Neither should we yoke up in church fellowship with those who are not saved. We would not take the stand, that perchance some might not be taking the track, that it should bar us from church membership, but when the ma.s.s of members are not obeying G.o.d, and are opposed to holiness, and are worldly in their trend, it is no place for one who wishes to be spiritual and keep blessed. How long will it be if one mixes in with such a crowd till he will be like them? We once were pa.s.sing through the state of Colorado and saw from the car window a beautiful, clear stream of water join with another stream that was dark and muddy. How long did it take the crystal stream to become muddy like the other? It certainly did not clarify the muddy current, but the muddy current mixed right into it and all became impure.
Poor Ephraim ought to stand out as a warning to those who think they can mix with the world with impunity. Hear the Word on his case: "Ephraim, he hath mixed himself among the people; Ephraim is a cake not turned."
Poor, unturned cake. He had mixed so much among the people that he did not have fire enough to bake him on both sides; it did not pay to turn him over. What is an unbaked cake good for? It is so sticky that it will adhere to almost anything. Ephraim adhered to this people and that, and met with sad failure. Sticky, soggy, heavy, indigestible, unpalatable!
Who wants it? "Hot cakes" is the call, and not cold, unturned ones.
The next department of religion we wish to notice is that of experience.
Here we have the prohibition of the linen and woolen garments mixed.
What is closer to a person than his garments? G.o.d has seen fit to express salvation under the fitting emblem of garments. "For fine linen is the righteousness of saints" (Rev. 19:8). "These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb" (Rev. 7:14). "Let thy garments be always white, and let thy head lack no ointment" (Eccl. 9:8). "Put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem" (Isa. 52:1). "He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation; he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness" (Isa. 61:10). We have given these beautiful Scriptures to show that garments are used to symbolize Christian experience. Now, as the garment is the closest thing that comes to a person, so one"s experience is the closest thing in his religion. It certainly gets up close to a man. G.o.d forbade under the theocracy the wearing of linen and woolen garments mixed. This mixture causes chafing and sweat and hardship that He wanted avoided in their religion. But in this present day we find, alas, too frequently a linsey-woolsey religion.
Let us carry out the figure. Linen is the pure, clean, vegetable creation, and is used to signify the righteousness of the saints. Wool is the product of the animal, and is carnal; hence, signifies the carnal element in one"s experience. This carnal element sometimes called the flesh, obtains in every Christian"s heart until he obtains the baptism with the Holy Ghost, wherein his heart is thus made pure.
"Neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woolen come upon thee"
(Lev. 19:19). As the Word of G.o.d was against the garment of this mixture, so that experience today that is allowed to remain in the heart whereby there is righteousness and carnality dwelling together is forbidden. There must not remain carnality where grace has taken up its abode. There will be spiritual sweating and chafing, and one"s religion will be hindered and thwarted, and in all probability there will be failure in the end. As it was scientifically incompatible, the mixing of linen and woolen together for a garment, so it is spiritually incompatible, the mixing of righteousness and carnality in the same heart. There is always more or less chafing and hardships and discouragements. "For the flesh l.u.s.teth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary the one to the other; so that ye can not do the things that ye would" (Gal. 5:17). Thank G.o.d, in the economy of grace there is provided an elimination of the carnal element of one"s experience, leaving the pure, clean linen of righteousness. Then the chafing, and galling, and spiritual perspiration, working against carnal odds, will cease.
Now for a word of application. "The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree" in preclusion of uniting or mixing with others. There is something in the very nature of the palm that precludes the graft, or intermixing. There is something in the spiritual makeup of the holy, palm tree saints that have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. They are a cla.s.s by themselves. They will not mix their religion with the world. In doctrine they are clean, true, clear, and scriptural. They are holding to the old landmarks which their fathers have set. They are not running after the new fads under the guise of religion. They are settled, rooted and grounded in the truth. In service they are separate from the world. They are not mixing with the fun, frolic and general pastime and pleasure of the worldly element. They scrupulously adhere to the admonition to "come out from among them" and not to be unequally yoked together in any way. In experience, they have no admixture of the carnal and spiritual elements. They have had their hearts cleansed from all sin, and are really clothed with the pure, spotless garment of salvation. They lack that cambium layer of formative tissue that unites them to any other stock. Of course the world hates them for standing out against them and failing to unite. The worldly minded church members steer clear of them, for these members retain a formative tissue that will admit of joining with the world and allowing the world to join with them; but the palm tree saints stand aloof; they do not mix.
