithe of my salary on the plate, I have fulfilled all my obligations to God." I answered, "No! all you have done is to pay what you owe. ’The tithe is the Lord’ That belongs to God. You haven’t given anything to the Lord until you give above your tithe." Illustration The story is told of a father who was trying to teach his little girl the tithing system. He had ten dimes with which to illustrate. He told her of the goodness of God and how He had created us. He told the child of Jesus and how He had given His life on the cross that we might be saved. Pushing one dime aside and leaving the nine stacked together, he said: "Now, Daughter, this belongs to God. These nine dimes belong to us. This is ours. This is His." The little girl began to cry and her father was astonished and asked her, "Why are you crying?" The little child replied in a broken voice, "Is that all God gets?" Alas, from many Christians that is all He gets -- just a dime out of every dollar. From many others He does not get even that. If you would have the blessing of God upon your heart in an unusual way, be generous. The Lord loves a cheerful giver, and until we have broken into our nine-tenths we have given nothing to Him who gave so much for us. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 150: 08.05. WHENCE THE TITHE? ======================================================================== 5. WHENCE THE TITHE? "What shall we tithe?" I would answer with the Word of God, as recorded in Deuteronomy 14:22, "Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed, that the field bringeth forth year by year." What shall we tithe? All the increase that the land bringeth forth. Back in the days in which the law of the tithe was given to Moses, God’s people were farmers; they were herdsmen; they had flocks and herds; they raised grain, fruit, and had their great vineyards. God said, "Tithe it all." Today most of us who read these lines are salaried people. We have an income, and that should be what we tithe. Someone asked me the question, "What do you consider our income?" I answered, "That is easy, just turn it around. Our income is what comes in." When shall we tithe our income? In my opinion, we should tithe it when it comes in. We should pay our tithes before the taxes are paid, before the car payment is made, and before we make a payment on a suit or dress that the merchant has laid by. Our income is what comes in, and we should tithe our income when it comes in. The Milk Check A good layman friend of mine said to his pastor, "I cannot feel clear in subtracting the cost of the feed I buy to feed my milk cows. If I subtract the cost of such things, how can I figure the amount God should charge me for the sunshine and rain that produce the pasture, which is the principal feed factor for my cattle? To avoid becoming legalistic with God, I just tithe the entire amount of the check." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 151: 08.06. HOW CAN I FIGURE MY TITHE? ======================================================================== 6. HOW CAN I FIGURE MY TITHE? I have often heard people say, "My business is such, the way I make my living is so complicated, that I do not know just how to figure my tithe." I fear that this attitude is a flimsy excuse for not tithing. I venture to say that if I were in any kind of business, regardless of how unusual or how complicated or how mysterious, if one-tenth of all I made belonged to you, even if you had never been to school and could not read or write, you could and would find a way to figure it. If we want to, we can find a way to figure God’s tenth and see that He gets what is due Him. Tithe the Little Things I know people who have a few chickens, a cow, a garden, or something else, who believe in tithing and who are so careful that God should get all His due that they tithe their eggs, their chickens, and their gardens. Many of them give this tenth to their pastor, which, I think, is a very helpful and generous thing to do. Others who have these things on a larger scale sell their produce and give a tenth to the church. Be Generous If I had any difficulty figuring my tithe, if I had a question as to whether I was paying my full tithe or not, I would so figure it that I would be sure that God had His tenth. If you run over, you will never lose anything by it. One never loses by being generous with God. The old colored fellow said, "God doesn’t mind being overpaid a little once in a while." "The Lord loveth a cheerful giver." Keeping Account Often people say, "I do not keep account but I am sure I give more than the tithe." Again I would venture, if you do not keep account you do not pay your tithe. I have met too many people who thought they tithed, but once they began keeping a strict account they confessed that they had never paid a tenth before. It is surprising and it is wonderful how the tithe builds up and how often you have money to put into the church when you rigidly, faithfully, and consistently tithe your income. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 152: 08.07. DOES THE NT TEACH TITHING? ======================================================================== 7. DOES THE NEW TESTAMENT TEACH TITHING? There are some who are inclined to argue about the tithe. They say it is not taught in the New Testament. In Matthew 23:23 Jesus said, "Ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone." "These ought ye to have done," refers to the first statement, "Ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummim" No one says the tithe is the most important. Judgment, mercy, and faith are greater than tithing; but Jesus endorsed both. Jesus Mentioned Tithe Once Some would ask the question, "Did Jesus mention it anywhere else?" We must answer, "No." There are two records of this same statement, but this is the only time the Master ever mentioned directly or used the word tithe. Does that weaken the argument? No. How many times should Jesus mention a thing to make it true? The only time He ever mentioned it, He said, "Ye ought to tithe," and that is just as binding as though He had mentioned it in every chapter of the Gospels. Paul The very tenor of Paul’s message to the Jewish Christians in Hebrews 7:1-10 is an endorsement of the tithe. The statement, "Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come," suggests taking the tithe from our weekly income for the storehouse of God. Tithing -- Old Testament Law You notice that Jesus, in speaking of tithing, referred to the law. No one denies that tithing was the law of the Old Testament. The Scriptures say that Jesus came, not "to destroy the law ... but to fulfill it. The law is no more done away with in tithing than it is in judgment, mercy, and faith. When they asked Jesus about paying tribute to Caesar, He answered, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s." I quote from Leviticus 27:30, "The tithe is the Lord’s"; and Jesus said, "Render ... unto God the things that are God’s." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 153: 08.08. MAY ONE USE THE TITHE? ======================================================================== 8. MAY ONE USE THE TITHE? "May we borrow the tithe?" According to Leviticus 27:31, yes. It says, "And if a man will at all redeem ought of his tithes, he shall add thereto the fifth part thereof." If I get in a tight and I have a hundred dollars of tithe money, I may use it; but when I pay it back, I must pay one hundred and twenty dollars. The most hard-boiled, money-grabbing banker hardly dares ask more than 10 per cent interest. Yet this great God of love and mercy charges 20 per cent Why should God ask more interest on His money than the banker? In fact, in most instances, more than twice as much. Because it is dangerous to use the tithe. When Children Borrow Borrowing the tithe from the Lord is like children borrowing money from their parents. They are honest and plan to pay it all back. Yet many of you know by experience how it turns out Once you have borrowed from your tithe, it is one of the hardest things in the world to replace. The devil takes advantage of the fact that you are in debt to God and whips you over it and makes you miserable and, if possible, will make you backslide altogether. It is dangerous to borrow the tithe. If you need money, you had better go to the bank. Don’t borrow from the Lord. Illustration After I had been tithing a year or more, through no fault of mine or my family but through sickness, we got rather deep in debt. The enemy said to me: "It is not right for you to give a tenth of what you make to the church when you owe these bills. A Christian pays his debts. You should pay these creditors, and when all your obligations are settled you can give more than a tenth to the church." That sounded very religious. In fact, it sounded so much like the thing to do that I took his advice. His advice was wrong and this is what is wrong with it: a Christian should pay his debts, but he should not use God’s money to pay them. He should use his own. Honesty, the Best Policy Suppose a man hands me a ten-dollar bill to give to our rescue mission. He has made me his steward. He has entrusted me with his money to turn over to our rescue mission treasurer. Suppose I owe a hundred dollars to some mercantile company and my note is due and, instead of turning the ten dollars to the treasurer of our rescue mission, I add it to my ninety dollars and pay my debt to this mercantile company. You say, "Brother Aycock, that would not be honest -- that would not be right." True! However, it would be just as honest as it would be for me to take ten dollars of the tithe of God’s money and apply it on my debts. Never lose sight of the fact that "The tithe is the Lord’s." No part of it belongs to us. Therefore, we have no right to use it to pay our debts. Listening to Satan However, I listened to the devil. I quit paying my tithe so I could pay my debts, and the result was God was not getting anything, I was not getting anything, and neither were my creditors. Condemnation came into my heart and I began to lose peace, joy, and victory from my soul. When I awakened to this fact, I went on my knees and promised God that, if He would forgive me, I would pay Him one-tenth of all I made the rest of my life. Immediately I began tithing again, and it was not long until I had a dime to go into the church and I had ninety cents to apply on my debts. I discovered back there years ago that ninety cents will go further if God gets the tithe than the whole dollar will go if God does not get anything. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 154: 08.09. MAY WE PAY EXPENSES FIRST? ======================================================================== 9. MAY WE PAY EXPENSES FIRST? Almost every time I speak on tithing, someone asks, "May we not pay our expenses and tithe what is left?" This question is asked occasionally publicly and often privately. I will not be dogmatic in answering this question but I know this, with most of us, when we pay our expenses there is very little left to tithe. Personally, I have always tithed my income when it came in. I have never regretted it and I can highly recommend it. Illustration For many years I was an evangelist and was paid quite well. When a church gave me my offering for a revival, I put aside my tithe before I paid a hotel bill, before I bought a ticket, before I filled up my car or figured any expense to the next place. I tithed the total amount given me. You ask, "Could you not have paid your fare to your next revival, taken out the expenses of the trip, and then tithed what was left of your offering?" I can only answer, "I never did and I am glad I tithed it all." Did I Lose? If I was wrong in paying a tithe of the whole, do you think I have ever lost anything? Do you think that I am any worse off financially or spiritually because I paid God a tenth of my income? I know that I am not. One never loses anything by being generous with God. If I had it to do over again after these forty years, I would still tithe it all. "Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 155: 08.10 WHERE SHALL WE TITHE? ======================================================================== 10. WHERE SHALL WE TITHE? Perhaps the question asked more often today than any other is, "Where shall we give our tithe?" It seems to me that it is so definitely and clearly answered in Malachi 3:10, "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house." What is the storehouse? The storehouse is God’s house. "That there may be meat in mine house." In other words, I think, the storehouse to each individual is the church to which he belongs. How a person can use his tithe to help his poor kinsfolk or to send the children to school or for any other selfish purpose and figure that it is going into God’s storehouse is beyond me. God said, "My house." Personally, I do not have any kinsfolk that remind me of God’s house. Independent Workers I do not believe that we are bringing our tithe into the storehouse when we send it away to independent preachers and workers who give no account of the money they collect. How free-lance men and women use the money sent in to them, only God knows. You may ask the question, "Don’t you think it is legitimate, if we hear a good message on the radio that appeals to us, for us to send something? Do you think we do wrong when we do that?" I think, if you want to give to the radio preacher you should give it out of your nine-tenths. "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse." If all of our people would do this, the financial problems of our local churches would be more than solved. We Have a Program If the preacher to whom you listen has a great program of missions or some definite work of the Lord, remember we too have a program, we too go all out for missions both at home and abroad. Does he have a great radio program? Our own church has one of the best in the nation. As a church we have a great work, we are accountable for all the money that is given us, and an exact record is kept, so you may know where your tithe works for God. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 156: 08.11. RESULTS OF STOREHOUSE TITHING ======================================================================== 11. RESULTS OF STOREHOUSE TITHING What are the results of storehouse tithing? Again the Scriptures give a definite answer. "Prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it" (Malachi 3:10). You often hear people quoting this verse when they pray. They use this verse when praying for various things, but the key to this window is in your pocket or purse. This promise is only to the storehouse tither. There may be other windows and other blessings we can claim at other times, but this one is particularly for those who "bring ... ALL the tithes into the storehouse." God said, "The storehouse is My house." If language means anything here, it means the church-the place of worship. Spiritual or Material A lady stood up during a message and asked me, "Is not this blessing He is speaking about a spiritual blessing?" I answered: "Yes! I do not believe that one can faithfully tithe without receiving a spiritual blessing or an uplift in soul. But I think primarily the blessing referred to in this scripture is a material blessing." In Malachi 3:11, God says: "I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 157: 08.12. CAN I AFFORD TO TITHE? ======================================================================== 12. CAN I AFFORD TO TITHE? "How can I afford to pay one-tenth of my income to my church?" A lady came to me at the close of a message on tithing and said: "Brother Aycock, I can’t afford to tithe. My family would suffer if I gave a tenth. I can’t support them on the nine-tenths of what I earn." I did not argue with the lady, for it seldom pays. But it seems to me that such an excuse is very poor. Friend, if you cannot live on ninety cents out of a dollar, doesn’t common sense teach you that the dime will not keep you alive much longer? Be Honest If we must starve anyway, then let us pay our tithe and live as long as we can on the ninety cents and go out to meet God with clean hearts and say to Him, "I could not make it on the nine-tenths but I did not rob You. I paid my tithe." Don’t ask the question, "How can I afford to tithe?" A better question is, "How can I afford not to tithe?" No one ever starved to death because he paid his tithes. No children ever suffered because God’s tenth was faithfully given. You can’t afford not to tithe. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 158: 08.13. DOES TITHING PAY? ======================================================================== 13. DOES TITHING PAY? A question often raised by Christians in their hearts, if not on their lips, is, "Does tithing pay?" I would answer, "Yes." If one tithes in the right spirit, if one tithes because tithing is taught in the Scriptures, if one tithes because he loves God and because it is right, I believe it pays. It will pay spiritually and it will pay materially. You say, "I know people who faithfully pay the tithe who do not prosper." Probably so, but it was not because they tithed. You may have known people who lost all they had who were tithers, but they did not lose it because they tithed. No one ever lost anything by being honest and paying the tenth to God. Thousands Testify While you may find a few that were faithful tithers that failed to prosper, that lost all they had, yet on the other hand you can find hundreds, yes, thousands, who will testify that God has blessed them materially since they started tithing. They attribute their prosperity to the fact that they were faithful in paying their tithe. Jesus said, "Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over" (Luke 6:38). A War Veteran There was a young couple with two small children. He was a cripple from the war. His government check was very small. It was hardly enough to keep the wolf from the door. The little house in which they lived was not their own and it was poorly furnished. They picked cotton and worked at any kind of manual labor they could find to help supplement this government check. One day the wife was reading the Bible and came across some scriptures on tithing. I assume it was this third chapter of Malachi. Anyway, reading it, she was convinced that this was God’s plan. When the husband came home that night they read it together and, though it seemed impossible, they decided they would tithe. She said: "To take a tenth of our government check when it came seemed like taking bread from the mouths of my children but we were faithful and, though we are not church folks, we believed that it was God’s plan." "Three years have gone by, and now we can dress our children so we are not ashamed of them when they go to school. We have better furniture and rugs on our floor. We have a tractor, a wagon, a team, a nice flock of chickens, and some cows for milk." Then she said, "You ask me, ’Does it pay to tithe?’ We have proved that it does pay." "Prove me ... if I will not ... pour you out a blessing." The Hailstorm A very dear layman friend of mine, a good Christian and a strict tither, when he was first married bought a ten-acre orchard. One day while in one of his trees shortly before the gathering of the crop, he noticed what seemed to be a storm coming. He climbed down and got on his knees at the foot of the tree and promised God that, if He would protect his orchard from the hailstorm that seemed on its way, he would pay Him two-tenths of all he made, no matter how much it was. The hailstorm came on and badly damaged the orchards on all four sides of the ten acres, but his orchard was spared. He made the greatest crop that year that he had ever made in his life, and all over the community people talked about his orchard and how his crop was spared. You say, "Oh! that just happened." Maybe so, but it happened to a man who paid his tithe. It happened to a man who had just promised God that if He would spare his crop he would pay Him two tithes. It fulfilled the scripture in the lesson of Malachi 3:11, "I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes." Ask my friend and he will tell you why his crop was spared. It was spared because he promised God that he would pay Him two tithes. Dangerous Not to Tithe Over against my friend whose orchard was spared when he promised God he would pay two tithes, a minister friend of mine tells the story of one of his members who was a merchant in a small way. He had been a faithful tither and one who gave offerings during special meetings. Shortly before a revival began the minister went down to his place of business and noticed the man seemed very nervous as he talked to him and finally asked him about his gift for the coming revival. The merchant said: "No! It is time some of the other people around the church paid some of the bills. I am tired of giving to the church. I am tired of giving to the district and I am not doing it any more. I am not paying my tithe. I am going to enjoy my money." He pointed to a beautiful car parked at the curb and said, "Do you see that? It is mine. It is paid for. There is not a penny against it." Probably the fact that he paid cash is why no insurance was taken out. Anyway, the pastor went away grieved. A little while after he left, the man went out and got into his car to enjoy some of the things that he had made. It was only a short while until there was a terrible wreck. The car was completely demolished beyond repair, and not a penny of insurance. The man himself was badly crushed and taken to the hospital, where he remained for six months. When he regained consciousness and could talk, he said to his pastor: "I have paid an awful price for this lesson but, if God gives me back my strength, I will pay Him one dime out of every dollar I make as long as I live, and I will give offerings besides." Again someone says: "Oh! it just happened. There are thousands of automobile wrecks every year and many of them involve good Christian people. What you tell about this man just happened." Probably so, but it happened to a man who had just backed down on light and refused to pay his tithe. You can’t afford not to tithe. Yes, it pays to tithe. It always pays to walk in the light, to obey God, and to follow the teaching of the Word. It pays off in satisfaction, a good conscience, and in that blessing which He promised through the prophet Malachi. * * * * * * * THE END ======================================================================== CHAPTER 159: S. MOTHER ======================================================================== MOTHER By Jarrette E. Aycock This is a single chapter work on Aycock’s Christian mother. He looks at his mother’s influence on his own life, and how it modeled his view of Christ. ---> Contents <--- Foreword Introduction 1. A Tribute To Mother 2. A Mother’s Influence 3. I Want To See My Boy 4. Prisoner’s Song 5. Somebody Prays 6. My Mother’s Influence 7. Tell You Mother How Much You Love Her 8. Mother Believes In You 9. Mothers Build Morale 10. Good-Bye Son 11. No Mother 12. The Love Of A Mother 13. When Mother Prayed 14. A Singing Mother 15. A Hungry Heart 16. Mother’s Old Songs 17. A Mother’s Faith 18. A Mother Holds On 19. Preaching Before Mother 20. Mother Is Gone Author Link: Jarrette E. Aycock, CIM:Methodist Authors (Nazarene). FOREWORD Friends, having often heard me use in messages incidents from the life of my old-fashioned back-country mother and thinking they might prove a blessing, have urged me to set them forth in print. In doing this, I also wish to give you stories, songs and poems from the pen of others eulogizing God’s greatest human gift to earth -- Mother. In writing of my mother, I am in a way writing of yours, for whether she be young or old, reared in country, town or city, the heart of every real, Christian mother beats the same. DEDICATION To the two whose sweet Christian lives have meant more to me than all others, my mother and the mother of my child, is this book lovingly dedicated. By the same author, The Nightingale of the Psalms The Story of Two Prodigals The Prince of This World If Christ Had Not Come The Grand Old Book The Crimson Stream Win Them Printed In The U.S.A. Copyright Jarrette Aycock 1945. Beacon Hill Press Kansas City, Missouri * * * * * * * INTRODUCTION "If I were damned of body and soul, I know whose prayers would make me whole: Mother o’ mine." These lines of Kipling express a beautiful sentiment, albeit somewhat hyperbolic. Yet the more one knows and hears about good mothers, the more inclined he is to wonder if exaggeration is possible in giving them tribute. Certain it is that countless thousands of us owe every vestige of respectability with which we might be credited to mothers’ prayers made effective in the grace of God. Other thousands of us can only conjecture the irreparable loss sustained when early in our lives a devoted, godly mother was taken from us. Is it strange then that a wistful mood takes over when one reads of a mother’s admonition, encouragement, prayers, letters -- everything that a mother contributes to an offspring’s life -- following through the years until a Christian life and character is established? But on second thought, it is entirely believable that the influence of a mother’s passionate prayers can effectively follow over the span of a few fleeting years. It has not been my privilege to meet the particular mother about whom this book centers. But she must have been a woman of strong character and godly life. Doubtless the supreme tribute to a virtuous mother is a noble son. Jarrette Aycock as such -- a son, a friend, a minister of the gospel, one who lives for the salvation of the lost and the glory of God -- would gladden and satisfy the heart of the most exacting mother. It was my pleasure to hear the author in one of his sermons give some of the interesting facts about his mother which are printed here. I was impressed with their worth and their potential appeal to every mother and every son and daughter of a good mother. I was convinced that such a book would be read with appreciation the world over and begged the speaker to prepare the material for publication. This book is the result. If you enjoy it, see to it that copies get into the hands of others that its message may bless and inspire many. P. H. Lunn 01 -- A TRIBUTE TO MOTHER Mother -- gentle, true and always kind. Beneath her breast there beat a heart touched by God and filled with love divine. Love for her home, her family and everyone who crossed her path. Her theme was love, unselfish love and though she did not preach, she practiced daily in her life these things, for they were as much a part of her as her hands and feet. Following the example of her Master, she emptied life of self and in her heart made room for others; and like the mother of our Lord she’d ask for work too heavy to perform. Though her tired body often ached with pain, she’d only smile and sigh when loved ones called and begin some menial task again. She wore no medals for achievements great and no awards to her were given, but she deserved them all, far more, a thousand times, than many others. If I owned the medals of the world, I’d give them all to mothers. My mother was old and wrinkled and gray, Yours may be young and jolly and gay; Mine from the backwoods, not even a town, Yours from a city of fame and renown; But the same kind of heart, o’erflowing with love, Was given our mothers from heaven above. To one who has had a good mother, there is no more wonderful promise than the tender words God spoken through the lips of the prophet Isaiah, "As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you." It is a gracious thought, God is like mother. That means we can go to Him with all our troubles and He will share them. We can take to Him the most trivial things and He will understand. We can talk to Him of the most delicate matters and He will listen. Don’t you remember? No matter how heavy the load or difficult the problem, mother would always try to shoulder it. It was the spirit of a mother’s heart which said on the day of the resurrection, "Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him and I will take him away." That is just like a mother, "I will undertake it." Though sometimes her strength is insufficient, she will always try -- but Jesus never fails. "As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you." My Mother She was a quaint little woman, This mother of mine, And memories of her Still my heart strings entwine. My mother was born in the deep South but emigrated west at the close of the Civil War with my father in a covered wagon which was pulled by oxen. Her originality made her different from everyone else. She was interesting, jolly, and full of fun. She had a most quaint way of expressing herself. On the lips of others her expressions might have sounded like slang, but not when Mother used them for they were a part of her quaintness. "Well gentle Annie," or "Land o’ Goshen," she would exclaim if suddenly excited. "It hurts like six bits," was her expression, if she hurt herself. The breakfast coffee was often "as strong as aquafortis." [aquafortis was a name given to Nitric Acid. -- DVM] The worthless fellow in the community was "an old shite-poke." If she wished to further describe him, "He is not worth the powder and lead it would take to blow him to Halifax." If wishing to emphasize a statement she would begin, "Well dipend." You might say, "It all sounds very crude." Yes, possibly it would from the lips of your mother, but not from mine. Little of Stature As the Bible says of Zacchaeus, Mother was "little of stature," but little in no other way. Her ting body possessed the soul of a giant. She was big in heart and despised littleness in anyone. Freehearted? Father said if he did not watch her she would give away all he had. Few neighbors ever passed over the lonely road leading by our home without Mother’s hailing them and inviting them to stop and eat. When declining years dimmed her sight she often called to the passer-by with a hearty, "Stop and have dinner with us," before she realized the driver of the wagon was a stranger. She "lived in a house by the side of the road to be a friend to man." A Country Woman Mother always lived in the country, so far removed from a city or even a town that she never knew the convenience of a modern home. Our fire came from the hickory wood, our light from the oil lamp and our water from-"The old oaken bucket, The iron-bound bucket, The moss covered bucket, That hung in the well." Mother Makes a Visit I am not sure Mother had ever been on a train, before she made the trip to visit me while I was a pastor. What traveling she had done was behind the old farm horses. I met her at the train and took her to the parsonage. After we had visited a while, I led her to the light switch saying, "Mother, push this button." She did, and when the lights flashed on she jumped and said, "Well gentle Annie, I never saw anything like that." I then led her out to the kitchen sink and told her to turn the faucet. She did, and when the water came gushing out she sprang back and exclaimed, "Well land o’ Goshen, look at that. Son, if I had water in the house like that I wouldn’t know what to do. In my sixty years of married life I’ve never lived where we had water closer than a hundred yards. I’ve had to carry water all my life." "She was a little old-fashioned That sweet mother of mine. There are many whose beauty My mother’s outshine. She was a little old-fashioned, I plainly can see, But she was the dearest Sweetest mother to me." "She has gone home to glory, That mother of mine; To the land of the angels, Where the sun always shines; Some day I shall join her In the land of the free, And she’ll be in heaven Sweetest mother to me." -- William Ramsey I often tell people I know my mother was old-fashioned because she and my father lived together nearly sixty-five years and were never separated or divorced. * * * * * * * 02 -- A MOTHER’S INFLUENCE When it comes to influence for God and souls, mothers head the list. In the years I was in mission work, dealing with men who had lost their way, human derelicts tossed on the waves of time; I saw many redeemed, but very few who had not been influenced by a Christian mother. Walter Walter had a godly mother who had tried to rear him right, but he left home while yet a young man and was soon bound by sin and habits. He was in the city of Denver, Colorado, when the law laid its hand upon him and finding him guilty they sentenced him for a number of years to the penitentiary at Canyon City. While he was serving his sentence his old mother died. He was heartbroken for a time, but prison life soon replaced the tender memories with bitterness. When he was released from prison he turned again to his old life of sin, drinking and gambling. Many years went by and while he succeeded in not running afoul of the law, drink got the best of him, and one night he was found in the gutter with delirium tremens. He was taken