“Study it carefully,Think of it prayerfully,Deep in thy heart let its pure precepts dwell.Slight not its history,Ponder its mystery;None can e’er prize it too fondly or well.”
“Study it carefully,Think of it prayerfully,Deep in thy heart let its pure precepts dwell.Slight not its history,Ponder its mystery;None can e’er prize it too fondly or well.”
“Study it carefully,Think of it prayerfully,Deep in thy heart let its pure precepts dwell.Slight not its history,Ponder its mystery;None can e’er prize it too fondly or well.”
“Study it carefully,
Think of it prayerfully,
Deep in thy heart let its pure precepts dwell.
Slight not its history,
Ponder its mystery;
None can e’er prize it too fondly or well.”
To study the Bible one should have a special time if possible. The early morning is doubtless the best, for the mind is more active and receptive, and passages then read may be considered with profit throughout the day. However, it is a good thing to glance at it whenever there is a spare moment. James Bonnell made the Holy Scriptures his constant and daily study. He read them, meditated upon them and prayed over them. Sir John Hartop, amidst his many vocations, kept the Bible before him night and day. If it is good to read in the morning, and to meditate upon through the day, it is just as good to read in the evening. The good German expositor Bengel was seen one nightwith the open Bible upon his knees, and laying his hand upon its sacred page, was heard to say, “Lord Jesus, we are on the same terms that we were this morning, now I will lie down and sleep, and Thou wilt fulfill Thy Word in me.” Blessed confidence!
To study the Bible one might use a few helps to advantage. Use a reference Bible. It is almost indispensable to proper study. A concordance is necessary to turn to any verse with celerity. A Bible dictionary is a valuable aid to explain many things in history, antiquity, customs and manners. A good commentary is often a valuable requisite. It helps in the study, though it must not be depended upon as a lame man depends upon his crutches.
What is worth doing is certainly worth doing well. No fitful study has ever mastered any branch of science or art. If constant application of fundamental principles is necessary to achieve the highest results in scientific investigation, if the ability to make accurate lines and curves is essential to the success of the truest artist, if practice in five-finger exercises is a daily necessity to the pianist, the boy who desires to be thoroughly acquainted with the Bible must diligently search it.
Study carefully words and verses. Frequently one word is a nugget of pure gold. Study ideas. As there are veins of silver and gold in the rocks, so there are veins of truth running through the Bible. Study history. No book deals with nations as far back and shows their rise and fall as the Bible. Study geography. There are rivers and mountains associated with great events. Every land seems to have changed except the one where the Bible was written. Egypt, Greece and Rome have little now in common with thedays of antiquity. Babylon and Nineveh are not. But Palestine still remains about the same as a literal explanation of the Bible.
Study the books. Learn the number and the names of their authors. “Doctor,” said a convalescent, “I’m no judge of books—don’t often read one; but I’m reading one now that seems to me a very fine book. I haven’t noticed yet who wrote it, and I don’t know how you’d pronounce its title, but it’s something like I-van-hoe.” “My friend,” said the physician, “I’d give large gold to be in your place long enough to be reading that book for the first time and not knowing who wrote it.” In the Old Testament there are 39 books. In the New Testament 27. The first five are laws and political economy, the next twelve history, the rest poetry and prophecy. The first four of the New Testament are biography and gospel; Acts is history; the Epistles theology and philosophy, and Revelation is a drama written by John on the Isle of Patmos.
Study a whole book asking such questions, “Who wrote it? Where was it written? In what age? What lessons does it teach?” By seeking an answer to these questions one cannot fail to gain valuable information in biography, geography, and manners. Study the teachings of the New Testament. Its numerous commands will prompt action, its invitations inspire confidence, its promises impart comfort and its doctrines establish one in faith. In a word, study the Scriptures methodically.
The question why study the Bible is of as great importance as how. It is historically worth studying. Without it history is incomplete. It is the only book that spans four thousand years, revealing the origin of the universe and man. It is personallyworth studying. “In its pages every conceivable condition of human experience is reflected as in a mirror. It puts music into the speech of the tuneless one, and rounds the periods of the unlettered into an eloquence which no orator can rival. It has martial odes to brace the warrior’s courage and gainful proverbs to teach the merchant wisdom. It can translate the doubt of the perplexed, articulate the cry of the contrite, and fill the tongue of the joyous with carols of thankful gladness.” Because of its blaze of eloquence and light of truth Burke read it, while Daniel Webster turned to it for its rhetoric and poetry.
