Quiet Talks with World Winners

By

S. D. Gordon

Author of "Quiet Talks on Power, " "Quiet Talks About Jesus, " "Quiet Talkson Personal Problems, " Etc. 

Contents

I. World-winning

 1. The Master Passion 2. The Master's Plan 3. The Need 4. The Present Opportunity 5. The Pressing Emergency 6. The Past Failure 7. The Coming Victory

II. Winning Forces

 1. The Church 2. Each One of Us 3. Jesus 4. The Holy Spirit 5. Prayer 6. Money 7. Sacrifice

The Master Passion

 The Earliest Calvary Picture. The Love Passion. Mother-love. The Genesis Picture. God Giving Himself. God's Fellow. The Genesis Water-mark. A Human Picture of God. On a Wooing Errand. Jesus' World-passion. 

The Master Passion

The Earliest Calvary Picture. 

There's a great passion burning in the heart of God. It is tenderly warmand tenaciously strong. Its fires never burn low, nor lose their fineglow. That passion is to win man back home again. The whole world of manis included in its warm, eager reach. 

The old home hearth-fire of God is lonely since man went away. The familycircle is broken. God will not rest until that old home circle is completeagain, and every voice joining in the home songs. 

It is an overmastering passion, the overmastering passion of God'sheart. It has guided and controlled all His thoughts and plans for manfrom the first. The purpose of winning man, and the whole race, back againis the dominant gripping passion of God's heart to-day. Everything is madeto bend to this one end. 

When Eden's tragedy came so early, to darken the pages of this old Book, and, far worse, to darken the pages of human life, there is a greatglimpse of this passion of God's heart in the guarding of those Edengates. The presence of the angels with their sword of flame told plainlyof a day when man would be coming back again to the old Eden home of God. The place must be carefully guarded for him. 

This is a love passion, a passion of love. And love itself is the masterpassion both of the human heart and of God's heart. Nothing can grip andfill and sway the heart either of man or God like that. 

We would all easily agree that the greatest picture of God's marvellous, overmastering passion of love is seen in the cross. All men as they havecome to know that story have stood with heads bowed and bared before thelove revealed there. They have not understood it. They have quarrelledabout its meaning. But they have acknowledged its love and power as beyondthat of any other story or picture. 

However men may differ as to why Jesus died, and how His dying affects us, they all agree that the scene of the cross is the greatest revelation oflove ever known or ever shown. All theories of the atonement seem to belost sight of in one thought of grateful acknowledgment of a stupendouslove, as men are drawn together by the magnetism of the hill-top ofCalvary. 

But there is a wondrously clear foreshadowing of that tremendous crossscene in the earliest page of this old Book. Nowhere is love, God'spassion of love, made to stand out more distinctly and vividly than in thefirst chapter of Genesis. The after-scene of the cross uses intensercoloring; the blacks are inkier in their blackness; the reds deeper andredder; the contrasts sharper to the startling-point; yet there is nothingin the cross chapters of the Gospels not included fully in this first leafof revelation. But it has taken the light of the cross to open our eyes tosee how much is plainly there. Let us look at it a bit. 

The Love Passion. 

What is this greatest of passions called love? There is no word harder toget a satisfactory definition of. Because, whatever you say about it, there comes quickly to your mind some one who loves you, or you think ofthe passion that burns in your own heart for some one. And, as you thinkof that, no words that anybody may use seem at all strong enough, ortender enough, to tell what love is, as you know it in your own innerheart. 

Yet I think this much can be said--love is the tender, strong outgoing ofyour whole being to another. It is a passion burning like a fire withinyou, a soft-burning but intense fire within you, for some other one. Everymention of that name stirs the flame into new burning. Every passing orlingering thought of him or her is like fresh air making the flames leapup more eagerly. And each personal contact is a clearing out of all theashes, and a turning on of all the draughts, to feed new oxygen forstronger, fresher burning. 

There are many other things that seem like love. Kindliness andfriendliness, and even intenser emotions, use love's name for themselves. But though these have likenesses to love, they are not love. They havecaught something of its warm glow. A bit of the high coloring of itsflames plays on them. But they are not the real thing, only distantkinsfolk. The severe tests of life quickly reveal their lack. 

Love itself is really an aristocrat. It allows very, very few into itsinner circle, often only one. The real thing of love is never selfish. Nowwe know very well that in the thick of life the fine gold of love getsmixed up with the baser metals. It is very often overlaid, and shotthrough with much that is mean and low. Rank selfishness, both the coarsekind and the refined, cultured sort, seeks a hiding-place under its cloak. But the stuff mixed in it is not love, but a defiling of it. That is a bitof the slander it suffers for a time, from the presence in life of sin. 

Weeds with their poison, and snakes and spiders with their deadly venom, draw life from the sun. That is a bit of the bad transmuting the good, pure sun into its own sort. The sun itself never produces poison or anyhurtful thing. 

Love itself is never mean, nor bad, nor selfish. The man who truly lovesthe woman whom he would have for his own lifelong, closest companion isnot selfish. He does not want her chiefly for his own sake, but for hersake, that so he may guard and care for her, and her life be fully grownin the sunlight of the love it must have. And, if you think that isidealizing it out of all practical reach, please remember that true lovewill steadily refuse the union that would not be best for the loved one. 

What is the finest and highest love that we know? There are many differentsorts and degrees of love revealed in man's relation with his fellow:conjugal, the love between husband and wife; paternal, the love of afather for his child; maternal, the mother's love for her child; filial, the love of children for father and mother; fraternal, or brotherly, meaning really the love of children of the same parents for each other, both brothers and sisters--the same word is used for love between friendswhere there is no tie of blood; and patriotic, or love for one's country. And under that last word may be loosely grouped the love that one may havefor any special object, to which he may devote his life, outside ofpersonal relationships, such as music or any profession or occupation. 

This is putting them in their logical order. Though in our experience weknow the father-and mother-love for ourselves first; and then in turn theothers, so far as they come to us, until we complete the circle and reachthe climax of father-and mother-love in ourselves going out to another. 

Mother-love. 

Now of these sorts and degrees which is the highest and finest? Well, youranswer to that question will depend entirely on your own experience; asevery answer and every thought we have of everything does. All childrenhave mothers, or have had, but thousands of children don't know a mother'slove. 

I was speaking one time in New York City about the conception, of whichthe Bible is so full, that God is a mother. And the English evangelistGypsy Smith, who lost his mother when very young, but who had an unusuallydevoted father, said with charming simplicity that he could not just seehow God could be called a mother, but he knew He was a father. And then hewent on to speak very winsomely of God as a father. 

Many times love is not born in the heart at all, until there comes intothe life some one clear outside of one's own kin. Many a woman never knowslove until it is awakened in her heart by him who henceforth is to be apart of herself. 

But the common answer, that most people everywhere give to that question, is that a mother's love is the greatest human love we know. And if youpress them to tell why they think so, this stands out oftenest andstrongest--that it is because she gives so much of herself. She gives hervery life. If need be, she sacrifices everything in life, and thensacrifices life itself, going out into the darkness of death that herchild may come into fulness and sweetness of life. This is the motherspirit, giving one's very self to bring life to another. 

The mother gives her very life-blood that the new life may come. And, ifneed be, will gladly give her life out to the death that the new lifemay come into life. And yet more, she gives her life out daily and yearly, throughout its length, that so the full strength and fragrance of life maycome in her child's life. 

Yet, when all this has been said, I am strongly inclined to think that themother's love, though the greatest that can be found in any one heart, isnot the perfect, fully grown love. The human unit is not a man nor awoman, but a man and a woman. Perfect love requires more than one or twofor its matured growth into full life. It cannot exist in its fullstrength and fragrant sweets except where three are joined together todraw out its full depth and meaning. 

There must be two whose hearts are fully joined in love, each findinganswering and ever-satisfying love in the other; and so each love growingto full ripeness in the warm sunshine of the other love. And then thereneeds to be a third one, who comes as a result of that mutual love, andwho constantly draws out the love of the other two. 

For love in itself is creative. It yearns to bring into being another uponwhom it may freely lavish itself. That other one must be of its own sort, upon its own level. Nothing less ever satisfies. And so the love pouredout draws out to itself an answering love fully as full as its own. Andthen, having yearned, it does more. It creates. It must create. It mustbring forth life; and life like its own in all its powers and privileges. This is the very life of love in its full expression. 

Yet to say all this is simply to spell out fully, in all its letters andsyllables, the great, the greatest of passions, mother-love, which weagreed a moment ago was the highest. For mother-love is not restricted towoman, though among us humans it often finds its brightest expressions inher. It knows no restriction of sex. It is simply love at its fullest andhighest and freest and tenderest; free to do as it will, and to do it asfully as it will. Love left to itself, free to do as its heart dictates, will give its very self, its life, that life may come to another. This isthe great passion called love, the greatest of all passions. 

The Genesis Picture. 

Now, maybe you think we have swung pretty far away from that first chapterof the Genesis revelation. No; you are mistaken there. We have beenwalking, with rapid stride, by the shortest road, straight into its innerheart. Let us look a bit at the picture of God sketched for us in thisearliest page of revelation. 

There are two creations here, first of the earth, man's home; and then ofman himself who was to live in the home. Here at once in the beginning ismother-love. Before the new life comes the mother is absorbed in gettingthe home ready; the best and softest and homiest home that her mother-lovecan think of, and her fingers fix. The same mother instinct in the birdsspends itself in getting the nest ready, and then patiently broods untilthe new occupants come to take possession. 

The Bible never calls God a mother, though the mother language, as here, is used of Him many times. It takes more of the human to tell the divine. You must take many words, and several of our human relationships, and putthem together, in the finest meaning of each, to get near the full meaningof what God is. Up on the higher level, with God, the word "father" reallyincludes all that both father and mother mean to us. 

The word "father" is even used once of God in what we think of as thestrict mother sense. In speaking of God's early care of the Hebrews Paulsays, "as a nursing-father bore he them in the wilderness. "[1] That word"nursing-father" is peculiar in coupling the distinctive function of themother in caring for the babe with the word father. 

The word "father" applied to God includes not only our meaning of fatherin all its strength as we know it at its best; but all of the meaning ofthe word "mother, " in all its sweet fragrance, as we have had it breathedinto our own very life. 

We have come commonly to think of the word mother as a tenderer word thanfather. Though I have met many, both men and women, who unconsciouslyrevealed that their experience has made father the tenderer, and thetenderest word to them. Father stands commonly for the stronger, morerugged qualities; and mother for the finer, gentler, sweeter, maybesofter qualities, in the strong meaning of that word soft. 

God Giving Himself. 

Here in this Genesis story the creation of the whole sun-system to givelife to the earth, and of the earth itself, was the outward beginning ofthis greatest passion of love in the heart of God. And if you would knowmore of that love in this early stage of it, just look a bit at the homeitself. It has been pretty badly mussed, soiled and hurt by sin's foultouch. Yet even so it is a wonder of a world in its beauty andfruitfulness. What must it have been before the slime and tangle of singot in! But that's a whole story by itself. We must not stop there justnow. 

When the home was ready God set Himself to bringing the new life He wasplanning. And He did it, even as father and mother of our human kind andof every other kind do:--He gave some of Himself. He breathed into man Hisown life-breath. He came Himself, and with the warmth and vitality of Hislife brought a new life. The new life was a bit of Himself. 

That phrase, "breathed into his nostrils, " brings to us the conception ofthe closest personal, physical contact; two together in most intimatecontact, and life passing from one to the other. The picture of Elijahstretching his warm body upon that of the widow's son until thelife-breath came again comes instinctively to mind. And its companionscene comes with it, of Elisha lying prone upon the child, mouth tomouth, eye to eye, hand to hand, until the breath again softly reenteredthat little, precious body. 

And if all this seems too plain and homely a way to talk about the greatGod, let us remember it is the way of this blessed old Book. It is theonly way we shall come to know the marvellous intimacy and tenderness ofGod's love, and of God's touch upon ourselves. 

How shall we talk best about God so as to get clear, sensible ideas aboutHim? Why not follow the rule of the old Bible? Can we do better? Itconstantly speaks of Him in the language that we use of men. The scholars, with their fondness for big words, say the Bible is anthropomorphic. Thatsimply means that it uses man's words, and man's ideas of things intelling about God. It makes use of the common words and ideas, that manunderstands fully, to tell about the God, whom he doesn't know. Couldthere be a more sensible way? Indeed, how else could man understand?

Some dear, godly people have sometimes been afraid of the use of simple, homely language in talking about God. To speak of Him in the commonlanguage of every-day life, the common talk of home and kitchen, and shopand street and trade, seems to them lacking in due reverence. Do theyforget that this is the language of the common people? And of our good oldAnglo-Saxon Bible? Has anybody ever yet used as blunt homely, talk as thisold Book uses? And has any other book stuck into people's memories andhearts with such burr-like hold as it has?

That breathing by God into man's nostrils of the breath of life suggeststhe intensest concentration of strength and thought and heart. The wholeheart of God went out to man in that breath that brought life. 

God's Fellow. 

The whole thought of God's heart was to have a man like Himself. Overand over again, with all the peculiar emphasis of repetition, it is saidthat the man was to be in the very image, or likeness, of God. God gaveHimself that the man might be a bit of Himself. Here is the love-passion, the mother-passion, the father-mother-passion, in its highest mood, and atits own finest work. 

The man was to be the very best, that so he might have fellowship of themost intimate sort with God. Of course, only those who are alike can havefellowship. Only in that particular thing which any two have in common canthey have fellowship together. Let me use a common word in its old, fine, first meaning: man was made to be God's fellow, His most intimateassociate and companion. 

As you read this early story in Genesis of God's passion of love, youknow, if you stop to think into it, that if ever the need for it came, Hewill climb any Calvary hill, however steep, and receive the jagging nailsof any cross, however cutting, for the sake of His darling child--man. 

This love-passion never faileth. There is no emergency that can arisethat is too great for love's resources. Any danger, however great, everyneed, no matter how distressing, is already provided for by love. Theemergency may sorely test and tax love to its last limit, but it can neveroutdo it, nor outstrip it in the race. No matter how great the danger, love is a bit greater. No matter how strong the enemy threatening, love isalways yet stronger. However deep down into the very vitals of life thepoison-sting may sink its fangs, love goes yet deeper, neutralizing thedeadly influence with its own fresh life-blood. 

Have you ever looked into a single drop of water and seen the sun? thewhole of that brilliant ball of fire there in one tiny drop of water?Well, there's one word on this first leaf of the Book which contains theclear reflection, sharply outlined, of the whole creation story; ah! yes, more than that, of the whole Gospel story. 

Come here and look; you can see in its clear surface the form of a manclimbing a little, steep hill, and being hung, thorn-crowned, upon a crossof pain and shame. It is in chapter one, verse two, the word "brooding. "The old version and the Revision, both English and American, have the word"moved. " The Revisions add "brooding" in the margin. And that is the rootmeaning of the word underneath our English--"brooding, " or, rendered morefully, "was brooding tremulous with love. "

The Genesis Water-mark. 

That English word "brooding, " as well as the old word underneath, is amother word. The brooding hen sits so faithfully, day after day, upon theeggs, bringing the new lives by the vital warmth of her own body. Themother-bird nestles softly down upon the nest in the crotch of the tree, patiently, expectantly brooding, by the strength of her own life givinglife to the coming young. She who, in the holiest, greatest functionentrusted to her, comes nearest to God in creative power and love--themother of our human kind, broods for long months over her coming child, giving her very life, until the crisis of birth comes; and then broodsstill, for months and years longer, that the new life may come intofulness of life. That is the great word used here. 

Now, will you please notice very keenly the connection in which it occurs. It was because the earth was "waste and void, and darkness upon the faceof the deep, " that the Spirit of God was brooding. It is only fair to saythat our scholarly friends who think in Hebrew are divided as to themeaning here. Some think that these words, "waste and void, " simplyindicate a stage, or step, in the processes of creation. 

But others of them are just as positive in saying that the words pointplainly to a disaster of some sort that took place. In their view thewhole story of creation is in the ten opening words of the chapter. Thenfollows a bad break of some sort; then the brooding of God in verse two;and the rest of the chapter is taken up in what is practically a reshapingup again of the whole affair. Some of this second group of Hebrew scholarshave made this translation, --"the earth became a waste, " or "a wreck, " or"a ruin, " or "without inhabitant. "

If we may so read it now, it gives a world of additional meaning to thisword "brooding. " Here was love not merely giving life, but giving itselfto overcome a disaster. The brooding was to mend a break. Love creates. Italso redeems. It stoops down with great patience, and washes the dirt andfilth thoroughly off, in the best cleansing liquid to be found, and bringsthe cleansed, redeemed man back again. 

Love does indeed create. It gave man the power to choose freely, withoutany restriction, whatever he would choose to choose. Redeeming love doesmore. It woos him to choose the right, and only the right. It gets down byhis side after his eyesight has become twisted, and his will badly kinkedby wrong choosing, and patiently, persistently works to draw him up to thelevel of choosing right. Love makes us like God in the power of choice. But there's a greater task ahead. It makes us yet more like Him in thedesire to choose only the right, and in the power to choose it, too. Allthis is in that marvellous world of a word--"brooding. "

The whole story of the sacrifice of Calvary is included in this wondrousfirst leaf of revelation. If we had lost the Gospels, and didn't knowtheir story, nor the history of man, we yet could know from this Genesispage that, if ever the need arose, God would lavishly give out His verylife, at any cost of suffering and pain, that His man might be saved. John, three, sixteen is in the first chapter of Genesis. Calvary is in thecreation. God gave His breath to man in creation, and His blood for man onCalvary. He gave His blood because He had given His breath. Each was Hisvery life. 

You know the way publishers have of putting an imprint in a book by meansof what is called a water-mark. By the skilful use of water inmanufacturing the paper, a name or trade imprint is made a part of thevery paper of which the book is made. 

Have you ever noticed God's water-mark on the paper of this first leaf ofHis Book? Hold your Bible up as we talk; separate this first leaf and holdit up to the light and try to see through it. The best light to use isthat which came from Calvary. Can you see the water-mark plainly imprintedthere? Look closely and carefully, for it is there. In clear-cut outline, every bit of it showing sharply out, is a cross. And if you look stillmore closely you will find this water-mark different from those in commonuse, in this--there is a distinct blood-red tinge to it. 

A Human Picture of God. 

Illustrations of God from our common life are never full, and must not betaken too critically, but they are sometimes wonderfully vivid and veryhelpful. Anything that makes God seem real and near helps. 

A few years ago I heard a simple story of real life from the lips of a NewEngland clergyman. It was told of a brother clergyman of the samedenomination, and stationed in the same city with the man who told me. 

This clergyman had a son, about fourteen years of age, who, of course, wasgoing to school. One day the boy's teacher called at the house and askedfor the father. When they met he said:

"Is your son sick?"

"No; why?"

"He was not at school to-day. "

"You don't mean it!"

"Nor yesterday. "

"Indeed!"

"Nor the day before. "

"Well!"

"And I supposed he was sick. "

"No, he's not sick. "

"Well, I thought I should tell you. "

And the father thanked him, and the teacher left. The father sat thinkingabout his son, and those three days. By and by he heard a click at thegate, and he knew the boy was coming in. So he went to the door to meethim at once. And the boy knew as he looked up that the father knew aboutthose three days. 

And the father said, "Come into the library, Phil. "

And Phil went and the door was shut. 

Then the father said very quietly, "Phil, your teacher was here a littlewhile ago. He tells me you were not at school to-day, nor yesterday, northe day before. And we thought you were. You let us think you were. Andyou don't know how bad I feel about this. I have always said I could trustmy boy Phil. I always have trusted you. And here you have been a livinglie for three whole days. I can't tell you how bad I feel about it. "

Well, it was hard on the boy to be talked to in that gentle way. If hisfather had spoken to him roughly, or had taken him out to the wood-shed, in the rear of the dwelling, it wouldn't have been nearly so hard. 

Then the father said, "We'll get down and pray. " And the thing was gettingharder for Phil all the time. He didn't want to pray just then. Mostpeople don't about that time. 

And they got down on their knees, side by side. And the father poured outhis heart in prayer. And the boy listened. Somehow he saw himself in thelooking-glass of his knee-joints as he hadn't before. It is queer aboutthat mirror of the knee-joints, the things you see in it. Most peopledon't like to use it much. And they got up from their knees. The father'seyes were wet. And Phil's eyes were not dry. 

Then the father said, "My boy, there's a law of life, that where there issin there is suffering. You can't get those two things apart. Whereverthere is suffering there has been sin, somewhere, by somebody. Andwherever there is sin there will be suffering, for some one, somewhere;and likely most for those closest to you. "

"Now, " he said, "my boy, you have done wrong. So we'll do this. You goup-stairs to the attic. I'll make a little bed for you there in thecorner. We'll bring your meals up to you at the usual times. And you stayup in the attic three days and three nights, as long as you've been aliving lie. " And the boy didn't say a word. They climbed the attic steps. The father kissed his boy, and left him alone. 

Supper-time came, and the father and mother sat down to eat. But theycouldn't eat for thinking of their son. The longer they chewed on the foodthe bigger and drier it got in their mouths. And swallowing was clear outof the question. And the mother said, "Why don't you eat?" And he saidsoftly, "Why don't you eat?" And, with a catch in her throat, she said, "I can't, for thinking of Phil. " And he said, "That's what's botheringme. "

And they rose from the supper-table, and went into the sitting-room. Hetook up the evening paper, and she began sewing. His eyesight was not verygood. He wore glasses, and to-night they seemed to blur up. He couldn'tsee the print distinctly. It must have been the glasses, of course. So hetook them off, and wiped them with great care, and then found the paperwas upside-down. And she tried to sew. But the thread broke, and shecouldn't seem to get the thread into the needle again. How we all revealourselves in just such details!

By and by the clock struck ten, their usual hour of retiring. But theymade no move to go. And the mother said quietly, "Aren't you going tobed?" And he said, "I'm not sleepy, I think I'll sit up a while longer;you go. " "No, I guess I'll wait a while too. " And the clock struck eleven;then the hands clicked around close to twelve. And they arose, and went tobed; but not to sleep. Each one pretended to be asleep. And each knew theother was not asleep. 

After a bit she said--woman is always the keener--"Why don't you sleep?"And he said softly, "How did you know I wasn't sleeping? Why don't yousleep?" And she said, with that same queer catch in her voice, "I can't, for thinking of Phil. " He said, "That's the bother with me. " And the clockstruck one; and then two; still no sleep. At last the father said, "Mother, I can't stand this. I'm going up-stairs with Phil. "

And he took his pillow, and went softly out of the room; climbed the atticsteps softly, and pressed the latch softly so as not to wake the boy if hewere asleep, and tiptoed across to the corner by the window. There the boylay, wide-awake, with something glistening in his eyes, and what lookedlike stains on his cheeks. And the father got down between the sheets, andthey got their arms around each other's necks, for they had always beenthe best of friends, and their tears got mixed up on each other'scheeks--you couldn't have told which were the father's and which theson's. Then they slept together until the morning light broke. 

When sleep-time came the second night the father said, "Good-night, mother. I'm going up with Phil again. " And the second night he shared hisboy's punishment in the attic. And the third night when sleep-time cameagain, again he said, "Mother, good-night. I'm going up with the boy. " Andthe third night he shared his son's punishment with him. 

That boy, now a man grown, in the thews of his strength, my acquaintancetold me, is telling the story of Jesus with tongue of flame and life offlame out in the heart of China. 

Do you know, I think that is the best picture of God I have ever runacross in any gallery of life? It is not a perfect picture. No humanpicture of God is perfect, except of course the Jesus human picture. Theboy's punishment was arbitrarily chosen by the father, unlike God'sdealings with our sin. But it is the tenderest and most real of any thathas come to me. 

God couldn't take away sin. It's here. Very plainly it is here. And Hecouldn't take away suffering, out of kindness to us. For suffering issin's index-finger pointing out danger. It is sin's voice calling loudly, "Look out! there's something wrong. " So He came down in the person of HisSon, Jesus, and lay down alongside of man for three days and nights, inthe place where sin drove man. 

That's God! And that suggests graphically the great passion of His heart. Sin was not ignored. Its lines stood sharply out. The boy in the garrethad two things burned into his memory, never to be erased: the wrong ofhis own sin, and the strength of his father's love. 

Jesus is God coming down into our midst and giving His own very life, andthen, more, giving it out in death, that He might make us hate sin, andmight woo and win the whole world, away from sin, back to the intimaciesof the old family circle again. 

On a Wooing Errand. 

Jesus was a mirror held up to the Father's face for man to look in. So wemay know what the Father is like. When you look at Jesus and listen to Himyou are looking into the Father's heart and listening to its warmthrobbing. And no one can look there without being caught by the greatpassion burning there, and feeling its intense soft-burning glow, andcarrying some of it for ever after in his own heart. 

Jesus was on a wooing errand to the earth. The whole spirit of Hisdealings with men was that of a great lover, wooing them to the Father. Hewas insistently eager to let men know what His Father was like. He seemedjealous of His Father's reputation among men. It had been slandered badly. Men misunderstood the Father. He would leave no stone unturned to let menknow how good and loving and winsome God is. For then they would eagerlyrun back home again to Him. This was His method of approach to the worldHe came to win. 

Jesus is the greatest wooer the old world has ever known, and will be thegreatest winner of what He is after, too. Run thoughtfully through theseGospels, and stand by Jesus' side in each one of these simple, tremendousincidents of His contact with the common people. Then listen anew to Histeaching talks, so homely and so gripping. And the impression becomesirresistible that the one thought that gripped at every turn, neverforgotten, was to woo man back to the Father's allegiance. 

Jesus' World-passion. 

Have you not marked the world-wide swing of Jesus' thought and plan? Itis stupendous in its freshness and bold daring. The bigness of His idea ofthe thing to be done is immense. To use a favorite phrase of to-day, Hehad a world-consciousness. It is hard for us to realize what a startlingthing His world-consciousness was. We are so familiar with the Gospelsthat we lose much of their force through mere rote of familiarity. 

It takes a determined effort, and the fresh touch of the Holy Spirit, too, to have them come with all the freshness of a new book. And then we havegotten sort of used in our day, and in our part of the world especially, to talking about world-wide enterprises. 

We don't realize what a stupendous thing a world-consciousness was inJesus' day. He certainly did not get it from His own generation; not fromthe Jews. It stands out in keen contrast to their ideas. They lived withinvery narrow alleyways. They supposed they were the favorites of God; andeverybody else--dogs, and damned dogs, too; not in the profane usage, but actually. 

But Jesus thought of a world, and yearned for a world. The words "world"and "earth" are constantly on His lips. He said He came "into the world;"not to Palestine; that was only the door He used for entrance. It was fromHim that John learned, what he wrote down, that He was to "lighten everyman that cometh into the world. "

To the Jewish senator of the inner national circle He said plainly in thatgreat sentence that contains the gist of the whole Bible--John, three, sixteen--that it was a world he was after. A saved world was the onepurpose of His errand to the earth. He had come to "save the world, "[2]and would stop at nothing short of giving His very self "for the life ofthe world. "

He tells His own inner circle that "the field" is a world. And that itis to be won by the means He Himself was using; namely, men, human beings, "sons of the kingdom"[3] were to be sown as seed all over its vast extent. 

You remember, that last week, the request of the Greeks for aninterview?[4] The outside non-Jewish world came to Him in the visit andearnest request of those Greeks. And His whole being became greatlyagitated. It was as when one, at last, after years of labor without anyseeming success, gets a first faint glimpse of the results he longs soearnestly for. Here was a touch, a glimpse of the very thing on which Hisheart was so set. The great outside world was coming to Him. 

The realization of its tremendous meaning, the sure promise it held of theday when all the world would be coming seems to set Him all a-tremblewith intensest emotion. The delight of the possible realizing of Hislife-dream, His earth errand, and yet the terrific conviction that only bytravelling the red road of the cross could that world be won, made afierce conflict within. It was the world-vision that agitated Him. 

And it was that same world-vision that held Him steady. He would notscatter. By concentrating all in one act He would generate and set off adynamic power on Calvary that would shake and then shape a world. Theknowledge that all men would be irresistibly drawn by the loadstone of thecross steadied His steps. 

A few days later, as He sat resting a bit, on the side of the Hill ofOlivet, the disciples earnestly ask for some idea of His plan. And Heexplains that the Gospel was to be "preached to the whole inhabitedearth. "[5] That conception was never out of His mind. How could it be!

But the great purpose and passion of His life stands out most sharply inthe words of that last imperial command. He shows the whole of His heartin that stirring "Go ye into all the world and make disciples of allthe nations"; "preach the gospel to the whole creation. " The passion ofJesus' heart was to win the world. And that passion has grown intenser inwaiting. To-day more than ever the one passion of yonder enthroned Man isto win His world. Everything else bends to that with Him. Nothing lesswill satisfy His heart. 

Now, the God-touched man is always swayed by the same purpose and passionas sway God. The passion of every God-touched man, fresh from directcontact with Him, is to win the whole world up to God. Everything will beheld under the strong thumb of this, and made to fit and bend and blendinto it. 

The Master's Plan

 Will the World Be Won? Some Bad Drifts. Great Incidental Blessings. The World Really Lost. God's Method of Saving. The Programme of World-winnng. Early Moorings. Service Unites. The World-winning Climb. 

The Plan

Will the World Be Won?

The great passion of God's heart is a love-passion. Love never fails. Itwaits and, if need be, waits long; but it never fails to get what it iswaiting for. Love sacrifices; though it never uses that word. It doesn'tknow it is sacrificing, it is so absorbed in its gripping purpose. Theremay be keen-cutting pain, but it is clean forgotten in the passion thatburns within. God means to win His world of men back home to Himself. 

But some earnest friend is thinking of an objection to all this talk abouta world being won. You are taken all anew with the great picture of God'spassion of love in the opening page of this old Book. But all the time wehave been talking together you have been having a cross-cutting train ofthought underneath. It has been saying, "Isn't this going a bit too far?will the whole world be won?"

Let us talk over that a bit. We have been used all our lives to hearingabout soul-winning. We have been urged, more or less, to do it. Afavorite motto in some Christian workers' convention has been, "Win one. "But this idea of winning the world has not been preached. At first itdoesn't seem exactly orthodox. 

The old-time preaching, of which not so much is heard now, except inrestricted quarters, is that the whole world is lost; and that we are tosave people out of it. We used to be told that the world is bad, and onlybad; bad beyond redemption, and doomed. In his earlier years Mr. Moodyused to say often with his great earnestness that this was a doomed world, and that the great business of life was to save men out of it. 

But of late years there has been a distinct swing away from this sort ofpreaching and talking. Everything we humans do seems to go by the clockmovement, the pendulum swing: first one side, then the other. Now we heara very different sort of preaching. This is really a good world. There issome wickedness in it, to be sure. Indeed, there is quite a great deal ofit. But in the main it is not a bad world, we're told. 

The old-time preaching was chiefly concerned with getting ready forheaven. Now it is concerned, for most part, with living pure, true livesright here on the earth. And that change is surely a good one. But it isalso the common thing to be told that the world is not nearly so bad as wehave been led to believe. 

Some Bad Drifts. 

It is striking that with that has come a change of talk about sin, thething that was supposed to be responsible for making the world so bad. Sinis not such a damnable thing now, apparently. It is largelyconstitutional weakness, or prenatal predilection, or the idiosyncrasy ofindividuality. (Big words are in favor here. They always make such talkseem wise and plausible. ) Heaven has slipped largely out of view;and--hell, too, even more. Churchmen in the flush of phenomenal materialprosperity, with full stomachs and luxurious homes and pews, are wellcontent with things as they are in this present world, and don't proposeto move. 

And with that it is easy to believe what we are freely told, that there isreally no need of giving our Christian religion to the heathen world. Those peoples have religions of their own that are remarkably good. Atleast they are satisfactory to them. Why disturb them? They are doing verywell. This talk about their being lost, and needing a Savior, is reckonedout of date. The old common statements about so many thousands dyingdaily, and going out into a lost eternity, are not liked. They are calledlurid. And, indeed, they are not used nearly so much now as once. 

This swing away has had a great influence upon the mass of church-members, and upon their whole thought of the foreign-mission enterprise. There is avaguely expressed, but distinctly felt idea both in the Church and outsideof it, for the two seem to overlap as never before--that the sending ofmissionaries is really not to save peoples from being lost. That sort oftalk is almost vulgar now. 

Mission work is really a sort of good-natured neighborliness. It isbenevolent humanitarianism in which we may all help, more or less (usuallyless), regardless of our beliefs or lack of beliefs, our church-membershipor attendance. We should show these heathen our improved methods ofliving. We have worked out better plans of housekeeping and schooling, ofteaching and doctoring, and farming and all the rest of it. And now wewant to help these poor deficient peoples across the seas. 