CHAPTER XVIII
IT IS ADAPTED TO WARM CLIMATES
Our G.o.d is the G.o.d of nature as well as of grace. Trees thrive best when in the sphere that nature intended them for. The palm tree is especially a hot climate tree, and when taken out of its proper place it stands to reason that it will succ.u.mb. It can not stand the cold. It was not made that way. It matters not how hot the place may be, even in the broiling sun of the desert, it will thrive. But place it in the cold regions, and death will inevitably be the result.
The palm tree saint has this same characteristic in the spiritual realm.
A red-hot meeting is his delight. His very nature calls out for the fire which burns in meetings where G.o.d has His way. The warmer the meetings the better he likes them, and the better he thrives. He can not stand the cold. G.o.d did not make him to stand cold meetings, and so he is not responsible for it. Cold meetings seem to chill him to the marrow. And should he providentially be placed in such a sphere, he would feel that he must do something to start the circulation or he would soon be frozen to death. Why do not more people have the wisdom of those in cold climates? To ill.u.s.trate: A man starts out on a load of wood to take it to the market several miles away. The thermometer is many degrees below zero. A friend meets him in the way and informs him that he saw him nodding as he came down the road; that his nose is white and that frost has gathered on his eyebrows. The poor man still has sense enough left to see his danger, and he at once jumps off the load and begins to kick his toes against the sled, and swing his arms around his body in that peculiar, cold-climate style to warm himself. After a most heroic effort he finds himself thoroughly awake, and the warm blood again coursing through his veins, and he says to himself, "I will not allow that to happen again."
How often have we seen an iceberg in the pulpit, icicles in the pews, and polar breezes sweeping through the place! Surely, to live in that climate long would be to freeze to death. One would have to make a tremendous stir if he hoped to keep up circulation in such a place. And should the stir be made, there would be a hue and cry of fanaticism, wild fire, crazy, or such like. But the Holy Ghost never intended Christians to live in such an element. He never intended palm tree saints to live in refrigerators. One may ask if refrigerators are not good for something. Surely, they are. One can preserve a dead chicken well in one of them, but put a live chicken in and it will soon chill and die. The idea of thinking that a lot of little, new-born babes could live and thrive in church refrigerators! No, they must have warmth. It is their nature, and when one goes contrary to nature, bad results will surely follow. Thank G.o.d there is a warm climate for those who must have it. Let us see to it that we live under the warm rays of the Sun of righteousness, and in an element conducive to spiritual growth and health.
There is a mistaken idea abroad concerning unity. Because there is no outward eruption, and because things seem to run smooth, they take it for granted that there is oneness. There is such a thing as being frozen together instead of melted together. Jesus prayed for His disciples that they might be sanctified, that they all might be one. It is the sanctifying baptism with the Holy Ghost and fire that makes people one in the proper and scriptural sense. If one had any fire in which to keep warm, and should attempt to live in some frozen regions, they would soon cool him off, and he would be frozen together with them. The story is told of an eagle floating down the Niagara river on a cake of ice. He was enjoying a feast on a lamb which was frozen to the ice. After a while the eagle neared the falls, but he was not afraid, because he could fly. Finally, as the water got swifter, the eagle was seen to spread his wings and prepare for the escape. When he saw that he could remain no longer with impunity, he attempted to spring from the ice, when, lo and behold, he found himself frozen to the cake of ice. With an awful screech and wings flapping he went over the falls to destruction.
May the Lord save _us_ from too much self-confidence and from remaining where death and destruction are inevitable, and where freezing and falling go together.
Quite a number of years ago the writer and another evangelist were invited to a certain church in New Orleans for revival services. A certain, noted evangelist had formerly served in that church as pastor, and great good had resulted from his ministry. The pastor at this time stated in his invitation to us, that should we accept it, it must be with the understanding that we were not to preach holiness as a second work of grace; that the church had previously undergone quite an upheaval on that line, but now things had quieted down, and peace was now reigning instead. It might be of some interest to know if we accepted his invitation. Our answer was about on this line: "We thank you for your invitation to a.s.sist in meetings in your church, but inasmuch as you have placed an embargo on the stream of holiness as a second work of grace, which is the only way any one ever received it, we feel if we should accept the invitation under such conditions we would be selling Jesus Christ at a less figure than Judas got for Him. And furthermore, may not that peace and quietude of which you speak relative to the church, be the quietude of the graveyard instead of a live church?" Suffice it to say, we did not receive any further invitation.
It is a very easy thing to compromise both as preachers and laymen, and accommodate ourselves to cooled off environments, till we are a very part of the thing ourselves. As long as G.o.d has provided a warm home for His sheep and lambs, let us see to it that we have the benefit of the same. Amen!