It is this book, my boy, which is needed as a guide in the practical duties of life, and which makes us “Wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” (2 Tim. 3:15). In fact, it is the only book which presents Christ. In the Old Testament He is seen in prophecy and symbol, in the New in history. In the Old, He is brought to our hearts in glorious promises; in the New, He comes to us as a living person. He is “all and in all” (Col. 3:3), insuring peace in this life, comforting in death and extending happiness beyond the grave.
In the northern part of England lived a pious widow with her seven daughters and one son. The latter proved ungrateful for her care and became her scourge and cross. He loved worldly company and pursued a wayward course till becoming impoverished it was necessary for him to go to sea. When his mother took leave of him she gave him a New Testament, inscribed with his name and her own and solemnly and tenderly entreated him to keep the book and read it for her sake. Years passed without tidings of his whereabouts. Occasionallywhen visiting the metropolis she would inquire for the ship in which her son had sailed, but without satisfaction. On one occasion she accidentally met a sea captain, who informed her that the vessel had been wrecked, and that Charles, whom he knew well, had gone as all like him should go, to the bottom of the sea. Pierced to the soul, the unhappy mother withdrew and resolved in future to live in strict retirement. “I shall go down to the grave,” she said, “mourning for my son.” (Gen. 37:35). She moved to a seaport. After the lapse of years a destitute sailor seeking relief knocked at the door. She heard his tale. He had several times been wrecked, but he had never been so dreadfully destitute as he was some years back, when he and a fine young gentleman were the only individuals of a whole ship’s crew that were saved. “We were cast upon a desert island, where, after seven days and nights, I closed his eyes. Poor fellow, I shall never forget it. He read day and night in a little book, which he said his mother gave him, and which was the only thing he saved. It was his companion every moment. He talked of nothing but this book and his mother, and at last he gave it to me, with many thanks for my poor services. ‘There, Jack,’ said he, ‘take this book, keep and read it, and may God bless you, it’s all I’ve got,’ and then he clasped my hand and died in peace.”
“Is all this true?” asked the trembling, astonished mother. “Yes, madam, every word of it.” Then, drawing from his ragged coat a little book, much battered and time-worn, he held it up, exclaiming, “and here it is.” She seized the Testament, recognized her own handwriting and beheld the name of her son coupled with her own on the cover. She gazed, read, wept and rejoiced. She seemed to hear a voice which said, “Behold, thy son liveth!” (John 4:50). Amidst her conflicting emotions, she was ready to exclaim:“Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word, for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation.” (Luke 2:29, 30).
If my boy, a book helps one to die, it must be an excellent book by which to live. Make it your constant companion and study, looking for its precepts as well as promises, and determine to live up to every duty as you shall discover it. On the day of Queen Elizabeth’s coronation, a boy, skilled in athletic feats, was dressed as an angel, with wings on his shoulders and feet, and on the approach of the royal coach, he descended as if from heaven, from the top of Temple Bar, bearing an elegant Bible, expressly made for the Queen. As he descended, the crowd exclaimed: “The Bible Bearer!” Blessed the boy who accepts God’s call to be a “Bible Bearer.” Said David, “Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against Thee.” (Ps. 119:11).
“Here the tree of knowledge grows,And yields a free repast;Here purer sweets than nature knows,Invite the longing taste.”
“Here the tree of knowledge grows,And yields a free repast;Here purer sweets than nature knows,Invite the longing taste.”
“Here the tree of knowledge grows,And yields a free repast;Here purer sweets than nature knows,Invite the longing taste.”
“Here the tree of knowledge grows,
And yields a free repast;
Here purer sweets than nature knows,
Invite the longing taste.”
CHAPTER XXIVBe a Sabbath Observer
INTRODUCTION TO CHAPTER XXIV
By Wilbur F. Crafts
By Wilbur F. Crafts
By Wilbur F. Crafts
“We are apt to think,” said Henry S. Baker, “that a rest of twelve hours, with a sleep of about eight fully recuperates us after a day of hard work at physical or mental labor or both. The microscope shows such a view to be wrong. Even twenty-four hours is not quite enough time, strange as it may seem. The microscope shows that more than thirty hours, possibly thirty-three or thirty-six, are needed to restore a cell to its proper size and condition after severe fatigue. In other words, man is so made that he needs a Sabbath from Saturday evening to Monday morning of complete rest to be as good as new. Without this he is never at his best, physically, mentally, morally or spiritually. So we find the fourth commandment is in the nineteenth century echoed from the biological laboratory with tremendous emphasis, and again we are compelled to admit that He who spoke at Sinai must have made the brain cell and understood its secret workings. Again is our faith made firmer that the Old Book is not wholly manmade.”