We think we are a superior people in ourselves, as well as in our type ofcivilization, decidedly so. And having taken good care of ourselves, andlaid up a good snug sum, we can easily afford to help these backwardfar-away neighbors a bit. It is really the thing to do. 

Such seems to be the general drift of much of the present-day talk aboutforeign missions. The Church, and its members individually, have grown sorich that we have forgotten that we were ever poor. The table is so loadedwith dainties that we are quite willing to be generous with the crumbs, even cake crumbs. 

Great Incidental Blessings. 

Now, without doubt the sending of the missionaries has vastly improvedconditions of human life in the foreign-mission lands. The missionarieshave been the forerunners of great improvements. They have been thepioneers blazing out the paths along which both trade and diplomacy havegone with the newer and better civilization of the West. Civilization hasdeveloped marvellously in the western half of the world. And themissionaries have been its advance agents into the stagnant East, and thesavage wilds of the southern hemisphere. 

Full, accurate knowledge of nature's resources and laws, and adaptation ofthat knowledge to practical uses, have been among the most markedconditions of the western world during the past century. And, as a result, education, medical and hygienic and sanitary science, development of theearth's soil, and resources above and below the soil, have gone forward byimmense strides. So far as is known, our progress in such matters exceedsall previous achievements in the history of the race. 

And some of all this has been seeping into the heathen world. It hasn'tgotten in far yet; only into the top soil, and about the edges, so far. The progress in this regard has seemed both rapid and slow. When the greatmass of these peoples have not yet gotten even a whiff of the purer, better civilization air of the western nations the progress seems slow. But when we remember the incalculably tremendous inertia, and thestrangely stagnant spirit of heathen lands, it seems rapid. 

The effort to get the heathen world simply to clean up; to open thewindows and let in some fresh air, and use plain soap and water to scruboff the actual dirt makes one think of the typical small boy's dislike ofbeing washed up. It has been a hard job. Yet a great beginning has beenmade. The boy seems to be beginning to find out that his face is dirty, and feels dirty. And that is an enormous gain. 

The World Really Lost. 

Yet while this is good, and only good, it isn't the thing we are drivingat in missions. While it would fully warrant all the expenditures ofmoney, and vastly more than has yet been given, it should be said inclearest, most ringing tones that all this is merely incidental. It isblessed. It is sure to come. It is remarkable that it always has comewhere the Gospel of Jesus is preached. 

Yet this is not the thing aimed at in missions. The one driving purpose isto carry to men a Saviour from sin. And to take Him so earnestly andwinsomely that men yonder shall be wooed and won to the real God, whomthey have lost knowledge of. 

It cannot be said too plainly that the world is lost. It has strayed sofar away from the Father's house that it has lost all its bearings, andcan't find its way back without help. The old preaching that this is alost world, is true. 

But we need to remember the different uses of that word "world. " In theold-time conception it was used in a loose way as meaning the spirit thatactuates men in the world. The scheme of selfishness and wickedness andsinfulness which has overcast all life is commonly spoken of in the Bibleas the world spirit. In that sense the world is bad, and only bad. Menare to be saved out of it, as Moody said. 

But, in the other commoner use of it, that word "world" simply means thewhole race of men. And we must remind ourselves vigorously of the plaintruth that this is a lost world. That is to say, men have gotten away fromGod. They completely misunderstand Him. Then they do more, and worse, theymisrepresent and slander Him. The result is complete lack of trust in Him. They have lost their moorings, and have drifted out to deep sea with nocompass on board. Thick fogs have risen and shut out sun and stars andevery guiding thing. They are hopelessly and helplessly lost, and needsome one to bring the compass so as to get back to shore, back home toGod. 

But this world of men is to be won. Jesus said He came to save a world. And He will not fail nor rest content until He has done it, and this hasbecome a saved world. He said that He gave His life for the life of theworld. And the world will yet know the fulness of that life of Histhrobbing in its own heart. 

This does not mean that all men will be saved. There seems to be clearevidence in the Book that some will insist on preferring their own way toGod's. And I am sure I do not know anything except what the Book teaches. It is the only reliable source of information I have been able to find sofar. It must be the standard, because it is the standard. 

There will be a group of stubborn irreconcilables holding out against allof God's tender pleading. John's Patmos vision of glory, with itsmarvellous beauty and sweep, has yet a lake of fire and a group of meninsisting upon going their own way. If a man choose that way, he may. Heis still in the likeness of God in choosing to leave out God. He remains asovereign in his own will even in the hell of his own choosing. 

God's Method of Saving. 

The method of saving is by winning. The Father would not be contentwith anything else. Such a thing as might be represented by throwing ablanket over the head of a horse in a burning stable, and so getting itout by coaxing, and forcing, and hiding the danger, is not to be thoughtof here. Sin is never smoothed over by God, nor its results, their badnessand their certainty. 

He would have us see the sin as ugly and damning as it actually is, andsee Him as pure and holy and winsome as He is; and then to reject the sinand choose Himself. The method of much modern charity, the long-rangecharity that helps by organization, without the personal relation and warmtouch, is unknown to God. He touches every man directly with His own warmheart, and appeals to Him at closest quarters. 

Man's highest power is his power of choosing. It is in that He is mostlike God. God's plan is to clear away the clouds, sweep down the cobwebsthat bother our eyes so, and let us get such a look at Himself that wewill be caught with the sight of His great face, and choose to come, andto come a-running back to Himself. The world will be saved by its ownchoosing to be. It will be saved by being won. Men will choose to leavesin and accept God's Saviour Jesus Christ. 

It is a great method. It is the only method God could use. The creativelove-passion of His heart was that we should choose Himself in preferenceto all else, and choose life with Him up on His level as the only life. 

And the method of winning is by getting each man's consent. The old cry ofsoul-winning is the true cry. It tells the method of work for us tofollow. Each man is to be won by his own free glad consent. There is to beno wholesaling except by retailing. In business the wholesale comes afterthe retail. It is the child and servant of the retail. 

Here the method is to be one by one; and the results, a great multitudebeyond the power of any arithmetic to count. Soul-winning is the method, and world-winning is the object and the final result. 

The Programme of World-winning. 

There is a programme of world-winning repeatedly outlined in this oldBook of God. That programme has not always been clearly understood. Indeed, it may be said that for the most part it has been misunderstood, and still is by many. And, as a result, many churchmen have lost theirbearings, and strayed far from the Master's plan for their own lives andservice. It helps greatly to get the programme clear in mind, so we cansteer a straight course, and not get confused nor lost. 

The first item of that programme is world-wide evangelization. That is thegreat service and privilege committed to the Church, and to everyChristian, for this present time. Every other service is second to this. This does not mean world-wide conversion. That comes later. It does mean afull, winsome telling of the story of Jesus' Gospel, to all nations and toall men. 

It means the doing of it by all sorts of helpful, sensible means; thehospital and medical dispensary, the school and college, the printed page, and the practical helping of men in every way that they can be helped. Above all, it means the warm, sympathetic, brotherly touch. Not simply bypreaching; that surely, but in addition to that the practical preaching ofthe Gospel by all of these means. . 

When that has been accomplished the Kingdom will come. The King will come, and with Him the Kingdom. There will be radical changes in all the moralconditions of the earth. It will be a time of greatly increasedevangelization, and of conversions of people in immense numbers. It willseem as if all were giving glad allegiance to Jesus the King. The worldwill then seem to be indeed a won world. 

But there will be many who have simply been swung into line outwardly bythe general movement among the mass of peoples, just as it always is. Andour King wants whole-hearted love and service. 

And so, at the end of the kingdom period, there will come another crisis. It is spoken of by John in his Revelation vision[6] as a loosing of Satan, and a renewal of his activity among men. That used to puzzle me a goodbit. I wondered why, when that foul fiend had once been securely fastenedup, he should be loosed again. But I'm satisfied that the reason is thatat the end of the Kingdom time there is to be full opportunity for thosewho are not at heart loyal to Jesus, and who simply bow to Him because thecrowd is doing so, to be perfectly free to do and go as they choose. 

Jesus wants a heart allegiance, and only that. The great thing is thatevery man shall freely choose as he really prefers. This it is that bothmakes and reveals character. And so there will be a final crisis. All whoat heart prefer to do so may swing away from Jesus. 

That crisis ends with the final and overwhelming defeat of Satan and allthe forces of evil. He goes to his own place, the place he has chosen andmade for himself; and all who prefer to leave God out will go by the moralgravitation of their own choice to that place with him. 

Then follows the full vision of a won world, which John pictures in suchglowing colors in these last two chapters of Revelation, as a city comedown from God out of heaven. 

Early Moorings. 

There are two leading passages that speak of this programme. You rememberthat during the last week of His life Jesus told His disciples of the fallof Jerusalem. They came earnestly asking for fuller information regardingthe future events. They asked when the present period of time would cometo an end. And in answering He said--and the answer became a pivotalpassage around which much else swings--that the Gospel of the Kingdomwould be preached in the whole inhabited earth for a testimony unto allnations. And then the end of the present age or period of time wouldcome[7]. 

The first council of the Christian Church was held as a result of theremarkable success attending the beginning of world-wide evangelization. It was held in Jerusalem to consider the serious question of what to dowith the great multitude of foreign or Gentile converts. 

The Church had been practically a Jewish church. But Paul had commencedhis remarkable series of world-wide preaching-tours. Great numbers of theoutside peoples had accepted Christ, and been organized into Christianchurches. Some of the Jewish Church in Jerusalem thought that all of theseshould become Jewish in their observance of the old Mosaic requirements. Both Paul and Peter, the two great church leaders, object to this. 

It is at the close of the conference that James, who was presiding, outlines in his decision the programme of world-winning of which we aretalking together[8]. He quotes from the prophecy of Joel. He says thereare to be three steps or stages in working out God's plan. 

First of all is the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus to all the nations, in which work Paul had been so earnestly engaged, and the remarkablesuccess of which it was that had given rise to the whole discussion. Whenthis has been completed the kingdom is to be established with the nationof Israel in the central place, the tabernacle of David set up, as hequotes it. The purpose of this is that all the rest of the peoples on theearth, all the nations, "may seek after the Lord. "

The purpose of the Kingdom is the same, in the main, as is now the purposeof the Church. It is to push forward on broader lines, and more vigorouslythan ever, the work of bringing all men back to the Father's house. 

There are many other passages that might be referred to, but these willanswer our purpose just now. There is to be a won world, and the old Bookoutlines plainly just how and when it will be won. 

Service Unites. 

Now, I know that all ministers and Christian teachers are not agreed aboutthis. There has been a controversy in the Church, both long and sometimesbitter, unfortunately, about the Lord's return and the setting up of theKingdom. And I have no desire to take any part in that, but instead, astrong desire to keep out of it. There is too much pressing emergencyamong men for helpful service to spend any time or strength incontroversy. 

In a word it may be put this way. There are those who believe that Jesus'coming is a thing to be expected as likely to occur at any time, or withinour lifetime, within any generation. His coming is to be the beginning ofthe Kingdom period, when all peoples will be loyal to Him. 

The others believe that the preaching of the Gospel will bring the wholeworld into allegiance, and that will be the Kingdom, and then Jesus willreturn. Both agree fully that the thing to be desired, and that will come, is the world-wide acknowledgment of Jesus as Saviour and King. 

It may be added, however, that of later years there is a third great groupin the Church, which is really the largest of the three. These peoplepractically ignore the teaching about an actual return of Jesus to theearth. They believe that He has already come, and is continually coming inthe higher ideals, the better standards, and nobler spirit that pervadesociety. 

If it be true that the present preaching of the Gospel is to result inwinning the whole world at once, without waiting for this programme ofwhich I have spoken, then there is in that a very strong argument forworld-wide evangelization. For only so can the desired result be secured. And so we can heartily join hands together in service regardless of whatwe believe on this question. I make a rule not to ask a man on which sideof the question he stands, but to work with him hand in hand so far as Ican in spreading the glad good news of Jesus everywhere. 

The difference of view regarding the Lord's return need not affect thepractical working together of all earnest men. We are perfectly agreedthat the great thing is to have the story of Jesus' dying and rising againtold out earnestly and lovingly to all men. And we can go at that withgreatest heartiness, side by side. 

The great concern now is to make Jesus fully known. That is the plan forthe present time. It is a simple plan. Men who have been won are to be thewinners. Nobody else can be. The warm enthusiasm of grateful love mustburn in the heart and drive all the life. There must be simple, butthorough organization. 

The campaign should be mapped out as thoroughly as a Presidential campaignis organized here in our country. The purpose of a Presidential campaignis really stupendous in its object and sweep. It is to influence quickly, up to the point of decisive action, the individual opinion of millions ofmen, spread over millions of square miles, and that, too, in the face of avigorous opposing campaign to influence them the other way. The whole vastdistrict of country is mapped out and organized on broad lines and intothe smallest details. 

Strong brainy men give themselves wholly to the task, and spend hundredsof thousands of dollars within a few months. And then, four years later, they proceed as enthusiastically as before to go over the whole groundagain. We need as thorough organizing, as aggressive enthusiasm, and asintelligent planning for this great task which our Master has put into ourhands. 

And we have a driving motive power greater than any campaign-manager everhad or has--a Jesus who sets fire to one's whole being, with a passionof love that burns up every other flame. We need a Church as thoroughlyorganized, and every man in it with a burning heart for this greatservice. 

The World-winning Climb. 

An old school-master, talking to his class one morning, many years ago, told a story of an early experience he had had in Europe. He was one of aparty travelling in Switzerland. They had gotten as far as Chamounix, andwere planning to climb Mont Blanc. That peak, you know, is the highest ofthe Alps, and is called the monarch of European mountains. While it is nowascended every day in season, the climb is a very difficult task. 

It requires strength and courage and much special preparation; and isstill attended with such danger that the authorities of Chamounix havelaid down rigid regulations for those who attempt it. One's outfit must bereduced to the very lowest limit. And, of course, nothing else can be donewhile climbing. It absorbs all one's strength and thought. 

There were two parties in the little square of the town, making theirpreparations with the guides. One young Englishman disregarded all thedirections of the guides. He loaded himself with things which hepositively declared were absolutely essential to his plans. 

He had a small case of wine and some delicacies for his appetite. He had acamera with which he proposed to take views of himself and his party atdifferent stages of the climb. He had a batch of note-books in which heintended recording his impressions as he proceeded, which were afterwardto be printed for the information, and, he hoped, admiration of the world. A picturesque cap and a gayly colored blanket were part of his outfit. 

The old toughened guides, experienced by many a severe tug and storm inthe difficulties ahead, protested earnestly. But it made no impression onthe ambitious youth. At last they whispered together, and allowed him tohave his own way. And the party started. 

Six hours later the second party followed. At the little inn where theyspent the first night they found the wine and food delicacies. The guideslaughed. "The Englishman has found that he cannot humor his stomach if hewould climb Mont Blanc, " one of them said grimly. A little farther up theyfound the note-book and camera; still higher up, the gay robe and fancycap had been abandoned. And at last they found the young fellow at thesummit in leather jacket, exhausted and panting for breath. 

He had encountered heavy storms, and reached the top of the famousmountain only at the risk of his life. But he reached it. He had the realstuff in him, after all. Yet everything not absolutely essential had to besacrificed. And his ideas of the meaning of that word "essential"underwent radical changes as he labored up the steep. 

Then the old teacher telling the story suddenly leaned over his desk and, looking earnestly at the class, said, "When I was young I planned out mylife just as he planned out his climb. Food and clothing, and full recordsof my experiences for the world's information, figured in big. But atforty I cared only for such clothes as kept me warm, and at fifty only forsuch food as kept me strong. And so steep was the climb up to the top Ihad set my heart upon that at sixty I cared little for the opinions ofpeople, if only I might reach the top. And when I do reach it I shall notcare whether the world has a record of it or not. That record is in safetyabove. "

We laugh at the ambitious young Englishman. But will you kindly let mesay, plainly, without meaning to be critical in an unkind sense, thatmost of us do just as he did. And will you listen softly, while I saythis--many of us, when we find we can't reach the top with our loads, letthe top go, and pitch our tents in the plain, and settle down with oursmall plans and accessories. The plain seems to be quite full of tents. 

The plan of the Swiss guides is the plan for the life-climb. It is theplan, and the only one for us to follow in the world-winning climb. Thatwas Jesus' plan. He left behind and threw away everything that hindered, and at the last threw away life itself, that so the world might find life. We must follow Him. 

The Urgent Need

 Three Great Groups. The Needle Of The Compass Of Need. A Quick Run Round The World. West By Way Of The East. Christian Lands. The Greatest Need. Groping In The Dark. Living Messages Of Jesus. The Great Unknown Lack. 

The Need

Three Great Groups. 

The human heart is tender. It answers quickly to the cry of need. It isoftentimes hard to find. In Christian lands it is covered up withselfishness. And in heathen lands the selfishness seems so thickly crustedthat it is hard to awaken even common humanitarian feeling. 

But that heart once dug out, and touched, never fails to respond to thecry of need. We know how the cry of physical distress, of some greatdisaster, or of hunger will be listened to, and how quickly all menrespond to that. When the terrible earthquake laid San Francisco inburning ruins the whole nation stopped, and gave a great heart-throb; andthen commenced at once sending relief. Corporations that are ratedsoulless and men that are spoken of as money-mad, knocking each otherpitilessly aside in their greed for gold and power, all alike sent quickand generous help of every substantial sort. 

Beside expressing their sympathy in kindest and keenest word, they gavemillions of dollars. Yet this might seem to be a family affair, as indeedit was. But the great famines in India and in other foreign lands farthestremoved from us, have awakened a like response in our hearts. Great sumshave been given in money and supplies to feed the hunger of far-awaypeoples, and help them sow their fields and get a fresh start. 

There is a need far deeper and greater than that of physical suffering. And there is a heart far more tender than the best human heart. That needis to know God, whom to know is to enter into fulness of life, bothphysical and mental; and into that life of the spirit that is higher andsweeter than either of these lower down. And that tender heart is thehuman heart touched by the warm heart of God. 

Many of us Christian people who are gathered here to-night have hadunusual blessing in having our hearts touched into real life by the touchof God. And there's much more of the same sort waiting our fuller touchwith Him. And now we want to see to-night something of the needs of God'sgreat world-family, which is our own family because it is God's. Then weshall respond to it as freely and quickly and intelligently, as He Himselfdid and does. 

I am going to ask you to come with me for a brief journey around theworld. We want to get something of a clear, even though rapid view, of thewhole of this world of ours. For the whole world is a mission field. Missionaries are sent everywhere, including our own home-land, andincluding all of our cities. 

Our cities are as really mission fields as are the heathen lands. Thereis a difference, but it is only one of degree. The Christian standardspresent in our American life, and absent from these foreign-mission lands, make an enormous difference. But, apart from that great fact, the need ofmission service is as really in New York as it is in Shanghai. 

If we are to pray for the whole world, and to help in other ways to winit, we ought to try to get something of a clear idea of it, to help us inour thinking and praying and planning. 

It will help toward that if we remember at the outset that the world fromthe religious point of view, divides up easily into three great groups. First there are the great non-Christian, or heathen, lands and nations. This includes those called Mohammedan; for, while that religion is basedupon a partial Christian truth, it is so utterly corrupt in teaching andmorally foul in practice that it is distinctly classed with the heathenreligions. 

Then there are the lands and nations under the control of those two greatmediaeval historic forms of Christianity, the Roman and Greek Churches, inwhich the vital principles of the Christian life seem to have been almostwholly lost in a network of forms and organization. The essential truthsare there. But they are hidden away and covered up. There are untoldnumbers of true Christians there, but they live in a strangely cloudedtwilight. 

The third great group is of lands and peoples under the sway of theProtestant churches. 

The Needle of the Compass of Need. 

Let us look a little at these peoples. Where shall we start in? The oldrule of the Master's command, and of the early Church's practice, was tobegin "at Jerusalem, " and keep moving until the outmost limit of the worldwas reached. I suppose that practically, in service, beginning atJerusalem means beginning just where you are, and then reaching out tothose nearest, and then less near, until you have touched the farthest. 

But the old Jerusalem rule will make a good geographical rule for usEnglish-speaking people, with an ocean between us, in getting a fresh lookat this old world that the Master asks us to carry in our hearts and onour hands. So we'll begin there. 

The needle of a magnetic compass always points north. The needle of thecompass of progress has always pointed west; at least always since theMedo-Persian was the world-power. But it is striking that the compass ofthe world's need always points its needle toward the east. And so, starting at Jerusalem, we may well turn our faces east as we take ourswing around the world to learn its need. 

It may be a relief to you to know at once that there will not be anystatistics in this series of talks. We want instead just now to get broadand general, but distinct, impressions. Statistics are burdensome to mostpeople. They are a good deal of a bugbear to the common crowd of usevery-day folks. They are absolutely essential. They are of immense, thatis, immeasurable, value. You need to have them at hand where you caneasily turn for exact information, as you need it, to refresh your memory. And an increasing amount of it will stick in your memory and guide yourthinking and praying. 

There are easily available, in these days of such remarkable missionaryactivity, an abundance of fresh statistics, in attractive form. We aregreatly indebted to the Student Volunteer Movement and the Young People'sMissionary Movement and the Church Societies for the great service theyhave done in this matter of full fresh information. 

But the thing of first importance is to get an intelligent thought of thewhole world. And then to add steadily to our stock of particularinformation, as study and prayer and service call for it. It is possibleto get a simple grasp of the whole world. And it helps immensely to do it. 

It helps at once to this end to remember that two-thirds of all thepeoples of the earth are in the distinctly heathen, or non-Christian, lands. This in itself is a tremendous fact, telling at once of the world'sneed. At the beginning of the twentieth hundred-years since Jesus gave Hiscommand to preach His Gospel to all men, two-thirds of them are still inignorance of Him and under the same moral sway as when He went away. 

I might add that there are a billion people in these two-thirds. But thatfigure is so big as only to stagger the mind in an attempt to take it in. The important thing is to see that it doesn't by its sheer bigness, stagger our faith or our courage or our praying habit. We want to be likethe old Hebrew who "staggered not" at God's promise to do for him anaturally impossible thing. Yet it is well to repeat that word "billion, "for it brings up sharply and gigantically the staggering need of the worldfor Christ. 

One-third is in lands commonly called Christian. Though we must use thatword "Christian" in the broadest and most charitable sense in making thatstatement. 

A Quick Run Round the World. 

Beginning at Jerusalem, then, means for us just now beginning with theTurkish Empire. And with that, in this rapid run through, we may forconvenience group Arabia and Persia and Afghanistan. This is the sectionwhere Mohammedanism, that corrupt mixture of heathenism with a smalltincture of Christian truth, has its home, and whence it has gone out onits work throughout the world. 

Great populations here have practically no knowledge at all of the Gospel, for missionary work is extremely scant. The land of the Saviour, with itseastern neighbors, has no Saviour, so far as knowing about Him isconcerned, though it needs His saving very sorely. 

Next to it, on the east, lies the great land of India, with the smallercountries that naturally group with it. And here are gathered fully afifth of the people of the earth. These are really in large part ourblood-brothers. Their fathers away back were brothers to our fathers. Andso missionary work here ought to be reckoned largely as a family affair. British rule has had an immense humanizing influence here. Missionaryactivity has been carried on aggressively for years, and great and blessedprogress has been made. 

Yet it is merely a preparation for the work now so sorely needed. Theseyears of faithful seed-sowing have made the soil dead ripe for a harvestin our day. A strange religiousness utterly lacking both in religion andin morality, abominably repugnant in its gross immorality, honey-combs thelife of these people. The cry of need here is deep and pathetic. 

Pushing on still to the east, the great land of China with itsdependencies, looms up in all its huge giant size. Roughly speaking, almost a third of the world's people are grouped here. There arepractically almost as many in what is reckoned Chinese territory as in allChristian lands. Here is found the oldest and best civilization of thenon-Christian sort. The old common religion of Confucius is practicallynot a religion at all, but a code of maxims and rules, and utterly lackingin moral uplift or power. 

The peculiarly impressive thing about China, as indeed about nearly allof the heathen world, is the spirit of stagnation. There is a deadness, or sort of stupor, over everything. It is as if a blight had spread overthe land, checking all progress. Habits, customs, and institutions remainapparently as they were a thousand years ago. This stands out in sharpcontrast with the spirit of growth that marks Christian lands. 

It seems strange to us because the spirit of growth is the atmosphere ofour western world, breathed in from infancy. The one word that seemspeculiarly to describe China is that word "stagnant. " The peoplethemselves are remarkable both for their mental power and their habits ofindustry. The Chinese may well be called the Anglo-Saxons of the Orient, in latent power and mental character. 

In our modesty we think the Anglo-Saxon, the English-speaking, thegreatest of living peoples. Certainly the leadership of the world is inAnglo-Saxon hands, and has been for centuries. And the marvellous, unprecedented progress of the world has been under that leadership. 

Well, when these Chinese wake up we are very likely to find the racegetting a new leadership, and the history of the world a new chapteradded. What sort of leadership it will be morally, and what sort of achapter, will depend on how much statesmanship there is in our praying andgiving and missionary service. But the need is enormously intensified bythe unawakened power of these Chinese. 

West by Way of the East. 

Still moving east, we come to the newly awakened and very attractiveisland-nation of Japan, which, because of its geographical and territorialsituation, has been called the Great Britain of the Orient. Japan standsat present as the exception to the common stagnation of the heathen world. It has made a record nothing less than phenomenal as a student of Westernlife. It has absorbed, and imitated, and adapted to its own use, theWestern knowledge and spirit with a wonderful power and intelligence. 

Japan is both bright and ambitious to an almost abnormal degree, and astricky in its dealings, and morally unclean in its life, as it is brightand ambitious. They have been called the Frenchmen of the Orient, and thatcharacterization fits remarkably in many respects. Great progress has beenmade in giving the Gospel to Japan, but the present moral need isimmensely intensified by the very aggressiveness of the Japanese spirit. 

With Japan, the island-kingdom, it is easy to group the whole island-worldlying to the east and south, though these are utterly different peoples. This includes the great number of islands scattered throughout the PacificOcean. The conditions are largely those of savagery except where affectedby Christian civilization through the missionary enterprise. The Gospelhas done some wonderful feats of transformation here. And there is plentyof room for more. Australia, the "island continent, " is a British colony, and of course now reckoned among Christian lands; as is also the largeisland of New Zealand, also a British colony, which has been a leader insome of the most advanced steps of modern civilization. 

Crossing the Pacific to the east brings up the South American Continent;and Central America, the connecting stretch of land with our owncontinent; and Mexico, which is commonly grouped with foreign-missionlands. South America has been spoken of both as the "neglected continent"and as the "continent of opportunity. " The common characteristicreligiously of all this vast section from Mexico to the "Land of Fire, " atthe southernmost toe of South America, is that it is under the sway of theRoman Catholic Church. Some parts of it have been spoken of as "baptizedheathenism. " A vast network of church forms and organization, practicallylifeless, holds these peoples in an iron grasp. The need of the Gospel ofJesus is fully as great as in civilized China or savage Africa. 

One more long easterly stride, across the Atlantic, brings black Africa, and completes this rapid run around the globe, so far as distinctlyheathen lands are concerned. Africa is peculiarly the savage continent, though it has the oldest civilization in its northeast corner, and thenewest British civilization rapidly developing on its southern edge. It isthe "dark continent, " both in the color of its inhabitants and in its saddestitution and degradation. About a tenth of the world's population ishere; with as many missionaries as in civilized India, but unable to reachthe people as effectually as there because of the lack of nationalorganization and the absence of great highways of travel. 

Africa is essentially a great mass of separate tribes, larger and smaller, most of them in deepest savagery, with sorest need not only of salvation, but of civilization. The sore need of its very savagery has seemed to makeit a magnet to missionary enterprise. And yet all that has been done, andis being done, seems almost swallowed up in the depth of its degradationand savagery. 

I have taken you with me in this very rapid run that we might try to get asimple practical grasp of the heathen world. And if you and I might oftentake just such a run, with map or globe and Bible at hand, and our kneesbent, it would greatly help us in getting close to the world our Lord diedfor; and which He means to win; and to win through you and me; and whichHe will win. 

Christian Lands. 

But I must talk with you a bit about our Christian lands, Europe andAmerica, with huge Russia sitting astride both Europe and Asia, with afoot dangling on each side of the globe. For these, too, are missionlands. Foreign-mission lands, would you call them? Well, that dependsentirely on what spot you happen to call home. They are all missionfields. The whole world is a mission field to God. Foreign-missionfield? or home-mission? Which? It makes no practical matter which termyou choose to use. 

It will be well to remember just what that common phrase, "Christianlands, " really means. It may help us in our praying. And it may help us, too, to keep humble as we think about heathen lands. It means, of course, the lands where Christian standards are commonly recognized as the properstandards of morals and of life. 

It does not mean that the people are all Christian. Only a minority soclass themselves; the great majority do not. Neither does it mean thatthat minority called Christian is controlled in daily life and inbusiness by the principles of Jesus. For by pretty general consent theyare not so controlled. It is not too much to say that there is more ofthat same spirit of selfishness that marks the heathen world, dominatingthe personal lives of people in Christian lands, than there is of theunselfish Christ spirit. That may sound unkind and too critical to you. Itis not said in a critical spirit, but simply in the desire to get thefacts as they are. I am fully persuaded that the more you think about itthe more you will come to see that this is simply the truth. 

Nor yet does that term, "Christian lands, " mean that these lands are asdistinctly Christian through and through as heathen lands are distinctlyheathen, or non-Christian, through and through. As a matter of fact, Christian lands are not dominated as thoroughly by the Christian spiritas heathen lands are by the heathen spirit. We really don't deserve ourdistinctive phrase as much as they deserve theirs. 

It does mean chiefly this, that here in these lands the Christian Churchhas its stronghold; that Christian standards are commonly recognized, though in practice they are so commonly disregarded. It means that theenormous incidental blessings, in material and mental life, that alwaysfollow the preaching of the Gospel are here enjoyed most fully. And itmeans, too, that much of the humanizing, softening, and energizing powerof the Gospel of Christ has seeped and soaked into our common civilizationand affected all our life. 

This is true; yet the mass of persons living in this atmosphere, andenjoying its great advantages, are wholly selfish in the main drive oftheir lives, and so in being selfish are un-Christian. While Christianideals dominate so much of our life, the term "Christian lands" reallydescribes our privileges more than it does our practices. 

The Greatest Need. 

A word now about these great Christian lands of Europe and America. TheCatholic countries of Europe have been regarded as mission fields by theProtestant churches, and missionary operations have been conducted in themfor many years. Russia has likewise been commonly regarded as missionaryterritory, and a very difficult one at that. In portions of Great Britain, in our own Western States and frontiers, in the Southern mountain States, and in other sections, and among special classes, missionary work has beenregularly carried on. 

And the cities, those great, strange, throbbing hearts of human life, areall peculiarly mission fields. It is remarkable how the modern cityreproduces world conditions morally. The city is a sort of miniature ofthe world. All the varying moral conditions of the heathen world, atheism, savagery almost, crude heathenish superstition, degradation of woman, neglect of children, and untempered lust, may be found in New York andChicago, in London and Paris, in Vienna and Berlin, and in varying degreein all cities of Christian lands. The grosser parts are hidden away, moreor less. 

These conditions are softened in intensity by the commonly recognizedmoral standards of life. But they are there. The man immersed in missionservice in any of these cities is apt to think that there can be nogreater nor sorer need than this that pushes itself insistently upon himat every turn. 

The slum ends and sides of our Christian cities and huge heathendom, jostle elbows in the likeness of their moral conditions. The need iseverywhere, crying earnestly, wretchedly out to us. There is good missionground anywhere you please to strike in. 

But--but, by far the greatest need, with that word "greatest"intensified beyond all power of description, is in the heathen lands. Thevastness of the numbers there, the utter ignorance, the smallness of theirchance of getting any of the knowledge and uplift of the Gospel, all go tospell out that word "greatest. " The awful cumulative power of sin, unchecked by the common moral standards of life, with the terrificmomentum of centuries; the common temptations known to us, but with afierceness and subtlety wholly unknown to us in Christian lands--and yethow terrifically fierce and cunningly subtle some of us know them tobe!--these all make every letter in that word "greatest" stand out inbiggest capitals, and in blackest, inkiest ink. 

Groping in the Dark. 

That is a bare suggestion of the need of the world in bulk. But we wantto get a much closer look than that. These are men that we are talkingabout; our brothers, not merely hard, unfeeling, statistical totals ofmillions. Each man of them contains the whole pitiable picture of the soreneed of the world vividly portrayed in himself. 

The very heathen religions themselves are the crying out, in the night, ofmen's hearts, after something they haven't, and yet need so much. Strangethings these heathen superstitions and monstrous practices and beliefscalled religions! It has been rather the thing of late to speak somewhatrespectfully of them, and rather apologetically. They have even beenpraised, so strangely do things get mixed up in this world of ours. Ithas been supposed that God was revealing Himself in these religions; andthat in them men were reaching up to God, and could reach up to Himthrough them. 