to a hospital and for nine days lay chained to his bed while he fought imaginary snakes and demons. He was released on a Sunday afternoon. It was Mother’s Day and a group of us were on a corner conducting a street meeting. A great crowd had gathered and we sang, "When I was but a little child, How well I recollect, How I would grieve my mother, With my folly and neglect, But now that she has gone to heaven, I miss her tender care, O angels, tell my mother I’ll be there. "Tell mother I’ll be there, In answer to her prayer, This message, guardian angel, To her bear. Tell mother I’ll be there, Heaven’s joys with her to share, O angels, tell my mother I’ll be there." -- Charles M. Fillmore As this grand old mother song floated out on the air, a sweet-faced mother began passing out white carnations to all in the crowd whose mothers were dead. Walter reached out his hand and took a flower, then wiping a tear from his eyes he slowly turned and walked away. The next night we were holding services in a little mission located in the slums of the city. Walter passed the open door of the mission as the crowd was singing, "Blessed assurance Jesus is mine, Oh, what a foretaste Of glory divine." He listened for a moment, then hurried away, for that was his mother’s favorite song. How often he had heard her sing it around their home when he was a boy. It revived memories that were dead and touched chords that had long been broken. In order to drown these memories he turned into a saloon and ordered a whiskey; when the bartender placed the glass before him, he raised it and started to drink. Later he said, "When I lifted the glass I saw in it, not whiskey, but a little white carnation, and I could hear my mother singing, "Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine." He did not drink the whiskey, but placing the glass on the bar he left the saloon and returned to the mission. There at the altar he gave his heart to his mother’s God, and until the day of his death, about twenty-five years later, he lived a wonderful Christian life -- a mother’s influence. "Can a boy forget his mother’s prayer Though he has wandered, God knows where? No! Down the path of sin and shame, A mother’s prayers are heard the same. Come back my boy, come back I say, And travel in your mother’s way. Come back my boy, come back I say, And travel in your mother’s way." * * * * * * * 03 -- I WANT TO SEE MY BOY It was a midsummer day, and the sun’s shining down on the hot pavement made it extremely uncomfortable, even while driving. The city was miles behind and as I drove along the highway I saw ahead of me the bent form of an old lady. As I approached she turned and lifted her hand; I stopped the car and she got in. Her face was wrinkled and lined with care; her hair was white. She must have been long past her threescore years and ten. I asked her destination and she told me she was going to see her son who was in the penitentiary. She had walked and hitch-hiked more than a thousand miles and still had many more to go. "Son is a good boy at heart," she said. "I know when he gets out he will never do wrong again. He just got in with the wrong crowd and they led him astray." I did not inquire as to why he was in trouble. It made no difference. He was her boy, a child of her heart; she had gone down into the valley of the shadow of death to give him life, and no matter what he had done she still loved him. "I did not have the money to buy a ticket," she continued, "only enough to stop nights and get something to eat, but I knew he was lonely and I wanted to see him so much, so I just made up my mind I was going." It is just another incident which might be multiplied a million times, showing to what lengths the love of a mother will go for her child. 04 -- PRISONER’S SONG One evening from a prison cell in a state penitentiary a clear, rich voice was heard as it sang, "Gold has its power, the sages will say, Riches in life hold a wonderful sway, But there is a power hails from above Richer and grander, power of love." The voice of the singer was heard to break for a moment, then with an effort he continued, "Love of a mother for her darling child, Love for a son, though he’s wayward and wild."* * * * * * * * 05 -- SOMEBODY PRAYS "Somebody prays for a boy astray Afar from home at the close of day, Somebody loves him in spite of his sin, Would give her all, to bring him in; That somebody is mother. "Somebody’s heart is filled with joy, To meet a penitent erring boy, To know her prayers were not in vain, To welcome home her boy again In spite of every sin and stain: And that somebody is mother." -- Author Unknown * * * * * * * 06 -- MY MOTHER’S INFLUENCE The influence of my mother and the knowledge that she was praying for me followed me through years of wandering in sin. Never a letter came to me from my mother that did not contain some passage from God’s Word and a reminder that each day she prayed for me. One night when bitterness possessed me, I was clouding my mind with rash vows of where I would go, what I would do, and that I would never write home again. I dropped into a little hall where religious services were being held. Hardly was I seated when my eyes were attracted to a large sign stretching across the platform asking, "HOW LONG SINCE YOU WROTE TO MOTHER?" That sign revived memories of Mother’s prayers, and of my sin and neglect. As I sat there with such thoughts racing through my mind, a sweet-faced Christian mother came to me and kindly, tactfully urged me to go forward and give my heart to Christ. I was saved that night. Later I learned that at the same hour I had gone into the mission, Mother was on her knees two thousand miles away, praying for God to find her boy, save him and send him home. "I grieved my Lord from day to day, I spurned His love, so full and free, And though I wandered far away, Still mother’s prayers have followed me. I’m coming home, I’m coming home, To live my wasted life anew. For mother’s prayers have followed me, Have followed me the whole world through." I woefully neglected my mother before I was saved, but I changed that night and never neglected her again. I wrote her a letter at least once a week during the remaining fifteen years of her life. "If you have a gray-haired mother In the old home far away, Sit right down and write the letter You put off from day to day. Don’t wait until her weary footsteps Reach heaven’s pearly gates, But show her that you think of her Before it is too late." * * * * * * * 07 -- TELL YOU MOTHER HOW MUCH YOU LOVE HER Is your mother living? Then write a letter to her, write to her now and write to her often. Tell her how much you love her. Tell her of your appreciation and esteem for her. Give thanks for the many things she has done for you. A love letter from you will bring her greater joy than anything else you can do. Love is something you cannot say with flowers. Love is a sentiment you cannot convey with beautiful dresses. Love is something which gold and silver cannot express. You must speak it with your own lips or pen it with your own hand. "Your mother is your friend, And will be to the end, And if her hopes and dreams Would just come true. No woe would touch your life, No bitterness nor strife, You know your mother, Always cares for you. "Don’t wound that tender heart, Don’t cause the tears to start, And don’t neglect her For your friendships new. Though she be old and gray, Caress her every day. You know your mother Always cares for you. "You know her heart beats true, Through shade and sunshine too, There’s not a day She does not think of you She grieves when you are sad, Rejoices when you’re glad. You know your mother Always cares for you." -- Author Unknown * * * * * * * 08 -- MOTHER BELIEVES IN YOU A poor little woman, with bent form and furrowed face and shabby dress, stood shivering in the cold, in the yard of the police station. She was waiting to see her boy. The prison-van was standing ready to carry off the men upon whom long sentences had been pronounced. Presently they appeared, under police escort. The crowd outside the gates were amused and excited; but she had no eyes for the crowd. She was thinking only of that boy of hers; he was the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. He looked to be such a lad. The two were allowed to converse for just a moment before the van drove off. She had no word of rebuke or reproach. A wan smile played over her pinched face, and she talked of old friends and old times. A policeman nudged him and pointed to the van. She put her arms about him in farewell. "I always knew," she exclaimed, through her tears, "I always knew that you’d grow up to be a good man, George. And you will yet; I know you will." "When temptations round you gather, And your courage almost fails, Trust the faith and prayers of mother, E’er the evil one prevails; For, though other friends may vanish, There is One who will not flee, For the sake of mother conquer, For she still believes in me." * * * * * * * 09 -- MOTHERS BUILD MORALE The greatest morale builder for the soldier in battle is the memory of a good home and a godly mother. It is that for which he lives, it is that for which he fights and it is that for which he will, if necessary, die. Many a boy has unflinchingly turned the nose of his plane out over enemy territory, worked calmly the controls of his submarine in the deep, stood bravely at his guns amid bursting shells on the battle ship or marched courageously forward into the hell of machine-gun fire, spurred on by the thought, "Your mother still prays for you Joe, Your mother still prays for you. In a home far over the ocean, Your mother still prays for you." -- Author Unknown It is the thought of a praying mother that has revived the wounded on the battlefield, strengthened them in the hospital and pulled them back to health. Or if they have not survived, mother’s prayers have proved a beacon as they passed over the great divide. * * * * * * * 10 -- GOOD-BYE SON It was not easy to say good-bye to this big, handsome boy. He meant everything to her, but since his country had called she bravely fought back the tears and placing her arms about his neck she said, "Good-bye, son, I have long since committed you to God, and I’ll be praying for you. While you are fighting over yonder, I will be fighting here and if you don’t come back, I’ll meet you where there will be no war, no battles, no strife." It was in the battle for North Africa, he and his buddy were fighting from a fox hole. He started to climb out, then fell back mortally wounded. His buddy tried to revive him, but he regained consciousness only for a moment and whispered, "No war, no battles, no strife, I’m coming, coming Mother." That was all except a telegram which began, "We regret to inform you." "After the din of the battles roar, Just at the close of day, Wounded and bleeding upon the field, A dying soldier lay. "He thought of mother at home alone, Feeble and aged and gray, Thought of a mother who loved her own And never forgot to pray. "He lifted a ringlet of thin gray hair Then dropped it upon the ground, Closing his eyes to the earth and skies, Just as the sun went down." * * * * * * * 11 -- NO MOTHER When I was a child, an older sister would take me upon her lap and sing, what to me then, and is yet, one of the saddest of songs, "I have no mother now, I have no mother now, Long time has she been sleeping I have no mother now." I do not think anything is more to be pitied than motherless children. How my heart goes out to those who never felt a mother’s touch or knew a mother’s love. Others may try to fill in, but they cannot take her place. The loneliness of an orphaned heart can only be realized by those who experience it. Call it foolish sentiment if you will, but my heart has always been stirred by the story of the motherless little child who picked up the telephone and said, "Hello central, give me heaven, For my mama’s there. You will find her with the angels On the golden stair; She’ll be glad ’tis me who’s speaking Tell her, won’t you please, That I am so sad and lonely And I want her to come home." Again we are reminded of that wonderful promise, "As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you." Jesus only can calm the troubled heart and comfort in times of such bereavement. He has a way of filling the aching void, of taking her place and healing the broken heart. Has He not said, "As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you"? * * * * * * * 12 -- THE LOVE OF A MOTHER A young girl had drifted into a life of sin and shame. Her mother was brokenhearted. She went to a minister and said, "My daughter has gone. Can you bring her back to me?" The minister said, "Bring me all the pictures you have of yourself." She brought them and placed them before him. He dipped his pen in red ink and wrote at the bottom of each one two words -- "Come back." He took these to all the mission stations and to the haunts of vice as well. Three months passed, and one night, as the girl was going into a place of sin, she suddenly lifted her eyes and saw her mother’s face looking at her from a picture. She read the two words -"Come back." Quickly she went along the streets of London to the city’s edge and when she reached the house she hesitantly lifted the latch. The door yielded to her touch. The moment the door opened her mother took her in her arms and welcomed the wandering girl home. "Mother come back from that echoless shore, Take me again to your heart as of yore; Over my slumbers your loving watch keep; Rock me to sleep, mother, rock me to sleep." * * * * * * * 13 -- WHEN MOTHER PRAYED My mother had two places to pray and it largely depended on the season as to which place she chose. In the summer, when the weather was fair, she often slipped away among the rusthng rows of corn and there under the stars she would kneel upon the good earth and commune with her Lord. But when the weather was bad, after supper was over and the dishes were put away, she would kneel by her chair near the old kitchen stove and let her request be made known unto God. She never stormed the skies as if to take it by force; but quietly, earnestly, sincerely she made her petition to Him who sees and knows and understands. "When mother prayed, She found sweet rest. When mother prayed, Her soul was blest. All heaven moved, At her request, For God was there When mother prayed." The prayers of godly mothers have done more to uphold our country and keep it true to the "faith of our fathers" than any other one thing. The great need of the world is more mothers who love God and know how to pray. * * * * * * * 14 -- A SINGING MOTHER I often tell people I know mother was not a trained singer, because I could understand every word when she sang. Mother loved to sing. She sang in church only as she joined with the congregation, but around the home she sang from morning till night. You have heard the old song, "When I’m happy, Hear me sing." Mother did that, but she did not cease singing when she was unhappy. She sang when her heart was heavy with sorrow. She sang as she went about preparing the frugal meal when poverty stalked our home. When one of her brood of eight was away in sin, breaking her heart with his wayward ways, she went about her work singing the prayer of her heart, "Go for my wandering boy tonight, Go search for him where you will, And bring him to me with all his blight, And tell him I love him still." Mother literally sang the clouds away. * * * * * * * 15 -- A HUNGRY HEART Mother was converted when she was a girl, but it was many years before she learned that the God who had saved her, was more willing to give her the Holy Spirit than she was to give good gifts unto her children. Though she had not known this wonderful experience was for her, through all the years she had hungered for the deeper things of God. How often she went about the home singing the longing of her heart, "Religion makes me happy, And then I want to go To leave this world of sorrow And trouble here below. Lord I want more religion, Lord I want more religion, Lord I want more religion To help me on to Thee." One day as she stood at the end of the old log cabin home, singing the prayer of her soul, the Lord whom she sought "suddenly came to his temple," filling her soul with divine love and changing her song to: "When I saw the cleansing fountain, Open wide for all my sin, I obeyed the Spirit’s wooing When He said, ’Wilt thou be clean?’ 