The Sabbath was made for man, body and soul, as the two railway tracks are made for the two wheels, and only on the smooth track of God’s law can your life run smoothly or safely.
Wilbur F. Crafts
CHAPTER XXIVBe a Sabbath Observer
A gentleman who had great respect for the Sabbath was going to church. He was a peculiar man, and would sometimes do and say singular things. On his way he met a stranger driving a heavily laden wagon through the town. When opposite the wagoner, he suddenly stopped, turned around, and, lifting up both hands as if in horror, exclaimed, “There, there, you are going over it! There, you have gone right over it!” The driver was frightened, and drew up the horses in an instant, crying: “Whoa! Whoa!” He looked under the wheels, expecting to see the mangled remains of some innocent child, or at least a dog, that had been crushed to death. But, seeing nothing, he gazed at the gentleman who had so strangely arrested his attention, and anxiously asked: “Pray, sir, what have I gone over?” “The fourth commandment,” was the reply. “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.” (Exod. 20:8).
This commandment God wrote on “tables of stone” (Ex. 24:12) thousands of years ago, and not only on stone but also in man’s nature. Sir Robert Peel once said he never knew a man to escape failure either in mind or in body who worked seven days in the week. To observe it is a duty we owe to ourselves and to our God. To neglect or disuse it is to incur God’s displeasure and with it the ills incident thereto.
About a century ago, the National Assembly of France, consisting mostly of infidels, abolished the Sabbath.It was not long, however, before a wail of distress went up all over the land, demanding the recognition of this “Day of Rest,” and obedience to the will of God. It is to the credit of our legislators that they have never suggested such a thing, yet hundreds and even thousands of men and boys desecrate it. But—
“A Sabbath profanedWhatever be gainedIs a certain forerunner of sorrow.”
“A Sabbath profanedWhatever be gainedIs a certain forerunner of sorrow.”
“A Sabbath profanedWhatever be gainedIs a certain forerunner of sorrow.”
“A Sabbath profaned
Whatever be gained
Is a certain forerunner of sorrow.”
Hogarth once painted a beautiful picture in which he showed the first step downward of a man who suffered capital punishment. It represented him when a boy playing around the churchyard while the minister was preaching. Not that all boys who do so will come to the gallows, but all are wending their way downward to worse offenses.
A gentleman who had charge of a prison, in which there were more than one thousand prisoners, took special pains to ascertain the causes of their crimes. He said that he did not recollect a single case of capital offense where the party had not been a Sabbath-breaker. In many cases the prisoners assured him that Sabbath-breaking was the first step in their downward career. “Indeed,” said he, “nineteen out of every twenty have neglected the Sabbath and other ordinances of religion.”
One of the most appalling crimes of the day is Sabbath desecration. Thousands make it a day of pleasure. On car and boat, with carriage and bicycle, excursions are made. With bat and ball games are played. With gun and fishing rod life is taken, all which says, “Death to the Sabbath.” O, my boy, are you aware what that means? It is an evil influence thrown against 75,000 Sunday-schools and 800,000 teachers to stop thereligious instruction of 7,000,000 young people. It is an influence arrayed against 60,000 pulpits and 60,000 trumpets calling sinners to repentance. And more than this, it is an influence arrayed against the morality and integrity of the nation, for, as Judge McLean of the Supreme Court, said, “Where there is no Sabbath, there is no Christian morality; and without this, free institutions cannot long be maintained.”