They really are the twilight remnants of the clear direct light of Godthat once lightened all men; but so mixed through, and covered up witherror and superstition and unnatural devilish lust, that they are whollyinadequate to lead any man back home to God. In almost all of them thereis indeed some distinct kernel of truth. But that kernel has beeninvariably shut up in a shell and bur that are hard beyond any power ofcracking, to get at the kernel of truth for practical help, even if thepeople knew enough to try. 

They tell pathetically of the groping of man's heart after God. But thegroping is in the pitch dark, and amid a mass of foul, filthy cobwebs thatblind the eyes with their dust, and grime all the life. I have no doubtthat untold numbers of true hearts in heathen lands are feeling after God, and in some dim way coming into touch with Him. He is not far from any oneof them; but they find Him chiefly in spite of these religions, ratherthan through any help found in them. 

The story is told of a Chinese tailor who had struggled hopelessly forlight, and had finally found it in finding Jesus. He put his idea of theheathen religions that he knew, and had tried, in this simple vivid way:

"A man had fallen into a deep, dark pit, and lay in its miry bottom, groaning and utterly unable to move. He heard a man walking by closeenough to see his plight. But with stately tread he walked on withoutvolunteering to help. That is Mohammedanism. 

"Confucius walking by approached the edge of the pit, and said, 'Poorfellow! I am sorry for you. Why were you such a fool as to get in there?Let me give you a piece of advice: If ever you get out, don't get inagain. ' 'I can't get out, ' said the man. That is Confucianism. 

"A Buddhist priest next came by and said: 'Poor fellow! I am very muchpained to see you there. I think if you could scramble up two-thirds ofthe way, or even half, I could reach you and lift you up the rest. ' Butthe man in the pit was entirely helpless and unable to rise. That isBuddhism. 

"Next the Saviour came by, and, hearing his cries, went to the very brinkof the pit, stretched down and laid hold of the poor man, brought him up, and said, 'Go, sin no more. ' This is Christianity. "

The awful moral or immoral conditions prevalent throughout the heathenworld are the most graphic comment on the influence of these religions. Itcan be said thoughtfully that, instead of ever helping up to God and thelight, they drag down to the devil and to black darkness. There is notonly an utter lack of any moral uplift in them, but a deadly downwardpull. The very things called religions point out piteously the terribleneed of these peoples. 

Living Messages of Jesus. 

Now, what is it that these people need, and that we can give to them? MayI first remind you what they don't need? Well, let it be said as plainlyas it can be that they don't need the transferring to heathen soil of ourWestern church systems, nor our schemes of organizations. It is not ourWestern creeds and theology that they stand in need of. 

Of course, there need to be both churches and organizations. Only so willthe work be done, and what is gotten held together. But these are inthemselves temporary. They are immensely important and indispensable, butnot the chief thing. The great need is of the story of Jesus. That is, plain teaching about sin--the hardest task of all for the missionary, whether in Asia or America--and the damnable results locked up in sin. Then the winsome telling, the tirelessly patient and persistently gentletelling of the story of love, God's love as revealed in Jesus. The tellingthem that Jesus will put a new moral power inside a man that will make himover new. 

But they need even more than this, aye, far more. They need men--humanbeings like themselves, living among them in closest touch--whose clean, strong, sweet lives spell out the Jesus-story as no human lips can evertell it. 

To live side by side with men who like themselves are tempted sorely, butwho show plainly in their lives a power that downs the temptation--this istheir great need. The good seed, after all, is not the message of truthmerely, but the "sons of the kingdom, "[9] men living the message of Jesus, and more, the power of Jesus, daily. 

A kindergarten teacher opened a mission among the slum children of a verypoor section of Chicago. She began her work by gathering a number ofdirty, unkempt children of the street into the neat mission room. Then, instead of preaching or praying or something of the conventional sort atthe first, she brought in and set on a table a large beautiful calla lily, bewitching in its simple white beauty. 

The effect of the flower on one child, a little girl, was striking. Nosooner had she looked at it than she looked down at her own dirty handsand clothes, with a flush creeping into her face. Then she quickly wentout into the street. In a little while she was back again, but with herface washed, her hair combed, her dress tidied up, and a bit of coloredribbon added. She walked straight up to the lily again, and looked long, with deep wondering admiration in her eyes, at the beautiful white flower. 

The flower's purity was a mirror in which she saw her own dirtiness. Itwas a magnet drawing her gently but strongly up to its own higher level. It was an inspiration moving her irresistibly to respond to its own upwardpull. 

A simple, pure, human life is the greatest moral magnet. Jesus Himselfdown here was just such a magnet. Such a life is impossible for us withoutJesus. It tells His power as no tongue can. It spells out loudly astandard of life and, far more, a power that can lift the life up to thestandard. It doesn't simply tell what we should be. That may onlytantalize and tease. But it tells what we actually can be. 

Jesus is more than a message. He is a living power in a man's life. Thisis the great need of men's hearts, --the message of Jesus' purity and ofJesus' power embodied in live men, living side by side, in the thick ofthings, with their brothers of the great world. 

The Great Unknown Lack. 

The greatness of men's need stands out most pathetically in this, that mendon't know their need. They have gotten so used to the night that theydon't care for the sunlight. They have been hungry so long that the senseof hunger and the call of appetite have wholly gone. 

There is a simple, striking story told of two famous Scandinavians, OleBull, the great violinist, and John Ericsson, the great inventor, whotaught the world to use the screw in steam navigation. The one was aNorwegian, the other a Swede. They had been friends in early life, butdrifted apart and did not meet again until each had become famous. The oldfriendship was renewed on one of Ole Bull's tours to this country. 

As Bull was leaving his friend, after a delightful visit, he gave him acordial invitation to attend his concert that evening. But thematter-of-fact, prosaic Ericsson declined, pleading pressure of work, andsaying that he had no time to waste on music. 

Bull renewed his invitation, time and again, finally saying, "If you won'tcome, I'll bring my violin down here to your shop, and play. " "If you do, "replied the famous engineer laughingly, "I'll smash the thing to pieces. "The violinist, knowing the marvellous, almost supernatural, power of hisinstrument to touch and awaken the human heart into new life, felt curiousto know what effect it would have on this scientific man steeped in hisprosaic physics. So he planned a bit of diplomacy. 

Taking the violin with him, he called upon Ericsson at his workshop oneday. He removed the strings and screws and apron, and called Ericsson'sattention to certain defects, asking about the scientific and acousticprinciples involved, and discussing the differing effect of the differentgrain of certain woods. From this he went on to a discussion of soundwaves. Finally, to illustrate his meaning and his questions, he replacedthe parts, and, bringing the bow softly down upon the tense strings, drewout a few marvellously sweet, rich tones. 

At once the workmen in the shop dropped their tools, and listened withwide-eyed wonder. Ole Bull played on and on, with his simple great skill, making the workshop a place of worship. When finally he paused, Ericssonlifted his bowed head, and showed eyes that were wet. Then he said softly, with the touch of reverent awe in his voice, "Play on! Don't stop. Playon. I never knew before what it was that was lacking in my life. "

That is what men everywhere say when they come to know Jesus. They fightagainst knowing Him because of their ignorance of Him. At home, prejudiceagainst theology of this sort and that; against some preaching, or churchservice, or some Christian people they have unpleasant memories ofperhaps, bar the way. Abroad, prejudice against their treatment at thehands of Christian nations, or against anything new, shuts the door with aslam and a sharp push of the bolt. 

It takes great diplomacy, love's diplomacy, the combination of serpent anddove, subtlety and harmlessness, to get an entrance. But when the door ispried open, or coaxed open enough for some sound or sight of Jesus to getin, they passionately cry out, "This is what I need. This Jesus is thelacking thing in my life!"

The Present Opportunity

 Somebody's Knocking at the Door. They're Standing in the Dark. Who's There? The Coming Leaders. What They're After. Returning Our Call. "Inasmuch. "

The Present Opportunity

Somebody's Knocking at the Door. 

There's a soft, tender passion in the heart of God. Its flame burnssteadily. It never flags nor dims. It's a passion for His child-man. Andthat very passion itself draws man to Himself with a drawing power that isirresistible. They can't resist being drawn, even though they may refuseto yield to it. 

There is an answering passion in man's heart for God. It is often a sortof dumb longing, not clearly defined nor well understood. It is a muteyearning of his heart for God, though often he doesn't think of it thatway. But it is there; for these two, man and God, belong together. Theywere together until sin drove its ugly wedge in between. They are a partof each other. Neither one is complete nor happy without the other. 

The heart of God can be satisfied only as man comes back home to Him. Andman's heart never rests until it finds rest in comradeship with God. Thesetwo are always drawing toward each other. God is always drawing man by thegreat master-passion of His heart. And man is always responding to thattender, strong pull in the underneath, mute yearning of his heart. 

By and by the thing that keeps them apart will be gotten rid of. Sin willbe shipped overboard, to fall by its own dead weight to the bottom of thesea. Then there will be glad reunion of God and man, their hearts in fullglad accord again. To-night we want to talk together a bit about thisanswering passion of man's heart for God. 

The heathen world is knocking to-day at the door of the Christian Church. It has found out who has the fullest and truest information about God. Andit is knocking loudly and earnestly at that door. And it keeps onknocking, though the door seems to be barely open yet; and a goodmany--most?--inside don't seem to have heard the knocking. 

The most remarkable thing about the present time from the Church point ofview is that the heathen peoples are asking for what the Master has toldus to give them. The centre of Church attraction and of Christian actionto-day is on the swing toward heathen lands. 

When the Church began again, a hundred years ago, to enter the greatheathen world, it had to use pick and axe, jimmy and chisel. It seemedlike using burglar's tools. Certainly it was working in the dark, withonly the burglar's dark-lantern to show the way. But now the heathen dooris wide open. Instead of our knocking at their door, the heathen world isknocking at our door. 

Our billion brothers stand in the night-time of their darkness blindlyfeeling for our door, and knocking, now timidly, now earnestly and loudly, ay, imperiously, for the light that we have. It has been a cold night forthem, and a long night, too. But the darkest hour of it is alreadythrobbing with the flood of coming light. They have found the door and areusing it. The whole foreign non-Christian world is knocking withincessant, insistent clamor at our church door. 

They're Standing in the Dark. 

I do not mean that actually every country in the world is open to theGospel. For there are a few countries with comparatively scantypopulations that are not open; except, indeed, on the edges, to the manprying earnestly around for a way to get in. 

I don't mean that every man in these open countries is actually asking usto send him some word of Jesus. For vast numbers of them have never heardeither about us or about Him. They don't know there is a Jesus to askabout; or, judging by others, they would be asking. 

Neither do I mean that these multitudes who are asking are, in every case, asking for the Gospel itself. For many times that is not so. They ask forthat which appeals to them strongly as something that they want. They wantour Western science and learning. They want to get from us the secret ofharnessing nature up to their wagon to pull their heavy loads. 

In many cases, without doubt, they don't want our Christianity at all. They regard it simply as something that goes along inseparably with thething they do want. They are willing to put up with some of it for awhile, if only they can get the thing they are after. Their eyes have beencaught by the bright light of our Christian civilization. They don'tunderstand how it came to us. They haven't wakened up enough, most ofthem, to think into that. 

They want the light we have, as we might want something that we couldorder a shipment of. They haven't learned enough yet to want to get thelight-generating plant installed in their midst. The great fact that allour civilization has come to us through the partial presence of the Lightof the world hasn't dawned upon their minds yet. 

But, however selfish motives and a crude understanding or misunderstandingmay enter in, the great strange unprecedented fact still remains true thatthe world of heathenism is knocking at the door of Christendom as neverbefore in the world's history. 

And then, too, everywhere some of them are asking plainly and piteouslyfor the real thing. Great numbers in all the foreign-mission lands areasking that Christian teachers be sent to them with Bibles and other booksto teach them the way back home to God. Wherever they find out that thereis a knowledge of God to be gotten, from there comes the insistentknocking that it be brought to them. 

I remember Bishop Bashford, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, stationedin China, telling of one of his thrilling experiences out there. He hadgone inland quite a bit into China on one of his tours. One day he waspreaching the story of Jesus to a crowd of Chinese gathered in the openair. As his interpreter turned his words into Chinese the crowds listenedwith great respect and keenest interest. 

As he finished he asked them if they had ever heard the Gospel before. No;none of them had. He was turning up absolutely fresh soil. And theypressed in about him, earnestly asking that men be sent to tell them. Andthis experience of Bishop Bashford's is being repeated, over and overagain, throughout the foreign-mission world. 

Who's There?

But there is yet more than this. Everywhere among these peoples, as onecomes into close enough touch to find their hearts, there can be foundunderneath the inarticulate, inexpressible yearning for something theyhaven't. And they don't know enough to know what it is they long for. Butthey are conscious of the constant, weary, yearning tug within. The greatheart of the non-Christian world to-day is asking dumbly, but earnestly, as only the heart can ask, for the light we have. Its knocking at ourfront door is growing louder in its insistent earnestness. 

Since Commodore Perry steamed into the harbor of Yokohama, fifty yearsago, with open Bible and American flag, and knocked at the front door ofthe Orient, the whole situation has completely changed. Then we knockedfor admission to these shut-in lands. Now they are knocking at our door, for the knowledge and light that we have in Christian lands because wehave Jesus. 

May I call your attention to some of the louder of these knockings?

For years students in great numbers, thousands, have been coming fromthese heathen nations to our country to get our Western learning. Throughout the colleges and lower schools of the land, both East and West, in the greater universities, and in the more modest small church collegesthey can be found. 

I remember a sight that never failed to thrill me in my visitations amongthe colleges of our Central West. Almost always I saw one or more of theseyoung men, from Japan, and less frequently from China and India and othercountries, and sometimes young women, too; studying in these institutions. Quite frequently they came from the better families of their people; oftenfrom old wealthy families of position and influence. So that by blood tiesand position they will be the future men of influence and leaders of theirpeople. And it is a notable fact that many of them are to-day the leadersin Japan. Literally thousands of them have come, these thousands of milesaround the world, to knock at our doors, and ask for what we have and theyhaven't. 

Even more striking is the recent visitation to us of official commissionsfrom the non-Christian lands. One after another, these nationalgovernmental deputations have come to us. They have been composed of thestrongest men in these lands, men in leading official position. They havecome by government appointment, and at government expense, to learn thesecret of our marvellous Western progress. 

And in addition to these official deputations others have come, men oflike prominence and influence, coming on their own account, to witness ourcivilization and learn its secrets. 

The Coming Great Leaders. 

One of the most remarkable incidents of this most remarkable movement hasbeen the great migration of young Chinese men to study in the colleges ofJapan. Within a very short space of time, as though by a concertedmovement, fifteen thousand Chinese young men have flocked to Tokyo. Theinevitable sifting process has sent many back, but fully ten thousandremain, engaged in earnest, hard study. 

Will you mark very keenly why they went to Japan? Because to them Japan, in its new life, stood for the new light and life of the West. Theirlittle, but mighty, aggressive neighbor on their eastern shore had broughtto their very door the new civilization of the Christian West. 

Here was an unusual opportunity. Where hundreds had come clear around theearth to us, thousands have seized this opportunity close at hand. Theycome from every province of China; even that farthest away, on the borderof Tibet, sending hundreds. 

The travel involved thousands of miles. And if their slow means of travelbe taken into account, it meant what would be to us practically hundredsof thousands of miles. Hundreds of them have been sent by the provincialand local governments. Others have come through private funds made up forthe purpose. And wealthy men have sent their sons. They have gone to Japanonly because Japan has opened her doors so widely to our Christiancivilization. It is not to their conqueror, Japan, they have come, but tothe civilization which Japan has imported from Christian lands. 

Was there ever such a knocking at the door of the Christian Church asthis? Ten thousand picked men, of the best and keenest young manhood ofChina, representing all parts of the empire, and in large partrepresenting the government, settling down to years of close study of ourChristian civilization as found in Japan--a tremendous fact for the Churchto-day! Things are crowding in on us. It is the non-Christian worldknocking at our back door. It was too far around to the front. So theyhave commenced their knocking at the nearest and handiest door they couldfind. 

Then there are direct requests coming constantly to the missionaries, fromthe peoples in all these lands, earnestly asking and even pleading thatmen be sent to teach them of God and of Christ. Whole villages have beenfound in the fastnesses of Africa's wilds spending days together, and allday long, on their knees in prayer; most of ten mute prayer with upturnedfaces--their very bent bodies their prayer--that news of the white man'sGod might be sent to them. 

In Korea and other lands it is no uncommon thing for men and women totravel hundreds of miles by their slow transportation, or even to comea-foot, to attend gatherings where the story of Jesus is being preached. 

And then, too, there is the indirect knocking in the imitation of ourWestern ways, and throwing away of their own. Imitation is the highestform of compliment that can be paid. It tells of admiration, and of adesire to be as those imitated. The adapting of Western learning by theseconservative Oriental peoples, the establishment of thousands of collegesand schools on the model of Christian countries is so radical a thing asto be nothing short of startling. The abandoning of bad customs, as wellas of their old systems of education, is as startling. Where there wereantagonisms there is now the friendliest imitation. 

If to this we add the remarkable immigration to our shores, of a million ayear, it intensifies enormously the opportunity of service brought to usby foreign peoples. Yet please notice that this latter is not Asia norAfrica coming to us, but Europe. 

However crying their need may be, these are, nominally, not heathenpeoples, but chiefly from Christianized Europe. The Asiatics would havecome in great numbers, but that door was promptly shut and carefullylocked by official hands. 

As you swing your eye over these seething masses of the heathen world, andlisten to their voices, let me ask you, with the earnest softness of tonethat belongs to the heart, could there be a louder knocking at the door ofthe Christian Church?

What Do They Want?

There can be no doubt about the knocking. But--but what is it they areafter? Well, in plainest talk, they are after the thing that has madeChristian nations great, great to the point of world-leadership andworld-supremacy. 

Do you remember the famous reply, often quoted, given to a foreign visitorat the English court? He had asked the secret of the greatness of England, which impressed him so forcibly. And her gracious majesty, of blessedmemory, Queen Victoria, placed her hand upon a Bible, and replied in thememorable words, "This is the secret of England's greatness. "

Just how much that wise woman had in mind I am sure I do not know. I feelvery sure she did not refer to the church system of England. But tosomething far more and deeper than that, of which the church system isonly one expression. Where the Bible has gone, and where it has solargely dominated the life of the people, as in England, there has beenboth a moral regeneration and, mark it keenly, a new mental life. Itstouch has awakened the mental powers. There has been aroused and releasedinto activity that spirit of energy which has become the most markedcharacteristic of the Western world. 

These two, the mental life and the remarkable energy, lie at the basis ofall our wonderful modern science. And this, in turn, lies at the basis ofall our phenomenal development. It is this that makes the West differentfrom the East. The leading nations are Christian nations. The germ ofvigorous life is in the Gospel of Christ. 

This is the thing the heathen world is knocking so earnestly at our doorfor to-day. I do not say that they think of it in that way. They are justcoming, groping out of the darkness, with eyes blinking and blinded by thebrightness of our light. They stretch eager, reaching fingers out towardthe light, without knowing much about it. The glare of it has caught them. 

And if they are caught, moth-like, and hurt by its flame--if they copy ourvile vices, which are no part of our Christianity, but the remnants of ourown original savagery cropping out in spite of Christianity--if so, is itsurprising? Their eyes are bothered by the sudden change from blackdarkness to brilliant light. 

But there's a deeper asking. Underneath all, the thing they are reallyasking for, all unconsciously most of them, is that which lies at theroot of all our Western progress. They ask unknowingly for the Gospel ofChrist, the heart of this precious old Bible. When they get that they willfind that it brings the new awakening of mental life and the newaggressive energy that has made us Christian nations what we are. 

Returning Our Call. 

Will you please remember that their knocking at our door is a directresult of our knocking at their door? They are very polite, these far-awaykinsfolk of ours. They are simply returning our call. 

The missionary, from Great Britain, and America, and Europe, has been theWest's pathfinder in these foreign-mission lands. He has blazed a way intothese thick woods, and beaten down narrow foot-paths through them. It'sbeen hard, heroic work. The pathfinder has often gotten his hands and facebadly torn by the thick brambly thorn bushes as he pushed resolutely on. 

Then diplomacy entered and broadened the roads. And commerce quickly cameand beat them down into good hard shape for easy travel. And in turn themissionaries have freely used the broader, better roads. 

And now these roads are being trodden by other feet, and in an oppositedirection. Along the pathways made by the Church, and made better bydiplomacy and commerce, these peoples are coming, coming a-running, to askus to give them what we have. We received it from Another. He bade usgive it as freely as we received it. 

Here they come eagerly knocking at our doors, front door, and back door, and wherever there is a door. Do you hear them?

Ah! The great question to-day is not a question for the heathen world, butfor the Christian Church--shall we respond to the opportunity they areflinging in our faces? To-day there are more hands in heathen landsstretched out for the Gospel of Jesus than there are Christian handsstretched out with the Gospel. More hearts in those far-away lands aredumbly praying for the light than there are of us praying that they mayreceive the light--far more. 

The greatest question for the Church to-day is--shall we enter the opendoor? And this is a key-question, too. Its answer includes a fullsatisfactory answer to all the other questions we are discussing. Allquestions of finance, of uncertain wabbling pulpit voices, of careless andindifferent or empty pews, and of city evangelization will quickly find ananswer as the Church fully and faithfully answers this. Here is the workthat, if done, and well done, will bring a new circulation of blood intothe whole life of the Church. 

Have you noticed the sharp contrast that there is gradually growing upbetween the way people at home and these foreign peoples are receiving theGospel? Out there there is an openness to the truth, an eager willingnessto believe it simply, and to act upon it, that suggests the way they didin the Book of Acts. In our home-lands of America and Great Britain andGermany there seems to be either indifference, or an atmosphere of quibbleand criticism. With questions and doubts naturalistic explanations aresought that do away with much of the simple force of God's truth. 

A like difference is showing itself between the results there and here. Here they are scantier, and gotten with great difficulty; there muchlarger, and with greater ease. There the door is wide-open, and peoplecrowding in; here there is a feeling that the door is closing, surely andnot slowly people turn away elsewhere. There has come to be an unusualproportion of pickles and salads and other relishes served with everyspreading of the Gospel meal here. There, just plain unbuttered bread iseagerly and thankfully sought for. They are hungry. And their hunger is awide-open door to us. We need the exercise of foreign travel, and a greatdeal of it, to bring back our zest. 

"Inasmuch. "

May I speak very softly of another side of this knocking at our door?Who is it that is knocking? Aye, Who?

Do you remember Jesus' words in Matthew, chapter twenty-five? He isspeaking of the settling-up time that is to come at the close of things. And He does something there that is startling. He identifies Himselfwith the hungry and cold and poor. That is, He puts Himself in theirplace. They are reckoned as though they were He. He says that when theyasked for some food and warm clothes it was really Himself asking forfood and warmth! We have been really dealing with Him when we have metthese needy ones. The one test question He makes for all is this--What didyou do for these hungry people? Because what you did, or didn't do forthem, was done or refused to Me. Jesus comes in the guise of the needy. Who is it knocking at our door so loudly to-day?

I suppose if you could think of Jesus actually coming to-day to New York, the human Jesus I mean, coming as a man just as He came to Jerusalem, butknown to us as He is now--I suppose there is hardly a door that would notopen to Him. He might not be any better understood in New York than He wasin Jerusalem, but the doors of the wealthy would quickly open to Him. Imean the Christian wealthy, the Church wealthy; other doors, too, nodoubt, but these surely. He would have a great welcome. 

And I suppose, too, that if in some wealthy home on Fifth Avenue orMadison Avenue He were to ask His host to give some large sum, a milliondollars or ten millions, for sending the Gospel to China or Japan Hisrequest would likely be granted. It seems to me rather probable that itwould. Well, how can it be put plainly enough that He does come to ourdoors, rich, and less rich, and poor. He's at the front door now, knockingand asking our help. 

In these heathen peoples of His, Jesus comes to us. And we have beengiving Him--shall I say it very softly for sheer shame?--we have given, not all, but most of us, what is practically the loose change in ourtrousers' pocket; not actually, of course; sometimes even that. We havespent more on everything else. We have made up boxes of cast-off clothesand old shoes for--Jesus! This has been a large part of our answer. Isit any wonder the hot blood sends the color climbing into our cheeks atthe thought, and that we instinctively seek for some explanation that willsoften the hard rub of the truth!

I found a bit of a poem in a magazine some time ago that caught fire as Iread it. It was written, I judge, in a personal sense; but it came to meat once with a wider meaning; and it persists in so coming at everyreading of it. 

In this poem there is some one knocking at a door for admission, and avoice without calls, "'Friend, open to Me. ' Who is this that calls? Nay, I am deaf as are my walls; Cease crying, for I will not hear Thy cry of hope or fear. What art thou indeed That I should heed Thy lamentable need? Hungry, should feed, Or stranger, lodge thee here?

But the voice persists--

 "'Friend, My feet bleed. Open thy door to Me and comfort Me. ' 'I will not open; trouble me no more. Go on thy way footsore, I will not arise and open unto thee. 

And still the pleading, "'Then is it nothing to thee? Open, see Who stands to plead with thee. Open, lest I should pass thee by, and thou One day entreat My face And cry for grace, And I be deaf as thou art now; Open to Me'

 "Then I cried out upon him: Cease, Leave me in peace; Fear not that I should crave Aught thou may'st have. Leave me in peace, yea, trouble me no more, Lest I arise and chase thee from my door. What! shall I not be let Alone, that thou dost vex me yet?

 "But all night long that voice spake urgently-- 'Open to Me. ' Still harping in mine ears-- 'Rise, let Me in. ' Pleading with tears-- 'Open to Me, that I may come to thee. ' While the dew dropp'd, while the dark hours were cold-- 'My feet bleed, see My Face, See My hands bleed that bring thee grace, My heart doth bleed for thee-- Open to Me. '

 "So, till the break of day; Then died away That voice, in silence as of sorrow; Then footsteps echoing like a sigh Pass'd me by; Lingering footsteps, slow to pass. On the morrow I saw upon the grass Each footprint mark'd in blood, and on my door The mark of blood forevermore. "[10]

That same voice still comes with a strangely gentle persistence--

 "Inasmuch as ye did it Unto one of these my brethren, even these least, Ye did it unto Me. 

 "Inasmuch as ye did it not Unto one of these least, Ye did it not unto Me. "[11]

The Pressing Emergency

 The October Panic. Danger and Victory Eying Each Other. Spirit Contests. A Crisis of Neglect and Success. A Westernized Heathenism. [A] A Powerless Christianity. Death or Deep Water. Saved by Saving. 

The Pressing Emergency

The October Panic. 

A man walked up the steps of a well-known bank in lower New York onemorning, about a half-hour before opening-time, and stood before the shutdoor. In a few minutes another came, and stood waiting beside him. Otherscame, one by one, until soon a small group stood in line, waiting for thedoor to open. 

A messenger boy, coming down the street, quickly took in the unusualsight. He wasn't old enough to have been through any of New York's notablepanics, and he had never witnessed a run on a bank; but quick as a flash, or as a Wall-Street messenger boy, he knew as though by instinct that arun was on at that bank. Instantly he started running down the street totell others. 

No prairie wild-fire ever spread so quickly as the news ran over 'phonewires of the beginning of that run. As though by some sort of invisibleether-waves, the news seemed to spread through the financial district. Every bank president seemed to know at once. Then it spread throughout thecity, and the greater city. 

So began what has been called the October panic of last year, whichquickly spread through the land, and then throughout the world until everycountry bank here, and every capital city abroad, felt the sharptightening of the money-bag strings. 

It was a strange panic. You couldn't just tell what was responsible forit. The very variety of explanations, editorial and other, told of thelack of a common understanding of what caused it. There had been no famineor drought. The crops, the chief financial barometer of the country'scondition, had been remarkably abundant. There had been no overproductionor glutting of the industrial world. Indeed, great numbers of concerns hadbeen embarrassed by orders that they couldn't fill fast enough. The causeseemed to be wholly in people's minds. A spirit of distrust of some ofthe great money leaders and of their methods was abroad. That feeling offear sent a few men, by an unplanned concert of action, to a certain bankbefore ten o'clock one morning. 

The unusual sight of a few men standing in line waiting for the opening ofthat bank door was like a lighted match to a barn full of dry hay. At thefirst inkling of a suggestion of a financial panic money began todisappear. Nothing is so cowardly in its cautiousness as money. Scholarship comes next to it. The savings of years have the tightest gripon most human hands. As though by magic, money began hunting dark holes instockings and cellars and safety-deposit boxes. And the hard grip of thepanic was quickly felt everywhere. It was a fear panic. A terrible dangerwas at hand. 

At once the regular habit of life was disturbed for great numbers of men. The Secretary of the Treasury quit his Washington desk and spent severaldays in New York so as to be able to give the help of the Government'sfunds and enormous prestige where they would count for most, and to givepromptly. Bank officials and other financial leaders cut socialengagements and everything else that could be cut, and devoted themselvesto meeting the sudden emergency. They ate scantily, both to save time andfor lack of appetite, and to help keep their heads clear for quickdecisive thinking and action. The tension was intense. Men sat up allnight conferring on best measures. 

A group of the leading money men met in the private quarters of one oftheir numbers, about whose rugged personality and leadership theyinstinctively rallied. More than one night the gray dawning light of themorning found them, with white, drawn faces, still in conference. Theemergency gripped them. An emergency always does. The habits of life areupset, helter-skelter, in the effort to avert the threatening danger. Thatwas an emergency in the money world. Grave danger threatened. Everythingelse was forgotten, and every bit of available resource strained to turnthe danger aside. It was turned aside. That was a splendid achievement. And even though men have been feeling the effects for this whole year, what they have felt is as nothing compared with what might have come. 

Danger and Victory Eying each other. 

An emergency means a great danger threatening, perhaps the very life. Butit means, too, that if the danger can be gripped and overcome there willbe great victory. Two possibilities come up close and stare each otherangrily in the face; the possibility of great disaster impending, and ofgreat victory over it within grasp, if there be a reaching hand to graspit. The deciding thing is the human element, the strong, quick handstretched out. If strength can be concentrated, the situation gripped, then great victory is assured. But it takes the utmost concentration ofstrength, with rare wisdom and quick steady action, to turn the tidetoward flood. If this is not done, either because of lack of leadership orof enough strength or enough interest, disaster comes. 

Just such emergencies come to us constantly. A severe illness lays itshand upon a loved one in the home. The crisis comes. Death and life standin the sick-room eying each other. Either one may be victor. No one cantell surely which it will be. And every effort is strained, the habit oflife broken, other matters forgotten and neglected, that death may bestaved off, and life wooed to stay. And when the crisis passes safely thejoy over the new lease of life makes one forget all the cost of strain andeffort. 

Who of us cannot recall some time back there, when some emergency came inpersonal business matters, and personal and home expenses and plans werecut down to the lowest notch, to the bleeding-point, that the emergencymight be safely met. 

Teachers and parents know that moral emergencies come at intervals in achild's life, until young manhood and womanhood are reached. One of thegreatest tasks in child-training is to note the emergency, and meet itsuccessfully. And what keenness and patience and subtlety it does takeonly he knows who has been through the experience. 

Spirit Contests. 

Emergencies come in spiritual matters, too. They are the hardest kind tomeet. It is hardest to make people see them and grip them. In the life ofmany a church a spiritual emergency has come, but has not been met. Thechurch goes on holding services, raising money and paying it out, goingthrough all the proper forms, but with the life itself quite gone out ofit. The thing is being kept in motion by a humanly manipulated electriccurrent; there is no free life-movement. 

Evangelistic leaders say that such emergencies come in their campaigning. There has to be a struggle of spirit forces. And the victory that comes, comes only as a result of close hand-to-hand conflict of soul by theleaders. 

We all know that such crises come in our personal experience. And thosewho know about changing things by prayer do not need to be told of theemergency that comes at times; nor of how it requires a tightening of allthe buckles, a new reviewing of the promises on which prayer rests, a newsteadying of one's faith, a quietly persistent hanging on, an intenserinsistence of spirit in prayer and more arrow-praying in the daily roundof work--sending out the softly breathed heart-pleadings while busy withcommon duties, until the assurance comes that the danger is past and thevictory secure. 

It is remarkable to what an extent the great events of history have beenemergency events. With the greatest reverence, it can be said thathistory's central event, the dying of Jesus, was an emergency action. Eventhough we understand clearly that it was known and counselled from beforethe foundation of the world, that He was to shed His precious blood forour salvation, His dying can never be fully understood save as a greatemergency measure, the great emergency measure, because of the crisismade by sin. 