CHAPTER XIX
PALM TREE PECULIARITIES
We are told in t.i.tus 2:14, that pilgrims are a peculiar people. They have characteristics exclusively their own. They belong wholly to the Lord, and are unlike other people. To the world they appear singular, strange.
These people are peculiar in the source of their enjoyment, in their conversation, in their dress, and in other ways which differentiate them from the world. One saint may have a peculiarity which is not in any other. He may have a peculiar way in manifesting his emotions when he gets blessed, or in some striking manner of speech, or sphere of service, or mode of dress. So it is with different varieties of the palm. Some have peculiar characteristics which indeed belong only to their species, and some are strikingly curious. The Christian life is ill.u.s.trated so plainly by some of these, that we will note a few.
I. THE EXPLOSIVE FLOWER
There is a certain palm which buds out in enormous cl.u.s.ters. It is said that "the flowers occur in an enormous cl.u.s.ter, at first ensheathed by large and frequently wooden spathes, which often burst with an explosion." Much fault has been found with some of G.o.d"s palm tree saints because they have a peculiarity akin to this. To hinder this explosive emotion in them might hinder their spiritual life itself. For them to quench the Spirit, would be to thwart the plan and purpose of G.o.d himself. Many precious souls have been tempted and tried because they seem to be put up different from some others. They have wished to be more quiet, and have wondered why they have to shout so much. Some always have a gush of tears and have gone so far as to ask the Lord to dry their tears, and when the Lord answered their prayer, they invariably were made lean, and prayed again for Him to open the fountain. On whatever plan of peculiar disposition we may be built, let us thank G.o.d for it and let the Holy Ghost have His way in all the minutia of life. All people do not shout, and all do not laugh, but all get blessed if the Lord has His way. We must not be tried over those whose blessings do not fall within our desired method, nor should we be discouraged because the manifestations of the Spirit within us are not exactly like some others whom we admire.
"The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal." The emotions which follow these operations of the Spirit vary according to the peculiar makeup of the individual. If there were a row of various combustibles, such as shavings, salt, powder, gasoline, etc., and fire were put to each one of them, there would be manifestations according to their various characteristics. The shavings would quietly blaze up, the salt would flicker, the powder would blow up and that would be the end of it, while the gasoline would blaze all over and keep on till all was burned. So, when the fire of the Holy Ghost is turned loose on a lot of consecrated saints, the manifestations of the Spirit will vary according to the peculiar characteristics of the spiritual material on hand. When all do the same thing it might be an evidence of custom or training, and not of the Spirit"s manifestation, for G.o.d does not confine Himself in ruts. What could be more stirring, and conducive to conviction than a body of fire-baptized souls under the control of the Holy Ghost, some shouting, some laughing, some crying, and some leaping and dancing, while others might be praying or exhorting; all letting the Spirit work through them severally as He will. Such scenes never fail to produce conviction upon an audience. The altar is frequently filled with weeping penitents after such a scene.
Yes, in nature we have the explosive element in the palm; so in grace we have the bursting forth of holy emotions, the upgush of heavenly raptures, and as a help and forewarning the Word tells us, "Quench not the Spirit."
When a soul swings loose in the Spirit and becomes so free as to shout, or laugh, or jump for joy, it is reasonable to suppose that it is the mind of the Spirit for that soul to retain his freedom, not allowing himself to be tied up so that such demonstrations could not be duplicated should G.o.d so desire. Alas, how many have failed right here!
We have noted the freedom of a new, Spirit-filled soul. How the peculiar manifestation of the Spirit blest the meeting, and the "profit withal" was apparent. Later on we have observed how the Holy Spirit tried to duplicate the freedom and blessing, but the dear soul felt timid or backward and simply failed to keep abandoned to G.o.d. The inevitable result was, that the heart closed up, the Spirit was grieved, and dryness and leanness were the result. Let no one dare say, "I am abandoned to the Holy Ghost" and then not let Him have His way with him in every particular. To be consecrated means more than simply saying it.
If some one should place a thousand dollars on deposit in my name in some bank and hand me over the bank book, telling me it all belonged to me, and for me to draw upon it for any purpose up to the amount of the deposit, I would certainly feel free to do with it as I pleased without any fear of his interference. If I wanted five dollars for groceries, I could draw on the deposit. If I wanted fifty dollars for missionary work, it is on deposit. It is all mine; I can handle it as I please.