16 - MOTHER’S OLD SONGS Mother knew snatches and verses of many songs. Some I have found in old books, others I have never seen or heard anywhere else. She sang in the oldfashioned southern swing, and many of her songs were in a minor key. Limitation of space permits listing only a few of the many she sany. Mother sang at her work. Often when a boy I was awakened in the morning, not by her call, but by her song as she went preparing the morning meal. One of her favorite breakfast songs was, "Hold the fort for I am coming, Jesus signals still. Wave the answer back to heaven, By thy grace we will." Her song would be accompanied by the clashing of pots and pans and occasionally by the creaking of the oven door as she opened it to look at or remove the biscuits. Sometimes she would sing a line, then whistle the next, but whether singing or whisthng she was a bundle of melody. The Judgment Mother often sang a song about the judgment which brought me face to face with eternal things, "And must I be to judgment brought To answer in that day, For every vain and idle thought And every word I say? "Yes, every secret of my heart Shall surely be made known, And I’ll receive my just deserts For all that I have done. "We are passing away, We are passing away, We are passing away, To that great judgment day." It was a solemn warning, a sermon in song reminding me that some day I must stand before God and give an account of the deeds done in the body. Song of Calvary She often sang a song of Calvary I have never heard anywhere else. Though it had a very mournful melody it contained a message of the wonderful love of Christ. "What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul What wondrous love is this, O my soul. What wondrous love is this, To cause the Lord of bliss, To bear the dreadful curse, For my soul. "When I was sinking down, Sinking down, sinking down, When I was sinking down, Sinking down. When I was sinking down Beneath God’s righteous frown Christ laid aside His crown, For my soul." Only a repetition of words, set to a weird melody and sung by the untrained voice of an old-fashioned, backwoods mother with the ringing of pots and pans for an accompaniment, a farmhouse kitchen for an auditorium and an unsaved boy for an audience; yet no cathedral sermon was ever preached with more earnestness or carried a more effective message of Jesus and His love. End of the World There was another song with weird words and doleful melody about the end of time, which Mother often sang. I have never seen it in print or heard any other sing it. In reading my Bible I find it is based on the last verses of the sixth chapter of Revelation. "I’ve a long time heard, That the sun will be darkened, And the moon will be bleeding, In that day. O sinner, and where will you stand In that day? You may cry for the rocks, And the rocks will flee away And the rocks will flee away In that day." Songs for the Sunset "When her youthful days were gone, and old age was stealing on, and her body bent beneath the weight of care," Mother sang more frequently, "E’en down to old age, All my people shall prove My sovereign, eternal, Unchangeable love. And when hoary hairs Shall their temples adorn, Like lambs, they shall still On my bosom be borne." Another old song which declining years seemed to raise to first place among Mother’s favorite hymns, and which she sang almost daily was, "My latest sun is sinking fast My race is nearly run. My strongest trials now are past, My triumph is begun. O come angel band, Come and around me stand, O bear me away on your snowy wings To my immortal home. O bear me away on your snowy wings, To my immortal home." I love this old song. A few years ago I found it in an old song book and had it republished. As the old miner said of the mountains, "Thar’s gold in them thar hills," I say, "There is gospel in these old songs." As someone has aptly said, "We need to sing more of the old songs to keep religious enough to sing the new ones." Longing for Home Mother followed the Scripture injunction, she fixed her eyes on Jesus and ran with patience the race set before her. Heaven was her goal and she sang on her way. She loved "The Blood-Washed Pilgrim" and would often sing it clear through climaxing each verse with, "Then palms of victory, Crowns of glory, Palms of victory, I shall wear." It seems strange as I think of it, but she seldom sang "The Old-Time Religion." However, she immortalized in our home, "I am bound for the promised land, I am bound for the promised land. Oh, who will come and go with me, I am bound for the promised land." Mother’s religion was a joy, her objective was heaven, and she had no doubts, and evidenced her faith as she sang, "I Feel like, I feel like, I’m on my journey home, I feel like, I feel like I’m on my journey home." 17 -- A MOTHER’S FAITH Moses’ mother saw that he was a "goodly child." This means that she saw more than that he was a beautiful baby. She saw the possibilities wrapped up in the little bundle of flesh. She saw what he might become if properly trained. It was this faith in the child that helped her in the long struggle of hiding him from the Egyptians, and in bringing him up in the way that he should go. This is a true characteristic of mothers. Most mothers can see good in their children when the neighbors cannot see anything of promise. The fact that mother had faith in him, has often been the one anchor which has held in the storm and brought the wandering boy back to shore, back to mother, and back to God. "Say, Chimmie," said an urchin, "I’d be as happy as a clam, If I only was defeller Dat me mudder tinks I am. Chimmie, she tinks I’m a wonder, And she knows her little lad Would never stoop to nuttin’ Dat was ugly, mean or bad. And sometimes I sit and tink, Chimmie, I’d be a whiz; If I only was defeller Dat me mudder tinks I is." -- W. C. Adkins It is our mother’s faith in God that keeps her praying for us. It is her faith in our possibilities, which keeps her boosting for us. It is her faith that some day we will awaken, that keeps her patient with us. It is her faith that "Bread cast upon the waters will return again" that keeps her working for us. * * * * * * * 18 -- A MOTHER HOLDS ON A few years ago I received a letter from a boy who was far away from home and had not seen his mother in years. The letter read in part, "I have just finished reading your book, The Story of Two Prodigals. It was sent to me by my mother. This is the first religious book I have read in years, and it brings back old memories of home and boyhood days. I don’t know why I read it, except that Mother sent it. I know she is praying for me and if I can ever find the Savior that you found, perhaps I can yet be a man. I cannot sign my name as I am a fugitive from justice, but I wish you would pray for me. Mother is the only one who holds on or seems to care about me now." "I never can forget the day I heard my mother kindly say, ’You’re leaving now my tender care, Remember child, your mother’s prayer.’ "I never can forget the voice That always made my heart rejoice, I see her by the old arm chair, My mother dear in humble prayer. "Though years have gone, I can’t forget, hose words of love, I hear them yet. Though I have wandered, God knows where, Still I remember mother’s prayer." May God grant that the memories of his praying mother, and her prayers for him, will bring the writer of this letter, and others like him, back to mother, home and God. * * * * * * * 19 -- PREACHING BEFORE MOTHER It was not an easy task to return to my old home community and preach my first sermon. The country church was packed with a curious throng made up of friends and neighbors, largely present to see if the boy could preach. On the front seat sat my father and mother. Father had his head down, as though the light hurt his eyes. But not my little mother; her head was up, her eyes were shining, and the expression on her face said, "Courage, my boy, I know you can do it." There was not a doubt in Mother’s mind about the sermon being all right; had she not prayed for many years for just such an hour? To her it was not a time to look down, but to look up, this was an answer to prayer. Her faith, her hope was being vindicated. As the message progressed, Mother would wipe the tears from her old eyes and look around at Father and the neighbors as if to say, "Are you surprised? I’m not. I told you he would come back. I told you he’d make good. I knew if I kept praying God would save him and send him back to me." "My dear mother she was true, To her children and her home. She was faithful, tender, kind, And loved us all. I praise God for her sweet name, She was ever just the same. I can ne’er forget my mother And my home." * * * * * * * 20 -- MOTHER IS GONE Mother was past eighty when God called her home. The last time I saw her, I went to her bedside and taking her frail body in my arms said, "Mother, you have been the best and sweetest mother a boy ever had." She replied in her quiet humble way, "Not as good as I ought to have been, son." "Yes, you have, Mother," I answered. "As I look back over my life, I do not see a place where you have failed. You’ve been a wonderful mother." Again she said, "Not as good as I ought to have been." I said, "Mother, I must leave you now, I can’t stay any longer." Placing her old arms around my neck she said feebly, "Good-bye son, I’ll meet you in that better land where there will be no sad partings." I never saw her again. But since she went away I’ve been singing an old song she used to sing, "I’ve a mother up in heaven, Tell, O tell me if you know, Will my mother know her children When to glory we shall go? Is it wrong to hope to see her As I roam this distant shore? Will she know that I am coming, Will she meet me at the door?" * * * * * * * THE END ======================================================================== CHAPTER 160: S. THE PRINCE OF THIS WORLDTITLE/CONTENT ======================================================================== THE PRINCE OF THIS WORLD By Jarrette E. Aycock "Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me" (John 14:30). Copyright, 1941 By Jarrette Aycock By Beacon Hill Press Kansas City, Missouri 1941 Introduction In his "Systematic Theology" Ralston occupies the first two or three paragraphs of each division with a dissertation on the central position of the new thesis, and concludes that one cannot well be sound on the theme he now proposes to present without also being sound on practically the whole body of theological thought. And although the excessive repetition is a little monotonous, there is yet much truth in the conclusion; for Christian truth is a consistent system every tenet .of which is dependent upon all the rest. In the present thesis Evangelist Jarrette Aycock has presented a theme which of late years has been given small place in the preaching and writing of Christian apologists. But it is a theme that must be true because the system of which it is an essential part has been abundantly substantiated. And I think no one can read what is written without feeling that it is impossible to lift this theme out as an isolated item. Its proper discussion demands attention to human responsibility, divine mercy, a blood atonement, salvation from sin, and the final triumph of Christ and of those who put their trust in Him. And thus a sermon on the devil becomes a proclamation of the saving gospel, and the book itself takes its place among the many books which fall like leaves from the tree of life into the hands and hearts of the people. It is scarcely necessary for me to attempt an introduction of the author, for he is as well known to readers of religious literature as I am, and could introduce me to many who know him better than they do me. But it is a pleasure to commend both the author and his book. Here is a man who has gone with his face set steadfastly toward Jerusalem for more than twenty-five years, during which period he has never swerved a hair’s breadth from the standard rule of sound orthodoxy in doctrine or missed in slight degree the scriptural requirements for conduct and spirit. In promoting the publication of his book and in making available to him the hearts and mailing addresses of our people, we are taking no chance at all; for, like Timothy, he never uses any power for selfish ends. His whole mind and heart are absorbed in the task of promoting the gospel and winning men to God. And the book -- well, it possesses the two essentials of a good book in that it is unquestionably true and irresistibly interesting. I sincerely pray that thousands of copies of this little book may go forth to the hands and homes of the people, and I am assured that such a labor will be the casting of bread upon the waters which in its coming back will bring many immortal souls into the kingdom. In prayer and faith and love, J. B. Chapman General Superintendent July 25, 1941 * * * * * * * WHO CARRIES HIS BUSINESS ON? "Men don’t believe in a devil now As our fathers used to do, They force the doors of the broadest creed To let his form pass through, There isn’t a print of his cloven hoof Or a fiery dart from his bow To be found in the earth and air today, For the world has voted so. "But who is it that mixes the fatal draught That palsies heart and brain? And fills the bier of each passing year With ten hundred thousand slain? Who blights the bloom of the land today With the fiery breath of hell? If the devil isn’t and never was, Will somebody rise and tell? "Who dogs the steps of the toiling saint And digs the pit for his feet? Who sows the tares in the field of time, Wherever God sows His wheat? The devil was voted not to be And of course the thing is true; But who is it doing the kind of work The devil alone should do? "We are told that he does not go about Like a roaring lion now; But whom shall we hold responsible For the everlasting row? To be heard in home and state and church To the earth’s remotest bound, If the devil by unanimous vote Is nowhere to be found? "Will someone step to the front forthwith And make his bow and show, How the frauds and crimes of a single day Spring up, we want to know. The devil was fairly voted out, And of course the devil’s gone, But simple folks would like to know, Who carries his business on?" -- Author Unknown * * * A PERSONALITY There are many today who think the devil a myth, only another name for evil, or an evil influence. Instead, he is a real personality, a ruler of myriads of demons, the prince of a multitude. He has his throne, his kingdoms and his dominions. There is no more proof in the Bible of a personal God than there is of a personal devil. * * * BIBLE DESCRIPTIONS In Ezekiel 28:1-26 there is a description of one who is called, "The prince of Tyrus," who Bible scholars believe is a picture of none other than Satan. And the picture there drawn is greatly different from the one usually given of "The Prince of this World." BEAUTIFUL Artists have painted the devil as a monster with hoofs and horns, with claw-like hands and a spear-like taft; but the Bible artist paints him as one who is "perfect in beauty." If the devil approached people looking as the world has pictured him, no one would have anything to do with him. But he comes in beauty, not a beauty made up of powder, paint and curling irons but a beauty of grace and speech and poise. The Bible states he has, "been in Eden, the Garden of God," that he has "walked in the holy mount." Therefore the devil knows how to conduct himself in the most spiritual assemblies. He is at home in the church, the prayermeeting and the revival. He is not ignorant of the Scriptures and is so bold that he even dared to quote them to the Son of God. * * * PERFECT IN HIS WAYS This chapter further states that this being was "perfect in his ways from the day he was created until iniquity was found in him." The devil did net fall from a place which he had acquired through merit or favor as men do today, but from a state in which he was created; and in falling, he lost his purity, he lost his state of holiness and he lost his place with God. But he did not, necessarily, lose his abilities or lose his gifts or lose his graces. * * * GIFTS OF THE WICKED Take the minister who has swayed the multitudes, the man with the forceful personality, the flashing eye, the eloquent tongue and rich voice filled with pathos: he breaks with God, goes back into sin and takes the lecture platform for the liquor interests or for infidelity. The grace of God is gone from his heart, that thing which we call "unction" is no longer there, but his eloquent tongue, his rich voice and striking personality are still in evidence. Now