"I hope so."
"Hope so! do you believe it? You do your work, and the Lord will do His. Just come as you are, and throw yourself upon His bosom, and He will not cast you out."
This man thought it was too simple and easy.
At last light seemed to break in upon him, and he seemed to find comfort from it. It was past midnight before he got down on his knees, but down he went, and was converted. I said:
"Now, don"t think you are going to get out of the devil"s territory without trouble. The devil will come to you to-morrow morning and say it was all feeling; that you only imagined you were accepted by G.o.d.
When he does, don"t fight him with your own opinions, but fight him with John vi. 37: "Him that cometh to Me I will in nowise cast out."
Let that be "the sword of the Spirit.""
I don"t believe that any man ever starts to go to Christ but the devil strives somehow or other to meet him and trip him up. And even after he has come to Christ, the devil tries to a.s.sail him with doubts, and make him believe there is something wrong in it.
The struggle came sooner than I thought in this man"s case. When he was on his way home the devil a.s.sailed him. He used this text, but the devil put this thought into his mind:
"How do you know Christ ever said that after all? Perhaps the translators made a mistake."
Into darkness he went again. He was in trouble till about two in the morning. At last he came to this conclusion. Said he:
"I will believe it anyway; and when I get to heaven, if it isn"t true, I will just tell the Lord _I_ didn"t make the mistake--the translators made it."
Use or Lose
An Eastern allegory runs thus: A merchant, going abroad for a time, gave respectively to two of his friends two sacks of wheat each, to take care of against his return. Years pa.s.sed. When he came back, he applied for them again.
The first took him into a storehouse, and showed him his sacks; but they were mildewed and worthless.
The other led him out into the open country, and pointed to field after field of waving wheat, the produce of the two sacks given him.
Said the merchant: "You have been a faithful friend. Give me two sacks of that wheat; the rest shall be thine."
Let us put to good use the talents G.o.d has given us.
The Anch.o.r.ed Boat
I once heard of two men who were under the influence of liquor. They came down at night to where their boat was tied. They wanted to return home, so they got in and began to row. They pulled away hard all night, wondering why they never got to the other side of the bay. When the gray dawn of morning broke, behold! they had never loosed the mooring line or raised the anchor!
That"s just the way with many who are striving to enter the kingdom of heaven. They cannot believe, because they are tied to this world. Cut the cord! Confess and forsake your sins! Cut the cord! Set yourselves free from the clogging weight of earthly things, and you will soon rise heavenward.
Not Much up There
A friend of mine was once taken by an old man to see his riches. He took him to a splendid mansion, and said, "This is all mine." He pointed to a little town, "That is mine; it is called by my name." He pointed to a rolling prairie, "That is all mine; the sun never shone on a finer prairie than that, so fruitful and rich, and it"s all mine." In another direction he showed him fertile farms extending for thirty miles, "These are all mine." He took him into his grand house, showed him his beautiful pictures, his costly gold plate, his jewels, and still he said, "These are all mine. This grand hall I have built; it is called by my name; there is my insignia on it. And yet I was once a poor boy. I have made it all myself."
My friend looked at him. "Well, you"ve all this on earth; but what have you got up there?"
"Up where?" said the old man.
"Up in heaven."
"Well, I"m afraid I haven"t got much up there."
"Ah," said my friend, "but you"ve got to die, to leave this world; what will you take with you of all these things? You will die a beggar; for all these riches count as nothing in the kingdom of heaven. You will be a pauper; for you have no inheritance with the saints above." The poor old man (he was poor enough in reality, though rich in all the world"s goods) burst into tears. He had no hope for the future. In four months" time he was dead; and where is he now? He lived and died without G.o.d, and without hope in this world or the next.
Touching the Spot
When a man has broken his arm, the surgeon must find out the exact spot where the fracture is. He feels along and presses gently with his fingers.
"Is it there?"
"No,"
"Is it there?"
"No."
Presently, when the surgeon touches another spot, "Ouch!" says the man.
He has found the broken part, and it hurts.
It is one thing to hear a man preach down other people"s sins. Men will say, "That is splendid," and will want all their friends to go and hear the preacher. But let him touch on their individual sin, and declare, as Nathan did to David, "Thou art the man," and they say, "I do not like that." The preacher has touched a sore place.
The Little Boy and the Big Book
I like to think of Christ as a burden bearer.
A minister was one day moving his library upstairs. As he was going up with a load of books, his little boy came in, and was very anxious to help his father. So his father just told him to go and get an armful, and bring them upstairs. When the father came back, he met the little fellow about half-way up, tugging away at the biggest book in the library. He couldn"t manage to carry it up. It was too big. So he sat down and cried.
His father found him, and just took him in his arms, book and all, and carried him upstairs. So Christ will carry you and all your burdens, if you will but let Him.
The Invitation to a Saloon Opening
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, and 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_, are you?"
"I may."