One lovely Sunday morning some years ago, eight young men were walking along the banks of a stream that flows into the Potomac not far from the City of Washington. They were going to a grove to spend the hours of that holy day in playing cards. Each of them carried a flask of wine in his pocket. As they were amusing one another with idle jests the bell of a church in a little village about two miles away began to ring. It sounded in their ears as plainly as though it were only on the other side of the little stream along which they were walking. Presently one of them stopped, and said to his friend near him, that he would go no farther, but would return to the village and go to church. His friends called to their companions, who were a little ahead: “Boys! Boys! come back here. George is getting religious. We must help him. Come on, and let us baptize him in the water.” In a moment they formed a circle about him. They told him that the only way in which he could save himself from having a cold bath was by going with them. In a calm, quiet manner he said, “I know very well you have the power to put me in the water and hold me there till I am drowned; and if you choose to do so, I will make no resistance; but listen to what I have to say, and then do as you think best. You all know that I am two hundred miles from home; but you do not know that my motheris a helpless, bed-ridden invalid. I never remember seeing her out of bed; I am her youngest child. My father could not afford to pay for my schooling, but our teacher, who is a warm friend of father’s, offered to take me without charge. He was very anxious for me to come, but mother would not consent. The struggle almost cost her her life. At length after many prayers she yielded, and said I might go. The preparations for my leaving home were soon made. My mother never said a word to me on the subject till the morning I was to leave. After breakfast she sent for me and asked if everything was ready. I told her it was and I was only waiting for the stage. At her request I knelt down beside the bed. With her loving hands upon my head, she prayed for me. Many nights since then have I dreamed that whole scene. It is the happiest recollection of my life. I believe, till the day of my death I shall be able to repeat every word of that prayer. When I rose, she said, ‘My precious boy, you do not know, you never can know, the agony of a mother’s heart in parting from her youngest child. When you leave home you will have looked, for the last time, on the face of her who loves you as no other mortal does or can. Your father cannot afford the expense of your making us visits during the two years that your studies will occupy. I cannot possibly live as long as that. The sands in the hour-glass of my life have nearly run out. In the far-off strange place to which you are going there will be no loving mother to give you counsel in time of trouble. Seek counsel and help from God. Every Sabbath morning, from ten to eleven o’clock, I will spend the hour in prayer for you, wherever you may be during this sacred hour. When you hear the church bells ringing let your thoughts come back to the chamber where your dying mother will be agonizing in prayer for you. But I hear the stage coming. Kissme farewell.’ Boys, I never expect to see my mother again on earth. But, by the help of God, I mean to meet her in heaven.”
As George stopped speaking, the tears were streaming down his cheeks. He looked at his companions. Their eyes were all filled with tears. In a moment the ring which they had formed around him was opened. He passed out and went to church. He had stood up for the right against the wrong, with great odds against him. They admired him for doing what they had not the courage to do. They all followed him to church. On their way, each of them quietly threw away his cards and wine flask. Never again did any of those young men play cards on the Sabbath. From that day they all became changed men. Six of them died Christians, the seventh, who related this story, has been for years an earnest, active member of the church, and George became an able, Christian lawyer.
The same is true of you, my boy. You will help or hinder, bless or curse, encourage or discourage in proportion as you live and act on this day. Girard, the millionaire of Philadelphia, one Saturday ordered all his clerks to come on the morrow to his wharf and help unload a newly-arrived ship. One young man replied quietly: “Mr. Girard, I can’t work on Sundays.” “You know the rules?” “Yes, I know, I have a mother to support, but I can’t work on Sundays.” “Well, step up to the desk, and the cashier will settle with you.” For three weeks the young man could find no work, but one day a banker came to Girard to ask if he could recommend a man for cashier in a new bank. The discharged young man was at once named as a suitable person. “But,” said the banker, “you dismissed him.” “Yes, because he would not work on Sundays. A man who would lose his place for conscience’s sake would make a trustworthy cashier.” He was appointed. My boy—
“Dare to do right, dare to do right;The world will change when you’ve won the fight.Don’t mind a laugh, don’t mind a slight,Dare to do right, dare to do right.”
“Dare to do right, dare to do right;The world will change when you’ve won the fight.Don’t mind a laugh, don’t mind a slight,Dare to do right, dare to do right.”
“Dare to do right, dare to do right;The world will change when you’ve won the fight.Don’t mind a laugh, don’t mind a slight,Dare to do right, dare to do right.”
“Dare to do right, dare to do right;
The world will change when you’ve won the fight.
Don’t mind a laugh, don’t mind a slight,
Dare to do right, dare to do right.”