he sways the multitudes for wickedness as he once swayed them for righteousness, and the longer he follows this kind of work the more adept he will become. The devil is a fallen angel but he is still an angel and do not forget it. His intelligence is not dulled, his abilities are not lessened, many of those qualities which made him superior to the other angels of God are still extant and are augmented by more than six thousand years of active practice, and he is still using them to deceive, degrade, and damn the human race. * * * HE IS A PRINCE In John 14:30 he is called, "The prince of this world." In Ephesians 2:2 he is called, "the prince of the power of the air." Where his throne is located we do not know, but we do know that his wisdom extends through the world of darkness over the earth on which we live and into the air above the earth, Again I say, there is no more proof of a personal God than there is of a personal devil. * * * HIS POWER Consider the power of the devil. In Ephesians 6:12 we read, "We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." In the Book of Job we see the manifestation of his power in at least three realms" * * * POWER OVER THE ELEMENTS He had power over the elements, insomuch that storms came, lightning flashed, and cyclones whirled and did their deadly work on the property and people of Job. Dr. G. Campbell Morgan says that many theologians have believed that the darkness and disturbing elements around the cross were the workings of Satan to make the crucifixion of Christ more unendurable. * * * POWER OVER THE MIND He manifested power over the minds of men. He deceived the friends of Job; placed Job in the wrong light, turned his wife against him, and made his life more unendurable by accusation and criticism. * * * POWER OVER THE BODY He manifested power over the body, afflicting Job physically, covering his body with boils and running sores. He made his life so miserable that Job cried out in his agony and pain, "Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived." Again and again physical affliction has been directly attributed to Satan. You remember Jesus said in Luke 13:16, "Ought not this woman, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years be loosed from this bond?" Not only does he have the power to bind men’s hearts with the cords of sin, but their bodies with physical infirmities and their minds with mental problems. * * * POWER TO BLIND He also has power to blind, so that men, "Having eyes see not and having ears hear not." Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:4, "The God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ . . . should shine unto them." Many souls on the verge of light and salvation have been blinded by Satan and turned into darkness and despair from which they have never recovered. * * * POWER TO HINDER We often hear the expression, "God can work and none can hinder." The trouble with that statement is, it is not true. If we take the Bible as a guide we find the devil does hinder. In fact he often hinders the saints from doing the things God wishes them to do. In 1 Thessalonians 2:18 Paul says, "Wherefore we would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again; but Satan hindered us." To yet another group, Paul wrote, "Ye did run well, who did hinder you?" Could we have heard the answer it would have been, "The devil." * * * HINDERS PRAYER He delayed the answer to Daniel’s prayer, as recorded in Daniel the tenth chapter. The angel who finally came to answer told Daniel that his prayer was heard the first day, but one, whom he called the "Prince of Persia," withstood him one and twenty days, until Michael, the archangel, came to his aid. Many commentators believe that the personality who hindered, referred to here, could be none other than Satan. Had some of us been in Daniel’s place we would never have had our prayers answered. In these days it is hard to get some of us to wait twenty-one hours or even twenty-one minutes on God, much less twenty-one days.*** RESISTING AND DISPUTING Zechariah saw, "Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him." He was not in ambush, not hiding somewhere in the darkness to attack him as he departed, but he was standing at Joshua’s side in the very presence of the angel of the Lord. He is so bold and so powerful, Jude tells us that "Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a rafting accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee." NO MYTH The devil is more than a myth, more than an idea, more than a name for evil; he is a real being, with power second only to that of Divinity. "We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of darkness." And without the help of the Almighty we can never cope with him. * * * NAMES GIVEN HIM The names which the Scriptures have given the devil have not been given him to portray the idea of his looks or his general appearance; but to give us a glimpse of his nature, to indicate his methods, his characteristics and to show us his tactics. A Wolf Jesus in John 10:1-42 has likened him unto a wolf, thus setting forth his characteristic to steal, to kill and to destroy. And through the centuries he has been proved a sneak, a thief and a murderer. A Lion Simon, in 1 Peter 5:8 says, "The devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour." This sets forth the bold side of his nature, showing that his method is not only to kill, but to bluff, to bully and to intimidate. That he has courage we know, for John the Revelator says, "He accuses the brethren before our God day and night." A Fowl In Matthew 13:1-38 he has been likened unto the fowls of the air. As such he comes with grace and poise, with beauty and songs, on wings and with glistening plumage. He presents himself in such an attractive way that he is able to enter our homes, our schools and our churches and deceive many who would otherwise avoid him. The psalmist has likened him unto an adder. As such he lurks by the wayside to strike the innocent without warning. It is said that the rattler always warns before striking, but the adder never warns, and such is the method of Satan. Mel Trotter told me of a camping trip. He was in a tent where a tiny baby was sleeping on the floor. As he turned to leave the tent he noticed there was coiled near the child a large spreading adder, with eyes dancing, neck spreading and tongue flashing; seemingly just waiting for him to leave that it might sink its poison fangs into the tender flesh, and send its deadly virus coursing to the infant’s heart. Mr. Trotter rescued the baby and killed the snake. Friend, there is just such an adder in the personality of Satan lurking on the pathway of your child, ready, watching, waiting for an opportunity to spring, to strike, to sink his fiendish fangs into the deathless spirit, poison the body, blight the life and damn the soul. A Dragon John, in Revelation 20:2, calls the devil a dragon. The dragon is a creature of mythology; in a true sense, a thing of the imagination. And as a dragon the devil works. He is a genius in approaching the soul through the imagination, causing one to worry about things which do not exist; creating bridges that may never be reached and showing rivers that may never have to be crossed. He takes advantage of a sick body, a tired and worn out mind, a nervous temperament. He works on the imagination making people think they are unappreciated, that loved ones are against them and friends are forsaking them. By these tactics he shatters courage, weakens faith, and wins many a victory. Beware of the dragon. A Liar Jesus in speaking of the devil, said, "He is a liar." He lied to Eve in the garden. God had said of the forbidden fruit, "The day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." The devil said, "Ye shall not surely die." The devil lied on Job when he said to God, "Touch his bone and his flesh and he will curse thee to thy face." That statement was proved false. He lied again when• he said, "All that a man hath will he give for his life." But Job went to court, proved him a liar and demonstrated to the world that some men are not for sale at any price. He lied to Jesus when he offered Him the kingdoms of the world in exchange for worship, for they are not his to give. For six thousand years this archfiend of hell has been lying to and lying about the saints of God. Do not believe him, for Jesus said, "He is a liar and the father of it." * * * FALSE MODESTY There is too much false modesty in the world today. Some folks are so nice they are "nasty nice." They do not believe in calling a spade a spade, and they are so careful in their choice of expressions that words which should have a deep, biting meaning have lost their teeth and their grip. When little Johnny uses the word liar, his elders throw up their hands in horror and say, "Oh, you must not say that, say fib." Fib nothing, if a thing is not true it is a lie. If he says anything about the devil, again there is holy horror and they say, "Oh, Johnny, don’t use that awful word. You must say the old bad man, or the ’booger’ man." In this way they take all the teeth out of the rake, the prongs out of the fork, and the blade from the knife. CAMOUFLAGING The Sunday school teacher of Johnny’s class speaks of Satan as "the old bad man." The preacher in order to be funny refers to him in his sermon as, "Old Split Foot, and the ’booger’ man." When they get home, the parents are lining up some neighbor and when Johnny asks, "Who?" they hedge by saying, "Oh, that old bad man who lives down the street." When he cries to go with the older children, they tell him if he is not good, "the old bad man," or "the booger man" will get him. At night when at home alone with the older children they tell him of ghosts and haunted houses, spooks and hobgoblins, until he is frightened almost out of his wits. Then they turn the lights out and he is told to run or the "bad man" will get him sure. All day he has heard about the evil person, at home, at church, from the grown folks and from the children. He is spoken about in the Bible, and lives on their street, and he gets little boys who cry. * * * JOHNNY GROWS UP Then Johnny grows up, as all Johnnys should. He finds that there are no haunted houses; and ghosts and spooks do not exist. Little boys can cry all day and there is no "booger man" to get them, and you do not have to whistle when you pass the graveyard. He has heard these names so often applied to the Satan of the Bible that he draws the conclusion that if a part is false, all is false. If there are no ghosts, there is no devil. One day Johnny said to a friend, "I don’t believe there is a devil anyway, I think it is just like Santa Claus, he is your daddy." Well, his daddy may be devilish but nevertheless there is a devil; a real, live, personal devil, and, "believe it or not," he is a devil of a devil. * * * ANGEL OF LIGHT "Satan is transformed into an angel of light," is Paul’s statement in 2 Corinthians 11:14. And it is in this form he enters into many of our homes and churches. A friend told me about a beautiful and gifted young lady who came to his church. Her bearing was such that the church fell in love with her. She seemed spiritual and was a natural leader of young people. They pushed her forward in the church work, only to find as the months went by that she was bad to the core, and she nearly wrecked the faith of many of the young people before they could get rid of her. Illustration Another pastor told me about a young man, a musician and singer, who came to his church. They had been praying for someone to lead the choir and train the orchestra and they thought that he was an answer to prayer. They took him into the church and hired him as director of music, only to find after a few months that his seeming spirituality was only a camouflage over a heart of hell, and his conduct among the young people was such that when they discovered it, the church board waited upon him and gave him just forty-eight hours to leave town.Had the devil approached either of these churches in the form of a silly flapper or a modern "sheik" or "jelly bean" they would have had nothing to do with him. But Satan is wise, he knew that; so he came as, "an angel of light." * * * MORE METHODS The devil is a magician, and a worker of miracles. This is clearly and definitely taught in Revelation 13:1-18. Many of the things which we see and hear today, that seem so miraculous to us, are not of God, but of the devil. We are sure of this, because many of those who are connected with these strange and unexplainable happenings deny the deity of Christ and the inspiration of the Scriptures, and the Bible teaches that "he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ he is antichrist." * * * HIS WORKERS The devil’s workers are everywhere. So zealous has he been for his own cause that no campaign was ever launched, religious or otherwise, that he did not have a representative somewhere on hand and possibly on the committee. So subtle is "Our Adversary" in work of this kind, that when he is unable to get some of his own servants on the job, by deception and trickery he has secured people of God to help him. This may seem to be overstated, but let us see. Did you ever strongly oppose some enterprise, and because of your opposition it was defeated? Some time elapsed, and you awoke to the fact that you were wrong, and that God would have received greater glory if you had withheld your opposition. Who put you wrong? God? No, He is always right. You may think too much of the devil to blame it on him, but I do not. He is the very one that got you to do it. He may not have got you into sin, but he did get you to oppose what he opposed, and God’s cause was defeated and that was all he was after. * * * IMPRESSIONS The devil is shrewd concerning impressions and visions. "Be sure you are led of the spirit," is his oft-repeated caution, but he fails to designate what spirit. He works with a rush; with him it is always, hurry, hurry, hurry. He gives a vision, some very definite impression, then rushes the soul immediately into the thing, and trouble is the result. This is his most successful method in dealing with Christians; rushing them into things; causing them to pass judgment before the evidence is all in. God’s method is to "wait," "tarry," "stand still and see," "be still and know." He never rushes His children, but urges them to "try the spirits" whether they be of God. * * * HIS COURAGE Have you ever stopped to consider the courage of the devil as is plainly revealed throughout the Scriptures? I have heard men call him a coward, but where do they get it? I have seen the gymnastic type of preacher lean over the pulpit, and as if shaking his fist in the face of the devil, dare him to come up and fight. I am not going to do that; he is liable to come. * * * LOOKING FOR A SCRAP I learned when just a lad in school in the Indian Territory, never to place a chip on my shoulder and dare a fellow to knock it off, for there were boys in that country who would do it. I tried it just once, and when the chip came off it seemed my head was coming off with it. I am placing no chips on my shoulder for the devil to knock off. I am drawing no lines and daring him to cross. I have heard people in testifying say, "Bless God, I gave the devil a solar-plexus blow that knocked him out." When I hear such, I think, "No you didn’t, you just hit another bag of wind." If the devil could be knocked out, better men than live today would have knocked him out centuries ago. * * * DOES HE TREMBLE? Some in minimizing the power of the devil will quote the old song, Satan trembles when he sees, The weakest saint upon his knees. But I have my doubts about that. It all depends on who the saint is and what he is doing on his knees. He trembled in the presence of Christ, but we have no record of his trembling anywhere else. "Any being who has the courage to enter the presence of God, contend with Jesus Christ, dispute with the angel Michael, and attack a man with the character and reputation that Job had, is not likely to get palpitation of the heart just because some of us come around." * * * OFTEN DEFEATED The devil has been defeated again and again but has always come back. When he was flung from the battlements of heaven in that far off battle long ago, he seemed to shake his fist at God and shout as he fell, "You’ll hear from me again." Where the devil went and what he did we do not know. Some Bible scholars think that it was he who plunged the world into chaos. But be that as it may, there