OPEN-AIR MEETING
for the reading of the law of Moses in the hearing of the people. A pulpit of wood, large enough to hold Ezra the Scribe and thirteen others, was built. The people wept when they heard the words of the law, but Nehemiah said:
"Mourn not, nor weep. Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength."
He did not forget the poor. Reading the Bible and remembering the poor--a combination of faith and works--will always bring joy.
Nehemiah then began to govern the city, and correct the abuses he found existing. He gathered about fifty priests and scribes together and made them sign and seal a written covenant. There were five things in that covenant I want to call attention to.
First, _they were not to give their daughters to the heathen_.
They had been violating the law of G.o.d, and had been marrying their daughters to the unG.o.dly. G.o.d had forbidden them to intermarry with the heathen nations in the land of Canaan; "for they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other G.o.ds: so will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you and _destroy thee suddenly_." I have known many a man who has lost his power by being identified with the unG.o.dly. If you want to have the blessing of G.o.d rest upon you, you must be very careful about your alliances. The Jews always got into trouble when they married with the nations round about. The houses of Ahab and of Solomon lost their kingdom by that sin. That was the cause of the overthrow of David"s kingdom.
Families who marry for wealth, and marry the G.o.dly to the unG.o.dly, always bring distress into the family.
Then he made them sign a covenant that they would _keep the Sabbath_, that they would not buy upon the Sabbath.
Think of a man going from a heathen court where they had no Sabbath, a man brought up in that atmosphere, coming up to Jerusalem and enforcing the law of Moses! It is recorded that they brought up fish, and he would not let them into the city on the Sabbath, and the fish spoiled. After they had tried that a few times, they gave it up. If you will take your stand for G.o.d, even if you stand alone, it will not be very long before you will get other men to stand with you. G.o.d stood with this man, and he carried everything before him.
I don"t believe we shall have the right atmosphere in this country until we can get men who have backbone enough to stand up against the thing they believe is wrong. If it is a custom rooted and grounded for a hundred years, never mind; you take your stand against it if you believe it is wrong. If you have gatherings, and it is fashionable to have wine and champagne, and you are a teetotaler; if they ask you anywhere and you know that they are to have drink, tell them you are not going. A man said to me some years ago:
"Mr. Moody, now that I am converted, must I give up the world?"
I said: "No, you haven"t got to give up the world. If you give a good ringing testimony for the Son of G.o.d, the world will give you up pretty quick; they won"t want you around."
They were going to have a great celebration at the opening of a saloon and billiard hall in Chicago, in the northern part of the city, where I lived. It was to be a gateway to death and to h.e.l.l, one of the worst places in Chicago. As a joke they sent me an invitation to go to the opening. I took the invitation and went down and saw the two men who had the saloon, and I said:
"Is that a genuine invitation?"
They said it was.
"Thank you," I said, "I will be around; if there is anything here I don"t like I may have something to say about it."
They said: "You are not going to _preach_?"
"I may."
"We don"t want you. We won"t let you in."
"How are you going to keep me out?" I asked; "there is the invitation."
"We will put a policeman at the door."
"What is the policeman going to do with that invitation?"
"We won"t let you in."
"Well," I said, "I will be there."
I gave them a good scare, and then I said, "I will compromise the matter; if you two men will get down here and let me pray with you, I will let you off."
I got those two rumsellers down on their knees, one on one side of me, and the other on the other side, and I prayed G.o.d to save their souls and smite their business. One of them had a Christian mother, and he seemed to have some conscience left. After I had prayed, I said:
"How can you do this business? How can you throw this place open to ruin young men of Chicago?"
Within three months the whole thing smashed up, and one of them was converted some time after. I have never been invited to a saloon since.
You won"t have to give up the world, not by a good deal. If you go to reunions, and there is drinking, get up and go away. Don"t you be party to it. That is the kind of men we want. When you find anything that is ruining your fellow men, fight it to its bitter end.