Consecration is putting our all--body, soul, and spirit, time, talent, earthly store, family, future, service, all we have and know, and all we do not know into heaven"s bank on deposit and then handing the bank book over to the Holy Ghost, saying, "Draw on the deposit for anything which Thou in Thy infinite wisdom desirest." Be sure, then, that the Holy Ghost will take us at our word. When He makes a draw for some particular demonstration such as shouting, or taking a trip down the aisle, or laughing, or crying, remember He controls the deposit and has a right to do as He pleases with what has been turned over to Him. If our time is placed in His hands He has a right to direct it. If our money is placed at His disposal, we must let Him say in what channels it shall be used.
It means much to say, "I am all the Lord"s."
II. THE LIVING SACRIFICE
The Coquito palm of Chile is a tree about fifty feet in height, with a spreading crown of leaves. From its trunk a syrup is obtained called _miel de palma_, which is much esteemed by the Chileans and foreigners in cookery. This syrup is obtained by cutting down the tree, and lopping off its crown of leaves, when the sap flows from the wound, and is carefully collected. By cutting off a fresh slice from the wound daily, or when the flow of sap becomes weak, it may be kept flowing for several months. A good tree is said to yield as much as ninety gallons of sap, which on being boiled down a.s.sumes the consistency of treacle or mola.s.ses.
Here we have a beautiful and fitting ill.u.s.tration of the daily and living sacrifice of a palm tree saint. If the righteous flourish like the palm tree, might it not be well to emulate this peculiar characteristic? When Paul admonished the Roman Christians to present their "bodies a living sacrifice," he did not mean for them simply to obtain the blessing of holiness and then stop and thereafter settle down and enjoy themselves. He meant not only a sacrifice to be offered up at the given time, but to remain offered up. Our sacrifice is to remain a living sacrifice. The Christian life is one sacrificed to G.o.d"s cause for the sake of glorifying G.o.d and being used in His service. The very word sacrifice means something offered up in devotion. Then if it is offered up to another, can we claim it as our own? If we are to be like this peculiar palm, then we are ready to be "poured forth" as Paul said he was to the Philippians. Here is this sacrificed palm, with its very life poured out from day to day for the benefit of humanity. And this is kept up till there remains nothing but the trunk. Oh, what a symbol of the constant, daily outpouring of one"s life and strength for the benefit of a lost world! Look at David Brainerd, David Livingstone, Henry Martyn, yea, thousands of faithful men and women missionaries who have literally poured out their lives, and died for their fellow-men.
The sacrifice element in the Christian life is further ill.u.s.trated in another kind of palm known as the Cabbage palm. The terminal bud, or "cabbage," is enclosed among many thin, snow-white, brittle flakes. It has the flavor of the almond, but of greater sweetness, and is boiled and eaten with meat. As its removal causes the death of the tree, it is regarded as an extravagant delicacy only rarely to be enjoyed.
Here we find the ill.u.s.tration of the martyr element of the palm tree saint. Paul said, "I am now ready to be offered." Stephen gave himself a living sacrifice to G.o.d, and right away lost his life. The martyrs are numbered by thousands. Is not this an extravagant method of spreading the gospel? It may be from a human standpoint, but G.o.d in His infinite wisdom can see beyond our shortsightedness, and permits such to be. "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church." If there were more persecution today there would doubtless be a better type of Christians.
We should possess the martyr spirit. The word "witness" in the original is martyr. And surely many of those early Christians proved it. Every consecrated soul should involve in his consecration the possibility of losing his life for Jesus; then, if he ever faces the issue, he is prepared for it, and if he never has to face such an issue, he might consider it so much clear gain.
III. THE FOREIGN MISSIONARY
The peculiarity of a certain kind of palm, known as the Great Rattan is its wandering or traveling characteristic. The stems of this very peculiar variety are of prodigious length extending for hundreds of feet; it is stated from twelve hundred to eighteen hundred feet, clinging by hooks attached to their leaves to the trunks and boughs of neighboring trees, or trailing on the ground. They are extremely hard externally and usually smooth.
Here we have a beautiful ill.u.s.tration of the missionary spirit. We are living in a day when many of G.o.d"s dear palm tree saints are flourishing like this Great Rattan. They have the missionary spirit. They have those spiritual hooks attached to their experience which enable them to cling to others with a tenacity which is not human. They are endowed with a spiritual st.u.r.diness which in truth enables them to "endure hardness as good soldiers." They cross mountains, deserts and oceans, and live among the heathen to win them to Christ. What we need in these days of self-ease and luxury is more of this Great Rattan movement. We need more pilgrims to foreign lands. If we are not called ourselves with this peculiar characteristic, then let us help those who are thus called. We can help them with our money and with our prayers.