Now that is the sort of thing--an emergency--that is now on in this greattask of world-wide evangelization which Jesus has committed to our hands. Some of you may be strongly inclined to lift your eyebrows and ask--Isthere really any such emergency? I know that people don't like those words"crisis" and "emergency. " It is much more comfortable to think that thingsare going on very smoothly and well. Even though all is not just as wemight choose to have it, yet we like to think that it will turn out well. There is a sort of optimism that is very popular. Things will all come outright somehow, we like to think. But the fact is that things don't turnout right of themselves. They have to be turned by somebody who givesheart and life to the turning. 

It can be said with sane, sober sense that without doubt there is anemergency, and a great one, in this foreign-mission enterprise. It is, ofcourse, true that in a sense there is a continual emergency here. Thereare thousands of these foreign brothers of ours slipping the tether oflife daily. The light might easily have been taken to them, and havechanged their choices. But then it hasn't been, and the dark shadow of thepossibility of their separating themselves forever from God, through wrongchoice persisted in, hangs down over each one of them. There can be nodarker shadow except the actual knowledge that they have so separatedthemselves from life in Him. 

A Crisis of Neglect and Success. 

But quite distinct from that, and in addition to it, it is quite safe tosay that there is an emergency now on in the heathen world such as ithas never known before. Such is the mature judgment of our missionaryleaders. 

And we do well to remind ourselves that we have some remarkable men amongthese leaders. There are men on the foreign fields and at the missionaryhelm at home of most remarkable ability and genius. There are to-day menof statesmanlike grasp and power, who could easily have taken front rankin public life, in diplomacy, and professional life, men fully able tofill the Presidential chair and do it masterfully, who are giving theirlife-blood to this great missionary task. 

The sober judgment of these men, taken from every angle of vision, is thatthe present is a time of unparalleled emergency. It exists peculiarly inAsia, the greatest of all foreign-mission lands. It has been caused by anumber of things that now come together with such force as to make acrisis, the crisis of missions, the gravest that has yet come, and that, it is probably safe to say, will ever come. For the future will be largelysettled, one way or the other, within a few years. 

At the basis of all is the great need, of course. That looms big andgaunt and spectral in any survey of the matter. 

Then the neglect by the Church for many generations has greatlyintensified the present situation. The Master's plan plainly is that everygeneration of the Church shall give the Gospel to its generation; that is, to all the people living in the world at that time. Every generation ofmen must have the Gospel afresh. No land is beyond the need of a freshgospelizing. If Christian America were to lose its churches and theGospel, it would surely revert to the heathen type from which we sprung. 

But many generations went by with practically nothing of this sort beingdone. These generations of inactivity have piled up on the presentgeneration. The undone work of the past adds greatly to the task of thepresent. The present situation is abnormal because of what hasn't beendone. 

Then the success of the present has played a big part. Modern missionaryactivity has had a big share in making this emergency. A century ofmissions is reaching a tremendous climax. The splendid aggressiveness ofchurch leaders and missionaries is now an embarrassment to a Church, orany one in the Church, who doesn't want to keep up the pace. It is anemergency of success, the logical result of what has been accomplished. Somuch has been done, and been done so well by a comparatively few, that nowmore must be done by the rest of us. 

It's because the heathen world is awake that there is an emergency. Theirawakeness is the thing that crowds in on us. And we waked them up. We mustnow do more and better, because we have done so well. We have indeed wakedthem up, but--to what? A business man would stamp it as rank foolishnessto fail to take advantage of the splendid opening that we have made in theforeign-mission world. 

A Westernized Heathenism. 

Now, let us look just a bit at this present pressing emergency. There aregrave perils threatening, and a great victory possible. 

Well, first of all there is real danger of a new aggressive heathenism;a new, energetic, but distinctly un-Christian civilization, in the heathenworld. Many thoughtful men who are keenly watching the world movementbelieve that without doubt there is to be a new leadership of the humanrace in the Orient. It may be a heathen leadership. That danger is adistinct possibility. The new world-leadership may have all the enormousenergy and mental keenness of Christian peoples, but without the Christianspirit. 

That means practically a new heathenism, no longer asleep but wide-awake;no longer being manipulated by the Western nations, but maybe manipulatingand managing them. An aroused, organized, energized heathen world, withall the science and inventiveness and restless aggressiveness of thewestern nations and, mark you--and all the spirit of the old, Godless, Christless heathenism dominating its new life--that is the danger. 

The heathen world is awake at last after a sleep of centuries. It issitting up, rubbing its eyes, and taking notice. It is entering upon a newlife. That's as clear as a sunbeam on a cloudless morning. What that lifeshall be depends entirely on the Church waking up. That means, to be morepractical, that it depends on you and me waking up, just now, and doingwhat we easily can. It may be a new Christian life, shot through andthrough with the blessed principles and spirit of Jesus. It may be a newlife of energized, Westernized heathenism! They may get merely our energyand mental awakeness without the Christian spirit that gave these to us. 

These two opposite things are standing by the bedside eying each other. Which will get the patient? Who knows? If the Church fail--!

This is a real peril seriously threatening. It is probably far more graveand far more likely than the best-informed and keenest observer is awareof. 

A Powerless Christianity. 

Then there is a second danger climbing in fast on the heels of this, thatis already being plainly felt. These peoples may turn away from aChristianity that seems powerless to them. As they come to know betterthe simple principles of our faith they may see that we are not true toit. Our Master bade us go everywhere and tell all men of Him, and tellthem most and best by the way we live. But we haven't done it. The Churchof the past nineteen centuries, taken as a whole, hasn't done it. TheChurch to-day, taken as a whole, isn't doing it. 

How many times have the missionaries been obliged to listen to thequestion, which is a reproach rather than a question, "Why didn't you comebefore? My father lived and died in distress, seeking for this light youbring us now. Why didn't your father come and tell my father?" If theyfind that our faith hasn't gripped us enough to master our lives theywill naturally doubt if, after all, there is any more real practicalpower in it than in their own heathen beliefs. 

It seems better in theory, but it seems to lose its ideals in the stifftest of practice. They would be wrong in thinking that, of course. Butwhat conclusion more natural to the crowd that never thinks deep. When allthe difficulties and hardships come in the way of their acceptance ofChrist, and the easiest way is not to, how easy to throw the whole thingaside. 

The story is told of a Chinaman in this country who applied for a positionas house-servant in a family which belonged to a fashionable church. Hewas asked:

"Do you drink whiskey?"

"No, I Clistian man. "

"Do you play cards?"

"No, I Clistian man. "

He was engaged, and proved to be a capable servant. By and by the ladygave a bridge-party, with wine accompaniments. The Chinaman did his partacceptably, but the next morning he appeared before his mistress. 

"I want quit, " he said. 

"Why? What is the matter?"

"I Clistian man. I told you so before; no heathen; no workee for 'Melicanheathen. "

These heathen brothers of ours are not fools. They are a keen lot. Theyjudge our religion by us who profess it, as we do with them and theirs. There may come a wide-spread practical disbelief, or lack of belief, thatthere is any practical power in Christ to change a man's life, and reallycontrol his actions. And it will be a perfectly logical conclusion fromwhat they find in us Christian nations as a whole. 

Death or Deep Water. 

And then there are some mighty bad dangers on the other side--our side. If it be true that every generation needs the Gospel, it is just as truethat every generation of Christians needs to give the Gospel. It is thevery life of a Christian to give himself out in earnest service forothers. The man who is failing there has started on the down grade in hisChristian life. If we lose the spirit of "go" we have lost the veryChristian spirit itself. A disobedient church will become a dead church. It will die of heart failure. 

It was John's Man with eyes of searching flame, and tongue of keen-edgedsword, and feet that had been through the fire, who said to a Christianchurch, "I will move thy candlestick out of its place except thou changethy ways. "[12] The candlestick isn't the light. It holds the light. TheChurch's great mission is to be the world's light-holder. 

But unsnuffed candles and cobwebby window-panes seem to have been inevidence sometimes. The Christian Church in some lands has plainly lostits privilege of service, and lost its life, too. The old organizationsare kept up, but all life has gone. There's a grave danger threateningthe American Church and the British Church just at this present time. 

Long years ago, in the days before steam navigation, an ocean vessel camefrom a long sea voyage, up St. George's Channel, headed for Liverpool. When the pilot was taken on board, he cried abruptly to the captain, "Whatdo you mean? You've let her drift off toward the Welsh coast, toward theshallows. Muster the crew. " The crew was quickly mustered, and the pilottold the danger in a few short words, and then said sharply, "Boys, it'sdeath or deep water, hoist the mains'l!" And only by dint of hardest workwas the ship saved. 

If I could get the ear of the Church to-day, I would, as a great kindnessto it, cry out with all the earnestness of soul I could command, "It'sdeath or deep water; deep water in this holy service of world-winning, ordeath from foundering. "

Saved by Saving. 

And then there's a yet graver peril threatening. It's quite the commonthing to appeal to selfish motives. It is striking that the great stridesthat prohibition has made of recent years, have been due to a sort oflegislation and to business regulation that appeal to selfish motives. Theeconomic motive, and the disagreeable and injurious likelihood of a saloonbeing close to one's own home, have had greater influence than highermoral motives. And we are glad of any motive that will put the damnabletraffic down and out. 

Well, I'm going to come down a step here, and remind you of a yet graverperil that threatens. There is serious danger of a heathenizedChristianity dominating our boasted Christian civilization and Christianlands. And in time that would be a serious menace to our pocket-books. 

That is to say, there may be the energy and keen mental life without themellowing and sweetening influence of the Christian spirit. The restlessaggressiveness may come without the poise; the ceaseless activity withoutthe deeper steadying quality; the keenness without the softening touch ofthe true life. In other words, if we don't Christianize heathendom, theywill exert an influence on us that will practically amount to theirheathenizing Christendom. 

Already such influences are seeping in at more than one crack. Mohammedanism has an active propaganda in Great Britain. Heathen wedgesare slipping their thin edges in, in our land. More and more it willextend, in time influencing our whole moral fabric, and affecting ourwhole national life. 

During some recent researches among the ruins of Pompeii the explorersturned up a find that told its own story. It was the body of a crippledboy. He was lame in his foot. And around the body there was a woman's arm, a finely shaped, beautiful, bejewelled arm. The mute find told its simplestory. The great stream of fire suddenly coming from the volcano, thecrowd fleeing for life, the little cripple unable to get along fastenough, the woman's heart touched, her arm thrown about the boy to aidhis escape; then the overtaking fire-flood, and both lost. The arm thatwas stretched out to save another was preserved, and only that. All therest of the brave rescuer's body had gone. The saving part was saved. Onlythat mercifully outstretched to save another was itself saved. 

The Church or the man that selfishly saveth his life shall lose it. Hethat forgetteth about his own life in eagerly saving others shall findthat he has saved his own life, and that it has grown into a new fulnessand richness of life. 

These are some of the dark ugly faces peering into ours. But there'sanother face among them. It is a very bright face, with eyes all aglow, and features all shining with light. It is the face of victory over everydanger and difficulty that threatens. Many believe that the emergency willbe met. The victory will surely be achieved. But the fact to mark keenly, just now, is that it will be achieved only by a vigorous, masterfulgripping of the present pressing emergency. 

Ah! God, may Thy Church--we men who make Thy Church, who are ThyChurch--may we see the emergency, and be gripped by it; for Jesus' sake;aye, for men's sake; for the Church's sake; for our own sake; in Jesus'great name. 

The Past Failure

 Some of God's Failures. Where the Reproach of Failure Lies. God's Sovereignty. The Church Mission. "Christ also Waits. " "Somebody Forgets. "

The Past Failure

Some of God's Failures. 

God fails, sometimes. That is to say, the plan He has made and set Hisheart upon fails. 

Eden was God's plan for man. A weedless, thornless, world-garden of greatbeauty and fruitfulness; a man and woman living together in sweet purityand strong self-mastery; their children growing up in such an atmosphere, trained for the highest and best; the earth with all its wondrous forcesdeveloped and mastered by man; full comradeship and partnership betweenman and all the living creation, beast and bird; and in the midst of allGod Himself walking and working in closest touch with man in all hisenterprises--that was God's Eden plan for man. But it failed. 

The Israel plan was a failure, too. The main purpose of Israel being madeGod's peculiar people has failed up to the present hour. That planoriginally was a simple shepherd people, living on the soil close tonature. They were to be, not a democracy ruled by the direct vote of thepeople in all things; nor a republic ruled by the vote of selectedrepresentatives; nor yet a kingdom ruled over by the will of an autocrat;but something quite distinct from all of these, what men have been pleasedto call a theocracy. 

That is to say, God Himself was to be their ruler in a very real, practical sense, directing and working with them in the working out of alltheir national life. They were to combine all the best in each of theseforms of government, with a something added, not in any of them as menknow them. 

They were to be wholly unlike the other nations, utterly unambitiouspolitically, neither exciting war upon themselves by others nor evermaking war upon others. Their great mission was to be a teacher-nation toall the earth, teaching the great spiritual truths; and, better yet, embodying these truths in their personal and national life. 

But the plan failed. The glitter of the other nations turned them asidefrom God's plan. They set up a kingdom, "like all the nations, " very muchlike them. 

Then God worked with them where they would work with Him. He planned agreat kingdom to overspread the earth in its rule and blessed influence, but not by the aggression of war and oppression. Their later literature isall a-flood with the glory light of the coming king and kingdom. Yet whenthe King came they rejected Him and then killed Him. They failed at thevery point that was to have been their great achievement. God's planfailed. The Hebrew people from the point of view of the direct object oftheir creation as a nation have been a failure up to the present hour. 

God's choice for their first king, Saul, was a failure, too. No man everbegan life, nor king his rule, with better preparation and prospects. Andno career ever ended in such dismal failure. God's plan for the man hadfailed. 

Jesus' plan for Judas failed. The sharpest contrasts of possible good andactual bad came together in his career in the most startling way. Hefailed at the very point where he should have been strongest--his personalloyalty to his Chief. 

There can be no doubt that Jesus picked him out for one of His innercircle because of his strong attractive traits. He had in him the makingof a John, the intimate, the writer of the great fourth Gospel. He mighthave been a Peter, rugged in his bold leadership of the early Church. 

But, though coached and companioned with, loved and wooed, up to the veryhour of the cowardly contemptible betrayal, he failed to respond even tosuch influence as a Jesus could exert. Jesus planned Judas the apostle. Hebecame Judas the apostate, the traitor. He was to be a leader and teacherof the Gospel. He became a miserable reproach and by-word of execration toall men. Jesus' plan failed. 

Where the Reproach of Failure Lies. 

Will you please mark very keenly that the failure always comes because ofman's unwillingness to work with God? It always takes two for God'splan--Himself and a man. All His working is through human partnership. Inall His working among men He needs to work with men. 

Some good earnest people don't like, and won't like, that blunt statementthat God fails sometimes. It seems to them to cast a reproach upon God. They may likely think it lacking in due reverence. But if these kindfriends will sink the shaft of their thinking just a little deeper downinto the mine of truth, they will find that the reproach is somewhereelse. 

There is reproach. Every failure that could have been prevented byhonest work and earnest faithfulness spells reproach. And there isreproach here. But it isn't upon God; it is upon man. God's plan dependsupon man. It is always man's failure to do his simple part faithfully thatcauses God's plan to fail. 

There is a false reverence that fears to speak plainly of God. It seeks byholding back some things, and speaking of others with very carefullythought-out phrase, to bolster up God's side. True love has two markedtraits: it is always plain-spoken in telling all the truth when it shouldbe known; and it is always reverential. It can't be otherwise. Thebluntest words on the lips combine with the deepest reverence of spirit. God doesn't need to be defended. The plain truth need never be apologizedfor. 

It's a false reverence that holds back some of the truth, lest stating itmay seem to reflect on God's character. Such false reverence is adistinct hindrance. It holds back from us some of the truth, and thestrong emphasis that the truth needs to arouse our attention and get intoour some-time thick heads. We men need the stirring up of plain truth, told in plainest speech. The Church has suffered for lack of plain tellingof the truth. The deepest, tenderest reverence insists upon plain talk, and reveals itself in such talk. 

It is irreverent to hold back some of God's truth. For so men get wrongimpressions of God. It is unfair as well as irreverent. Theology hassometimes been greatly taken up with adjusting its statements so as todefend God's character. But the plainest, fullest telling of truth is thegreatest revealer of His great wisdom and purity and unfailing love. 

God's Sovereignty. 

There has been a good bit of teaching about "God's sovereignty". Behindthat mysterious, indefinite phrase has crept much that badly needs theclear, searching sunlight of day. God's sovereignty is commonly thought ofas a sort of dead-weight force by which He compels things to come His way. If a man stand in the way of God's plan so much the worse for the man. Itis thought of as a sort of mighty army, marching down the road, in closeranks, with fixed bayonets. If you happen to be on that road better lookout very sharply, or you may get crushed under foot. 

I do not mean that the theologians put it in that blunt fashion, nor thatI have ever heard any preacher phrase it in that way. I mean that as Ihave talked with the plain common people, and listened to them, this isthe distinct impression that comes continually of what it means to them. Then, too, the phrase has often been used, it is to be feared, as areligious cloak to cover up the shortcomings and shirkings of those whoaren't fitting into God's plan. 

God is a sovereign. The truth of His sovereignty is one of the mostgracious of all the truths in this blessed old Book of God. It means thatthe great gracious purpose and plan of God will finally be victorious. Itmeans that in our personal lives He, with great patience and skill andpower, works through the tangled network of circumstances anddifficulties to answer our prayers, and to bring out the best results forus. 

It means further that, with a diplomacy and patience only divine, He workswith and through the intricate meshes of men's wills and contrarypurposes to bring out good now--not good out of bad, that is impossible;but good in spite of the bad--and that finally all opposition will beovercome, or will have spent itself out in utter weakness, and so Hispurposes of love will be fully victorious. 

But the practical thing to burn in deep just now is this, that we canhinder God's plan. His plans have been hindered, and delayed, and madeto fail, because we wouldn't work with Him. 

And God lets His plan fail. It is a bit of His greatness. He will let aplan fail before He will be untrue to man's utter freedom of action. Hewill let a man wreck his career, that so through the wreckage the man maysee his own failure, and gladly turn to God. Many a hill is climbed onlythrough a swamp road. 

God cares more for a man than for a plan. The plan is only for the sake ofthe man. You say, of course. But, you know, many men think more ofcarrying through the plan on which they have set themselves, regardless ofhow it may hurt or crush some man in the way. God's plan is for man, andso it is allowed to fail, for the man's sake. 

Yet, because the plan is always made for man's sake, it will be carriedthrough, because by and by man will see it to be best Many a man'scharacter has been made only through the wrecking of his career. If Godhad had His way He would have saved both life and soul, both the earthlycareer and the heavenly character. 

Let us stop thoughtfully, and remember that God has carefully thought outa plan for every man, for each one of us. It is a plan for the life, these human years; not simply for getting us to what we may have thoughtof as a psalm-singing heaven, when we're worn out down here. 

It is the best plan. For God is ambitious for us; more ambitious for youand me than we are for ourselves, though few of us really believe that. But He will carry out His plan--aye, He can carry it out only with ourhearty consent. He must work through our wills. He honors us in thatWith greatest reverence be it said that God waits reverently, hat in hand, outside the door of a man's will, until the man inside turns the knob andthrows open the door for Him to come in and carry out His plan. We canmake God fail by not working with Him. The greatest of all achievements ofaction is to find and fit into God's plan. 

The Church Mission. 

Now, God had and has a plan for His Church. That plan is simply this: TheChurch was to be His messenger to the nations of the earth. There areother matters of vast importance committed to the Church, without doubt:the service of worship and the training and developing of the life of itsmembers. But these, be it said very thoughtfully, are distinctly secondaryto the service of taking the Gospel to all men. 

These two, the chief and the secondary, are interwoven, each contributingto and dependent upon the other. But there is always a main purpose. Andthat here, without question, is the carrying of the message of Jesus fullyto all the earth. In each generation the chief plan, to which all else wasmeant to be contributory, was that all men should hear fully and winsomelythe great thrilling story of Jesus. 

Shall I say that that plan has failed? It hurts too much even to repeatsuch words. I will not say the Church has failed. But I will ask you tonote God's plan for the Church, and then in your inner heart to make yourown honest answer. 

And in making it remember the practical point is this--the Church is you. I am the Church. Its mission is mine. If I say it has failed I am talkingabout myself. I can keep it from failing so far as part of it isconcerned, the part that I am. My concern is not to be asking abstractly, theoretically, about the Church, but about so much of it as I am. 

In annual church reports, and triennial and quadrennial, much space isgiven to telling of the wealth of the Church. Of course, I suppose itswealth is meant to be an index of all its work. It may seem a bit odd touse the world's index-finger to point out our faithfulness to our Master'swill. It is used, of course, to impress the world in the way the world canmost quickly and easily understand. 

But the Church was not meant by the Master to be a rich institution inmoney and property; though it has grown immensely so. The Master's thoughtwas that its power and faithfulness should be revealed entirely in theextent to which all men of all nations know about Himself and have beenwon to Him. 

If we think only a little bit into the past history of the Church, andthen into present world conditions, we know the answer to that hurtingquestion about the Church being a failure. 

I know that many of you are thinking of the triumphs of the Church; of herimperishable and incalculable influence upon the life of the world. And Iwill join you heartily in that, some other time. Just now we are nottalking of that, but of just one particular fact of its history. One truthat a time makes sharper outlines and brings the whole circle of truth outmore plainly. I love to sing, "I love Thy Kingdom, Lord, The house of Thine abode; The Church our blest Redeemer saved With His own precious blood. "

We shudder to attempt to think into what these centuries would have beenwithout the influence of the Church. 

But at present we are talking about something else. Let me ask you, softly, if God's plan for the Church was that it was to be His messengerto all men, as you think back through nineteen centuries and then thinkout into the moral world conditions to-day, would you say the plan hadsucceeded? Or had--?

"Christ also Waits. "

There's a bit of light here on that vexed question of the Lord's secondcoming, about which good, earnest people differ so radically. The Mastersaid, you remember, that we were to be watching for His return. But manyask, how can we be watching when it's been two thousand years since Hetold us to watch, and the event seems as far off as ever?

I remember one day in a Bible class the lesson was in the twelfth ofLuke, about watching for the Lord's return. Some of the class seemed tothink that it means that we should be in a constant attitude ofexpectancy, looking for His return. But one man, an earnest, godly oldminister said, "How can you be looking expectantly for a thousandyears?"

But will you mark keenly that the teaching of Jesus Himself was that Hisreturn depended on His followers' doing a certain thing?[13] When all menhad been told fully of Jesus, then He was to return and carry out afurther part of His plan. Clearly if the part we were to play has not beendone, it delays His part. The telling of all men about Jesus seems to beara very close connection with what will occur when Jesus returns. 

Some of our good friends have been much taken up with figuring out whenthe Lord would come back. Some of them seem to have great skill in makingcalendars. They even go so far as to fix exact dates. They seem to forgetthat word of the Master, "In such an hour as ye think not the Son of Mancometh. " If you think He will come at a certain given time, then you canknow one thing certainly, that He won't come then. 

The only calendar we men have is a calendar of dates, fitted to themovements of the sun and moon. God has a calendar, too, but it is acalendar of events, not of dates. The completion of His plans doesn'tdepend on so many revolutions of the earth about the sun, but on thefaithful revolution of His followers in their movement around the earthtelling men of Jesus. 

It looks very much as though the Master's coming has been delayed, and Hisplans delayed, because we have not done the preparatory part assigned us. 

 "The restless millions wait the light, Whose coming maketh all things new. Christ also waits; but men are slow and late. Have we done what we could? Have I? Have you ?"

"Somebody Forgets. "

A little fellow, of a very poor family, in the slum section of one of ourlarge cities, was induced to attend a mission Sunday-school. By and by, asa result of the teacher's faithful work, he became a Christian. He seemedquite bright and settled in his new Christian faith and life. 

Some one, surely in a thoughtless mood, tried to test or shake his simplefaith in God by a question. He was asked, "If God loves you, why doesn'tHe take better care of you? Why doesn't He tell some one to send you warmshoes and some coal and better food?"

The little fellow thought a moment, and then with big tears starting inhis eyes, said, "I guess He does tell somebody, but somebody forgets. "

Without knowing it, the boy touched the sore point in the Church'shistory. I wonder if it is the sore point with you or me. 

The Coming Victory

 Failure Swallowed By Victory. The Revised Missionary Motto. Ahead, But Behind. In A Swift Current. Power Of Leadership. A Minority Movement. A Great World-chorus. The Oratorio Of Victory. 

The Coming Victory

Failure Swallowed by Victory. 

But God's failures are only for a while. They are real. There is thetragic element in them. There is the deep, sad tinge of disappointmentrunning throughout this old Book of God. Yet the failures are only for atime. Sometimes it seems a very long time, especially if you are livingthrough some of it. But the time reaches eagerly to an end. Victory comes. And God's victory will be so great as to make us completely forget thefailures that marred the road. 

The Eden plan was more than a plan. It was a prophecy of the finaloutcome. The Book of God begins with failure, but it ends with a glowingpicture of great victory, painted with rose colors. Every feature ofbeauty and of good in Eden has grown greatly in John's Revelation climax. The garden of Genesis becomes a garden-city. All the simplicity and purityof garden life, and all the development and power represented by citylife, are brought together. There is now a river of life, and thetree of life has grown into a grove. 

And God isn't through with that nation of Israel yet. The Jew can't belost. In every nation under heaven he can be found to-day, a walkingreminder of God's plan. Every Jew, in whatever ghetto he may be found, isan unconscious prophecy of a coming fulfilment of God's purpose. Thestrange racial immortality of the Jew is a puzzle from every standpoint, except God's. He can't be killed off; though men have never ceased tryingto kill him off. The Jew looms up bigger to-day than for many generations. 

The present strange restless Jewish longing for national existence again, that will not down, spells out the coming victory of God's plan aftercenturies of failure. And even though the present tide may run out towardebb, it will be to gather force for a new and fuller flood. When God'splan works out the world will have a wholly new idea of national life, andof a world-power without army or navy or any show of force, touching allmen, and touching them only to bless. 

And though King Saul failed, there was already the ruddy David, out amongthe sheep, waiting the anointing oil, and carrying about in his person hisnation's greatest king. 

Jesus' Judas failed to realize the promise of his earlier days. He struckthe record note for baseness. But Paul was being prepared by bloodinheritance and scholarly training. Under the touch of the Master's ownhand he became the Church's greatest leader in its life-mission. If Judasstruck the lowest note, Paul rang the changes on the highest note ofpersonal loyalty to Jesus and to His world-wide passion and purpose. 

And the Church has waked up. I said, you remember, last evening, that ifyou look over the whole history of the Church since its birthday onPentecost, you are pained by the sore fact that the chief missionentrusted to it has been for the most part forgotten. There has been moreforgetting of it, and neglecting it, than fulfilling it. 

Yet always, be it keenly noted, in every generation of these centuriesthere have been those whose vision of Olivet never dimmed. There havealways been those who have tried faithfully to carry out the Church'sgreat mission. The darkest days have never been without some of thebrightest light, made all the brighter by the surrounding night. 

The Revised Missionary Motto. 

But there's a new chapter of the Church's life being written as we talktogether. Its writing began in the closing twilight of the eighteenthcentury. That chapter isn't finished yet. Some of its best pages are nowbeing written, with more and better clearly coming. 

Its first lines were written by a very common pen. Carey's Englishcobbler-shop became a sounding-board whose insistent, ringing messagesbegan to waken the Church. The Church is waking up, and shaking itself, and tightening on its clothes, for the greatest work yet to be done infulfilling the life-mission entrusted to it. 

A hundred years ago the fire of God found fresh kindling stuff in thehearts and brains of a few young college fellows in an old New Englandvillage. The sore need of the world crowded in upon them by night and byday. But they were few, and young, and unknown. And the task wasstupendous. The rain-storm of a Sabbath afternoon drove them to theshelter of a hay-stack. And the storm of the world's need drove them tothe shelter of prayer, and then to the shelter of a great purpose. Withsimple faith in God, and strong devotion to the great neglected task, theyspoke out to the Church the thrilling words, "We can do it if we will". 

And on that same spot a hundred years later the Church gathered. Thoseintense words had been heard. The Church had waked up. Men of long servicein far-away lands stood with those of the home circle. They talked of thepast, but far more of the present and future. They revised the century-oldmotto. No group of scholars in the Jerusalem Chamber of Westminster Abbeyever did finer revision work. They said, "We can do it, and we will". Nogreater tribute to the memory of the faithful little hay-stack group wasever made than in that changed motto. 

The young collegians' bold cry had sounded out throughout the Church. Andthe Church heard and roused up. The modern missionary movement of theChurch is the most marked development of the past century of churchhistory. It can be said that the Church of our day in its missionaryactivity far exceeds the early Church. That is to say, in certainparticulars we have exceeded. 

It is common to refer to the missionary zeal of the first centuries. Fresh from the Master's touch, the early Church was chiefly a missionarychurch. One great purpose gripped it, and that was to take the news ofJesus everywhere. And they went everywhere. We know most about Paul'sjourneys in the Grecian and Roman worlds. But there is good evidence thatthere is another "Acts of Apostles" beside the one bound up in this Bible. Out to the farthest reaches of the earth they seemed to have gone in thoseearly days, preaching and winning men and establishing church societies. 

The bulk of the modern movement is without doubt greatly in excess ofthe early movement. The number of men out in various fields, the amount ofmoney being given annually by the Church in America and Great Britain andthe Continental countries is so much greater as to leave comparisonpractically out. 

In the thoroughness of organization, the elements of permanency, the greatvariety of means used such as hospitals, schools, literature, andindustrial helps, the present probably exceeds by far the early movement. The statesmanlike study by church leaders of the whole world-field, thesteadiness of movement year after year, in spite of difficulties anddiscouragements, the careful systematic effort to inform and arouse thehome church--these are marked features of the present foreign-missioncampaign. They are such as to awaken the deepest admiration of anythoughtful onlooker. In all of this the modern Church is making a whollynew record. 

Ahead, But Behind. 

Yet, while all this is true, it can be said just as truly that the Church, as a whole, is so far behind the primitive Church as, again, practicallyto leave comparison out of the question. They were so far ahead in themass of their movement that we are scarcely in the lists at all. Thenthe whole Church was an active missionary society. Every one went andpreached. The nearest approach to it in modern times probably is themovement of the native Church of Korea. This foreign people seems to havecaught the early spirit. Our heathen brothers are taking their place aspace-setters for the Church. 

By contrast with that, the modern activity has been by a minority, reallya small minority, though a steadily growing one. The leaders havestruggled heroically against enormous odds in the backward pull of themajority. 

Then they went everywhere. That is, they went everywhere that theycould, so far as open doors, or doors that could be pried open, let them. We have gone actually farther, and to more places probably, but we haven'tbegun to go everywhere that we could. 

Our ability to go, and the urgent requests for us to come, would carry usto thousands of places not yet touched. If we began to do things as theearly Church people did, it would stand out as one of the greatestmovements in the history of the race. If a small minority of us have madesuch enormous strides what could the whole of us do if we would!

In a Swift Current. 

The momentum of the present missionary movement has been startling. Itsuggests that we are on the eve of an advance undreamed of by the mostenthusiastic. The last twenty-odd years have seen progress clearoutstripping that of the previous hundred, though all built upon thefoundations so well laid by the earlier leaders of the century. 

In answer to the earnest persistent prayer of a few, the Spirit of Godfound new stuff ready for His kindling fires among the colleges. The storyof the prayer of a few that preceded the forming of the Student VolunteerMovement is thrilling. That great movement was literally conceived andbrought forth in the travail of prayer. Its wide-spread influence upon thecolleges, and then upon the churches; its early campaigning, itsremarkable leaders, its great conventions, the steadiness of its growinginfluence through more than twenty years, and the distinct mark it hasmade upon the whole mission propaganda abroad, make up one of the mostthrilling chapters of church history, ancient or modern. To-day itsinfluence encircles the earth. Its volunteers are found everywhere. 

Its reflex influence upon that other movement, the Young Men's ChristianAssociation, has been no small part of its work. The two have beeninterwoven from the beginning, each contributing immeasurably to theother. The practical power of the Young Men's Christian Association onforeign soil is recognized by the Church, and by foreign governments, asof a value clear beyond calculation or statement. 

It has come to be one of the great expressions of the unifying spirit ofthe Church on foreign-mission soil. Our churches at home may go theirseparate ways, largely. But the pressure of the sore need of the foreignworld has been welding the churches there together remarkably. TheChristian Associations, both of young men and young women, belonging toall the Church and representing all, have held a strategic position inaction, and been of inestimable service to the Church in its missionarypropaganda. 