is one thing we do know, no sooner had God brought order out of chaos, created man and placed him in the Garden of Eden than Satan came in the form of the serpent, deceived the woman and the man, called God a liar, plunged the world into sin and secured a mortgage upon the human race. * * * INTEREST The devil secured that mortgage more than six thousand years ago and from that time to this, on the first day of every year, every month, every week, yes, on the first hour of every day and the first minute of every hour he has been on hand to collect his interest, and humanity has never failed to pay. "Small was the thing I bought, Small was the debt I thought, Poor was the loan at best; God! but the interest." So great was the grip the devil secured on the race that he caused Adam, the first man, to be driven from the Garden; he caused Cain, the second man, to become a murderer; plunged Abel, the third man, into eternity; robbed the ground of its original strength; threw the world into wickedness and fought God every step of the way from Adam to Noah. He made such headway in his work that "God saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually, and it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart." * * * A TRIP THROUGH THE BIBLE If God will help me, and you will follow me, I should like for us to take a trip through the Bible and see how "our adversary the devil" has manifested courage throughout his long and checkered career. * * * NOAH TO MOSES God defeated the devil in that first great struggle by ushering in the flood. He destroyed the wicked, cleansed the earth, saved the righteous Noah and his little family and brought in a new and a better order. But was the devil beaten for good? No! He evidently was not drowned in the flood. For no sooner had the ark rested on Mt. Ararat than the devil was again on the job. He caused Noah to get drunk on the fruit of his first crop; drove Abraham into sin; Lot’s wife into disobedience; Israel into bondage and fought God every step of the way from Noah to Moses. He was so successful in the fight that about all the spiritual fire left in the world was a bush which Moses discovered burning on the mountain side. * * * RED SEA TO THE JORDAN God again came to their rescue, defeated the devil; led Israel out of bondage; made a path for them through the sea; gave them laws by which to live; placed a pillar of fire before them and said, "Walk in the light and I will lead you to Canaan." But the devil was not drowned with the Egyptians and as soon as the march began he joined the company. He caused Aaron and his sister to murmur against Moses; made Moses lose his patience; drove the Children of Israel into sin and disobedience and fought God every step of the way from the Red Sea to the River Jordan. He was so successful in his fight that all but a remnant of the mighty host that came out of Egypt bleached their bones in the wilderness and never saw the promised land. * * * JOSHUA TO MALACHI Again God came on the scene; routed the devil; pushed aside the waters of the Jordan and under Joshua led Israel into Canaan, thus introducing another new and better order. But the devil was not drowned in the Jordan, and hardly had the wails of Jericho fallen before he again began his work. He caused the Israelites to break God’s commandments by intermarrying with the Canaanites; corrupted the period of the Judges; drove Saul, the first king of Israel, into disobedience; led David, the second king, into adultery; Solomon, the third king, into great wickedness; murdered the prophets and stoned the witnesses that God raised up. He placed Israel back into bondage and fought God every step of the way from Joshua to Malachi and played such havoc in his work that for over three hundred years no record was written. * * * THE BIRTH OF CHRIST I think the long silence after Malachi laid down his pen deceived the devil, for he is not omnipotent. Perhaps he thought that God had given up the fight, that no other prophet would ever arise, that no other messenger of God would ever come. But as he gloated over his apparent victory, one of his own messengers rushed into his presence crying, "There is a new star in the heavens and a new Babe is born in Bethlehem; Wise Men and shepherds are coming to worship Him, and they ’call His name Jesus for he shall save His people from their sins’." At this news I see his face go black with hatred and I hear his cry, "I know Him, I know Him. I have met Him before and I will get Him yet." * * * KILLING THE CHILDREN A new day was dawning, a new dispensation was coming, but did the news of the birth of the Son of God so intimidate the devil that he fled? No! He immediately marshaled his forces, and hastened with all speed to Bethlehem, but arrived too late to find the Baby Jesus. So determined was he to destroy the Child Christ, that he put it in the heart of Herod to put to death all the male children that were two years of age and under. * * * THE TEMPTATION Thwarted in his efforts to destroy the Child, he bided his time until Jesus entered His public ministry. Then as he had once challenged God for a combat with his servant Job, he challenged Him for a contest with His Son Jesus. "Let me meet Him alone and He will worship me," was the substance of his challenge. "All right," God answered "you may meet Him in the wilderness, when from a physical standpoint He is in His weakest condition." Then, as the Scriptures hath said, "Jesus went forth to be tempted of the devil." After He had fasted forty days, when He was hungry, when His humanity was crying for food, the battle with Satan began. Luke tells us the story, how the devil attacked Him in three realms. First, in the physical realm, saying, "Command that these stones be made bread." Second, in the realm of power, saying, "Worship me and I will give you the kingdoms of earth." Third, in the realm of religion by quoting Him scripture. But Jesus defeated him at every point, meeting every thrust of his powerful sword with the shield of faith and the Word of God. Christ beat him in that great battle of the wilderness, but did the devil retreat for good? No, the Bible says, "he departed from him for a season." After defeat in his last attack as he backed away, he seemed to shake his fist in the face of Christ and say, "You beat me here, but I’ll see you again." * * * MOUNTAIN TO THE CROSS As soon as Jesus chose His apostles, Satan entered into the treasurer and fought God all the way from the mountain to the cross. During that time he caused Christ’s own kin to doubt Him, Judas to betray Him, Peter to deny Him, His disciples to forsake Him, the soldiers to abuse Him, Herod to mock Him, Pilate to sentence Him and the people to laugh at and make fun of him. * * * THE CRUCIFIXION Since there was nothing more he could do in Jerusalem, the devil followed Christ as He staggered under the heavy wooden cross up Golgotha’s hill. There he nerved the arms of the soldiers who drove the spikes in His hands and feet, he strengthened the backs of the Romans who lifted the heavy cross and dropped it in its socket in the rock. Then. when he had Christ suspended between heaven and earth he put it into the heart of the chief priests to mock Him, the scribes and Pharisees to criticize Him, the dying thief to revile Him. and the multitude to laugh at His loneliness. I have often thought that when Jesus lifted up His voice and cried, "It is finished," the devil; misunderstanding that cry, might have dispatched his messengers to his farthest outposts shouting, "Victory, victory, we have put to death the Son of God. But did the devil grow careless at this apparent victory? No! He attended the funeral and when they had placed Jesus in the tomb the devil stationed his ally, Death, at His head and said, "Hold Him," he placed his accomplice, Corruption at His feet, with an order to dissolve Him. When the stone was rolled into place it was the devil who suggested the Roman seal be placed upon it and the armed guard be stationed around the tomb. Then, and then only did hell go on a vacation, devils on a picnic, and Satan settle down to make his fiendish plans for the destruction of the world. * * * WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN Have you ever considered what might have been if the crucifixion of Christ had been a victory for Satan? If the death of Jesus had not been in the great plan of God? The very nature of the devil is destructive. He hates God and all He has created. Had that death been a victory for the devil he would have started on the destruction of the earth and would never have stopped until he had blighted every flower, withered every blade of grass, and blasted every beautiful thing in the world of nature. He would have killed every beast, destroyed every bird, broken every heart, wrecked every life and damned every soul. Then sweeping over the earth with the fires and fumes of hell he would have left this place, which God created in beauty and glory, a barren waste, an awful wilderness covered with the ashes of desolation. * * * VICTORY FOR CHRIST The crucifixion was not a victory for Satan, but a glorious triumph for our God and His Christ. Hardly had the devil started to formulate plans for the destruction of the earth when Death dashed up shouting, "I couldn’t hold Him." Corruption came crying, "I could not dissolve Him, He’s up, He’s out, He’s gone." "Who?" "Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ of Calvary, the Savior of the world." * * * DENIES THE RESURRECTION Foiled, defeated, beaten, facing a new and a better order the devil rallied his forces in time to meet with the chief priests and scribes who hired the soldiers to say, "His disciples came and stole him away." Not content with this, Satan hurried to the side of the apostles and tried to upset them with doubts. With Thomas he nearly succeeded and with thousands of others since that day, he has. * * * RESURRECTION TO PENTECOST The devil fought God every foot of the way from the Resurrection to Pentecost and was so successful that of the 500 brethren who saw Christ alive after HIS resurrection, only 120 were in the Upper Room when the Holy Ghost came. LAUNCHING THE CHURCH God won a marvelous victory over Satan on the Day of Pentecost, for with the coming of the Holy Ghost He ushered in a new and a better dispensation by launching the Church. Undaunted again, Satan joined the first church in the personalities of Ananias and Sapphira, and renewed his age old fight. He had Stephen stoned to death, killed James with the sword, and hounded the steps of the apostles until the last one was murdered or banished. * * * POWER OF INFIDELITY With that relentless war the devil has come on down through the centuries; persecuting the Church, dogging the steps of the child of God, throwing a blockade across the pathway of every saint and making life as unendurable for the Christian as possible. So successful has been his fight that he has succeeded in diverting the channel of the river of infidelity, turning it out of its regular course until today it is running through many an American church. Many ministers are preaching to their congregations the same doctrines that Bob Ingersoll and Tom Paine preached to the infidel clubs a few generations ago. OUR FOE We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but with principalities and powers. He is more than a myth, more than an idea, more than a name, he is a real being with power second only to members of the Godhead. For courage he is unsurpassed and for persistency he has no equal. When I consider this fallen angel with all his ability, augmented by more than six thousand years of active experience, I do not feel like shaking my fist in his face and daring him to come up and fight. I do not feel like advertising for people to watch me outrun the devil. I feel like drawing nigh unto God and imploring Him to draw nigh unto me and crying out with George Heath: My soul be on thy guard, Ten thousand foes arise, The hosts of sin are pressing hard To draw thee from the skies. O watch, and fight, and pray, The battle ne’er give o’er, Renew it boldly every day And help divine implore. Ne’er think the victory won, Nor lay thine armor down, The work of faith shall not be done, Till thou hast gained the crown. Fight on my soul till death Shall bring thee to thy God, He’ll take thee at thy parting breath To His divine abode. Neighbor, that will be the time to challenge the devil. That will be the time to shake your fist in his face and dare him to come up and fight. But until that time I want to draw nigh unto my God, implore Him to draw nigh unto me. I want to "dwell in the secret place of the Most High and abide under the shadow of the Almighty." * * * THE DEVIL IS HERE NOW The devil is here now. He has taken note of this message and in his conceited soul he may have taken pride in some of the things I have said about him. But I have not meant to eulogize him. I have tried to show, that we "wrestle not with flesh and blood," that we battle not against men, but against a real, living, powerful foe, and apart from the grace of God we are no match for him. CHRIST IS HERE But while Satan is here, let me remind you that Christ is also here. And while the devil is great, our Christ is greater. The devil is powerful, but our Christ is all powerful. The devil is wise, but our Christ is all wise. The devil is mighty, but our Christ is Almighty. The devil is strong, but our Christ is stronger. The devil is great in the fact that he can blight, blast, tear down, wreck, destroy, and ruin. But our Christ is greater in the fact that he can take that which the devil has blighted and blasted, rebuild the wreck, reset the broken places, take away the blight, and make that which the devil has dishonored, another vessel unto honor, "fit and meet for the Master’s use." It was Christ who discovered sin in the devil before the foundation of the world. It was Christ who flung him from the battlements of heaven in the far-off long ago. It is this same Christ who has defeated him on every battle field since the world began. * * * WHERE IS THERE HOPE? Should you raise the question, "If the devil, though often defeated, has always returned, where is the hope for the future?" It is this. In Christ’s battle with Satan, every defeat has been a greater defeat, every victory a greater victory. Every battle has been fought on higher ground, every order has been a better order, every age a better age, and every dispensation has been a better dispensation. We stand today upon the threshold of the Golden Age, when our Lord will lay "hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil, and Satan, . . . and cast him into the bottomless pit,.., that he should deceive the nations no more for a thousand years." Then Christ will cast him "into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are, and he shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever." Then will the scripture be fulfilled, "The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever." JESUS WON When I think of the great battles of the past in which our Lord has been the victor, when I think of the battle of the future in which John the Revelator has shown us Christ, the PRINCE OF PEACE as conqueror of the Prince of This World, my heart sings with the poet: The bells of joy are ringing, Within my soul today, My joyful heart is singing Along the sunny way. My eyes with gladness glisten, Yet nothing great I’ve done, But listen, listen, listen, I’m glad that Jesus won. With cruel thorns they crowned Him, They tore His precious side, And then they gathered round Him And jeered Him till He died, But He again has risen, His foes are all outdone, And listen, listen, listen, I’m glad that Jesus won. Upon His cross I’m gazing, My heart o’erflows with love; My happy soul is praising My risen King above. No stone, no grave, no prison, Could hold God’s mighty Son, And, listen, listen, listen, I’m glad that Jesus won. ******* THE END ======================================================================== CHAPTER 161: S. THE NIGHTINGALE OF THE PSALMS ======================================================================== THE NIGHTINGALE OF THE PSALMS by Jarrette E. Aycock An Exposition of the 23rd Psalm Printed Book Copyright, 1923 The Herald Press Louisville, Kentucky * * * * * * * FOREWORD To the reading public -- Let me say to you, if you want to read something that is good, read Nightingale of the Psalms by Rev. Jarrette E. Aycock, for it is simply wonderful what he gets out of it. I think Brother