We all have a call to the foreign field in one sense: "Go ye into all the world." If G.o.d has let you off in person, then see to it that you have a part anyway in evangelizing the world. If I can not go, I can send. If I can not reach them by word of mouth, I can by way of the throne. If I can not preach and teach in the foreign land, I can pray and pay in the homeland. Amen!
With the thought of the missionary and also of the living sacrifice before us, we have the perfect combination of the two in the self-sacrificing experience of some of the early pioneers in the foreign lands. We, in the home lands, can scarcely realize the toils and hardships and dangers that some of these heroes of the cross waded through. We think of the dauntless Livingstone, who penetrated Africa"s jungles in order to plant the gospel in that benighted region. Lost to home and the world for years, no wonder people considered him worth looking up, and sending a Stanley in search for him. But he was doing a work which would open up nations to hear the Word of life. Though he had to bury his loved one on the bank of the Zambesi, yet "with undaunted courage, he set his face toward new paths." How the natives loved this man--this living sacrifice. He was the means in G.o.d"s hands of bringing them light for darkness, comfort for sorrow, life for death.
He was the foe of the slave stealers, and delivered the poor helpless mortals from their grasp. He toiled on in solitude, and gave his very life to make a way to this dark and heathen world. Finally, far from the sh.o.r.e, and thousands of miles from home, he took sick. He was a man of prayer, and one morning when the native men looked into his abode, they found only the body of this devoted follower of the Lamb; he was dead on his knees. Those dusky, devoted souls determined to do the best they could in memory of their apostle, and knowing that his great, loving heart was centered in Africa, they took out his heart and buried it beneath a tree. They then let the hot sun dry the body and those loyal hands carried the remains many, many miles to the seash.o.r.e, where, what was left of the faithful missionary was shipped to England. And now, with the heart of David Livingstone in the middle of Africa, his body in Westminster Abbey, his soul in heaven, we have an example of the grace of G.o.d in helping a man to give up his life for a lost world.
Let us take a glance at Henry Martyn. Leaving England as a young man in feeble health, for six years he worked against fearful odds in India.
There in that disease-ladened land and in Persia he pursued his arduous task of learning three languages utterly adverse, such as Hindustani, Arabic, and Persian. In these three languages he translated the entire New Testament in six years. This is one of the most astonishing of intellectual feats on record. Besides these translations he made others and when we remember that he was burning up with consumptive"s fever, and yet kept right on till, in order to perfect his translation in Persian, he made a trip to that country, and crossing burning, sand deserts with his own body literally burning up with fever, he was surely a living sacrifice. His pa.s.sionate love for the Savior and the souls of lost men, made him suffer on in weakness and sickness, until the short candle of his life consuming at both ends finally flickered out in that faraway foreign land between Persia and the western sh.o.r.e, and where a lone headstone marked the spot where one of G.o.d"s sainted heroes lay down and died. How small it makes me feel as I write these lines!
Another example is that of David Brainerd, the apostle to the Indians before the colonies became independent. This young man, who died in his thirtieth year in the home of Jonathan Edwards, was one of those early pioneers of gospel work among the wild and pagan Indians. He was another living sacrifice, very feeble in body, dying by inches with consumption, yet toiled on without murmuring, and praying till his body would be bathed in perspiration, he battled almost against hope till finally G.o.d gave him marvelous success among those benighted savages. A few lines from the journal of this marvelous man of prayer may stir up more of a spirit of prayer and self-sacrifice in the reader:
"June 14, 1742.
"I set apart this day for secret fasting and prayer, to entreat G.o.d to direct and bless me with regard to the great work which I have in view, of preaching the gospel--and that the Lord would return to me and show me the light of His countenance. Had little life and power in the forenoon. Near the middle of the afternoon, G.o.d enabled me to wrestle ardently in intercession for my friends. But just at night the Lord visited me marvelously in prayer. I think my soul never was in such an agony before. I felt no restraint; for the treasures of divine grace were opened to me. I wrestled for absent friends, for the ingathering of souls, for mult.i.tudes of poor souls, and for many that I thought were the children of G.o.d, personally, in many distant places. I was in such an agony from sun half an hour high, till near dark, that I was all over wet with sweat; but yet it seemed to me that I had wasted the day and done nothing. Oh, my dear Savior did sweat blood for poor souls! I longed for more compa.s.sion towards them. Felt still in a sweet frame, under a sense of divine love and grace, and went to bed in such a frame, with my heart set on G.o.d.
"April 30, 1743.