Before me, a table.
Around me, mine enemies.
After me, goodness and mercy.
Ahead of me, the house of the Lord.
"Blessed is the day," says an old divine, "when Psalm twenty-three was born!" It has been more used than almost any other pa.s.sage in the Bible.
v. 1.--A happy life.
v. 4.--A happy death.
v. 6.--A happy eternity.
Take Psalm 102:6-7: "I am like a pelican of the wilderness: I am like an owl of the desert. I watch and am as a sparrow alone upon the housetop."
It seems strange until you reflect that a pelican carries its food with it, that the owl keeps its eyes open at night, and that the sparrow watches alone. So the Christian must carry his food with him--the Bible--and he must keep his eyes open and watch alone.
Turn to Isaiah 32, and mark four things that G.o.d promises in verse 2: "And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land." There we have:--
The hiding place from danger.
The cover from the tempest.
Rivers of water.
The Rock of Ages.
In the third and fourth verses of the same chapter: "And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken. The heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly." We have eyes, ears, heart and tongue, all ready to pay homage to the King of Righteousness.
Now turn into the New Testament, John 4:47-53.
The n.o.ble _heard_ about Jesus.
_went_ unto Him.
_besought_ Him.
_believed_ Him.
_knew_ that his prayer was answered.
Again: Matthew 11:28-30:
"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." Someone has said these verses contain the only description we have of Christ"s heart.
Something to do, come unto Jesus.
Something to leave, your burden.
Something to take, His yoke.
Something to find, rest unto your soul.
Again: John 14:6. "I am the way, the truth, and the life."
The way, follow me.
The truth, learn of me.
The life, abide in me.
SUGGESTIONS.
Do not buy a Bible that you are unwilling to mark and use. An interleaved Bible gives more room for notes.
Be precise and concise: for example, Neh. 13, 18: "A warning from history."
Never mark anything because you saw it in some one else"s Bible. If it does not come home to you, if you not understand it, do not put it down.
Never pa.s.s a nugget by without trying to grasp it. Then mark it down.
CHAPTER XV.
Personal Work--Three Kinds of Church Services--Church Members--Individual Experience--One Inquirer at a Time--Those who lack a.s.surance--Backsliders--Not Convicted of Sin--Deeply Convicted--The Divinity of Christ--Can"t Hold Out--No Strength--Feelings--Can"t Believe--Can"t be Saved all at Once--Not Now--Further Suggestions.
PERSONAL dealing is of the most vital importance. No one can tell how many persons have been lost to the Kingdom of G.o.d through lack of following up the preaching of the Gospel by personal work. It is deplorable how few church-members are qualified to deal with inquirers, yet that is the very work in which they ought most efficiently to aid the pastor. People are not usually converted under the preaching of the minister. It is in the inquiry-meeting that they are most likely to be brought to Christ. They are perhaps awakened under the minister, but G.o.d generally uses some one person to point out the way of salvation and bring the anxious to a decision. Some people can"t see the use of inquiry-meetings, and think they are something new, and that we haven"t any authority for them. But they are no innovation. We read about them all through the Bible. When John the Baptist was preaching he was interrupted. It would be a good thing if people would interrupt the minister now and then in the middle of some metaphysical sermon, and ask what he means. The only way to make sure that people understand what he is talking about is to let them ask questions. I don"t know what some men, who have got the whole address written out, would do if some one should get up and ask: "What must I do to be saved?" Yet such questions would do more good than anything else you could have. They would awake a spirit of inquiry. Some of Christ"s sweetest teachings were called forth by questions.
THREE KINDS OF CHURCH SERVICES.
There ought to be three kinds of services in all churches: one for worship--to offer praise, and to wait on the Lord in prayer; another for teaching; and at these services there needn"t be a word to the unconverted, (although some men never close any meeting without presenting the Gospel), but let them be for the church people; and a third for preaching the Gospel. Sunday morning is the best time for teaching, but Sunday night is the best night in the whole week, of the regular church services, to preach the simple Gospel of the Son of G.o.d.
When you have preached that, and have felt the power of the unseen world, and there are souls trembling in the balance, don"t say, as I have heard good ministers say: "_If_ there are any in this, place concerned--at all concerned--about their souls, I will be in the pastor"s study on Friday night, and will be glad to see them." By that time the chances are the impression will be all wiped out. Deal with them that night before the devil s.n.a.t.c.hes away the good seed. Wherever the Gospel is proclaimed, there should be an expectation of immediate results, and if this were the case the Church of Christ would be in a constant state of grace.
"Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of G.o.d." How much would Paul and Barnabas have accomplished if they had p.r.o.nounced the benediction and sent these people home? It is a thing to weep over that we have got thousands and thousands of church members who are good for nothing towards extending the Kingdom of G.o.d. They understand bazaars, and fairs, and sewing-circles; but when you ask them to sit down and show a man or woman the way into G.o.d"s kingdom, they say: "Oh, I am not able to do that. Let the deacons do it, or some one else." It is all wrong. The Church ought to be educated on this very point. There are a great many church-members who are just hobbling about on crutches. They can just make out that they are saved, and imagine that is all that const.i.tutes a Christian in this nineteenth century. As far as helping others is concerned, that never enters their heads. They think if they can get along themselves, they are doing amazingly well. They have no idea what the Holy Ghost wants to do through them.
No matter how weak you are, G.o.d can use you; and you cannot say what a stream of salvation you may set in motion. John the Baptist was a young man when he died; but he led Andrew to Christ, and Andrew led Peter, and so the river flowed on.
In the closing pages of this book I want to give some hints in regard to pa.s.sing on the good to others, and thus profiting them by your knowledge of the Bible. Every believer, whether minister or layman, is in duty bound to spread the gospel. "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature" was the wide command of our parting Savior to His disciples.
There are many Bible students, however, who utterly neglect the command.
They are like sponges, always sucking in the Water of Life, but never imparting it to thirsty souls around.
A clergyman used to go hunting, and when his bishop reproved him, he said he never went hunting when he was on duty.
"When is a clergyman off duty?" asked the bishop.
And so with every Christian: when is he off duty?
To be ready with a promise for the dying, a word of hope for the bereaved and afflicted, of encouragement for the downhearted, of advice for the anxious, is a great accomplishment. The opportunities to be useful in these ways are numerous. Not only in inquiry-meetings and church work, but in our everyday contact with others the opening constantly occurs. A word, a look, a hand-clasp, a prayer, may have an unending influence for good.