Nehemiah said, "We will not have desecration of the Sabbath." Not sell the Sunday paper? Not buy a Sunday paper? How many read the Sunday newspapers?
I suppose that if you had Nehemiah as mayor of New York, he would stop that sort of thing. Here we have boys who are kept away from the Sunday school to sell papers on the streets--trains running in order that the papers can be distributed. I don"t believe a man is in a fit state to hear a sermon whose mind is full of such trash as the Sunday newspaper is filled with. Men break the Sabbath and wonder why it is they have not spiritual power. The trouble nowadays is that it doesn"t mean anything to some people to be a Christian.
What we must have is a higher type of Christianity in this country.
We must have a Christianity that has in it the principle of self -denial. We must deny ourselves. If we want power, we must be separate.
The next thing they were to do--(and bear in mind this was a thing they had to sign)--was to _give their land rest_.
For four hundred and ninety years they had not let their land rest, so G.o.d took them away to Babylon for seventy years, and let the land rest. A man that works seven days in the week right along is cut off about five or ten years earlier. You cannot rob G.o.d. Why is it that so many railroad superintendents and physicians die early? It is because they work seven days in the week. So Nehemiah made them covenant to keep the law of Moses. If the nations of the earth had kept that law, the truth would have gone to the four corners of the earth before this time.
Then he made them sign a covenant that _they would not charge usury_.
They were just grinding the poor down. I believe that the reason we are in such a wretched state in this country to-day is on account of crowding the poor, and getting such a large amount of money for usury. People evade the law, and pay the interest, and then they give a few hundred dollars to negotiate the loan. There is a great amount of usury, and see where we are to-day! See what a wretched state of things we are having, not only in this country, but all over the world!
The fifth thing he made them do was to _bring their first fruits to the sons of Levi_.
They were to give G.o.d a tenth, the first and best. As long as Israel did that they prospered, and when they turned away from that law they did not prosper. You can look through history and look around you and see the same thing to-day. As long as men keep G.o.d"s law and respect G.o.d"s testimony, they are going to prosper, but when they turn aside, like Samson, they lose their strength; they have no power.
If you take these five things and carry them out, you will have prosperity. Let us all do it personally. If it was good for those men it is good for us. The moment we begin to rob G.o.d of time or talents then darkness and misery and wretchedness will come.
HEROD AND JOHN THE BAPTIST
If some one had told me a few years ago that he thought Herod at one time came near the kingdom of G.o.d, I should have been inclined to doubt it. I would have said, "I do not believe that the bloodthirsty wretch who took the life of John the Baptist ever had a serious thought in his life about his soul"s welfare." I held that opinion because there is one scene recorded in Herod"s life that I had overlooked. But some years ago, when I was going through the gospel of Mark, making a careful study of the book, I found this verse:
"Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just man and an holy, and observed him; and when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly." (Mark vi, 20).
This caused me to change my views about Herod. I saw that he was not only brought within the sound of John"s voice, but under the power of the Spirit of G.o.d; his heart was touched and his conscience awakened. We are not told under what circ.u.mstances he heard John; but the narrative plainly states that he was brought under the influence of the Baptist"s wonderful ministry.
Let me first say a word or two about
THE PREACHER.
I contend that John the Baptist must have been one of the grandest preachers this world has ever had. Almost any man can get a hearing nowadays in a town or a city, where the people live close together; especially if he speaks in a fine building where there is a splendid choir, and if the meetings have been advertised and worked up for weeks or months beforehand. In such circ.u.mstances any man who has a gift for speaking will get a good audience. But it was very different with John. He drew the people out of the towns and cities away into the wilderness. There were no ministers to back him; no business men interested in Christ"s cause to work with him; no newspaper reporters to take his sermons down and send them out. He was an unknown man, without any t.i.tle to his name. He was not the Right-Rev. John the Baptist, D. D., or anything of the kind, but plain John the Baptist. When the people went to inquire of him if he were Elias or Jeremiah come back to life, he said he was not.
"Who are you then?"
"I am the Voice of one crying in the wilderness."