After God made the world and all contained therein, we read that He rested. The word “Sabbath” is the Hebrew word meaning rest. We are to remember the “Rest Day,” for God hallowed it and because of this the one-seventh of our time is to witness a suspension of buying and selling; a pause in the clatter of the workshop and the anxiety of the desk; and a serious yielding up of ourselves to devout thought and intelligent worship. This day is absolutely necessary. Natural science affirms that man and beast require a day of periodical rest. Florists say that the most prolific plants cease to produce beautiful flowers if they are not kept from flowering a part of the year. Medical men declare that keeping the Lord’s Day is of unlimited benefit, and that man cannot and should not do without it. When Lord Castlereagh broke down from overwork on three hundred and sixty-five days per year, and through insanity took his own life, Wilberforce exclaimed: “Poor Castlereagh, this is the result of the non-observance of the Sabbath.”
When John Quincy Adams was Minister to the Court of Holland, he joined a society of learned men, who met once a week for mutual improvement. Mr. Adams, though one of the youngest members, soon became a great favorite. On one occasion the meeting was adjourned to Sunday evening. Mr. Adams was not there. His fellow-members noticed and regretted his absence. On the third Sunday evening it met, Mr. Adams’ chair was still vacant. Many were surprised that he who formerly was so prompt and punctualshould thus break off. At last the meetings were returned to a week-day evening, and lo! Mr. Adams was in his place, brilliant and delightful as ever. The members welcomed him back and expressed their sorrow that press of business or the duties of his office should so long have deprived them of his company. “It was not business,” replied he, “you met on the Lord’s day; that is a day devoted to religious uses by me, which imparts unspeakable advantages from a faithful observance of it.”
James A. Garfield, when President, showed his respect for this day by never allowing anything to interfere with his going to church. Like President Hayes he would walk in order to give his coachman rest. At the Chicago Convention at which Mr. Garfield was nominated for the Presidency, many wanted to go on with the balloting after midnight of Saturday. Judge Hoar, the chairman, was pressed to ignore the Sabbath and let the Convention proceed. He replied, “Never! This is a Sabbath-keeping nation, and I cannot preside over this Convention one minute after twelve o’clock.” On that Sabbath, Garfield attended church and heard a sermon. At dinner the conversation turned upon the suspense of the country. One spoke of the deadlock in business created by it; another of the suspense in Washington, where all were awaiting the further developments of the Convention. All said something, and when done, Garfield remarked, quietly but earnestly, to one sitting beside him: “Yes, this is a day of suspense, but it is also a day of prayer, and I have more faith in the prayers that will go up from Christian hearts to-day than I have in all the political tactics which will prevail at this Convention. This is the Lord’s Day. I have great reverence for it.”
When General Grant was in Paris, the President of the Republic, as a special token of respect, invitedhim to occupy a place on the grand stand to witness the great racing which occurs in that country on Sunday. It is considered a discourteous act to decline such an invitation from the head official of the Republic. Such a thing had never been heard of, but General Grant in a polite note declined the honor, and said to the French President, “It is not in accordance with the custom of my country or with the spirit of my religion to spend Sunday in that way.” And when Sabbath came that great hero found his way to the American chapel, where he was one of its quiet worshippers. If such great men believed and obeyed the command of God, should not every boy do the same?
My boy, keep this day which so many make a day of social festivity or pleasure holy. Do so because God asks you. Keep it holy by refraining from work or pleasure. “I thank God,” said Gladstone, “for the Sabbath with its rest for the body and soul.” Keep it holy by attending divine worship. Learn to say with David: “How amiable are Thy Tabernacles, O Lord of Hosts. My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the Courts of the Lord.” (Psalm 84:1, 2). “I feel,” wrote Coleridge, “as if God had, by giving the Sabbath, given fifty-two springs in the year.” Keep it holy by doing good, for it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.
It is said that a Spartan youth was holding the censer at a sacrifice when Alexander was offering a victim. It chanced that while he held it, a hot coal fell upon his hand. The youth flinched not, lest by any utterance or cry the company would be disturbed; “for,” said he, “I am in the presence of Alexander.” So, my boy, when tempted to neglect home meditation, the communion of saints at the church, or the sick or needy in their distress, do not do it, remembering you are inthe presence of Jesus. Keep this day as a day of anticipation, looking forward to that holy and eternal Sabbath that remaineth for the people of God. Keep it, honor it, love it, for it is—
—“the day that God hath blest,The type of heaven’s eternal rest.”