The Young People's Missionary Movement, whose long, warm fingers arereaching throughout the whole Church, and the newer Laymen's MissionaryMovement with its aggressive campaigning, are both remarkable expressionsof the new uprising. 

The women of the Church were forehanded in their earnest working andpraying. They were up at dawn of day. Their influence is mighty, clearbeyond any words to express. And now at last the men are waking up, andthe new life is showing itself anew within organic church lines. Men'smissionary conventions, with great attendances, are swinging into line, and revealing the awakeness of the Church. 

Power of Leadership. 

The enormous power of personal influence and of devoted leadership hasbeen most marked. In the throng of strong men that lead in all thisactivity there are two men that by common consent stand out big in thegroup. Young men they are, both of them, not yet in the full prime oftheir powers. One has a genius for organization probably never surpassed, if equalled, by military general, or Jesuit chief, or modern captain ofindustry. The other has mental grasp, keenness of thought, and power ofpersuasive speech not surpassed by any, if equalled. Both are marked by asingularly deep, tender spirituality, a rare gift of leadership, a poiseof judgment, and a devotion to the Church's great mission as true andsteady as the polar star. 

Around these two young men has grouped up in no small measure this latermissionary activity. And it is probably quite within the mark to say thatno stronger, abler men can be found in any of the great activities of lifeto-day in either of these two great English-speaking peoples. It is surelysignificant that the modern missionary movement rallies around suchgiants. 

It is worthy of special note, too, that the body of men to whom isentrusted the administration of this vast network of foreign service, theforeign-board members and secretaries of the Church, have developed suchremarkable power and skill. No body of men has problems more intricate andexacting and difficult. And no body of men in any sphere of activity hasshown greater diplomacy and astuteness, hard sound sense, and untiringdevotion. 

Some good friends are sometimes disposed to be critical of methods andmanagement. They think the affair could be conducted better in somedetails which they think important. Well, it would be surprising if itwere not so. The same criticisms are made of every governmental and greatindustrial enterprise. Everything human seems to make progress bycorrecting and improving. But the thing for you and me to keep acritically keen eye upon is this: that no such detail be allowed to affectby so much as a hair's weight the steadfast ardor of our support. 

No strong man in the thick of the great driving purpose of his life isturned aside or stopped by the biting or buzzing of a few insects. If eventhey can't be brushed aside, let them buzz and bite, but don't let thegreat passion of a life be affected by them. Indeed, they will be cleanforgot, even while they are remembered, by the man who has been caught andswept by the fire of his Master's passion for a world. 

A Minority Movement. 

Yet, be it keenly marked, these great strides have been made by aminority, who have followed the strong leaders. The whole Church is notyet awake. Many protest strenuously against being waked up. Thealarm-clocks bother them. Sometimes one is inclined to think that theforeign boards are peculiarly placed between a refrigerator and a furnace. 

Missionaries come back home fresh from the front fairly aflame with thefervor of their enthusiasm. Their convictions of what could be done, andshould be done, are apt to be spoken out with great positiveness. Theyseem to some to suggest in an uncomfortable way the thought of a glowingfurnace. And many in the home churches seem able to listen with suchindifference as to suggest to these returned men and women the chillingair of an ice-box. In between the two sits the Church board engaging inthe difficult task of trying to equalize the temperature. But that'smerely a detail in passing. 

The great fact to mark is that never has the missionary movement bulked solarge. And never have such broad statesmanlike plans, such aggressivenessof spirit, coupled with deep devotion, marked the Church in its greatlife-mission. 

One morning at a popular summer resort on the Long Island Sound coastthousands of bathers were enjoying the surf-bathing. The life-saving crewwere stationed for duty, on the lookout for any accident. A gentlemanstanding by one of the crew asked him how he could tell if help wereneeded. There were thousands of bathers, and a perfect babel of noises. The weather-beaten man, bronzed and toughened and trained to keenness inhis work by years of service, said, "I can always hear a cry of distress, no matter how great the noise and confusion. There never yet has been acry of need I haven't heard. "

For a long time the confusion of noises bothered the Church ears. But nowthe cry of distress from over the wide seas is being heard againdistinctly, and is being responded to splendidly. The very earnestness ofresponse and effort is a forerunner of sure victory. 

A Great World-chorus. 

I recall vividly a scene in Albert Hall in London nearly fifteen yearsago. A remarkable gathering from all parts of the world had come togetherto celebrate the jubilee of the Young Men's Christian Association. Abouttwo thousand men had come from the ends of the earth. It was aworld-gathering. There were sturdy Englishmen, cosmopolitan Americans, canny Scots, quick-witted Irishmen, sweet-voiced, fervid-spiritedWelshmen, and courtly, suave Frenchmen. 

Fair-haired, blue-eyed Scandinavians mingled with olive-skinned, black-eyed sons of Italy. The steady-going Hollander and the intenseGerman mingled their deep gutturals with the songs of praise and thediscussions. A few turbaned heads, inscrutably quiet almond-eyes, andothers of energetic step and speech brought to mind the Great Orient, India and China and Japan. Men won up out of the savagery of Africa satwith Islanders from the Pacific. 

They came from many communions and represented many creeds, and spoke asmany tongues as the Jerusalem crowds on the day of Pentecost. But theywere drawn together not by their attractive diversity, but because oftheir oneness. The drawing-power of Jesus was the magnet that drew them. It was the music of His Name that made all their tongues and languagesblend and chord in sweet harmony. 

This night I speak of they had gathered in the great oval-shaped AlbertHall opposite Hyde Park. With the Londoners, probably, fully ten thousandpersons were present. And I think I shall never forget the vast volume ofsound, as, led by a chorus of Scandinavian students, they all united insinging, "All hail the power of Jesus' Name. "

They didn't sing it to our American tune of "Coronation, " but to the oldEnglish "Miles Lane. " That tune, you remember, repeats over four times thewords, "Crown Him, " in the last line, gradually increasing in volume, andthe fourth time touched with a bit of quieting awe. 

I can close my eyes now, and see that great world-gathering and hear againthe sweet rhythmic thunder of their singing:

 "And crown Him, Crown Him, CROWN HIM, Crown Him, Lord of all. "

No one can tell to another the thrill and thrall of such a sight andsound. It was all unconsciously a bit of prophecy acted out, faint butdistinct, of the great day of victory that is coming. 

The Oratorio of Victory. 

Have you ever noticed the Oratorio of Revelation? Lovers of music shouldstudy the book of the Revelation of Saint John, for its mighty choruses. It is striking just now to notice the double key-note of that closingclimactic book of this old Bible. It is this: Satan chained, and Christcrowned. But note for a moment the oratorio sounding its music throughthese pages. 

It opens with a solo in the first chapter. [14] John begins writing withsteady pen until he seems to get a glimpse of Jesus. Then his pen dropsthe story, and he begins singing:

 "Unto Him that loveth us, And loosed us from our sin by His own blood; And hath made us a kingdom, Priests unto His God and Father; To Him the glory and the dominion Forever and ever. "

In chapter four[15] comes a quartette. The four living creatures roundabout the throne take up the refrain of John's solo. And, as they sing, their song is caught up by a sextuple quartette, twenty-fourwhite-robed, crowned men before the throne. [16]

In chapter five the Angel Chorus swings in. [17] They are grouped roundabout the quartette, and the twenty-four elders. John begins to countthem. Then his figures give out. His knowledge of mathematics is toolimited. There were ten thousand times ten thousand, and unnumberedthousands of thousands. As far as his eye could reach, to left and right, before and behind, was one vast sea of angel faces. 

And John listened enraptured and awed, as their wondrous volume of rhythmrang and thundered out. Sweet sopranos and mellow contraltos; ringingtenors and deep basses; first one, then the other, back and forthresponding to each other, then all together; marvellous music it must havebeen. 

Then the refrain of their song is caught up by the Creation Chorus. [1]Every living creature in heaven and on the earth and under the earth, asthough unable to resist the contagious sweep, catch up the music and addtheir own to it. We don't commonly associate music with the animalcreation, nor with nature. It has been said that all the sounds of natureare keyed in the minor, as though some suffering had affected them. Wetalk of the sighing of the wind, the moaning of the sea-waves, and themourning of the doves. Though the singing-birds must be excepted. Theyseem to have caught and kept some of the upper strains. 

But evidently something has occurred to strike a new key-note. For nowthey take up the refrain of the joyous song of the others, and increasethe mighty song by their own. 

In chapter seven the music has ceased or softened down and is taken upafresh by the Martyr Chorus. [18] Again John's figures give out. Hedeclares that nobody could count the multitudes that make up this chorus. It is a polyglot chorus. They sing in many different languages, but allblend into full rhythm. It's a scarred chorus, too. These have beenthrough great tribulation. Their scars tell the mute story of thefierceness of the fight, and the steadiness of their faith. 

Through their singing runs a distinct strain of the minor. Its strangelysweet cadence, learned in many an hour of pain, runs as an under-chordingthrough the song of triumph that now fills their hearts and mouths. And asthey sing, the angel chorus and the quartette drop to their knees, andswell the wondrous refrain. 

In chapter fourteen comes the music of the Chorus of Pure Ones. [19] Theyare gathered close about the person of Jesus. They sing to theaccompaniment of a great company of harpers. They sing with a peculiarclearness in their tones. Theirs is a new song. Purity always makes amusic of its own, unapproachable for sweetness and clearness. 

The Victors' Chorus rings out its song in chapter fifteen. [20] Thesehave been in the thickest of the fighting. The smoke of the battle hastanned their faces. They have struggled with the enemy at close range, hipand thigh, nip and tuck, close parry and hard thrust. And they have comeoff victors. The ring of triumph resounds in their voices, as to the soundof their own harps, harps of God, they add their tribute of song to allthe others. 

And at the last comes the great Hallelujah Chorus, in chapternineteen. [21] In response to the precentor's call, they all join theirvoices in one vast melody. The Quartette, the Sextuples, the Angels, theCreation, the Martyrs, the Pure-Ones, the Victors--all sing their songtogether. 

John tries to tell what it was like. His mind went quickly back to earlierdays in his home city, Jerusalem, when thousands of pilgrims crowded thetemple areas and narrow streets, and spread out over the hills. Theunceasing sound of their voices in speech and in their pilgrim songs ofpraise comes back to him. He says it was like that. 

But that isn't satisfactory. It is so much more. He thinks of how theocean-waves keep pounding, with cannon-roar, on the rocky beach of hisPatmos prison isle. So he said it was like that. But still more is neededto give an idea of the vast volume of sound. And he remembers howsometimes the thunders crashed and boomed and roared above him as he layin his solitude on that lonely bit of sea-girt land. It was like that. Itwas like all of these together. 

And what is it they are singing? Well, there's a variety in the wording oftheir song, as well as in their voices. But through all runs a refrainthat brings back to me the great London chorus. It is this--

 "And crown Him! Crown Him!! CROWN HIM!!! Yes, Crown Him Lord of all. "

It is the rehearsal of the great Oratorio of Victory that we are all tojoin in singing. 

The Church

 Forces that Win. The Divine Law of Leadership. God's Messenger. Reaching Out for a World. "Keep Step. " "Find My World, And Win It Back. "

The Church

Forces That Win. 

God's world is full of winning forces. The great ball of fire around whichour earth revolves is the greatest winning force in the life of the earth. It is constantly winning the earth to itself with a power unseen buttremendous, beyond anybody's power to calculate. The swing of the earthaway from the sun is being continually overcome. By an immense drawingpower it steadily holds the earth where it can pour down its wealth ofwarmth and light and life into it. 

It woos the moisture up from river and lake and sea, until its gravitypartner in the centre of the earth woos it back again in refreshing rainand sheltering snow. It wins out of the earth's warm heart bounteousharvests of grains and fruits, the wealth of forests which affects theearth's life so radically, the flowers with their beauty and fragrance, and the soft carpeting of green to ease the journey for our feet. All thelife and beauty of the earth is due to the winning power of the sun. 

God Himself is the greatest winning force in all our world. Everywhere menfeel the upward drawing toward Him. They may protest against churchorganizations and creeds, against teachings and long-settled practices andhabits of thought, as they do so much, but there is always everywhere alonging in the human heart for God. It is the answer to the longing of Hisheart for us. 

And man is a great winning force. Everywhere men are attracted to eachother. There is a winning power within each of us that draws certainothers irresistibly to us. And there are winning forces in life that eachone of us is powerfully affected by. The old home of earlier days has amarvellous power of attraction for most men. The old fireside, thefamiliar rooms, the subtle aroma that seems inseparable from the verybricks and boards--who has not felt the tremendous drawing power of these?

What a strange power of attraction a man's mother-tongue has for him. Howthe heart will give a quick leap, in a foreign land, when, amid aconfusing jargon of strange sounds, all unexpectedly some one speaks thedear old familiar words. The person speaking may not be speciallycongenial or attractive to us, but that sound his tongue gives draws us tohim. 

The Divine Law of Leadership. 

Now I want to talk with you a bit about the forces at hand for winning ourold world back to our Father's heart and home. God means us to use all theattractive powers we have in this great world-wooing and world-winningtask. The world is to be won back, not driven. Men drive men, when theycan. But God woos and wins. Man's coming back must be by his own glad, sweet consent. God won't have it any other way. 

There are certain strangely winsome forces at our command for winning man. They are mighty in their drawing power. But there are counter-currentsthat divert and hinder their influence. We need to be familiar with thesewinning forces, and with the counter-currents, too. 

There are seven great forces at our command for this blessed service ofsoul-winning and world-winning. They are not peculiar to foreign-missionservice, for the foreign service itself is not essentially different fromother service, except in the greatness of its need. They are the forcesfor use in all our winning work. 

Two of these are distinctly human forces. The first is an organization, the Church. And then that of which the Church is made up, men and women; Imean the power of personality, developed and consecrated personality. 

There are two divine forces that work through the human--Jesus and theHoly Spirit. I have put these second in order, because they work throughthe human. The leadership is in human hands. The initiative of all actionis with us. Of course, if you go a bit deeper in, the initiative is withGod who moves upon our hearts to make us act. But on the distinctly humanlevel the beginning of service rests in human hands, and these twomighty, almighty, divine forces work through us. 

The divine law of leadership and of cooperation in leadership has notalways been clearly understood. And there has been bad delay often becauseof the lack of understanding. Our Lord Jesus in the days of His humanitysurrendered Himself to the leadership of the Holy Spirit in His greatmission to men. The Spirit worked through Jesus. After Jesus' Ascensionthe order was reversed. The Spirit yielded Himself to the control of theglorified Son of God. Jesus worked through the Spirit. It was Jesus whosent down the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost for the special missionbegun that day. 

And now, with the greatest awe coming into our hearts at the thought, beit said that these two work through our human leadership. The leadershipin service among men is human leadership. The wondrous Spirit of God worksthrough our leadership to reveal Jesus to men in all His winsomeness andpower. 

There can be no power at all in our human action and leadership except asthe Spirit leads and controls us, and is allowed to. And, on the otherside, we must not forget, though it has sometimes been forgotten, thatGod's working waits upon human action and leadership. Memory quicklybrings up the fact, so often repeated in the history of the Church, thatwhen men have failed to respond to God's call His work has fallen behind. Whenever a new chapter of earnest service has been begun it has alwaysbeen through a new leadership. Some man has listened to God, and let Himhave the free use of himself in reaching out to other men. 

God needs men. He needs you and me. We are the wire for the transmissionof His current of power. The wire is useless without the current. And thecurrent must have the wire along which to travel to its place of service. The divine power is through human action and human leadership. The poweris all divine. And the means through which it works is all human. Jesusand the Holy Spirit work through the Church and through each one of us whois willing. 

Then there are three spirit forces, or influences, of mighty power inhuman hands; namely, prayer, and money, and sacrifice. 

God's Messenger. 

To-night we want to talk about the first of the two human forces--theChurch. 

We ought to remind ourselves of just what that word "Church" means in thisconnection. It has many meanings. There are at least two that we shouldnote here in thinking of it as a great winning force. In its broadestmeaning, the word is commonly used for the whole group of churchorganizations taken together, the Roman Catholic and the Greek Orthodox, the Protestant, and the few primitive societies that still retain theirold original organization. In the deeper, less used meaning, it standsfor the body of those men and women everywhere who are trusting JesusChrist, and are allied with Him in the purpose of their hearts. 

These two meanings, of course, should be the same. All who trust Jesusshould be in the church organizations. And all who are in theorganizations should be there because of their relation to Jesus. Whateverthe facts regarding that may be, the mission of each is the same. And itis with that mission that we are concerned just now. 

Jesus planned that His Church should be a great man-winning andworld-winning organization. The mission of the Church is to take Jesusto all men. It is God's messenger of His truth to all. In that it is thedirect lineal descendant and heir of the Hebrew nation. 

That nation was chosen to be a messenger or missionary nation. That wasthe one purpose of its special creation as a nation. It was not to be asthe other nations, in the characteristics that commonly mark strongnations. It was to be a teacher-nation, receiving its message of truthdirect from God, embodying that message in its own life, personally andnationally, and giving it out clearly and fully and winsomely to all thenations of the earth. And, in spite of its failures and breaks, thatmission was accomplished to a remarkable extent. 

The Church is its heir. It was born in the Jewish nation. It became theheir to its world-wide messenger mission. The great commission given byJesus as He was leaving is the Church's commission for its greatlife-work. It was spoken to the group of Jewish men who were the nucleusof that body called the Church, that came into being on the day ofPentecost. That ringing, "Go ye into all the world and preach my gospel tothe whole creation, " is the Master's command to the Church which Hebrought into being. That is the Church's marching order by which its lifeis to be controlled and its faithfulness judged. 

The scene of the Church's birth gives a vivid picture of itsworld-mission. It was born in a world-gathering. It was a world-church inits make-up at its birth. Men from all parts of the world became united inone body by the Spirit's touch that great Church birthday. Its birth-gift, the power of speaking many tongues, reveals at once the wide sweep of itsservice. 

It was the Master's plan that His Church should speak all the languages ofthe earth then and now and always, as well as the language of heaven, thelanguage of love. So every man would learn of Jesus in his native speech. The language of the cradle and of love-making and of the fireside, thelanguage that most quickly kindles the fires in a man's heart, that wasthe language to be used in carrying Jesus to every man. That was Jesus'plan. The Church was rarely equipped with winning power for aworld-service on its birthday in the gift of tongues. 

Of course, this is not the only mission of the Church. That is to say, there are other purposes necessarily included in this. Taking the Gospelof Jesus to all men means more than merely taking it and telling it. Theteaching and training and developing of those won to Jesus is aninseparable part of the Church mission. The great service of worship hasalways been recognized as a vital part of the Church life. Sometimesindeed these have been thought of, and still are thought of, as its onlymission. But they grow distinctly out of the chief mission and aredistinctly contributory and secondary to it. Indeed, they come into beingonly through the faithful doing of the chief task. Men were won. Then theymet for worship and for training. 

Reaching Out For a World. 

The Church of those first years thoroughly understood what its greatmission was to be. The first chapters of the Book of Acts vividly describethe ideal Church as planned by the Master, and as understood by those whofelt His own personal touch upon themselves. Everybody went. They went toeverybody. They went everywhere. There is pretty clear evidence that theyactually went everywhere that men could go. They held their lives, andeven their property, subject to the one great gripping purpose. 

The greatest leader of the first century of the Church, Paul, whocontributed most to its literature and exerted the greatest influenceupon its life, was above all else a missionary leader. He went practicallyeverywhere. He didn't go hastily, but by carefully thought-out plans. Hewon men to Christ, organized them into church societies, taught them, andsent them out to win others. 

He worked in and out of the world's great city centres of his time. Ephesus, the Asiatic centre, Corinth, the centre of Greek influence, and, Rome, the centre of the world's governing power, were the scenes of hislongest and most thorough campaigns. His choice of the centres was amaster's strategic choice. For these centres sent their influence out tothe ends of the earth. Paul's body might be in Ephesus or Corinth or Rome, but his thought and heart were on the world these cities reached byconstant streams of influence. 

And to these churches which he had won out of the raw stuff of heathenismhe taught the same world-wide message. They became filled with this sameworld-wide spirit. The Thessalonian and Corinth Churches made theirwinning power felt throughout Greece and wherever Greek culture had gone, that is to say, everywhere. [22] The Church in Rome sent out the message ofJesus from its golden centre of all Roman roads, out to the farthestreaches of those far-reaching roads. [23]

It is striking, though not surprising, that the days of the Church'smissionary activity have been the days of its greatest purity and vigor. When the vision of the Master's face on Olivet, and the ringing sound ofHis "Go ye" have been lost, the Church has written pages that would gladlybe blotted out. 

The Church has been a winning force beyond any power of calculation orwords of description. All that has been done has been done through itsactivity and leadership. It is to-day a tremendous winning force, reachingits warm hands out to the very ends of the earth, and drawing men toJesus. With our earnest prayer it will exert a yet mightier influence intaking Jesus to all men and in winning men everywhere to Jesus. 

"Keep Step. "

The Church is organized Christendom. It stands for the power oforganization in God's service. All the vast power of the men and womenwhose hearts have been renewed by the Holy Spirit can be brought to bearat a given point with tremendous force through the Church. That was and isthe Master's plan. 

Organization is rhythmic action, a crowd of men working by agreement asone man. Never was the world so impressed with the almost magical power oforganization as to-day. Never has organization been brought up to so higha pitch of efficiency. The unparalleled progress of the world in our dayis due to the marvellous skill that has been developed in organizedaction. 

Now, this almost omnipotent power of organization was meant to be used inwinning the world back home. That is the meaning of the birth of theChurch on that great Pentecost day. It is remarkable that the mostperfectly matured bit of organization, in this day of matured andperfected organizations, is a church. For by common consent of thoughtfulstudents the most finely adjusted and thoroughly matured bit of humanmachinery is the Roman Catholic Church. 

If such a masterpiece of organization were controlled by the Spirit thatcontrols in these early chapters of Acts, what tremendous and thorough andrapid work would be done in world-winning! And that is the goal towardwhich we should be driving. The evangelization of the whole world is aneasy task for the whole Church. It would be a stupendous, if not animpossible task for the few. It has been a gigantic task for the leaders, who by dint of great planning and persuasion and earnest pleading havedone as much as has been done. But if the whole Church or half of it wereto go at it as earnestly as men go at other things, it would be an easytask. 

I remember one October morning walking across an old smoke-begrimed bridgethat spans the Ohio at Cincinnati. My eye was caught by a dingy sign inlarge plain letters nailed up in a prominent place. It simply, said, "Processions in crossing this bridge must break step. " That was all. Butit was imperative. It was a law. The processions must break step. Thesame men might cross the bridge, in as large numbers, at the same time, but they must not keep step. 

The authorities knew perfectly well that for a body of men to march instep, every left foot set down at once, the impact of every right footstriking at the same moment, would so--I do not say, add to the forceexerted--would so multiply the force exerted upon the bridge as toendanger its safety. The power of concerted action is immense beyond anypower of conception. Every bit of power at command can so be brought tobear at one point with a force beyond any words to express. 

Our Master reverses for us the old bridge sign. Out from Pentecost ringsthis word: "Let my followers all form in line, close ranks, and move outto a world conquest, and--keep step. " That command of His will make awinning force so great as to shorten up the world's present calendars, andshorten up the world's pain, and lengthen out the new life that will cometo untold numbers through Jesus. 

"Find My World and Win it Back. "

Nearly forty years ago David Livingstone, one of the Church's greatworld-winning pioneers, was lost in the depths of equatorial Africa. Thatis to say, he had advanced so far ahead of everybody else that the rest ofus lost track of him, and so we called him lost. Perhaps we got the use ofthe word twisted, and we were the lost ones because we hadn't kept up. Hehad gone where the Church was told to go, but the rest of us had lingeredbehind, and so the main column became detached from its leader. Everybodywas talking about the lost leader. 

James Gordon Bennett, the owner of the New York Herald, sent a telegramto one of its correspondents, Henry M. Stanley. Bennett was in Paris, andStanley at Gibraltar. The telegram summoned Stanley to come to Paris atonce. Stanley went, reached Paris at midnight, knocked at the greatnewspaper-man's door, and asked what was wanted. "Find Livingstone, " wasthe short, blunt reply. "How much money do you place at my disposal?"asked Stanley. "Fifty thousand dollars, or a larger sum. Never mind aboutthe money; find Livingstone. "

Stanley went. It took two years' time to get ready. It required aspecially planned campaign and thorough preparation. The planning wasdone, and the world was thrilled when the bold missionary leader wasfound. 

Our Master has sent a message to His Church. It is written down in a Book, and is being repeated by wireless messages constantly. He says, "Find myworld, and bring it back; never mind about the expense of money and lives. Find my world and win it back. " And the Church has the winning power todo it. 

Each One of Us

 Our Drawing Power. Sowing Ourselves in Life's Soil. Our Need of a World to Win. Living Broad Lives in Narrow Alleys. Giving God Free Use of Ourselves. Growing Bigger for Service's Sake. My Mission-field. Our Spirit-touch. 

Each One of Us

Our Drawing Power. 

The greatest human winning force is a man swayed in every bit of his beingby the Spirit of Jesus. Man himself is the most attractive thing on God'searth. He has the greatest drawing power. 

He is attractive to God. He drew out of the creative power of God thisworld of beauty and splendor. He drew Jesus down from the throne of God tothe earth, to poverty and hard labor, to the limitations of human life, tomisunderstandings and suffering and pain and death. These were gladlyyielded to because it was all for man. How the crowds used to draw Jesus!He would give His strength out to them without stint, until those closestto Him, not understanding, sought to interfere for the sake of hisstrength. 

One man was a sufficient magnet to draw him away from His rest, and todraw out of Him the best of love and strength He had. Nicodemus' earnestpresence wooed out of His busy life a whole evening, and drew out thematchless words that the world has been feeding upon ever since. The womanof little half-breed Sychar, though an outcast, drew from Him the touch ofpower that transformed her life and her village. 

Man is attractive to his fellows. There is no power so attractive to aman as another man. The phenomenal growth of modern cities is one of theevidences of this. Everywhere men acknowledge the attractiveness thattheir fellows have for them. Every friendship, every leadership, everyfamily circle, and gathering of men for whatever purpose tells of thewinning power that man has for his fellows. It is modified by all sorts ofsurrounding conditions, and exists in many different degrees. The greatleader and the great orator have it in unusual measure. Every man has someof it. Each man is a magnetic north pole. Every man of his spirit-currentis drawn toward him with a steady pull. 

Man can win man. That fact at once brings out strikingly his winningpower. For the hardest thing in all this world to win is a man. Of allluggage man is the hardest to move. He won't move unless he will move. Only as the string is tied inside to his will can he be persuaded to move. The heart may help open the door into the will. Most often that is the wayto get in. Sometimes intelligence, the reasoning powers, open the way in, but rarely; often these two, the heart and the reason, combined. But eventhen they go tandem, with the heart in the lead; only man can get thatdoor open, and tie the tether to the other man's will, and draw him out, whither he will. He can do it. And only he can. Man yields to the drawingpower of his fellow. 

With the deepest reverence be it said that when God would redeem a worldHe sent a Man. Aye, He came as a man. And, while Jesus was so much morethan man, we must always insistently remind ourselves that He was trulyand fully a man. He was as really human in every bit of His make-up andlife as though only human. Because of man's power to win his fellow, Jesuscame to the man-level, as a Man, that so He might win men. 

Sowing Ourselves in Life's Soil. 

Man is winsome, wherever found, just as he is. He may be shackled andslimed over with sin, as he plainly is. He may have lost much of hiswinsomeness, as probably he has, through deeply rooted prejudice andsuperstitions, and endless limitations of surroundings and education, buthe still remains a powerful magnet to his fellow. 

But he is most winning in his winningness as he returns to the original asGod planned him. His native winning power comes out fully only as sin istaken out of him, washed out, and burned out; the desire for it removed, and the hurt of sin upon his bodily and mental powers overcome. Jesus isthe sort of human that God planned. And only as He is allowed to come intoa man's life, and treat the sin trouble at the core, and rule from within, can man come to his own in his rare winsomeness. 

Only won men can win men, of course. Only the man who has felt the powerof Jesus can tell some one else of that marvellous power. Nobody elsewants to. Nobody else can. For nobody else knows that power. But that manmust. There is something inside that compels him to. The man who realizesmost keenly that he has been saved will be the most intent on gettingothers saved, too. The passion for Jesus becomes a passion for tellingothers about Jesus. 

Jerry McCauley must spend out his life in Water Street because he had beengripped by the Man who spent out His life for him. The passion isirresistible. Splendid young Hugh Beaver must win the Pennsylvaniastudents to Jesus because Jesus had become the magnet of his own life. Livingstone must plunge into the depths of the African wilds, and Duffinto India's heat, and Hudson Taylor into China's inner provinces becauseof the Jesus-passion that gripped them. 

Now the thing to mark very keenly is this: that God's chief reliance inHis passionate outreach for His world is men. He is counting on you andme. The power that actually wins men is the power of God. Only He can soplay upon human wills and hearts as to induce them gladly to open to Him. That is true. But it is as true that only through the winsome power ofmen can He use His winning power fully. 

I am not going to take up just now why this is so, though that is full ofhelpful suggestion. But simply to have you mark that straight through thisold Book, and through church history, and in actual experience this hasbeen His way of reaching men. God's pathway to one human heart is throughanother human heart. 

When men have failed Him God's plan has failed. His sovereignty doesn'tmean that His plan doesn't fail. It means here that with endless patienceHe clings to the failed plan until He can get the man through whom it canbe carried out. But meanwhile there has been serious delay and sadsuffering for man. 

There is a most striking sentence spoken by Jesus in explaining theparable of the tares, in Matthew, Chapter thirteen. He said, "The goodseed are the sons of the kingdom. " We think of the truth, the Gospelmessage, as the good seed that we are to sow, and so it is. But there's afar better seed. It is men, saved men. We are to sow our saved selves, ourlives, in the soil of men's lives. Our presence among men was meant to beGod's greatest sowing of the seed of life. Upon that seed He sends the dewand rain and sunlight of His Spirit. And through that sort of sowing Hewins His greatest harvests. 

Our Need of a World to Win. 

Now I want to turn aside here a bit, and say this: we men need a world towin. The world needs winning. There's no doubt of that. And just as reallywe men need a world to win. We need the impetus and stimulus, the grip andthe swing of having a world to win. The Master's command fits with greatexactness into the need of our lives. 

Every man needs a great purpose to grip his life. So he is anchored andheld steady against the world's tidal movements. If he isn't tied to somegreat gripping purpose the wash of the sea will send him adrift, or thefierce undertow will suck him under. And many are adrift. And many are inthe deadly suction of the undertow. 

Jesus' command provides the great purpose that every man needs to hold himsteady and to bring out, and bring out best, all the splendid powers withwhich we are endowed. When we are not gripped by the great purpose plannedfor us we swing off into smaller, meaner purposes. 

I mean, of course, those of us who are awake. Many people are habitualsomnambulists. All their walking and moving about is done in a state ofsleep. Some men never wake up. They go through the motions of life so faras they must. The mechanism of habit keeps certain motions going, but thereal man within is asleep or dozing, with occasional spells of beingsleepily awake. 

But men who are awake, and doing something, find a vent for their energyon some lower level. The God-given energy will move out and stir itself toaction. But, having somehow missed the real purpose planned for them, theyallow the lower purposes to grip them. They organize great affairs, orless great, industrial, intellectual, political, fraternal, social, andspend their energy on these. It is the response they make to the call oftheir natures for some great gripping purpose. But it looks very much likeanother case of meeting a request for bread with cold hard stones. 

These things in themselves are right, of course; so far as they areright. They belong in the scheme of life. They should be given full placein one's life. But that place is always a distinctly secondary place. Theybelong in as number two. 

A Christian business man gives most of the day and year to his business, and gives of the best of his thought and strength to it. But if he havegotten his bearings straight, his business is not in first place. It ismade to serve something higher. It earns the gold with which to financethe great purpose of Jesus' life, and of his own life, namely, the purposeof winning men, and of winning a whole world of them. How it would sweetenbusiness and fraternal and social contacts and friendships, if the salt ofthis great purpose seasoned them!

Living Broad Lives in Narrow Alleys. 

We need the bigness of this great purpose. So many lives are dwarfed bytheir very littlenesses. We are bothered with being short-sighted. Theeyeglasses of the Master's purpose for us would wondrously widen out ourscope of vision. And through the new eyes would come broader, farther, clearer views, and changed action. The littleness of our ideas would beamusing if it were not so distressing. 

I recall one day riding on a Fort-Wayne train through Indiana. I chancedto overhear a bit of conversation. Two men, chance acquaintances, weretalking. One of them had his home in Elkhart. The other asked him whereElkhart is. By the side of the Elkhart man there sat a little sweet-facedboy. Instantly, as the question was asked, he looked up with surprisedeyes, and said, "Don't you know where Elkhart is? Why, Elkhart is downwhere I live. "

The amusing childish words seemed to have a familiar sound. I seem to haverun across a few people whose idea of God's world is about on the level ofthe small boy's. The world is where they live. The rest is a hazy, vaguesomething, or--nothing. It exists for them, if it exists at all in theirthoughts. 