Aycock has the most beautiful description of this Psalm I ever read. It ought to sell by the tens of thousands, for it will bless every heart that reads it. It will give you an insight into Psalms 23:1-6 you never had before. He brings out of this psalm, gold mines, oil wells, and rich treasures. Don’t fail to read it. Buy them by the dozens and give to your neighbors; it will bless you to do it. In perfect love and all for Jesus, Bud Robinson * * * * * * * THE NIGHTINGALE OF THE PSALMS Some one has called this Psalm, "The Nightingale of the Bible." Some have called it, "The Little Bible." Others call it "The Christian’s Check Book." All of these are good, but to us it seems the first expresses it best, for they say the Nightingale is the sweetest singer of all birds, and surely this Psalm is the sweetest of all Psalms. Perhaps there is no more familiar chapter in the Bible or one from which saints have drawn more encouragement. It does not seem so long, only six verses, but when we try to fathom it we find its depth is unsearchable and its promises are everlasting; and I dare say there are not another six verses in the Bible around which cluster so many precious promises, and it is these promises which we wish to bring to your heart and mind. "I SHALL NOT WANT" A little girl in trying to quote Psalms 23:1 said, "The Lord is my Shepherd, that is all I want;" and how true that is, -- all we want, all we need, and far more than we can ever make use of. "The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want," for "My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in Glory by Christ Jesus." "For your Father knoweth what things ye have need of before you ask Him." And "The Spirit Himself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered." And Jesus tells us, "If ye abide in me and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you." "Ask and ye shall receive; seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you, for every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened." Therefore, the Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want. "REST" I shall not want for rest; for, "He maketh me to lie down in green pastures;" and says Jesus in Matthew 11:28-30, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." In Hebrews 4:1-16, we read, "Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it." And again, "There remaineth a rest to the people of God." Job tells us of a place "where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest." I shall not want for rest for he maketh me to lie down in green pastures. "REFRESHMENTS" I shall not want for refreshments for "He leadeth me beside the still waters;" and in Isaiah 55:1 we read, "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price." I don’t know what that invitation means to you, but it means much to me. The night I went into the little mission where Jesus saved me, if they had come to me and said, "Young man, if you will give us $15.00 you can be saved," I would have gone away in sin, for I didn’t have that much money; if they had said give us a mortgage on your home or property, I would have gone out without Christ for I had no home and owned nothing that I could have given a lien upon, and even if they had said, "Get some one to go your security," I would have had to go away unsaved and might have been lost now, for I don’t know of any one who would have stood good for me. I didn’t hear that, but I willtell you what I did hear; I heard him saying, "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters," and that sounded mighty good to me, and, "He that hath no money, come ye, buy, and eat;" and that just fitted my case. "Yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without price." And again, I heard from Revelation 22:17, "And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come." And then he capped the climax and I knew that he took me in when he said, "And whosoever will, let him come and take of the water of life freely." Jesus said to the woman at the well, "Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." And in Revelation we read, "For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters; and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." I shall not want for refreshments for He leadeth me beside the still waters. "FORGIVENESS" I shall not want for forgiveness, for "He restoreth my soul," and 1 John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." David said, "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered, and Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people, thou hast covered all their sin." You who are backslidden need not want for forgiveness, for He will restore your soul. "GUIDANCE" I shall not want for guidance, for "He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake." The wise man says, "In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths." Here is the success or failure of every Christian life; he who acknowledges him in all his ways is a success, the one who does not is a failure. Isaiah says, "The Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones; and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not." The Psalmist tells us how God says, "I will instruct thee and teach thee in the ways which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eyes. Yea, the eyes of the Lord run to and fro, throughout the whole earth in behalf of those that love Him. I shall not want for guidance, for "He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake." One night during a terrible storm a man walked along the shore of the sea. The clouds hung low overhead; the wind howled; thunder roared; lightning flashed and the rain poured down in torrents. The man, puffing his big coat closer about him, bent his body to the wind and rain and hurried home. A little bird lost in the storm sought shelter under his coat; he took it in his hand, carried it home, placed it in a warm cage that night, and the next morning after the storm had passed, and the clouds had cleared away, he took the little bird to the door. It paused on his hand for a moment; then lifting its tiny wings, it hurried back to its forest home, and Charles Wesley caught the vision, and going back to his room he wrote the words of that song which has become almost immortal: "Jesus lover of my soul, Let me to thy bosom fly, While the nearer waters roll, While the tempest still is high. "Hide me, O my Saviour, hide, Till the storm of life is past Safe into the haven guide; O receive my soul at last. "Other refuge have I none, Hangs my helpless soul on thee, Leave, O leave me not alone, Still support and comfort me." I shall not want for guidance, for "He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake." In Isaiah 42:16 we read, "I will bring the blind by a way that they know not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known; I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them." Could we have gone a few years ago to an humble home in Bridgeport, Connecticut, we would have met the blind hymn writer, blind almost from her birth, who never enjoyed the pleasures of sight that we enjoy, and yet more hymns came from her pen than any other woman who ever lived; and as we approach her home, I imagine we might hear her singing the hope that rose triumphant in her heart: "Some day when fades the golden sun, Beneath the rosy-tinted West, My blessed Lord will say well done, And I shall enter into rest, And I shall see Him face to face, And tell the story, saved by grace." But you will not find the blind hymn writer in Bridgeport, Conn., now, for Fanny Crosby has moved, and you will find her occupying a mansion somewhere on the gold-paved streets of the city of God; and I image if we could approach her door, we might hear her singing, "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, That saved a wretch like me; I once was lost, but now I’m found; Was blind, but now I see." I shall not want for guidance, for "He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake," and brings the blind in a way that they have not known. Young man, young woman, whoever you are, I care not how much opposition you may have at home, if you will give your heart to God, and acknowledge Him in all your ways, not only will He direct your path, but He will lead you in the paths of righteousness and you can live a consistent Christian life in spite of the opposition.This practice will enable the husband to keep the victory over the unbelieving wife; and the woman who will give her heart to Christ, though her husband may oppose her, try her, criticize and persecute her, if she will acknowledge Jesus in all her ways, He will enable her to live the Christian life before the wicked husband and in most cases she will win him to Jesus before she dies. I have heard the story of three gamblers who while gambling one night, began talking of religion. One big ruffian did not believe there was such a thing as genuine Christianity, but another said, "I know there is, and if you will go with me I will show you one person in the city who has genuine salvation." A wager was made regarding it, and leaving the gambling den they made their way to an humble home. The man rapped loudly at the door, and a kind voice asked, "Who’s there?" He replied that it was her husband, with some friends, and for her to get up at once and fix them something to eat; the kind voice answered, "All right, I will be down in a minute." Presently a sad, but sweet-faced woman opened the door, whereupon the man followed by his friends walked in; without introducing them, he turned on her with an oath, saying, "Now we are tired and hungry and we want something to eat, and be quick about it." She kindly said, "All right dear," and hurried away to the kitchen. The man pulled a table to the center of the room and gathering around it they renewed their game of cards; they forgot all about the issue, and why they were there, till there came floating into the room from the kitchen these words: "Must Jesus bear the cross alone, And all this world go free? No, there’s a cross for everyone, And there’s a cross for me." The big ruffian laid down his cards, but before he had time to speak, the words of another verse came floating in: "The consecrated cross I’ll bear, Till death shall set me free, And then go home a crown to wear, For there’s a crown for me." The big gambler looked across the table at the other men and said: "If that little woman has a religion that will enable her to sing like that when she has three drunken ruffians in her home and she waiting upon them, that is what I want," and he went down on his knees and the other men followed, and the three gave their hearts to God. I shall not want for guidance, for "He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake." "COURAGE" I shall not want for courage. "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me." "For this God is our God forever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death." "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints," says the Psalmist, while John the Revelator says, "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord fromhenceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them." While God speaks to us in Isaiah, saying, "Fear thou not, for I am with thee, be not dismayed; for I am thy God; I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness, For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee." I heard Evangelist Rice tell how a friend of his in Chicago who had lived a life of sin and shame, was converted one night in a mission. After he was saved he brought his old mother to Chicago to live with him, and when she would go down to the mission and they would give an opportunity to quote scripture she would always quote, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me." But there came a time when this mother was no longer able to attend the mission, and he knew that her time was short. One day the doctor who had charge of her case said to him, "If you have anything to say to her, you had better do it now, for she can’t last much longer." He went over to her bed, and said, "Mother, do you know the condition you are in?" She answered, "Yes, son, I know I’ll never get well" He said, "Mother, I have heard you talk so many times about Jesus being with you in the valley; how is it now?" She answered, "I never felt his presence more in all my life." Again he said, "Mother, I want to put it to a test, and I am going to ask you from time to time and if He is with you I want you to let me know by a word or a look, and when you step into the boat and start out across the river, if Jesus is with you then, I want you to press my hand." Presently he bent over her and asked, "How is it now?" and she said, "Each moment He grows sweeter than He ever was before." Again he whispered, "Mother, is He with you?" She couldn’t speak but smiled as if to say, yes, I feel His presence near. The physician came over and held her pulse; her son got on his knees and took her hand in his; his wife knelt on the other side or the bed and held the other hand. The moments flew swiftly by, then the physician whispered, "She’s gone." When he did, his wife, tears streaming down her cheeks said, "Husband, she is pressing my hand," and he answered, "Yes, thank God, and she is pressing mine." Oh, I shall not want for courage, for "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil." I know there is a prejudice about a preacher talking about death, but we will have to face it, for the Scriptures tell us, "It is appointed unto man once to die," and though you may have friends who would stand by you through thick and thin, yet the man who approaches that leaden stream without Christ in his life, will have to leave his friends and make the journey alone, but the man who has Jesus enthroned in his heart and life, can grasp the grim monster by the hand, leap into the tiny bark, and shout above the voice of the waves and roar of the tempest, "Only a dream, only a dream, And glory beyond this dark stream; How peaceful the slumber, How happy the waking, For death it is only a dream." I shall not want for courage, for "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me." "COMFORT" I shall not want for comfort, for "Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." Jesus said, "Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you." "And I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever." It was a sad day to the disciples when cloud chariots halted and took Christ away; and yet it was the greatest thing that ever happened to this world; for had He not gone away the Comforter would not have come, but He ascended upon high and sent the Comforter, the Holy Ghost, the third person of the Trinity, to comfort us, lead us, guide us, and bring his saying to our remembrance. "O spread the tidings round, Wherever man is found, The Comforter has come." I shall not want for Comfort, for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. There is a verse of scripture, Isaiah 66:13, that has always been a source of encouragement to me, "As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you." Those who know what it is to have the comforting of a Christian mother can see herein the joy and blessedness of a life in the service of Jesus. There is no love outside of Christ like the love of a mother. I have heard the story of how an angel at one time started out in search of the most beautiful thing in the world; he saw a rose as it bloomed in the morning sun, wet with the dew of heaven, and when he noted its beauty he said, "Surely there is nothing more beautiful than this," so plucking it he sped yonder, only to find when he arrived at the gates of glory that the flower had faded and wilted and his search had been in vain. He went out again and this time he saw a child at play in the early morning with the smile of heaven on its face, and he said, "A little child must be the most beautiful thing," and seizing the child, he started away, but the smile soon changed into a cry of pain and he knew he had failed again. Once more he started on his search. One night in a little home far removed from other people he saw a physician turn away from a cot, on which lay a little boy, and say to the mother "He will be gone in a few moments; but whatever you do, don’t you kiss him, for the deadly disease might fasten upon you, and you would follow him, in a few hours." The mother promised; but just then the little fellow put up his hands and said, "Mama, I’m going now; kiss