 "Living for self, for self alone, for self and none beside; Just as if Jesus had never lived, as if Jesus had never died. "

It would be pitiable and pathetic enough if only these people themselveswere concerned in their poor, stunted, narrow-alley living. But it is morethan that; it is tragic, because of the multitude of brothers, here andabroad, sorely needing the help that was meant to go out to them throughus. 

Then most men live narrow lives so far as the daily round is concerned. The home, or shop, or store, or office is their daily horizon, withpractically the same round of duties day after day, year in and year out. The very narrowness of the round tends to make narrow people. They getinto as much of a rut in their thinking as their daily action is apt tobecome. Their work runs in fixed grooves that are apt to become fixedruts. And this makes ruts in their thinking. Their souls seem to growsmall by the very smallness and sameness of the daily tread. That is thelife of the great crowd of men all over the world. 

It's an immense relief to see something big Big things always attract. Isit partly because our daily round is so narrow and small? Jesus plans abigness that shall refresh us constantly. We have hearts big enough tohold a world, and brains able to plan for a planet, even while our feettread the same old shut-in path. 

A young man may be going a commonplace, treadmill sort of grind, in asmall corner of some great manufacturing concern, and be at the same timecarrying on a bigger enterprise than the president of his concern. For hemay be planning and praying for a world, and actually lifting it up in thearms of his strong purpose toward the level of God. 

The shipping clerk may be hammering in barrel-heads all day long, but eachblow may help emphasize the prayer of his heart for China, or India, orhis Sunday-school class. 

 "Forenoon, afternoon, and night, Forenoon, afternoon, and night, Forenoon, afternoon, and what? no more? The empty song repeats itself. Yea, that is life. Make this forenoon sublime, this afternoon a psalm, This night a prayer, and time is conquered, and thy crown is won. "

The Master's gracious plan is that we shall have the refreshment of doingbig things. We are made for big things. They help us grow into the bigsize that belongs to us. World-winning is a great boon to the crowdcompelled by the habit of life to tread a narrow path. 

Giving God Free Use of Ourselves. 

Now the great question every earnest man asks himself is, How can I be ofmost use to God and my fellows? I want to suggest three things that havehelped me in answering that question. It may be that they will help you, too, in getting your answer to it. 

First of all is this: that we let God have the free use of us. Whatever Iam, whatever gifts and opportunities I have--these I will turn over toGod, that He may have the fullest and freest use of them. God asks fromeach of us a consecrated personality. And "consecrated" simply meansthat I give God the use of myself, and that He makes use of what I havegiven to Him. That's the double meaning of the word in the Bible. 

My personality, that is, what I am in myself, is the chief thing I have inlife. It is through this personality, which men recognize as I, that theSpirit of God works in His reaching out for others. My personality is themake-up of all that I am. My presence is that subtle something thatcombines all that I am. It clings to me wherever I go. Men know it by myname. Out through it goes the power of the man within. 

The body, the glance of the eye, the quality and intonation of the voice, the way the body is carried, and the something more than these thatunites them into one--these go to make up the presence, the outer shell ofthe personality. All the power within makes itself felt through this. Aman's mere presence is an immeasurable influence. 

There is a subtle, intangible, but very real spirit influence breathingout of every man's presence. It is proportioned entirely to the strengthof the man living within. With some it is very attractive. Sometimes it ispositively repulsive. It is the expression of the man within. The presencebecomes the mould of the spirit within, large or small, noble or mean, coarse or fine, as he makes it. The strength of a man's will or itsweakness; the purity of his heart or its lack of purity; the ideals of hislife, high or low; the keenness or slowness of his thinking--all theseexpress themselves in his presence. 

We know the difference between a man of strong presence and one whosepresence is weak; though very few of us are skilled in reading, except ina very small way, the character it reveals; through our presence each ofus is constantly influencing those with whom we come in contact. Now thisis the chief thing we have for our winning work. This is the thing thatJesus uses. It is this that the Spirit of God takes possession of, if Hemay, and that He uses in His outreach to others. We win most and bestthrough what we are. 

Now, of course, I do not mean that we are to be thinking of it that wayall the time. The thinking that you have a winsome presence would itselfrob you of the most winsome part of it. Winsomeness of presence isgreatest and sweetest when we are wholly unconscious that there is such athing about us. As we are absorbed in Jesus, and in our fellows, thewinsomeness that is native to us shines out most attractively. It has beencovered up and hidden away a good bit by sin. Some men seem to have none. Some have a great deal, in spite of their ignoring of God. 

But as He is allowed to play upon us, as we seek to let His Spirit ruleour conduct and control our powers, the original God-image comes out. Thisis a return to natural conditions as planned by God. What has been lostthrough sin is restored and grown bigger and richer by the Spirit'spresence. I can give God the full use of this precious gift ofpersonality. 

Growing Bigger for Service's Sake. 

There's a second thing to do. This consecrated personality can be made adeveloped personality. We don't start into life full size. We have togrow. The greatest task of life, as well as one of the sweetest, is ingrowing fine in grain, and big in size, and skilled in action. The highestachievement of life and the rarest to find is self-mastery, that is, allthat one is in himself grown big and fine-grained, skilfully used and heldsteadily to its true use. All other achievements are through this one. 

The stronger I can make my body the more I can give God to use. The morethoroughly I can understand the great, simple laws of my body, and themore I can get into the habit of obeying them, the more can God use me inHis plans. Such common things as eating and drinking, breathing andexercising, sleeping and resting and dress, may not be called common anymore, if through thoughtfulness here you and I can be of greater use toour Master and our fellows. 

The keener and clearer and stronger we can make our thinking, by dint ofself-discipline, the greater power have we with other men. The purer theheart, the loftier the practical ideals that control the personal habits, the greater is the winning power at command. 

We may not be conscious of the difference. We will not be thinking ofthat. But the increased power of attraction is there, and is breathing outof one's presence, and is distinctly felt by others. And, more, it ismaking a distinct mark upon others, more than they know. We must setourselves to growing bigger and better for service's sake. 

My Mission-field. 

The third thing is a world-wide vision. That is to say, our thinking andplanning and praying and giving shall be on a world scale. There isnothing remarkable about this. The strangely remarkable thing is thatthere is so little of it. Man was made on the world size. It is naturalto us to grasp the world in our thinking and action. This other thing ofliving on a smaller scale is the cramping effect of sin. We were, madebig. We are big. We need a big world. We enjoy bigness. We get this fromGod. We are truest to ourselves as we live on the world plan. The worldwas given us originally to subdue, and now to win. 

This does not mean to neglect anything or anybody nearby. It's a bit ofthe cramping of sin that anybody thinks so. The man who spreads a map ofthe world beside his open Bible in the morning or evening prayer-hour islikely to have a warm hand for the fellow next him. We are made that way, to grasp the globe, and each thing close at hand that needs our care. That's a bit of the image of God in us. As we allow Him sway, the originalpower is restored to us. 

One result of this will be that many of us will go in person to somefar-away part of the great world-field. That's a serious thing to do, requiring some special qualification of body and of training. For the taskout there is a great one. There are trying conditions to be met. The verybest is called for. 

If a man may go in person to the foreign field he is greatly favored. Letnothing hold him back. It is a privilege to serve anywhere. But thehighest privilege of service is out there. Many cannot go; and many maynot go. Some are plainly bidden to stay. The home administration of themissionary enterprise requires strong men at home. 

A second result will be that wherever we are, will be a mission-field tous. We are, where we are, to give, not to get. Whether in far-off Chinaor maybe in some disillusioned commonplace home town, we will be winningmen to Jesus all the time by direct touch. The mastering thought will beto let the wondrous Spirit reach out through us, freely and fully, unhindered by anything in us, and so touch every one whom we touch. 

In any circle, business or social, our hearts will be saying, "I am amongyou as he that serveth. " Consciously, by direct word, by indirect touch, with love's rare diplomacy we will win men. Unconsciously, by ourpresence, we will as really be winning them. 

No one has an imagination vivid enough, or words graphic enough, to tellthe power of that direct human touch. All life is athrill with its magic. Even when it becomes less direct, a bit removed from the personal, itspower is indescribably great. 

John Eliot's work among the Massachusetts Indians kindled David Brainerd. Brainerd's flame touched Jonathan Edwards. Edwards' pamphlet on"Extraordinary Prayer for a Revival of Religion and the Advancement ofChrist's Kingdom on Earth" suggested to William Carey the plan of anorganized society. Fire spreads. Where the touch of God comes the fire ofGod goes out through that human touch. 

Our Spirit-touch. 

A third result will be this: we will be reaching out and winning men inall the rest of the world by our spirit-touch. You may be in someAfrican fastness or in the midst of China's age-old civilization or justhere at home, but you can be exerting a tremendous spirit-power that canbe felt out to the ends of the earth. 

It will all be in the Name of Jesus. It will be in the power of the HolySpirit. Only in that Name and through the Spirit can such winninginfluence be exerted at all. So a man can have spirit-touch with the manby his side. And just as truly he can have spirit-touch with men at thefarthest reach of the earth. 

There is a spirit influence going out from each of us in addition to thatwhich goes through the direct personal touch. It is not a consciousinfluence. That is, we are not concsious that it is being exerted. It goesout from us as we pray. It goes out of us as our thought is centered onthose far-away parts and peoples. Its strength will depend on the strengthof one's personality. 

We are familiar with the fact that a man of strong personality has agreater influence upon his fellows whom he touches directly than a weakerman has. It is just the same with regard to one's spirit-touch. Thestronger and keener and purer I may become, the more I know of theself-mastery which comes through Jesus-mastery, the greater force can Iexert as a winner of men, both by direct touch and by spirit-touch. 

Will you kindly come up nearer in spirit, as we close our talk together, and let me ask softly: Have we given the free use of ourselves to theMaster? Are we growing ourselves into bigger-sized, finer-grained, better-controlled men and women daily? For the Master is depending on us. He is counting much on having the use of us. He can reach out to the veryends of the earth through each one of us. May we not fail Jesus!

Jesus

 Jesus Draws Men. Jesus Draws Out the Best. Many Doors, but One Purpose. Make It a Story. How Peter Told Paul. "A More Excellent Way. "

Jesus

Jesus Draws Men. 

The great heart-magnet is God. No one is so winsomely attractive as He. His winning power is beyond any other. Man is winsome. But it is becauseGod made him winsome, and re-makes him yet more winsome. He gave him a bitof His own self. That's the secret of all our human winsomeness. 

Now Jesus is God to us. We know God only as we know Jesus. Jesus is theheart of God beating in time and tune with human hearts. Nobody is sowinsome as Jesus. All the native winsomeness of man and all the divinewinsomeness of God combine and blend in Him. He has always drawn men toHimself. And He still does, and always will. 

He drew men of all classes when He was down here. The reverentstar-students of far-away Babylon were drawn to His birth by a compellingthey could not resist. He drew the thoughtful, scholarly men of His ownnation, such as Nicodemus of the inner, highest circle. And He drewmilitary officials of high rank and wealth in the service of imperialRome. By the same power the half-breed, despised Samaritans and theearnest seekers after truth from cultured Greece were drawn to Him. 

The plain farmer people of Galilee, and the hardy fisherfolk, andhard-handed laboring-men came as eagerly to him. He drew the pure, finegrained, gentle Mary of Bethany, with her unusual keenness of spiritinsight; and drew as well the unnamed outcast woman, steeped in sin, whowas forgiven much, and who loved much, and so gave much. 

Practical hard-headed men of sharp bargains and shrewd trading, likeMatthew, felt His pull upon their hearts equally with men of pure heartand lofty ideals like Nathanael. By special effort, for a special purposeHe drew high-bred, high-strung, scholarly, intense Paul, out of his madenmity into a lifelong devotion. 

The crowds came until His daily routine and ministering help wererepeatedly and seriously interrupted. And strong men sought Him alone tolay bare the longings and questionings of their hearts. His Roman judgefelt the strange winsomeness of His presence and speech, though lacking inthe courage to follow his convictions regarding Him. And the Roman officerin charge of His execution was forced to admit the power of His presence. 

All the world gathered about His cross. Representatives from all parts, inlarge numbers, were at the Jerusalem feast; and on that morning, by commonconsent, they were drawn out to the place where He hung. 

He even drew the arch-tempter. He came with his subtlest temptations, andbitterest enmity, and most malignant cunning. Could there be greaterevidence, by contrast, of the drawing power of His purity and goodness andsteadfast devotion to His mission?

Jesus Draws Out the Best. 

And Jesus had the power to draw out of men the best there was in them. Possibilities, traits, and powers that neither they nor their friendssupposed they had came out into strong life under the spell of His touch. There seemed to be something in Him that drew the same sort of thing outof them. 

Out of Simon, the hot-headed, impulsive fisherman, He drew the steady manof rock. Out of fiery John, the son of thunder, He drew the man of tender, strong love. And out of quiet, retiring Andrew He drew a man with areputation for bringing others to Jesus. 

He drew out of the Sychar outcast a sense of her sin, and then a winner ofsouls; and out of that other woman of open sin, a longing for purity thatpaved the way to all else that came. Under His compelling touch there cameout of the blind-born man a willingness to sacrifice all for such aMaster; and out of James, the other son of thunder, a courage to enduresuffering that men had not known he had. 

That was when He was down here, a man. And ever since that fleecy cloudreceived Him out of sight He has been drawing men of all the world. Andtime would as utterly fail me, as it did the writer of the Hebrews, if Itried to tell of the men He has drawn. Men of every rank, high and low, inevery nation, savage and civilized, in every generation of all thesecenturies have felt the thrill of His power. And they have followed Him atthe cost of all that men hold most dear. 

And He is just the same to-day. He is as available now in all His drawingpower wherever men meet, in city slum and savage wild, in college hall andbusiness street, among the philosophical and cultured, and among theignorant and untrained. If we will take Him to them, and let Him outthrough our lips and lives, He will draw men up the heights. He can drawagainst any power of downward suction, and He will. He promised to drawmen, if lifted up. And He has never failed to do it. 

Now, it is this drawing Jesus that men need and want. There is an enormousadvantage in taking Jesus to men, because there is a something inside meneverywhere that responds to Jesus. That something may be choked andcovered up, crowded down and fought against, as it is. But it is there. When you take Jesus to a man you may know that you are taking a supply toa demand. You are bringing a man the answer to his heart's questions. Itis as the coming together of two parts that belong together, but have beenheld apart by some hindrance. 

That hindrance is stubborn. It has to be fought. It can be overcome. That's the chief task. Then the part in man that answers to Jesus eagerlyfits into its place in Him. That coming together is always blessed, beyondwords. Everywhere men of all sorts and ranks and degrees of savagery andculture eagerly respond to Him. And they declare that they find in Him thefull answer to their deepest longings. 

Many Doors, but One Purpose. 

It is this marvellous magnet, Jesus, that we are to take to men; nottheology, nor education, nor medical skill, nor hospitals, nor industrialhelps, except incidentally. These are the tin cup which one is glad to useto give the thirsty traveller water from the spring. 

You will understand at once that I have no thought of criticizing theologyor of discrediting it, if I could. It has its place. But that place is notout in the thick of the crowd, but back in the quiet hall of study. Theremust be thorough study and systematic putting together of the truth. Thereneeds to be patient plodding and mental drilling. 

You have no need to be told of the immeasurable value of the splendidfoundation building of Christian scholars. But this is school work, in themain. It is to make us better workmen. So a man gets his bearings andpoise. But the people down in the dust and drive of the crowd don't wanttheology. They want Jesus. It is striking that everywhere men want to hearabout Jesus. 

Educational work has played an indispensably great part in the scheme ofmissions. But the purpose of it, of course, is to make an open door forthe entrance of Jesus into men's lives. It is invaluable in itself alone, regardless of any other purpose. But the teacher of any sort of learningin the mission school, who is chiefly absorbed in the teaching itselfinstead of using it as a means to something higher, is missing the wholepurpose of his work. 

And what words can be used strong enough in speaking of the blessed workof medical men in foreign-mission lands? These skilled, patient, faithfulmen and women in hospital and dispensary and private service are doing awork of incalculable value. It should be done even if the bodily resultswere all. But the underlying purpose through it all is to lead men to knowJesus. And no one has such a short, quick road into a man's heart as hewho can relieve his body. 

These things are doorways into men's lives; and great doorways, too. Theyare well worth all the money and lives expended if they went no fartherthan body and mind and better conditions. But the main purpose in them isto find a way into men's hearts, and take in Jesus; that so men may getthe greater as well as the less. 

Make it a Story. 

Now, how shall we best tell men of Jesus? Well, the modern newspaperman'srule in his work is this: "Make it a story. " This is his leading rule inall his writing work. Whatever the occasion may be, whether a meeting ofscholars or an accident on the street, it is to be put into story-form. That is the ideal toward which he works. All the descriptions, andquotations, and information, and philosophizings are to be woven into thisweb. They know that a story is the easiest thing to read and to listen to, and also the hardest to tell well. 

That should be our rule here: Make it a story about Jesus. When it comesto talking the Gospel to a group of people, large or small, in New York orShanghai, make it a story. Wherever you may begin the story, see that itspurpose is to lead up to Jesus. You may use twenty-five minutes in gettingyour story out, and then put the Jesus touch in the last five minutes. Butas they go away that last five has given its flavor to the wholehalf-hour's talk. Or, you may begin with Him, and so run through. But therule should be: Make it a simple, natural, attractive story, such aspeople will want to listen to, because it interests them. 

That means a lot of hard work in preparation. The simpler and easier andmore natural it seems to the crowd the more it will have cost you instudy. You will have to study so carefully that they won't guess you havestudied at all. You must absorb this Bible story, bit by bit, through andthrough, until it becomes a bit of yourself. 

You must use books that help make this Book clearer and plainer. That isreally the mission of biblical books, to make the Book plainer. If theysend you to the Bible they have fulfilled their mission. If you stay inthem, they have failed. 

The Bible is an Oriental book in its way of putting things. Its story isbuilt upon the habits of those Eastern peoples. While it is full of simpleteaching easily understood, one needs to understand those habits to getthe real meat of the meaning. This means a habit of hard work for him whowould be a winner of men. He should have an ambition to know the Biblestory thoroughly, and to get it from the Bible itself. 

But, whatever your particular message may be at any time, let it lead upby a straight road to Jesus. Follow the rule of the Book itself here. TheOld Testament all points to Jesus. It can be understood only as He isunderstood. And the New is aflame with His presence. Tell the story ofJesus to men. They never tire of that. Tell it accurately. Tell it simply. Tell it with endless variety. Put it in simple every-day words, so theythink about the story and not about you or your words. 

Tell Jesus' life; His characteristics; how He mingled among men, andtalked with them. Take up the Gospel incidents, and give them theirnatural flavoring and coloring in present-day speech. Tell of the Nazarethlife, in home and carpenter shop and village. Go through those wondrousthree and a half years, bit by bit. 

Go into the temptation wilderness, out on the blue waters of Galilee, andinto Gethsemane's olive-grove. Climb that bit of a rise of ground calledCalvary. Wherever you are in that story, make sure that the coloring ofCalvary gets distinctly in, by word or phrase or climax or somehow. 

Now, of course, there will be some theology in your telling. You will makecomments and explanations. And preachers call that theology. That isunavoidable. That is the place for such teaching, as it naturally growsout of the story. But the story should be the main thing. Men should besent away thinking about a Man, Jesus; not about a theory of doctrine. 

How Peter Told Paul. 

I remember very distinctly one time Mr. Moody was speaking at the OhioSunday-school Convention in Cleveland. He was saying that teachers shouldopen up the Bible and make it attractive. Then he told the story of how, in '84, in London he was talking with a lawyer friend who had just comedown from Edinburgh. He had been hearing Andrew Bonar preach up there, andwas greatly taken with his way of preaching. 

Mr. Moody told the story something like this:

"Bonar was preaching in Galatians, where it says that Paul went toJerusalem to see Peter, and he said that he could imagine Peter saying toPaul, 'Would you like to take a walk?' and Paul said he would, so theywent down through the streets of Jerusalem, over the brook Kidron, arm inarm, and Peter stopped and said, 'Look, Paul, this is the very spot whereHe wrestled and where He suffered, and sweat great drops of blood. Thereis the very spot where John and James fell asleep, right there. And righthere is the very spot where I fell asleep. I don't think I should havedenied Him if I hadn't gone to sleep, but I was overcome. I remember thelast thing I heard Him say before I fell asleep was, "Father, let this cuppass from me if it is Thy will. " And when I awoke an angel stood rightthere where you are standing, talking to Him, and I saw great drops ofblood come from His pores and trickle down His cheeks. It wasn't longbefore Judas came to betray Him. And I heard Him say to Judas, so kindly, "Betrayest thou the Master with a kiss?" And then they bound Him and ledHim away. And that night when He was on trial I denied Him. '

"He pictured the whole scene. And the next day Peter turned again to Pauland said, 'Wouldn't you like to take another walk to-day?' and Paul saidhe would. That day they went to Calvary. And when they got on the hillPeter said, 'Here, Paul, this is the very spot where He died for you andme. See that hole right there? That is where His cross stood. Thebelieving thief hung there, and the unbelieving thief there on the otherside. Mary Magdalene and Mary, His mother, stood there, and I stood awayon the out-skirts of the crowd. 

"'The night before, when I denied Him, He looked at me so lovingly that itbroke my heart, and I couldn't bear to get near enough to see Him. Thatwas the darkest hour of my life. I was in hopes that God would intercedeand take Him from the cross. I kept listening, and I thought I would hearHis voice. ' And he pictured the whole scene, how they drove the spear intoHis side, and put the crown of thorns on His brow, and all that tookplace. 

"And the next day Peter turned to Paul again and asked him if he wouldn'ttake another walk. And Paul said he would. Again they passed down thestreets of Jerusalem, over the brook Kidron, over Mount Olivet, up toBethphage, and over to the slope near Bethany. All at once Peter stoppedand said: 'Here, Paul, this is the last place where I ever saw Him. Inever heard Him speak so sweetly as He did that day. 

"'It was right here He delivered His last message to us, and all at once Inoticed that His feet didn't touch the ground. He arose and went up. Allat once there came a cloud and received Him out of sight. I stood righthere gazing up into the heavens, in hopes I might see Him again and hearHim speak. And two men dressed in white dropped down by our sides andstood there and said: "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing into heaven?This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven, shall come in likemanner as ye have seen Him go into heaven. "'"

Then Mr. Moody said, "My friends, I want to ask you this question: Do youbelieve that picture is overdrawn? Do you believe Peter had Paul as hisguest and didn't take him to Gethsemane, didn't take him to Calvary andMount Olivet? I myself spent eight days in Jerusalem, and every morning Iwanted to steal down into the garden where my Lord sweat great drops ofblood. Every day I climbed Mount Olivet and looked up into the blue skywhere He went to His Father. 

"I have no doubt Peter took Paul out on those three walks. If there hadbeen a man that could have taken me to the very spot where the Mastersweat those great drops of blood, do you think I would not have asked himto take me there? Now, you ministers, don't you believe the people wantpreaching like that? They do. They want to hear about the Lord. "

I remember that I was sitting in that convention where I could easily seethe faces of the people. It was a sight not to be forgotten. I rememberthat sea of eager upturned faces as distinctly as I remember Mr. Moody'stalk. The people sat so still, as though in a spell, with eyes big andshining with something wet, and occasionally a slight twitching of emotionand a handkerchief called into service. 

Mr. Moody talked in that natural way of his, so quiet and yet so intensein its quietness. That's what people want--Jesus brought to them, simplyand naturally. And Moody knew it. It took years of hard self-disciplinefor him to be able to talk as he did. Such talking takes study and hardwork. But it's all worth while if we can make Jesus plain to men in allHis wondrous winsomeness. 

"A More Excellent Way. "

Then there's another way of telling the story of Jesus to men. It's a yetbetter way. Tell it with your life. That was Jesus' own plan. He livedwhat He taught. He proposed coming down into each one of us and living Hislife over again in us. He does just that now. Then as men meet us they aremeeting Him, too, in us. The things that marked Him will be noticed in us. 

The intense hatred of sin, the purity, the gentleness and patience, thewarm sympathy, the constant self-forgetfulness and self-sacrifice, theeagerness to win men, the tireless going wherever men could behelped--these may be in us as they were in Him, and will be, as we let Himlive in us. And men will recognize the Jesus-story being lived in theirmidst. Jesus wants to reach out through us to men. And He will; He will;more than we ever know or will know. This is the best telling of thestory. 

I am told that in the Palace of Justice in Rome there is a remarkablechamber where visitors are sometimes taken. The remarkable thing about itis the decorations. The ceiling and walls and even the floors are coveredwith strangely painted frescoes. That is, they seem strange as one enters. They seem grotesque. They do not harmonize. They are out of touch witheach other, and make a bewildering maze of confusion. But there is onespot in the chamber, just one spot upon the floor, where, if you stand, everything falls into place. The artist's conception stands out perfect inperspective and color and beauty. 

To the great crowd of men in this old world life seems a good bit likethat Roman chamber. Things seem out of harmony--sin, pain, confusion, unsatisfied longings, unconquered weaknesses, broken plans, anddisappointed ambitions. But there is one spot, a central point, just one, where all that concerns you will come into harmony, and bring heart-rest. 

That one spot is where you take your stand side by side with Jesus. Hispresence clears everything up. He sweetens the life, and straightens thepath, and leads you steadily on toward the dawning of the day. And that'sas true for China and the Pacific islanders as for Britisher or American. Men need Jesus. He satisfies them. He is the great magnet. He draws men asno other can. He places Himself at our disposal to be taken to men. Theycan't resist Him. Let us take Him. 

O Jesus Master, thou hast drawn me till I want to be Thy slave forever. Help me take Thee to all other men that they may feel Thy wondrous drawingpower, and satisfying power, too. 

The Holy Spirit

 The Last Talk Together. The Partnership of Service. The Power that Never Fails. The Trinity of Service. Living on the Top Floor. Partial Weavings of the Strands. Unbroken Connection Above. 

The Holy Spirit

The Last Talk Together. 

A little group of men were climbing the winding path that led up Olivet'sslope. The Master was in the midst, and the others before and behind, where they could hear His voice. For they were talking together as theywalked along. That is to say, He was talking, and they were listening, with an occasional question. They went on until they were over againstwhere little Bethany nestles in among the blue hills. There they stood alittle while, still talking together earnestly. 

It was their last talk together. And there were two things the Master wassaying. Those two things came with all the tender emphasis of a lastmessage. They were to go on an errand to the world; a lifelong errand, andto the whole world. That was being burned in. But they weren't to start onthe errand until the Holy Spirit had come upon them. The errand and theSpirit's presence were coupled together. That was to be their errand. AndHe was to be their life-power as they went on the errand. 

They were to go. The Spirit was to come. He would come before they went. They must not go until He had come. Then they were to go in His presenceand power. They would be able to go because of Him. Their going would beworth while, because wherever they went He would be at work in them andthrough them. The real work would be done by Him. But it would be donethrough them. His presence was essential to their work being done. Theirpresence was essential to His doing His work. He would work as they went, and where they went. 

That was the new blessed partnership of world-wide service planned by theMaster as He went away. They would tell of Jesus. The Spirit would opendoors, guide their tongues, guard their persons, and make the message ofJesus as a flame of fire in men's hearts. 

Just before this, Jesus had talked a great deal with His disciples aboutthe Holy Spirit. They didn't yet know how much this that He was saying, would come to mean to them. But they remembered after the Master was gone, and then they understood. When they got down into the thick of the world'scrowds they understood the great significance of what He had said. 

That last talk[24] they had together in the upper room and along theJerusalem streets, on the betrayal night, was full of teaching about theHoly Spirit. And the next time after that that they met, in the upperroom, [25] on the evening of the resurrection day, He breathed stronglyupon them, and said, "Receive ye the Holy Spirit. " And the very last wordon the Olivet slope was, "Wait; wait until the Holy Spirit comes. " Heburned in deep that their dependence must be entirely upon the Spirit. 

The Partnership of Service. 

Jesus Himself is an illustration of what He told them about this. He wason a missionary errand. He had been sent by His Father, even as laterthese men and we have been sent. With awe ever growing, one remembers thatthe divine Jesus in the days of His humanity gave Himself over to thecontrol of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit was the dominant factor in His lifeand in all His activities. All His teachings and movements were at thesuggestion and direction and control of the Spirit. The power in speechand action, in healing, in raising the dead, and in the wondrous masteryof Himself was the Holy Spirit's power working upon and through Jesus. 

Then it was that as He was going away He said, "As the Father hath sentme, even so I send you. " And with that He coupled the significantbreathing upon them, with the word, "Take ye the Holy Spirit. " We are tobe as He, both in our utter dependence upon the Spirit and in ourassurance of His power in us. 

Ever since then that has been the effective partnership for world-service:men and the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit and men. If you are thinking ofthe human side you say, "Men and the Holy Spirit. " If you are speakingof the divine side, you say, "The Holy Spirit and men. " The two belongtogether. Where men have failed to go the Spirit has been hampered inspeaking to men. He has spoken, but the story of salvation through Jesushas not been known. The Spirit's mouth-piece for the telling of that storywas lacking. That seriously hindered Him in His work. 

Where men have gone without the Spirit, that is without yieldingthemselves habitually to His control, they have been sorely hampered. Itis like having the kindling wood set in order for a fire, but the fire notstarted. There is no heat, nor any of fire's results. The kindling musthave the flame, and the flame must have the coals. The two are partners inservice. 

This partnership belongs peculiarly in the world-wide service of winningmen. If anybody needs the Spirit's presence, he does who attempts to win aman to Jesus anywhere. But if any man-winner needs that presence more thananother, he does who goes into the peculiar atmosphere of a non-Christianpeople. And, on the other hand, if anybody can be sure of the Spirit'spresence and power always with him, and working through him, he can whohas gone out on the world-errand. 

That man is in the direct line of obedience to Jesus' command. The SpiritHimself is sent by Jesus, and comes to us in direct obedience to Jesus'desire. These two, the man and the Spirit, are as one in the purpose thatcontrols them. That man may depend on the gracious, irresistible Spirit'spower at every turn. He is a thrice West man, if he have learned todepend upon His unseen Partner. 

The Power That Never Fails. 

You and I have to remind ourselves constantly that our chief dependence isnot upon organization, nor method, nor personal talent, nor personaltraining, but upon the Holy Spirit working through these. The betterorganized the human machinery, the better the methods used, the more thereis of personal gift, and the more thoroughly one's powers have beendrilled, the more there is at the Spirit's disposal for Him to use. Thepractical bother is to remember this; to get it rubbed in until it is likean instinct in us, that the power is all from Him, through us. Not withoutHim, and not without us; the two together; but always His the far greaterpart--indeed, the real part. 

The Holy Spirit has a double work to do: with us who go; and upon those towhom we go. Within us He has to work out the character of Jesus. He opensthe Word, making its meaning stand clearly out. He wakens the mind up todo its best work. He guides in our decisions, suggesting and directing andcontrolling our thoughts, and in our actions, in our dealings with men. Inthings that are little in themselves, but on which so much hinges, Heguides. 

It constantly occurs that we are not at all conscious of His control atthe time. But afterward we can see how He has been deftly, softlyguiding, with His rare light touch upon us. When, in the thick of work, we may be pressed hard, and a bit wearied, and in doubt, He sends thequiet, quick suggestion into our thoughts that leads out of the tightcorner and into the achievement of the thing desired. He works through us, and through what we do, giving power that otherwise would not be there. While you are talking in conversation or in public address, He is workingthrough what you are saying. 

And He works upon those to whom we go. He opens doors; the doors ofcircumstances that we find locked and double-padlocked against us. Heopens the yet tighter-shut, harder-to-open human doors. He inclines menfavorably toward us personally, and to our message. Under His touch themessage becomes as a tongue of flame, kindling, disturbing, softening, burning down, and moulding over into new shape the inner man to whom themessage comes. 

Sometimes quarrymen find a very hard kind of rock in the stone quarries. They pick little grooves for the iron wedges, and then with greatsledge-hammers drive these wedges into the hard rock. But sometimes thisfails to split the rock. The iron wedges and big sledges have no effect atall on the stubborn stone. Then they go at it in another way. The ironwedges are removed from the narrow grooves. Then little wooden ones, of avery hard fibre are selected. These sharp-edged, well-made wooden wedgesare first soaked in water. Then they are put in the grooves tightly whilewet, and water is kept in the grooves. The sledges are not used. Theywould smash the wooden wedges. 