me goodbye." In spite of the danger that little mother rushed past the physician and catching her boy in her arms she pressed a kiss on his dying lips, and the angel standing back in the shadow shouted, "I have it now! I have it now!" and seizing a mother’s love he sped yonder into the glory world, and when he reached there he found it just as strong, and just as true, as it was when he left the earth. I shall not want for comfort, for "As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you." How well the poet knew the comfort of a mother’s love when he wrote, "The bravest battles that were ever fought, Shall I tell you where and when? On the maps of the world you’ll find them not, They were fought by the mothers of men. "Nay not with the battle, or cannon’s shot, With sword or nobler pen;Nay not with the eloquent words or thought, From the lips of wonderful men; "But deep in a walled up woman’s heart, A woman that would not yield, But bravely and silently bore her part, Lo, there is the battle-field. "No marshaling of troops, no bivouac song, No banners to gleam and wave, But O, these battles they last so long, From babyhood, to the grave." A friend of mine tells how a boy was picked up unconscious on the streets of an Eastern city; he was taken to a hospital, and on the next morning they found that he had brain fever and he was tossing from side to side on his bed saying, "Mother, mother, mother!" The kindhearted physician who was attending him said to the nurse, "If we could find that boy’s mother he might get well." They looked in his ragged coat and in a side pocket they found an address of a lady in a distant city, and wired her a description of the boy and his condition; in a little while a message came back which said, "I will start on the first train; please keep my boy alive." The physician said to the nurse, "Now do your best and if we can keep him alive till she comes he will get well." The nurse did all she could for him but he kept saying, "Mother, mother, mother!" After awhile came another telegram saying, "I am on my way; please keep my boy alive," and later on another message arrived saying, "I will be there in a few hours; keep my boy alive." The physician said to the nurse, "You must do something; go in there and take him by the hand; tell him you are his mother; tell him anything. If you can just keep him alive until she comes we can save his life." The good nurse went to his bed and kneeling down she took his hand in hers, smoothed back his hair and said, "Son, don’t you know me? Do you know your mother?" but without opening his eyes, he kept tossing to and fro, saying in a voice which was now only a whisper, "Mother, mother, mother!" Presently the train which the mother was on arrived in the city; she hurried to the hospital, entered the ward, and rushed over to her boy and kneeling by the side of the cot, she took his thin hand in hers. With the other hand she smoothed back his hair, pressed a kiss on his lips, and said, "Son, mother’s come." He turned his face toward her, and without opening his eyes, he whispered, "Mother," just once and dropped into a peaceful sleep and woke on his road to recovery. There is nothing on earth but a mother’s love that will do that; and yet our Lord says, "As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you." Therefore I shall not want for comfort. If there ever was a boy who loved his mother, I loved mine, and yet I almost broke her heart. I streaked her hair with gray and lined her face with wrinkles with my wayward, godless life, and I know something of the depths to which a mother’s love will go. Sometime after I was saved, I went home and when bedtime came I went into the room where I used to sleep when a boy, and went to bed; after I lay down, mother came into the room bearing a little oil lamp. (My mother was of the old-fashioned type; a country home and a country life was all she knew.) She never traveled, never went to the city, never had the privileges of using gas or electricity and the modern water conveniences to her were almost unknown. Our fires came from the hickory wood; our light from the oil lamp, and our water from the "old oaken bucket that hung in the well." Butwhile she didn’t know so much of the world she knew God, and held on to Him for her boy until he was saved. When I saw her coming into the room my mind went back to other days and I longed to be a little boy again and have mother tuck me away in bed. At this time I had never read of Henry W. Grady’s return to his old home. I said, "Mother, I wish you would co me and tuck the cover around me like you used to when I was a little boy." She placed the lamp on the table and came over to the bed and with hands that were old and wrinkled and all knotted by rheumatism, she began to tuck the cover in about my body, and you know what that means; there is no one on earth who can put a fellow to bed comfortably like mother can. I could not keep from crying and there were tears trickling down her old face and she smoothed back my hair, stooped over, placed a kiss on my cheek, patted my face with a wrinkled hand, said good-night baby, picked up the lamp, and I saw her bent form pass through the door leaving the room in darkness. The thought then came to me, "You will soon be an orphan boy; your mother will soon be gone." But from somewhere came another thought, "As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you." There is no earthly love like the comforting love of mother. Perhaps, my friend in the ways of the world, you have become hard, your battles have been many and far from easy, you have largely had to look for yourself, and you have found many things far from what they should be. But if I could grant you for five minutes anything you desire, I don’t think you would ask for pleasures, wealth or fame; but I believe you would say, "Let me once again lay my head in mother’s lap; let me feel her hand upon my brow; let me feel her kiss upon my cheek and let me gaze into the wrinkled face of my darling gray-haired mother." But I can’t do that. If my mother is gone, I can’t call her back. But I will tell you what I can do. I can tell you of, and introduce you to, a Saviour that will comfort you like mother did -- one who will share your sorrows, sympathize with you in the hard places and stand by you like mother used to do. You have met many friends, but you have never met one who understood you like she did. But, brother, Jesus will and does understand your every motive. And if you will let Him come into your life, He will not only comfort you as did your mother, but He will forgive your sins, and when your days upon earth are over, He will take you home to heaven and to mother, where you will have both Jesus and mother, and there will be no more good-byes. How many there are who have the words of Golden as a question in their hearts, "When I reach my home eternal, Reach that city bright and fair, When I stand among the angels, Will my mother know me there? "I have changed with changing seasons, I am bent with toil and care, Do you think she will remember? Will my mother know me there? "Oft for me my mother wrestled, When she used to kneel in prayer. Do you think she has forgotten? Will my mother know me there? "Mother’s face has been a beacon, O’er a sea of dark despair, I shall look for her up yonder, Will my mother know me there? "Yes I know that she will know me, In those mansions bright and fair, Mother’s love can ne’er forget me, And I’m sure she’ll know me there." I shall not want for comfort, for thy rod and thy staff they comfort me, and as one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you. "SUSTENANCE" I shall not want for food. "Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. David said, "I have been young, and now am I old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread." Jesus said, "I am the bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread that cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." "Wherefore do ye spend your money for that which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness," says the prophet Isaiah. As Professor Widmeyer puts it, "Jesus has a table spread, Where the saints of God are fed, He invites the chosen people, Come and dine. "With his manna he doth feed, And supplies our every need, O, ’tis sweet to sup with Jesus All the time." I shall not want for food, for "Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. JOY I shall not want for joy. Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over." "Thou wilt show me the path of life: in thy presence is fullness of joy, at thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore." The quantity of this joy is, "Fullness," the place is at His right hand, and its duration is "forever." Jesus said, "These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full." Peter says, "Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now yesee him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." I shall not want for joy, for thou anointest mine head with oil, my cup runneth over. "IN THIS LIFE" I shall not want for any good thing in this life, for surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. "The Lord is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works." "For the Lord God is a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will be withhold from them that walk uprightly." How fortunate we are that it is not judgment and justice that follow us all the days of our life. No matter where we go, on land or sea, among friends or strangers, in joy or sorrow, goodness and mercy follow along. I have heard of a vessel on its way from Liverpool to New York that was caught in a storm, and it looked as though they would never live through it. People were crying and praying all over the ship, but there was one woman who had a more peaceful expression than any of the others; a man rushed up to her and said, "Lady, don’t you know this is an awful storm, that we will probably sink before morning? Why aren’t you praying?" The woman said, "Sir, I was just thinking, God never gave me but two children, two girls, Mary and Martha. Martha died a few years ago and went home to glory. Mary lives in New York, and I was thinking, if the ship lives through this storm, when I get to New York, I’ll see Mary, but if it sinks tonight, I’ll see Martha: and I don’t know which one I had rather see." She had goodness and mercy by her side, and she knew that if the ship went down she would go up. I shall not want for any good thing in this life, for surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. In Psalms 34:1-22 we read, "And none of them that trust in him shall be desolate." To bring it down to a more modern rendering, it would seem to say, none of them that trust in Him shall be lonesome. In a measure I have proven that. When we first entered the work, knowing no one religiously, our meetings were largely in schoolhouses and tents out in the country districts. My wife not being used to the South country soon took the malaria chills and fever and I had to do much of the work alone and depended on the people where we held meetings for what help they could render, which was very poor, though they did their best. Largely I had to do my own singing, preaching, praying, testifying and altar work, and at times it grew rather discouraging. The people of the community would help with the singing, but most of them were unsaved, and their selections of songs were far from the best, and possibly I would preach the best I knew how and then ask for an invitation song and some unsaved man or woman would start up "In a lonely graveyard" or "We’ll work till Jesus comes," and nobody would work and Jesus didn’t come, and I would close the meeting and go away to my place of entertainment just about whipped. And many times the place of entertainment was where either the husband or wife did not want us, and sometimes my wife would be several miles away sick and I wouldn’t get to see her for days, and I would go to bed and cry myself to sleep, and wake up the next morning with a determination to try it out one more night and then quit. I would take my Bible and make my way down in the woods, and the Devil would come also, and say, "You are about the biggest fool in the world," and I would listen to him, feeling as though I didn’t have a friend, forgetting that God was on my side and listening to the discouraging words of Satan as he urged me to quit preaching and go to work, but finally I got down upon my knees and I hadn’t prayed long until I realized the presence of someone, and behold, God was there, for he said to me as he did to Joshua, "Be strong and of a good courage; for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest," and that made two of us; and as I continued topray I would realize the presence of another, and behold, Jesus was there, for He said, "Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world," and that made three of us, and presently I would recognize the presence of another, and behold, the Holy Spirit was there, for He is to abide with us forever and that made four of us, and then the angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, and that made five of us, and goodness and mercy following made seven of us, and with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost leading on before, and the angel of the Lord encamping round about, and goodness and mercy following all the days of my life, I would rise from my knees feeling I could run through a troop and leap over a wall, and win out for Christ. O, I shall not want for any good thing in this life. No wonder the Psalmist said they that trust in Him shall never be desolate (lonesome). Who could be, with company like that? Friends and loved ones may turn us down and refuse to go with us, but the pilgrim to heaven is not alone. "IN THE LIFE TO COME" "Come join our throng, There’s gladness and song, In serving the Lord every day. We’ll never get lonesome, With company like this; They go every step of the way." I shall not want anything in the life to come. "I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." Jesus said, "Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." Paul said, "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." I shall not want for any good thing in the life to come, for I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. I have known of people who neglected their soul and the salvation of their children, trying to get a home in this life, and finally they succeeded, but had hardly moved in when there came a knock at the door, and the grim monster Death walked in and picked the fairest flower, and home never was the same again. You can put in your all in this life if you like, but I want a home where the storms never beat, nor the lightnings flash; I want a home where they will never hang crepe on my door, where the hillsides are not marred by cemeteries -- a home where moth and rust doth not corrupt nor thieves break through and steal. For me the ties of earth are growing weaker and the ties of the life to come are growing stronger. There once was a large family of us gathered around one hearthstone, but now we are separated and some have crossed the river that has no bridge, others are preparing to go. "Now the family is parted, Will it be complete some day? Will the circle be unbroken, Bye and bye, bye and bye, In a better home awaiting, In the sky, in the sky?" As an aged Scotch mother lay dying, her husband sat by her side. She was ninety-three and he was ninety-five. They had been companions more than seventy years. When the darkness of death began to gather ’round her, she looked up into his face and said, "Donald, it’s getting late, isn’t it?" He answered, "Yes, wife; it’s getting late." "Donald, are the boys all in?" "Yes, wife, the boys are all in." The last one had gone home to glory more than fifteen years before. "Husband, I’ll soon be in too, won’t I?" "Yes, Janet you’ll soon be in." "Donald, will you be in soon?" "Yes, Janet by the grace of God, I’ll be in soon." And the aged Scotch mother went home to be with Jesus. I wonder if mother’s boys and mother’s girls are all in the kingdom. If not won’t you come to Him now, and you shall not want for any good thing in this life, neither in that which is to come. * * * * * * * THE END ======================================================================== Source: https://sermonindex.net/books/writings-of-jarrette-e-aycock/ ========================================================================