The water and wedges are left to do their work. The damp wood swells. Theparticles must have more room as they swell. The granite heart of rockcan't stand against this new pressure. It takes longer than with ironwedges and sledge, but after a while the rock yields and lies splitwide-open. The water works on the wood, and that in turn on the stone. Theiron wedges sometimes fail, but the wood and water never fail. 

It seems to be a part of our make-up to make plans, and to count on theplans. And planning does much. We don't want to plan less, necessarily, but to learn to depend more in our planning on the soft, noiseless, butresistless power of the Holy Spirit. 

 "The day is long, and the day is hard; We are tired of the march and of keeping guard; Tired of the sense of a fight to be won, Of days to live through, and of work to be done; Tired of ourselves and of being alone: Yet all the while, did we only see, We walk in the Lord's own company. We fight, but 'tis He who nerves our arm; He turns the arrows that else might harm, And out of the storm He brings a calm; And the work that we count so hard to do, He makes it easy, for He works, too: And the days that seem long to live are His-- bit of His bright eternities--and close to our need His helping is. "[26]

The Trinity of Service. 

Now, we want to mark keenly that full power depends upon three things. There is a trinity of service, a human-divine trinity. The full resultscan come only through its working. The ideal winner of men needs tobelieve thoroughly in this trinity. 

First of all is the message. There needs to be a clear understanding ofthe Gospel. That is the winner's message. That is the direct thing he usesin approaching and laying siege to some man's heart. It is a simplemessage, but very often it is grasped only partly by those who tell it. 

That message needs to be understood clearly and fully by the man who wouldhave the greatest power in winning men. From its first plain teachingabout sin, on to the terrible results that sin left to itself works out;through the blessed teaching of love as shown most in the sacrifice forsin which Jesus made on the cross; the need of a clean cutting with sin, and clear-out surrender to Jesus as Saviour and Master; the work of theHoly Spirit in one's heart; and then the climax of service out amongmen--this simple message needs to be grasped fully and clearly. This isthe first great essential hi the trinity of service. 

There is a second thing, yet more important, that must go with this first. And that is a man who embodies the message in himself. It isn't enoughto know the story of the Gospel, nor to tell it. It must be lived. Thatis the best telling of it. The man must be a living illustration of thetruth he is telling. He may be conscious of not illustrating it as heshould. The earnest man is never aware that he is as good an illustrationof it as he is. He may think himself a poor illustration. He is quite aptto. But he is yet more apt not to be thinking of that side as he attemptsto win men. He will be all taken up with Jesus, and with getting men toknow Him. 

The man is more than the message, even when he is less than the message. When his life fails to live out the truth he is speaking, still even thenhe is more. For the life is more than the lips. And, while he is talking, his life is discounting his words and taking away some of the power thatbelongs with them. I do not mean that those he is talking to are makingthe comparison, necessarily. They may not know about his life, whether itembodies the message or not. 

I mean that the life that is true breathes a force and power into the manhimself and so into his words. Or it doesn't. The message takes on thequality of the man. One man's talking catches fire; another's doesn't. Thelisteners know that it is so, though they don't usually know why. All thewhile you and I are trying to win others, in Sunday-school class ormeeting, in Gospel service or church preaching, in personal conversationor letter-writing, there's a subtle something that goes out of us, as anatmosphere, that affects the power of the message we're giving out. 

And that something is actually greater in its power than the truth we arespeaking. It may be a touch of flame making the truth burn within him whois listening. It may be a deadly, dampening chill checking the fire thatis naturally in the truth. The man is always more than the message. 

Living on the Top Floor. 

Then there is a third thing. It is yet more than the message or the man, or than both message and man together. It is this: the Holy Spiritcontrolling the man who embodies the message. I mean by controlling himthat he has surrendered himself to the Spirit's control. And, further thanthat, that he cultivates the Spirit's presence. 

There needs to be a habitual cultivation of the Spirit's presence andfriendship, even as we cultivate our human friendships. There needs to betime spent alone, habitually, with the Book of God. I do not mean just nowmerely studying the Bible to get better acquainted with its contents. Something more than that--thoughtful meditation on its truths; the quiet, steady holding of one's self open to the searching and stimulating andenlightening influence of this rare Book. The Spirit speaks through thesepages. Yet it is to be feared that many a careful student of its pagesdoes not get deeper in than the print. He doesn't know and meet the Personwho speaks in the print and through it. 

Then, beyond the quiet time with the Book, there is the holding of one'swhole life open to the Spirit's suggestion and subject to His direction. He guides through our thinking. And sometimes He guides us when ourthinking, for some reason, has not gotten up high enough for Him to guidethrough it. Samuel thought that David's oldest brother was God's chosenone. But into his rarely sensitized inner ear the Spirit said "No. " Histhinking wasn't keen enough to be the channel through which he could beguided. But he had learned to hold his thinking subject to a higher power. 

One time Paul thought it would be good to go over east into the provinceof Bithynia, and even tried to make a start that way. But the Spirit madeplain His plan that they were to go in just the opposite direction, to thewest. Had Paul's thinking been more open to the Spirit's touch at thatpoint, he wouldn't have made the false start. But he was wise clear beyondthe great crowd of us. For at once he dropped his own thought-out plans, and did as he was bid. 

The keener our mental processes are, the better informed we are, thebetter poised our judgment--the better can the Spirit reveal His plans tous through this natural channel, if it is open to Him. But there is onething higher up than our thinking powers. And that is thespirit-perception. The mental isn't at the top. It's a step up to thespirit floor, the highest of all. 

Some men of splendid ability and training and consecration are constantlyhampered because they insist on living on the mental floor. All theirdecisions are made there, not subject to change from above. And the HolySpirit, who is the Commander-in-chief of all the forces in this campaign, is unable to use them as He would. 

They haven't got the sensitized inner ear of the quiet time that wouldlead them up into higher, broader service. They go faithfully ploddingalong on the lower level. The Spirit can use them, of course. He does; butnever to the full The Spirit of God controlling the man who embodies themessage--this brings fulness of power in winsome service; and only thiscan. It is not by keenness of thinking, nor fulness of learning, norshrewd, well-balanced judgment, but by the Spirit of God working throughthese, and sometimes working higher up than they have reached. 

Partial Weavings of the Strands. 

Now it will help us, I am sure, and make the truth stand out more clearly, to recall a good many variations that belong in here. Running back overthese things brings up certain facts. 

The truth has power of blessing in itself, regardless of who is speakingit. A bad man may preach the Gospel, and the truth itself will be felt inspite of the man. There is a life in truth itself, quite apart from themedium of its transmission. This explains why men who have turned out tobe bad men have had good results attending their ministry. But it was thetruth making itself felt in spite of the handicap it suffered at thehands of the man talking. 

And men whose understanding of the truth is very one-sided and meagre havebeen greatly used and blessed in their work. It is striking how a man whohas been rescued from a life of open sin, and who goes into Christianservice with tremendous earnestness, will have great power. His emphasisof truth may be one-sided. It is quite apt to be. He tells what he hasexperienced. The man himself is a living illustration of the truth spoken. All the truth that can get out through him has the tremendous push forwardof his life. But the extent of his service is limited. 

And there are men who have a clear, well-rounded grasp of the blessedmessage of Jesus, and who give it out clearly and fully. But they arehampered by their mental swaddling-clothes, in which they have beenwrapped up in school-days. They never get up out of them into the freedomof strong action through the Spirit's control. 

Then, too, without doubt God's Spirit works alone, without using anybody. He speaks through nature's beauty and power. He speaks in the inner heartof every man. He is speaking directly to men all the time everywhere. Butthe message is a partial one. The direct revelation of God, in nature andin conscience, is a limited revelation. The full revelation of God wasmade in Jesus. And so it is in this Book that tells of Jesus. 

The Spirit of God can speak most fully where that Book is known. He canwork most fully and powerfully through the man who lives the Book. Everyprinting of this Bible, or any part of it, is giving the spirit freerentrance into men's hearts. Every one of us who produces a new translationof it in the language of his life gives the Spirit a wide-open door whereotherwise the opening had been narrow. 

Now, whatever combination of these there may be, some of the blessed powerof God will be seen and felt. The truth unembodied or even hampered; menwho embody the truth they know, but whose knowledge is small; men of muchknowledge, but small practice; men of full knowledge, but who have notlearned to let the Spirit sway them fully; the Spirit Himself speakingwhere Jesus is not known, and without any man's help--through each ofthese, power of life will go out to men. 

But the fulness of power that runs like a mighty stream goes only as thethree things come into one. The message, full and clear, the man wholives it, the Holy Spirit possessing and controlling the man who livesthe message--this is the trinity of service through which alone theflood-tide flows. 

Unbroken Connection Above. 

That blessed flood-tide of power may be much more common than it is. Thereneeds to be daily quiet time, alone with the Master, with the door shut, the Book open, the knee bent, the will bent too, to a clear right angle, the mind quiet and open, the inner spirit unhurried; broad, thoughtfulreading; keen, clear, quiet meditation; the rigorous squaring of the lifeup to the standard of the Book; the cultivation of the Spirit's presenceand friendship; and these habits steadily followed until they becomesecond nature. 

Then will be fulfilled the promise, "Out of His inner being shall flowrivers of water of life. "[27] And men have always been drawn irresistiblyto the rivers. And yet, while there will be fulness of power, there willnot be full knowledge of how full the power is. That is reserved for "theMorning. "

For hundreds of years men have used a contrivance called a diving-bell forworking under water. Practically it enables a man to live out of hisnative element. For a man to live in water for any length of time isimpossible. Expert divers do so for a few minutes at a time, but must riseconstantly to get a fresh supply of air. But their work is dangerous, andvery trying on the body. By means of the diving-bell a man may live andwork for hours under the water; that is to say, in an element that ofitself, unchecked, would quickly take his life. 

The diving-bell is a sort of huge inverted cup, let down into the water byits own weight, opening downward, so that the man in the bell faces thewater directly with nothing between himself and it. Death by drowning isalways within arm's length, yet he remains safe. The simple principle onwhich the thing is constructed is that water and air can't occupy the samespace at the same time. The bell, being full of air, holds the water out. 

But there needs to be a continual supply of fresh air sent down by meansof a tube connected with the upper air. Death by drowning and death bysuffocation, both threaten constantly, and each is held off, one by theair, and the other by the continual supply of fresh air. The man's abilityto work and his very life depend upon the uninterrupted connection withthe fresh air above. 

The Christian man in this world is living out of his native breathingelement. He needs to have his own atmosphere with him, or else he willdie. And he needs to have a fresh supply continually from above, or hislife will be at very low ebb. 

Missionaries in foreign-mission lands speak much of the peculiar, deadening, moral atmosphere there. There is a strange sense of depressionin it. They always plan to have their children brought home at an earlyage that they may be brought up through the tender, impressionable yearsin a land where Christian standards of life are recognized. 

There is no language strong enough to put this truth, that we must, eachof us, whether here or there, carry our own atmosphere with us, and havecontinual uninterrupted connection with the upper air. And that "must"cannot be too strongly underscored. 

Blessed Holy Spirit, breath of God, and breath of my life, help me to letThee have full sweep within me, that so my life may be kept sweet andfull; and so Jesus can get freely and fully out of me to the great hungrycrowd. 

Prayer

 The Greatest Doing Is Praying. At the Other End. A Weekly Journey Round the World. Prayer a Habit. A Praying Bent Of Mind. The Man Is The Prayer. Unseen Changes Going On. 

Prayer

The Greatest Doing Is Praying. 

The greatest of all things we can do is to pray. 

Jesus lived a life of prayer. All that He did and said grew out of Hisprayer. There is no way of knowing exactly how far it was so. But the moreI study His life the stronger grows the impression that His teaching andactivity, which form the greater part of these Gospel pages, were actuallyless than His praying. He seems to have put prayer first. All the rest wasan outgrowth of it. He was on a world-winning errand. And this was what Hethought of prayer. The emphasis of Jesus' personal habit was laid uponprayer. 

The Holy Spirit is a prayer-spirit. He is the Master-Intercessor. Hebreathes into us the spirit of prayer, and makes it glow into a passion. He teaches us how to pray. It is a lifelong teaching. You who are teachersknow that patience and skill are more in a good teacher than the knowledgetaught. With greatest skill, and loving, tactful patience the Spiritteaches us to pray. 

And then He does more: He uses each of us as His praying-room, praying inus with yearnings beyond utterance the prayer to which we have not yetreached up, but which needs to be prayed down on the earth. All the powerneeded in this great winning work is in the Holy Spirit and comes fromHim. And the chief thing He emphasizes is prayer. 

The greatest thing each one of us can do is to pray. If we can gopersonally to some distant land, still we have gone to only one place. Butour field is the world. It is impossible for us to reach our whole fieldpersonally. But it can be reached, and reached effectually, by prayer. Theplace where you and I are sent, whether at home or abroad, is simply ourbase of action. It is our field for personal touch. And that meansvery much. But it is more than that. It is only a small part of our fieldof activity. It is most significant as our base of action, from which wesend out our secret messengers of prayer to all parts of the field. 

And then, in the particular town or city or country district to which wehave been sent, or in which we are being kept, the prayer properly comesbefore the personal activity. And it runs along side by side with theactivity, and follows along after. We give the personal touch which mustbe given, and which may be so marvellous in power, but there's somethingeven there greater than the great personal touch; and that is the power ofprayer. 

It is through the prayer that the personal presence means most. Thatpersonal presence may become a positive hindrance. It may be a drag uponthe work. It often is just that for lack of prayer. For the real sweetnessand efficiency of personal service out among men is in secret prayer. 

And if we give money, it needs even more the prayer to go with it. Moneyseems almost almighty. As a winning force, of course, it must be reckonedfar less than personal service. For it is less. It gets its almostomnipotence from human hands. If the personal touch depends for its subtlepower on prayer, how much more does money! Money given to missions, unaccompanied by prayer, can no doubt be made to do great good. But it isa very pauper in its poverty alongside the bit of money that is chargedwith the spirit-current of prayer. 

At the Other End. 

One day I ran across a party of about twenty Pittsburg men on their way toa men's Christian convention in Cincinnati. There were a few ministers inthe party, but it was made up chiefly of business men, typical, keen, alert American business men. We got together and talked about things ofcommon interest. 

And this question was asked: Does prayer do things? Then the questionwas spread out some. I go into my room at night to retire. I read a bitfrom the Book, and kneel to pray. I pray for a man in Pittsburg or inHang-chow, China. Does anything take place in Pittsburg or in Hang-chowthat wouldn't have taken place if I hadn't prayed? Of course, the prayingdoes me good. The very bending of knee and head before God, the goodwishes in my heart going out to some one else--these influence me. I risebetter for both. 

But is that all? Does anything happen at the other end? Does my prayerdo anything in Hang-chow? If I write a business letter to Hang-chow, enclosing a foreign draft, the letter does something. A vast amount ofbusiness is carried on that way. Would the prayer as really do somethingas the letter and the draft?

There was a good bit of talk back and forth, and questions asked. It wasinteresting to find these men were ready to admit that they reallybelieved that something would occur at the other end. They belonged to achurch noted for its sound teaching, and came from the orthodox churchcity of Pittsburg. The matter-of-fact power of prayer to do business "atthe other end" seemed to appeal to these business men. Apparently they hadnot been looking at prayer that way. But they readily admitted that itmust be so. Then the next question asked itself: How much of this foreignbusiness are we doing? And so the little crowd talked along while thetrain pounded the rails at the rate of forty-odd miles an hour. 

Prayer does do things. Something happens at the other end that wouldn'thappen if the prayer were not made. The banker can touch London and Parisand Shanghai and Calcutta and Tokyo, without moving from the desk where heis dictating letters, with his correspondence spread out before him. Thepraying man can as really touch these cities as he kneels in his room, with map and Book spread out before him. 

Things are changed out there that need changing. That banker doesbusiness, too, in his home city and out in the home-land. But many times, with many a house, the bulk of foreign business is in excess of that doneat home. Now we want to do a large business abroad in soul-winning and inworld-winning, as well as at home. 

A Weekly Journey round the World. 

I use that word "business" in this connection thoughtfully and reverently. I know there is a sacredness, a hallowedness about prayer that never orrarely enters into business matters. We keep the two things apart in ourthoughts; reckoning the one a common thing, and the other a holy thing. And I would increase, if I could, that sense of reverence in prayer. Butthere is a great advantage in using the familiar language of business inthinking of the results of our praying. 

Prayer is doing business for God. It gives a practicality, asomething-you-can-touch-and-feel feeling to think in that way. Shall wenot make plans at once to increase our foreign correspondence?

You can have a simple schedule or memorandum to guide your praying. I donot mean a slavish hard-and-fast system, or set of rules, set down to befollowed, with a feeling that you have been untrue if you forget. Nothingof that sort at all. But merely a simple something to glance at each day, and so serve as a reminder to guide your thoughts. 

A little memorandum can be made running through the days of the week. Itcan be so planned as to run around the world during the week. The littleschedule which I use is divided into the days of the week, Sunday toSaturday. There is a daily page containing notes, catch-words, aboutpersonal affairs, and home, and friends, and church, and appointments, andsuch items. Then each day of the week has a page, and on it is markedhome-land items and foreign items. 

In marking out the weekly world journey I had to begin somewhere. TheMaster told the disciples to begin at Jerusalem and work out. So Ifollowed that rule, and Sunday is marked Turkey and the lands grouped withit, Arabia and Persia. The memorandum moves east, following thecompass-line of greatest need. Monday is India day, including Ceylon andthe lands and islands lying adjacent. Tuesday is China day; Wednesday, Japan, the island kingdom; and the island world of the Pacific. 

This brings me across the Pacific, and so Thursday is marked SouthAmerica, including Central America and Mexico. The easterly line takes meacross the Atlantic again to Africa on Friday. Saturday takes an upwardturn to the papal lands of Europe, and to Russia, completing theworld-journey for that week. The matters for prayer here in the home-landare noted through the days of the week in the same way. Each page hascertain home and certain foreign items. 

A little prayer-book of that sort grows under constant use. Your readingof missionary news leads to the making of fresh notes. Names of personsare added, and dates of coming conferences, and so on, and verses ofScripture that stand out in the daily reading. So the book becomes to youa very precious little batch of leaves, lying inside the precious Book ofGod. 

It should be accompanied by a map of the world. For a good while I usedthe one which was inserted in one of Dr. A. T. Pierson's mission books. That copy has long since been replaced by others, larger, giving moreinformation. It is an immense help to glance at the map daily, and look atthe part marked for the day. The lands get fixed in mind in that waywithout special effort. Gradually they stand out more and more clearly, and come to be very real to you. 

That map may become dear to you, for it suggests the field that you areinfluencing. It is your prayer sailing-chart. It becomes fragrant withmemories. Experiences you have had alone with God over His Word, and overthis map of His World, come back to refresh and sweeten. 

Prayer a Habit. 

There's a little sentence of Paul's that used to puzzle and bother me, "Pray without ceasing. " But it has become a great help to me. It puzzledme because I didn't see any practical way of doing it. It didn't seem tomean the repetition of prayers, with little mechanical helps, such as someuse. It surely doesn't mean staying on your knees a long time. But, as Itried to pray my way into its meaning, it came to mean four distinctthings to me. And I would not be surprised to find more yet coming out ofit. 

First of all, it means that prayer should be a habit. There should be afixed time every day, or times, for going off alone to pray. Into thattime the Book is taken. Quiet time is spent in reading it. For this islistening to God. And that comes first in praying; listening first, thenspeaking. The reading may be rapid and broad, or slower and moremeditative. Whichever it may be, there should be a cultivation of thehabit of meditation. 

I do not mean a sleepy trying to imitate what we suppose some holy men do. But a keen thinking into the meaning of the words, and into theirpractical use in one's own life. Then the praying itself. The being stillbefore God, and the definite prayer for particular things, and persons, and places. That habit can be fixed until it becomes second nature. It canbe cultivated until it becomes the sweet spot of the day to you. 

A Praying Bent of Mind. 

Then while the daily habit continues prayer may become an attitude, abent of mind. Whatever comes up suggests prayer to you. The bent of yourmind is to pray as things come up in the daily round. You can't stop yourwork, but you think prayers. Your heart prays while your hands are busy. 

I shall never forget the school in which I learned to pray this way. Acase of protracted illness in my home required my personal attentionconstantly for a time. It seemed as if no assistance I could get meantquite as much as what I could do personally. The life in peril was soprecious that all else dropped out of sight. My habits of life werecompletely broken up. I was up night and day. The early morning hour ofreading and prayer was broken into, with everything else of a regularsort. 

But as I went about my round of service I found myself praying constantly. I was much wearied, and things sometimes seemed desperate. I realized howeverything depended on God's touch. And without any planning a habit ofcontinual praying formed itself. I could be engaged in conversation, thinking intently into something needing great care, and yet there was anundercurrent of prayer constantly. I shall never cease to be grateful forthat trying experience, because in it this new habit of a praying bent ofmind formed itself. 

Do you not know how as you go about your ordinary round there is aconstant undercurrent of thought? You may be talking, or reading, orwriting, or doing something more mechanical, and yet this underneath trainof thought is running along apparently of its own accord, regardless ofyou. It is broken at times, or you lose consciousness of it, as your workrequires closer attention. When you swing into the habitual things thatyou have done over and over again until they almost do themselves, itreasserts itself. 

I remember years ago, in a banking-house where I served for a time, I hadlong additions to make. Sometimes the rows of figures to be added up werea foot in length. And I got so used to adding that often I was surprisedto find that my thoughts had been far away, completely taken up withsomething else, while I had been adding the figures. And fearing that Ihad been slighting my work, I would go back carefully all over thefigures, only to find the footings correct. The adding habit had becomefixed, and left the undercurrent of my thought free. 

That current is apt to reveal the heart's purpose or set of mind. Whateveryou are most set upon, whatever your favorite fads or hobbies orinclinations or moods are, they are apt to appear in that involuntarytrain of thinking. Now this can be cultivated. It can be cultivatedchiefly by the cultivation of the controlling purpose of your life, andthen by trying to give directions to the undercurrent, and holding it tothat direction. If Jesus has gripped your heart the purpose of the lifewill be for Him. And if you have come to realize the tremendous power ofprayer, this undercurrent of thought can be made a prayer-current. 

I do not mean by any forced or artificial holding of one's self to such acurrent by dint of main force, and then mentally whipping yourself if youhave forgotten. The power of all action lies in its being perfectly freeand natural. You can cultivate the Jesus-passion, and the life-purpose, and the prayer-habit, and all of this will be a training of thatundercurrent of thought toward prayer. 

The shipping clerk, as he heads up his barrels and boxes, can be sendingout and up his current of prayer. At intervals he is thinking closelyabout something connected with his work. Then his thoughts freethemselves. As he hammers in the nails, his thought says, "This is Chinaday. " Each ringing blow of the hammer rings out "This is China day:--Thyblessing, Master, to-day upon the missionaries in Hang-chow;--upon Mr. Blank out there;--victory in Jesus' name to-day;--the physicianmissionaries, the nurses;--Thy power upon them;--help the native workers. "

The picture of his little prayer memorandum comes up before his mind'seye. The map of China stands out more or less distinctly, according to howlong he may have been practising looking at it in his prayer-hour. Hismind runs of itself from one point to another. And so, all the while, hisundercurrent of praying goes on. It is broken into by newer or moreexacting duties; then free again, and swinging more or less to the thinghis heart is set upon. It becomes a perfectly free, natural thing withhim. This is part of the meaning of "Pray without ceasing. "

The Man is the Prayer. 

Then prayer is a life. The life is what you are in yourself. It is notthe mere span of years you live through. Your thoughts and loves, yourheart's ambitions and gripping purposes, the things you will to do, and tobe--that is your life. That exerts an enormous influence upon the circlein which you live, and upon the world. 

If underneath all else that driving purpose, that warm, intenselove-power, that yearning desire, is Godward, and manward, and world-ward, that becomes a prayer, a continual prayer. You are not thinking of it thatway. But that is your life, and that life is a prayer. Its influenceagainst the evil one and for God is enormous. 

That is a prayer unceasing, as long and as strong as your life itself. Satan fears it. It hinders him and thwarts him every day. The fragrantincense from the censer of your life rises up before the throne of Godcontinually, and affects the events on the earth. [28]

And then prayer is a person. That is to say, you yourself may be aprayer, a walking prayer offered up in Jesus' name. Your presence willaffect the evil one, and change events, and help God in His plans. You maybe so allied with Jesus in the simple gripping purpose of your heart thatyou yourself, where you are, by your mere presence, will be recognized byevil spirits, and by the Master Himself as a mighty power for God. 

Your presence disturbs the evil one's plan. It has an influence upon thoseyou meet. It is helping God. The whole effect of your presence isprecisely the same as a prayer. You are a prayer yourself, thoughunconsciously. The whole trend of your life says, "Thy Kingdom come; Thywill be done on earth as in heaven. "

A few years ago President Roosevelt's daughter was a member of the Taftparty that visited parts of the Orient. She did not go as the President'sdaughter, of course. There could be no official significance attached toher presence. We Americans can understand better than some others that shewent simply as a young woman eager to see Japan and China, not as thePresident's daughter. 

But everywhere she went in the Orient she was treated not merely as amember of the party, but as the daughter of the President of the UnitedStates. Presents were made to her, receptions tendered, and deferenceshown, because of her personal relation to her father. To the Orientalsher presence stood for the head of our Government. They treated her inrelation to him. 

Even so it is with us Christians. The evil one doesn't think of you andme for ourselves simply. He thinks of us in relation to the Jesus, who ishis Victor. We stand to him down here for Jesus. He fears us as he fearsJesus. That is, he can be made to fear us, by our being true to our Lord. 

The final purpose of prayer is to defeat Satan and to bring about God'swill. And we do just that in our persons, by our presence; or we may. Prayer is a person. You are a prayer. The man himself becomes a tremendousprayer, off-setting evil influences, changing men and events, and helpingGod in His plans. 

These last two, the life and the person, may be called unconscious prayer. The influence is constantly going out, though we are not aware of it. Butit is great encouragement to recall that this prayer-power is going out ofus constantly. And these two are not limited to the place where we are. They act as a momentum to every wish we breathe, and every spoken prayerwe utter, sending these with renewed force out to the place involved. Spirit influence does not know anything about the limitations of distance. 

Unseen Changes Going On. 

All this praying makes a difference at the other end, the place towardwhich it is directed. Things in Tokyo are made different. The copy of aGospel that some native in India is reading becomes a plainer book to himbecause of this praying. Your prayer is a spirit-force travellinginstantly through the distance between you and the place you are prayingfor. And things occur that otherwise would not. 

Opposition lessens. Difficulties give way. The road some man is travellingclears and brightens. The truth on the printed page stands out in biggerletters. The health renews. The sickness or weakness gives way to a newhealth and strength. The judgment steers a straight course. The purposeholds its anchor steady. The man rides the rough seas of temptationsafely. 

Things are happening. And they are happening because some scarcely noticedyoung fellow hammering a barrel-head and marking the shipping directions, and some typewriter chopping her machine, are praying in the quiet time, and are praying softly in the undercurrent of their scarcely thought-outthoughts. 

 "Oh, if our ears were opened To hear as angels do The Intercession-chorus Arising full and true, We should hear it soft up-welling In morning's pearly light; Through evening's shadows swelling In grandly gathering might; The sultry silence filling Of noontide's thunderous blow, And the solemn starlight thrilling With ever-deepening flow. 

 "We should hear it through the rushing Of the city's restless roar, And trace its gentle gushing O'er ocean's crystal floor; We should hear it far up-floating Beneath the Orient moon, And catch the golden noting From the busy Western noon; And pine-robed heights would echo As the mystic chant up-floats, And the sunny plain resounds again With the myriad mingling notes. 

 "There are hands too often weary With the business of the day, With God-entrusted duties, Who are toiling while they pray. They bear the golden vials, And the golden harps of praise, Through all the daily trials, Through all the dusty ways. These hands, so tired, so faithful, With odors sweet are filled, And in the ministry of prayer Are wonderfully skilled. 

 "There are noble Christian workers, The men of faith and power, The overcoming wrestlers Of many a midnight hour; Prevailing princes with their God, Who will not be denied, Who bring down showers of blessing To swell the rising tide. The Prince of Darkness quaileth At their triumphant way, Their fervent prayer availeth To sap his subtle sway. 

 "And evermore the Father Sends radiantly down All-marvellous responses, His ministers to crown; The incense cloud returning As golden blessing-showers, We in each drop discerning Some feeble prayer of ours, Transmuted into wealth unpriced, By Him who giveth thus The glory all to Jesus Christ, The gladness all to us!"[29]

Money

 Limitations. The Best Partnership. Jesus' Teaching. Be Your Own Executor. Missing the Master's Meaning. Money Talks. Debts. Rusty Money. Are We True to Our Friend's Trust?

Money

Limitations. 

Money seems almost almighty in its power to do things, and make changes. It can make a desert blossom as a rose. It can even defy death. Medicalskill holds the life here that otherwise would have been snuffed out. Great buildings go up. Colleges begin their life with apparatus and books, skilled instructors, and eager students. Mammoth enterprises spring intobeing. Hospitals and churches rise up with skilled attendants and talentedpreachers. 

We have come, in our day, and perhaps peculiarly in our country, to thinkthat there is no limit to the power of money. Our ideas of its value arereally greatly exaggerated. That first sentence I used would be revised bymany to read, "Money is almighty. " The cautious words "seems" and "almost"would be promptly cut out. 

Yet money has great limitations. It will help greatly to remember whatthey are. And many of us need the brain-clearing of that help. Of itselfmoney is utterly useless, so much dead-weight stuff lying useless andhelpless. It must have human hands to make it valuable. It gets its valuefrom our conception of its value and from our use of it. It must have ahuman partner to be of any service at all. 

In bad hands it becomes devilish in its badness. And I needn't put an"almost" in that sentence. It may be as a very demon, or as the arch-devilhimself, as really as it may seem to be divine in its creative andchanging power. 

Then it is valuable only in this world, on the earth. At the line of deathits value wholly ceases. Over that line it takes its place as a pauper. Itis represented as being used for cobble stones in the streets of the newJerusalem. Yet it would need to go through some hardening process to makeit of any account at all as paving material. 

We ought to remind ourselves of something else, too, that the crowdconstantly forgets, and that we are tempted to forget when touched by thecontagion of the crowd. And that is, that money is always less in itspower than a strong, sweet, pure life. Maybe you think that comparisoncan't properly be made. You say that things so unlike can't be compared. But, whether consciously or intentionally or otherwise, that comparison isbeing made constantly in practical life, and most times to the advantageof money. Commonly the crowd reckons money more than character. 

We do well to remind ourselves that its influence for good is alwaysdistinctly less than that of a life. To live a life pure and strong andwholesome in its ideals out among men is more than to be able to givemoney in any amount. To keep one's life up to such ideals in the heartlessdrive and competition of modern life means more than to extract largequantities of gold out of the mine of barter and trade, and to give someof it away. 

And money is less than personal service. Great deference is paid to checksand subscriptions. The man who can draw a large check for some goodobject, and who may by dint of much dexterous handling be induced to writehis name under some large figure, is treated with awe. But there's anotherman who stands higher up in the scale, and to whom hats should go fartheroff and more quickly. That is the strong man who gives personal service. There may be a blessed partnership between the man of money and the man ofservice. There often is. But he is an unfortunate man, to be pitied, wholets anything else crowd out of his life the privilege of giving some ofhis self out in personal service for others. These are some of gold'slimitations. 

The Best Partnership. 

Give money good partners, and there is no end to what it can do. Letprayer and sacrifice and money form a life-partnership, and that firstsentence can be revised, and greatly strengthened by the revision: Moneyis almost almighty. It gets all the good qualities of its partners aslong as it stays in the partnership, on good working terms. 

It isn't the head of the firm, however. Prayer belongs in that place. Itmust direct. It is the prayer's touch with God that hallows the gold andgives to it some of God's omnipotence. Money is the working partner, bestwhen hard at work, and famous for the amount of work it can do in obeyingorders from the head of the house. 

It gives a strange sense of awe to realize that the bit of money you holdin your hand can be used to change a life, aye, more, to change manylives. That money is yours to control. It came to you in exchange for yourlabor or your skill. It is yours, for the sweat of your brow or your brainis upon it. And now it can be sent out, and the result will be a lifeutterly changed, purified, and redeemed. 

Through your partnership the money produces something greater than itself. And that changed life becomes the centre of a new power, changing otherlives out to the far rim of an ever-widening circle. It may have cost youmuch. Some of your very life has gone out in the work that brought intoyour hands that bit of gold. It is red with your blood. And now, if youchoose, it can be sent out and made to bring new life in to some one else. Life has gone from you in getting it, and life will come to another inyour giving it out, under the blessed Master's transmuting touch. 

Jesus' Teaching. 

Jesus' teaching about money is startling. I mean that it stands in suchutter contrast to the commonly accepted standards out in the world, andinside in the Church, that the contrast startles one sharply. 

There are four passages in which His money teachings group, largely. There's the "Lay-not-up-for-yourselves-treasure-upon-the-earth" bit in thesermon on the Mount;[30] with the still stronger phrase in the Lukeparallel, "Sell that ye have, and give. "[31] There is the incident of theearnest young man who was rich;[32] the parable of the wealthy farmer inLuke, twelfth chapter;[33] and the whole sixteenth chapter of Luke, withthat great ninth verse, whose full meaning has been so little grasped. Thetruth taught in each of these is practically the same thing. 

The Master is evidently talking about what a man has over and above hispersonal and family needs. It's a law of life, from Eden on, that a manshould work to supply his daily needs and the needs of those dependentupon him. Just how much that word "needs" means each man settles forhimself. It means different things at different times to the same man. 

It is surprising how little it can be made to mean when the pinch comes, and yet a man have all actual necessities supplied. The man who would havehis life count for most for the Master, and the Master's plan, thinks overthat word prayerfully and sensibly with full regard to personal strength, and loved ones, and the future. Whatever it may be made to mean, thisteaching is plainly about what is left over after the needs are met. 

Now, about that left-over amount the Master gives three easily understoodrules, or bits of advice, or commands. First: Don't treasure it up forthe sake of having it. If you do it is in danger, and you are in danger. It may be stolen. Every vault, and safe, and safety-deposit company, andlock, and key backs up that statement. Or it may be lost through rust ormoths, the two things that threaten all inactivity. The stuff that isn'tin use wears away. The wear of use can't compare with the wear of disuseor neglect. 

Then you are in danger of your heart being affected. It will be whereveryour treasure is. It may get locked up, and so dried up for lack of air orpoisoned by bad air. The blood must have fresh air. The heart must havetouch with men to keep its vigor. It may get all dried up with things, instead of keeping vigorous by touch with needy men. That's the twofolddanger. That's the first thing Jesus says: Don't store it up, down here, in the ordinary way. 

The second thing is this: Store your surplus up. Be careful of it. Keepstrict tally. Let the books be well kept and balanced. Let nothoughtlessness nor carelessness nor thriftlessness get in. Store it up. But be careful where you store it. Keep it carefully guarded against theaction of thieves and moths, and against the inaction of decaying, destroying rust. That is the second thing. Store it up carefully. 

Be Your Own Executor. 

The third thing is this: Store it up by means of exchange. Keep it safeby giving it away. The whole value of money is in exchange. It must bekept moving. But, but--and the whole heart of the teaching is here--bevery wary about your exchanges. Invest your money in men, wherever theneed may be. All that you invest wisely in men is stored up against anyviolence or craftiness of thieves and any corroding of rust. 

All that is not out in active use directly among men, for men, in Jesus'name, is in danger of being stolen, or of decaying, or of injuring you, orof being left behind, utterly worthless to you when you are through downhere. Be your own executor. 

Some years ago one of the religious papers of New York City told of thedeath of a maiden lady named Elizabeth Pellit. Her home was in thehall-room of a tenement-house, and at her death all her earthlypossessions could be put into one common trunk. No executor oradministrator was needed. Living in narrow circumstances, her friendsthought she had denied herself all luxuries and even many comforts. But inthe forty years of her Christian life she had been able to give overthirty thousand dollars to missionary work. She had supplied the money tosend out and sustain one missionary in Salvador, and also for another whowas to go out soon. She seemed to have grasped the meaning of the Master'steaching. 

Good common sense comes in for free play here, both in adjusting one'spersonal and family schedule and in giving. Giving may be done foolishly, or not wisely. There is no place where there is more room for good sensein avoiding both the extreme of unwise giving and the other extreme ofhandicapping one's gifts. 

It is a question of personal judgment how far to give money out directlyand how far to invest some of it and use the income wholly in gifts. Youmay think that in some directions you can invest it better, and direct theincome better than some organization. That is an important detail. But thechief thing is that the money itself is dedicated wholly for use out amongneedy men. 

Now you will please mark keenly that in all this I am not talking aboutwhat I think about money. I am simply putting into plain talk Jesus' ownteaching about it, in these four great passages. 

Missing the Master's Meaning. 

Christian men, generally, seem to have missed the meaning of Jesus' words. I think it due largely to the lack of teaching in the Church thatworld-evangelizing is a first obligation. 

Recently a fire destroyed the home of a man of large wealth who lives somedistance east of San Francisco. It was a beautiful palace, full of arttreasures. The value of house and furnishings and the art collection wasreckoned at about two million dollars. He is a Christian man, prominentlyidentified with active Christian work, and reckoned a liberal giver. Hehas visited foreign-mission lands, and made special gifts to missions. 

But his gifts to missions seem like a copper cent or a silver quartergiven to a beggar in contrast with the two million dollars tied up forhimself in the house that burned. Two millions stored up in a home, whilemany millions of men have lived and died in ignorance of the light andpeace that comes with Jesus! Yet this man calls Jesus his Master, andsincerely, I have no doubt. And his Master said the one great thing was totell all men of His love and death. 

By no extension of the meaning of that word "need" could he be said toneed a two-million-dollar home for himself and family. And there are othermillions under the same man's control. It looks very much as if this goodman had missed the meaning of Jesus' words. The criticism, however, mustbe first upon the Church and its leaders, with whose general trend ofteaching this man is in accord. According to the Master's teaching, mostof the money in his house, and stored up in other ways of the sort forhimself, is being lost. Far more serious, the opportunity of investment inmen is being lost. That money will be all loss to him when he reaches theline of departure over into the next sphere of life. 

It is very difficult to use such an illustration from life. There isdanger that the words will sound critical in a bad or unkind sense. Iearnestly pray to be kept from that. You will know that I am talking tomyself first of all; and speaking of this only to help. The bother is thatthis man is not an exception. Rather he represents the habit and standardof his generation. 

I recall another Christian man as I speak, of large wealth, by inheritanceand by dint of business keenness. His face showed plainly his fineChristian character. He gave liberally in many directions, sometimes verylarge sums. But he lived in a home whose value ran close to a half-millionof dollars. When he died, full of years and honors, he left many millionsto a son who does not inherit his father's generous hand with his wealth. Of course, the son didn't need the vast wealth. 

And I wondered, silently, within my heart, how things looked to that man, as he slipped out of life up into the Master's presence, and looked downon the earth through the eyes of the One whose teaching we have beentalking about. He could see China and India and Africa then as plainly asAmerica. 

How did the lost opportunity of laying up his treasure in the lives of menlook to him then, I wondered. He was a good man. I saw him smile once, andhis face seemed to shine as an angel's. I think probably no faithfulfriend had ever talked to him of the plain meaning of Jesus' words, and ofworld-winning being a first obligation. He hadn't been taught it fromthe pulpit. And he hadn't thought into it himself. 

Money Talks. 

Many are losing a great opportunity of silently preaching Jesus to theirfellows by their habit of giving. Two men were discussing the evidences ofthe Christian religion. The one was a Christian; the other not, andinclined to be sceptical. Arguments were freely exchanged. At last thesceptic, who was a blunt, out-spoken man, said frankly, to his friend andneighbor: "I think we might as well drop this matter. For I don't believea word you say. And, more than that, I am quite satisfied in my own mindthat you do not really believe it yourself. For to my certain knowledgeyou have not given, the last twenty years, as much for the spread ofChristianity, such as the building of churches and foreign and domesticmissions, as your last Durham cow cost. Why, sir, if I believed what yousay you believe I'd make the church my rule for giving, my farm theexception. "

That Christian man's life was contradicting every word he uttered to hisneighbor. Money talks. His was talking very loudly to his scepticalneighbor. His neighbor was unusually frank in saying out what thousandsare thinking. He had lost a great opportunity of winning his friend. 

Debts. 

In a simple little sentence Paul reveals how thoroughly he had graspedJesus' meaning. He said, "I am debtor both to Greeks andbarbarians"--to all men. [34] Now that word, "debtor, " commonly means twothings: that you have received something of value from some one, and thattherefore you owe him for what he gave to you. 

But Paul hadn't gotten anything special from the men of whom he isspeaking. His birth and training and whatever else he had were Jewish. Andthe Jews were a minority in the world. He was not under the debtorobligation of having gotten something from the men he is speaking of. 

In his use of that word, "debtor" means three things: first, somethingreceived from God, and that something everything; then something owing toGod; and then that something payable to man. He counted himself in debtto all men on Jesus' account. And so are we. How much owest thou to thyLord? That's how much you are to pay to men on your Lord's account. 

We are not even our own, much less our goods. We were bought up when wewere bankrupt A great price was paid for us, even the life-blood of Jesus. And our Owner bids us pay up by paying out. We are badly and blessedlyin debt; badly, for we can never square the account; blessedly, because wecan be constantly paying on account, out to men in Jesus' name. 

 "Over against the Treasury this day The Master silent sits; whilst, unaware Of that Celestial Presence still and fair, The people pass or pause upon their way. 

 And some go laden with His treasures sweet, And dressed in costly robes of His device To cover hearts of stone and souls of ice, Which bear no token to the Master's feet. 

 And some pass, gaily singing, to and fro, And cast a careless gift before His face, Amongst the treasures of the holy place, But kneel to crave no blessing ere they go. 

 And some are travel-worn, their eyes are dim, They touch His shining vesture as they pass, But see not--even darkly through a glass-- How sweet might be their trembling gifts to Him. 

 And still the hours roll on; serene and fair The Master keeps his watch, but who can tell The thoughts that in His tender spirit swell, As one by one we pass him unaware?

 For this is He who, on one awful day, Cast down for us a price so vast and dread, That He was left for our sakes bare and dead, Having given Himself our mighty debt to pay!

 Oh, shall unworthy gifts once more be thrown Into His treasury--by whose death we live? Or shall we now embrace His cross, and give Ourselves, and all we have, to him alone?"

Is not that the meaning of Paul's "Owe no man anything, save to love oneanother. "[35] We owe a debt of love to all men on Jesus' account. We canbe paying on it continually, and yet never get a receipt in full thatdischarges the debt. But then we get other things in full--peace, and joy, and a life overflowing in fulness. 

With an honorable business man a debt is a first obligation. Hispersonal expenditures and his home schedule are shaped by his debt. Theextras that he would feel quite free in allowing himself and his home arenot allowed until the debt is cleared. The debt controls his spendingsuntil it is paid off in full. That's reckoned a matter of honor. 

Rusty Money. 

James, the first bishop of Jerusalem, had caught the Lord's very languageas well as His thought. He says, "Your gold and silver are rusted, andtheir rust shall be for a testimony against you. "[36] It would seem asthough there were quite a bit of rusty money entered in Christian namesand controlled by Christian people. It is lying in vaults, and lands, andsavings-societies, and old stockings, gathering rust. 

It is in sore need. It needs friction, the friction of use. Without thatits real, rare value will be completely lost. It is furnishing food formoths when it was meant to be furnishing food for men, bread of wheat andbread of life. There'll be many a striking scene when some men come upinto the Master's presence with loaded purses, "caught with the goods, "while millions of their brothers are living such pitiable lives because oftheir ignorance of Jesus. 

But there are men who do understand. And their number is increasing. Thereare those who understand the Master's basis for conducting theirbusiness matters. That basis is shrewd, faithful management of thebusiness itself as good stewards of God; full, proper provision for homeand loved ones--simple, but ample and intelligent; and then all the restout in active service for men in Jesus' name. If that basis were morelargely understood and accepted, what wondrous changes would come; changesout in the world, and changes in the home, and changes in the home church. 

Many men are supporting their own representatives in the foreign field. Many a church now sustains its own missionary or missionaries. The idealtoward which the Church might well aim is that every family should haveits own missionary. The real unit of life is the family. The childrenwould then grow up with the world-vision dearly and deeply marked. Thereare thousands of families in circumstances that are reckoned moderate thatcould support a missionary by planning. But the relationship should becarefully kept one of warm sympathy and prayer, as well as one of money. The reflex blessing upon the home would be immeasurable in its sweetnessand extent. 

Are We True To Our Friend's Trust?

Jesus admits us into the inner circle of friendship. He gives us the onerarest token of friendship, that is, a task to do for our Friend's sake. He asks us to go out to all men, and tell them about His love andsacrifice for them. And He asks that everything we have be held and usedfor this sacred friendship trust. Are we being true to our Friend'strust? Is there more stored away for ourselves than is being sent out onHis errand? Is there any discoloration on our gold? Anything that lookslike rust, a dull-red color--ah, it looks strangely like the color--thestain--of blood. 

Is Judas so lonely, after all? He coupled a token of friendship with abetrayal of his Friend's trust. In his heart he meant far less than theact actually involved. Is he so much alone?

 "The latest years shall tremble hearing this And burn for human shame unto the end, That one of us betrayed the tryst his Friend Would keep with God. A sign that none might miss

 He named--the pledge of love. The soul's abyss, Christ saw, the heart of night, the purse, the end; Knew all, a Man, and knowing stui could bend With soul unpoisoned to receive the kiss. 

 Before the multitude have I kist Thee Fresh come from my blood-barter--thou but come From intercession for all souls--and me. And, mocking Love Divine, amazed and dumb, I learn Love's deathlessness, and trembling press The lips that kiss away my faithlessness. "[37]

Sacrifice

 One Hank Over For the Candle. Sin's Healing Shadow. The Underground Way into Life. A Rare Harvest. The Fellowship of Scars. "Won't You Save Me?"

Sacrifice

One Hank Over For the Candle. 

The light of a common candle in the window of a little cottage near thecoast shone far out over the sea. It was up north of Scotland, in one ofthe Orkney Islands. Near the window sat a frail, gray-haired woman withcheery, thoughtful face. She was busy working at her spinning-wheel, andwatching the candle, turning now and again to trim it. All night long shesat at the spinning-wheel and watching the candle. Fishermen out on thewater, heading for home, knew that light could be counted on, and camesafely in, past all the dangers of their coast. 

For more than fifty years that woman tended her little lighthouse. Whenshe was a young girl there had been a wild storm, and her father, out inhis fisherman's boat, lost his life. There were no shore-lights. His boathad struck a huge, dangerous rock called Lonely Rock, and been wrecked. The father's body was found in the morning washed up on the shore. Shewatched by her father's body, as was the habit of her people, until it waslaid away. Then she laid down on her bed and slept the day through. Whennight came she rose, lit a candle, put it in the window, drew up herspinning-wheel, and began her night vigil for the unknown out at sea. 

All night long, and all her life long, her vigil of love and lightcontinued. From youth to old age, through winter and summer, storm andcalm, fog and clear, that humble lighthouse beacon failed not. Each nightshe spun so many hanks of yarn for her daily bread, and one hank over forthe candle. She turned night into day, reversing the whole habit of herlife, and holding every other thing subject to her self-imposed task oflove. And through the years many a fisherman out at sea, and many ananxious woman watching by hearth and crib, sent up heart-felt thanks toGod for that little, steady light. And many a life was saved, of which norecord could be kept. 

That tells the whole story of sacrifice. A need, nobody to meet it; theneed passing into an emergency; and that into the tragedy of an unmetemergency; a heart sore torn to bleeding by the tragedy thrust bitterlyhome; then sacrifice, lifelong, that others might be saved where her lovedone was lost, and still others spared what she herself suffered. And thatstory has been repeated with endless variations, and is being repeated, inevery land, on every mission-field, home and foreign, and in almost everyhome of all the world. 

Sin's Healing Shadow. 

Sacrifice has come to be a law of life. Wherever there is sin there willbe a call for sacrifice. For sin makes need, and need intensifies intoemergency. And need and emergency mean sacrifice thrust upon some one inperil. And they call for sacrifice, volunteered by some one, who wouldsave the man in peril. And wherever there are true men and women, as wellas need, there will be sacrifice. 

And sin is everywhere. Even nature is full of evidence of a bad break inall of its processes. The finger-marks of decay and death are below andabove and all around in all its domain. That is sin's unmistakableear-mark. Man's mental powers, and his loss of a full knowledge of hispowers, tell the same story. And so there is need. Everywhere you turnneed's pathetic face, drawn and white, looks piteously into yours, pleading mutely for help. 

And so there is sacrifice. Sacrifice is sin's healing shadow. It followssin at every turn, binding up its wounds, pouring in the oil and wine ofits own life, and taking the hurt victims into its own warm heart. Nothingworth while has ever been done without sacrifice. Every good thing donecost somebody his life. The life was given out with a wrench under somesharp tug. Or it was given in the slower, more painful, more taxing way ofbeing lingeringly given out through years of steadfast doing or enduring. 

Every man who has done something worth while for others has spilled someof his life-blood into it. His work and name may have become known. Or hemay belong to the larger number of blessed faithfuls whose names areunknown here, but treasured faithfully above. Either way, the tinging redof his life is upon the thing he did. The nations that are freest costmost in the making, in the lives of men. Every church, and every missionstation, has had to use red mortar as its walls went up. 

Every bit of advance ground gained for liberty and truth has been stainedwith the life-blood of the advance-guard. You can depend upon it thatwhatever you are to do that will really help must have a bit of your ownself, your very life in it. Immortality of action comes only by theinfusion of human blood. 

Sacrifice attends us faithfully from the cradle to the body's lastresting-place. The giving of one's self for others begins with thebeginning of life, and never ends till life ends. Each of us comes intolife through the sacrifice of the mother who bore us. That love-service ofhers would not have been a sacrifice, but only a joy, had sin's cramping, restricting atmosphere not been breathed into all life. Now, with muchpain, and great danger, and sometimes at the cost of life, it becomes asacrifice. Yet it is a sacrifice of great sweet joy to her. 

And that same spirit of sacrifice attends our baby years, and childhoodexperiences, and school-days, and times of sickness, and our maturedyears. The more faithfully those who make up your life-circle yield to thelaw of sacrifice, and give of themselves out to you, the finer andstronger you grow to be, and the sweeter life becomes to you. And everyselfish shirking and shrinking back by some one impoverishes your life byso much. 

A hush of awe comes over one's spirit as we recall that even for the Sonof God there was no exception to this law, as He took His place down amonghuman conditions. It was by His own blood that He saved men, and savesmen. It was the spilling out of His own life that brings such blessednewness of life to us. His was a living sacrifice through all the years, and then greatest when that life, so long being given, was given cleanout. 

That sacrifice of His stands unapproached, and can never be approached byany other. His relation to sin was different from that of all other men. He made a sacrifice for men in a sense that no other can. Yet, while thatis true, it is equally true that every man who follows Him will drink ofHis cup of sacrifice. 

But it's a cup of joy now, for His drinking drained out all the bitterdregs. He asks us into the inner fellowship of His suffering. The work Hebegan isn't yet done. He asks our help. We may fill up the measure of Hissacrifice yet needed, in healing men's wounds and in throttling sin'spower. 

The Underground Way Into Life. 

The request of the Greek pilgrims, that last tragic week, drew out ofJesus wondrous words about the law of sacrifice[38]. Their request madethe necessity for His coming sacrifice stand out more sharply to Hisview--with edgy sharpness. The realness of that sacrifice of His standsout very vividly in the intensity of His feelings, of which we get onlyglimpses. 

Listen to Him talking: 'if the grain of wheat doesn't suffer death, itlives; but it lives alone. But through death it may live in the midst of aharvest of golden grains. The man who turns away from the appeal of needwill live a lonely life, both here and in the longer life. (Is thereanything more pathetic and pitiable than selfish loneliness!) He who feelsthe sharp tug of need, and can't resist the appeal that calls for hislife-blood, rises up through that red pathway into a blessed fellowshipwith the lives that owe their life to his. '

He goes on: 'he that clingeth with strong self-love to his life will findit slipping, slipping insistently out of his fingers, leaving a dry huskof a shell in his tenacious clutch. But he who in the stress of theworld's emergency of need, and in the thick of the subtlest temptations toput the self-life first, treats that life as a hated enemy, to be opposedand fought, as he gives himself freely out to heal the world's hurt, hewill find all the sweets and fragrance of life coming to him. Theirunspeakable refreshment will ever increase, and never leave. '

Then follow the words that go so deep: 'if any man would serve Me, lethim come along, putting his feet into my prints. Let him come through along Nazareth life of common toil in home and shop, then along the crowdedpath of glad service for others, responding to every call of need. Let himcome down into the shadowed olive-grove beyond Kidron's waters, up the bitof a hill outside a city wall, and deep down into the earth-soil of men'sneeds. 

'And where I am there I will surely have that faithful follower of Mine upclose by my side. He shall find himself rising up out of the commonearth-life into a new life of strangely strong drawing power. And, whilehe will be all wrapped up in love's service, My Father will give specialtouches of His own hand upon his person, and upon his service. '

In one of his exquisitely quiet talks, Henry Drummond used to tell thestory of a famous statue in the Fine Arts Gallery of Paris. It was thework of a great genius, who, like many a genius, was very poor, and livedin a garret which served as both studio and sleeping-room. 

One midnight, when the statue was just finished, a sudden frost fell uponParis. The sculptor lay awake in his fireless garret, and thought of thestill moist clay, thought how the moisture in the pores would freeze, andthe dream of his life would be destroyed in a night. So the old man rosefrom his cot, and wrapped his bed-clothes reverently about the statue, andlay down to his sleep. 

In the morning the neighbors found[B] him lying dead. His life had goneout into his work. It was saved. He was gone. But he still lived in it, and still lives in it. He saved not his life, and he found a new life inthe world of his art. He that saveth his life shall surely lose it. Hethat gladly giveth his life up for the Master's sake, and for men's sake, will find a wholly new life coming to him. 

A Rare Harvest. 

There is a strange winsomeness about sacrifice, peculiar to itself, andpeculiarly strong in its drawing power. Everywhere men acknowledge thepeculiar fascination for them of the man who is not only wholly unselfish, but who utterly forgets himself in doing for others. The feeling is verycommon that the man in public life is chiefly concerned with what he canget out of it for himself. And when, now and then, the conviction seizesthe crowd that some public man is not of that sort at all, but is devotinghimself unselfishly and unsparingly to their interest, their admirationand love for him amounts to a worship and enthusiasm that knows no stint. 

There's a something in unselfish sacrifice in their behalf that draws thecrowd peculiarly and tremendously. Jesus said that if He were lifted up Hewould draw men. And He has. He was lifted up as none other, and He hasbeen drawing men ever since as none other ever has or can. Quite apartfrom other truths involved, that sacrifice of His had in itself thetremendous drawing power of all unselfish action. 

And sacrifice brews a subtle fragrance of its own that clings to theperson as the soft sweet odor of wild roses. No one is ever conscious thatthere is any such fragrance going out to others. He knows the inner sweetsthat none know but they who give sacrifice brewing room within themselves. Such folks don't stop to think about themselves, except to be thinking ofhelping and not hindering. 

The very winsomeness of the sacrifice spirit has led men to the seeking ofsacrifice. It seems strange to us that earnest men in other generationshave sought by self-inflicted suffering to attain to the power that goeswith sacrifice. And even yet some morbid people may be found following intheir steps. 

Don't they know that out in common daily life the knife of sacrifice isheld across the path constantly, sharp edge out, barring the way? And noone can go faithfully his common round, with flag at masthead, and needscrowding in at front and rear and sides, without meeting its cutting edge. That edge cutting in as you push on frees out the fine fragrance. Wheneveryou meet a man or woman with that fine winsomeness of spirit that can't beanalyzed, but only felt, you may know that there's been some of this sortof sharp cutting within. 

Blood is a rare fertilizer. They tell me that the bit of ground over inBelgium called Waterloo bears each spring a crop of rare blueforget-me-nots. That bit of ground had very unusual gardening. Ploughedup by cannon-and gun-shot, sown deep with men's lives, "worked" never sothoroughly by toiling, struggling feet, moistened with the gentle rain ofdying tears, and soaked with red life, it now yields its yearly harvest ofbeauty. All life's a Waterloo and can be made to yield a rich growth offragrant flowers. 

The Fellowship of Scars. 

And there's yet more of this winsomeness. There's a spirit power that goesout of sacrifice. It reaches far beyond the limited personal circle, outto the ends of the earth. It can't be analyzed, nor defined, nordescribed, but it can be felt. We don't know much about the law of spiritcurrents. But we know the spirit currents themselves, for every one isaffected by them and every one is sending them out of himself. 

You pick up a book, and suddenly find there's a something in it that takeshold of you irresistibly. A flame seems to burn in it, and then in you. Invisible fingers seem to reach out of the page and play freely up anddown the key-board of your heart. Why is it? I don't know much about it. It's an elusive thing. But I can tell you my conviction, that growsstronger daily. 

There's a life back of that book; there is sacrifice in that life of thekeen, cutting sort; and Jesus is in that life, too, giving it His personalflavor. The life back of the book has come into the book. It's that lifeyou are feeling as you read. Spirit power knows nothing about distance. The man who yields to sacrifice has a world-field, and is touching hisfield in a sense far greater than he ever knows. 

And there is still more. The Master knows our sacrifices. He keenly notesthe spirit that would give all, even as He did. He can breathe most of Hisown spirit into such a life. For it is most open to Him. He can do mostthrough that spirit, for it comes nearest to His own. His own winsomenessbreathes out of that life constantly. 

There's a simple little tale that comes dressed in very homely garb. Thestory has in it a bit of that that makes the heart burn. It has all themarks of real life. It runs thus:

 "In one poor room, that was all their home, A mother lay on her bed, Her seven children around her; And, calling the eldest, she said:

 'I'm going to leave you, Mary; You're nearly fourteen, you know; And now you must be a good girl, dear, And make me easy to go. 

 'You can't depend much on father; But just be patient, my child, And keep the children out of his way Whenever he comes home wild. 

 'And keep the house as well as you can; And, little daughter, think He didn't use to be so; Remember, it's all the drink. '

 The weeping daughter promised Always to do her best; And, closing her eyes over weary life, The mother entered her rest. 

 And Mary kept her promise As faithfully as she might. She cooked, and washed, and mended, And kept things tidy and bright. 

 And when the father came home drunk, The children were sent to bed, And Mary waited alone, and took The beatings in their stead. 

 And the little chubby fingers lost Their childish softness and grace, And toughened and chapped and calloused, And the rosy, childish face. 

 Grew thin and haggard and anxious, Careworn, tired, and old, As on those slender shoulders The burdens of life were rolled. 

 So, when the heated season Burned pitiless overhead, And up from the filth of the noisome street The fatal fever spread, And work and want and drunken blows Had weakened the tender frame, Into the squalid room once more The restful shadow came. 

 And Mary sent for the playmate Who lived just over the way, And said, 'The charity Doctor, Has been here, Katie, to-day. 

 'He says I'll never be better-- The fever has been so bad; And if it wasn't for one thing, I'm sure I'd just be glad. 

 'It isn't about the children; I've kept my promise good, And mother will know I stayed with them As long as ever I could. 

 'But you know how it has been, Katie; I've had so much to do, I couldn't mind the children And go to the preaching, too. 

 'And I've been so tired-like at night, I couldn't think to pray, And now, when I see the Lord Jesus, What ever am I to say?'

 And Katie, the little comforter, Her help to the problem brought; And into her heart, made wise by love, The Spirit sent this thought:

 'I wouldn't say a word, dear, For sure He understands; I wouldn't say ever a word at all; But, Mary, just show Him your hands!'"

Jesus knows every scar of sacrifice you bear, and loves it. For it tellsHim your love. He knows the meaning of scars, because of His own. Themarks of sacrifice cement our fellowship with Him. The nearer we come tofellowship with Him in the daily touch and spirit the more freely can Hereach out His own great winsomeness through us, out to His dear world. 

"Won't You Save Me?"

To outsiders, who don't know about the thing, that word "sacrifice" has anugly sound. It drives them away. But to the insiders, who have come in bythe Jesus-door, there is a joyousness of the bubbling-out, singing sort, that makes the word "sacrifice, " and the thing itself, clean forgot evenwhile remembered. It is remembered as a distinct real thing, but it ispushed away from the centre of your consciousness by this song thatinsists on singing its music into the ears of your heart. 

I said a while ago in these talks that it would be an easy thing for thewhole Church, or even half of the Church, to take Jesus fully out to allthe world. But may I tell you now plainly that it won't be an easy thing?Somebody will have to sacrifice if the thing's to be done. And thatsomebody will be you, if you go along where the Master calls. If youcount on the Church doing it, or on anybody else doing it, you may besure of one thing: some part of what needs doing won't be done. 

But if you and I will reckon that this thing belongs to us, as if therewere nobody else to do it, and push on;--well, there'll be sacrifice ofthe real sort and, too, there'll be all of sacrifice's peculiarwinsomeness going out to draw men. And there will be men changed where youlive, and out where you will never go personally. 

And there will be a great joy in your heart, but with the greater joybreaking out in the Morning, when the King comes to His own. 

 "I hear the sob of the parted, The wail of the broken-hearted, The sigh for the loved departed, In the surging roar of the town. 

 And it's, oh, for the joy of the Morning! The light and song of the Morning! There'll be joy in the Christmas Morning When the King comes to His own!

 "Now let our hearts be true, brothers, To suffer and to do, brothers; There'll be a song for you, brothers, When the battle's fought and won. It won't seem long in the Morning, In the light and song of the Morning There'll be joy in the Christmas Morning When the King comes to His own!

 "Arise, and be of good cheer, brothers; The day will soon be here, brothers; The victory is near, brothers; And the sound of the glad 'Well done!' There'll be no sad heart in the Morning No tear will start in the Morning; There'll be joy in the Christmas Morning When the King comes to His own!

 "We're in for the winning side, brothers, Bound to the Lord who died, brothers, We shall see Him glorified, brothers, And the Lamb shall wear the crown. What of the cold world's scorning? There'll be joy enough in the Morning There'll be joy in the Christmas Morning, When the King comes to His own!"

Years ago a steamer out on Lake Erie caught fire, and headed at once forthe nearest land. All was wild confusion, as men and women struggled formeans of escape. In the crowd was a returning California gold-miner. Hefastened the belt containing his gold securely about his waist and waspreparing to try to swim ashore. Just then a little sweet-faced girl inthe crowd touched his hand, and looked up beseechingly into his face, andsaid, "Won't you please save me? I have no papa here to save me. Won'tyou, please?"

What would he do? He gave the belt of gold, that meant such a hardstruggle, one swift glance. But that soft child-touch on his hand, andthat face and voice strangely affected him. He couldn't save both;--which?The quick-as-flash thoughts came all in a heap. Then he dropped the gold, and took the child, made the plunge, and by and by reached land, utterlyexhausted, and lay unconscious. As his eyes opened the child he had savedwas standing over him with the tears of gratitude flooding her eyes. And ahuman life never seemed quite so precious. He had lost his gold, and hisyears of toil, but he had saved a life, and in saving it had found a newlife springing up within himself. 

As we close our talk together will you listen very softly. Listen: out ofthe distance comes a murmur of voices, like a low, long heart-cry. Itcomes from near-by, where you live. It comes most from far-away lands. Itswords are pathetically distinct: "Will you save me? I have no one tosave me. Won't you?" And we can do it. But the gold and the life mustgo. Shall we do it, hand in hand with Jesus, the only Saviour? Shall wenot do it?

Footnotes

[1] Acts 13:18, American Revision. 

[2] John 3:17. 

[3] Matthew 13:38. 

[4] John 12:20-33. 

[5] Matthew 24:14. 

[6] Revelation 20:7-8. 

[7] Matthew 24:14. 

[8] Acts 15:13-18. 

[9] Matthew 13:38. 

[10] Christina Rossetti, in The Outlook, slightly altered. 

[11] Matthew 25 40, 45. 

[12] Revelation 2:5

[13] Matthew 24 14. 

[14] Revelation 1:5, 6. 

[15] Revelation 4:8. 

[16] Revelation 4:9-11. 

[17] Revelation 5:11-12. 

[18] Revelation 7:9-12. 

[19] Revelation 14:1-5

[20] Revelation 15:2-4

[21] Revelation 19:1-8. 

[22] Thessalonians 1:8. II Corinthians 1:1 l. C. 

[23] Romans 1:8. 

[24] John, chapters 14-16. 

[25] John 20:19-23. 

[26] Susan Coolidge. 

[27] John 7:38. 

[28] Revelation 8:3-5. 

[29] Frances Ridley Havergal. 

[30] Matthew 6:19-21

[31] Luke 12:33, 34

[32] Matthew 19:16-29. Mark 10:17-31. Luke 18:18-30

[33] Luke 12:13-21. 

[34] Romans 1:14

[35] Romans 13:8

[36] James 5:2, 3

[37] Arthur Peirce Vaughn

[38] John 12:24-26. 

Transcriber's Notes

[A] The original chapter contents listing erroneously transposed "A Crisisof Neglect and Success" and "A Westernized Heathenism". 

[B] Original text read "fond" for "found".