—“the day that God hath blest,The type of heaven’s eternal rest.”
—“the day that God hath blest,The type of heaven’s eternal rest.”
—“the day that God hath blest,
The type of heaven’s eternal rest.”
CHAPTER XXVBe a Church Member
INTRODUCTION TO CHAPTER XXV
By Wayland Hoyt, D. D.
By Wayland Hoyt, D. D.
By Wayland Hoyt, D. D.
When once thy foot enters the church, beware,God is more there than thou; for thou art thereOnly by His permission. Then beware;And make thyself all reverence and fear.—Herbert.
When once thy foot enters the church, beware,God is more there than thou; for thou art thereOnly by His permission. Then beware;And make thyself all reverence and fear.—Herbert.
When once thy foot enters the church, beware,God is more there than thou; for thou art thereOnly by His permission. Then beware;And make thyself all reverence and fear.—Herbert.
When once thy foot enters the church, beware,
God is more there than thou; for thou art there
Only by His permission. Then beware;
And make thyself all reverence and fear.
—Herbert.
The boy needs the church and the church needs the boy. Why is it that so many young men are on the downward road? Is it because they have either greater temptations or less power to resist them than others? Whether it be one or both, young men need the fellowship, protection and nurture of the church. My advice to every boy is, join the church.
—Alvin A. Cober.
Be a church member, my boy, because Christ commands it; because the church is on the winning side; because it is brave and manly; because to be a member of Christ’s church is the highest honor. Do not wait about it. Love Christ, confess Him by becoming one of His declared people. Besides this, what help there is in the companionship of the church.
Wayland Hoyt
CHAPTER XXVBe a Church Member
There are in the United States about seven hundred different kinds of lodges, chapters and orders, but not one of them can take the place of the church, or do the work this institution was designed to do. The church is divine, all other organizations man’s creation. The latter are temporary, the former eternal.
Sometimes the word church is ill-defined. It is used to designate a sect or a place of worship. Instead of this, however, it is a people, and a redeemed people, though used in this connection with people and place. Jesus designated the church nucleus as those whom God had given Him out of the world. The first cabinet officers were illiterate fishermen who were taught at the feet of Jesus, a school infinitely more important than any college to-day. So true is this that every sceptical antagonist, whether possessed of the learning and genius of Voltaire, the brass and audacity of Paine, the polished eloquence of Hume, or the wealth and dignity of Bolingbroke, has had to bow before it and concede that it is all-powerful. And this, because its founder Jesus Christ is the center of attraction and the predominating influence.
Many boys absent themselves from church. Their excuses are without number and many of them without sense. Burdette, the Christian humorist, asks:“So you are not going to church this morning, my son? Ah, yes, I see. ‘The music is not good;’ that’s a pity! That’s what you go to church for, is it? And ‘the pews are not comfortable.’ That’s too bad! the Sabbath is a day of rest, and we go to church for repose. The less we do through the week, the more rest we clamor for on Sabbath. ‘The church is so far away; it is too far to walk, and I detest riding in a street-car, and they’re always crowded on the Sabbath.’ This is, indeed, distressing! Sometimes when I think how much farther away heaven is than the church, and that there are no conveyances on the road of any description, I wonder how some of us are going to get there. And ‘the sermon is so long always.’ All these things are, indeed, to be regretted! I would regret them more sincerely, my boy, did I not know that you will often squeeze into a stuffed street-car, with a hundred other men, breathing an odor of whisky, beer and tobacco, hang on a strap for two miles, and then pay fifty cents for the privilege of sitting on a rough plank in the broiling sun for two hours longer, while in the intervals of the game a scratch band will blow discordant thunder from a dozen misfit horns right into your ears, and come home to talk the rest of the family into a state of aural paralysis about the ‘dandiest’ game you ever saw played on that ground.”
Ah, my boy, you see what staying away from church does. It develops a habit of lying. There isn’t one man in a hundred who could go on the witness stand and give, under oath, the same reasons for not going to church that he gives to his family every Sunday morning. My son, if you didn’t think you ought to go, you wouldn’t make any excuses for not going. No man apologizes for doing right.
A young man from the country went to New York to engage in business. The first Sunday he visited the old Wall Street church, and was invited by Robert Lenox, the president of the Bible Society, to a seat in his pew. The next morning he went to buy leather to start shoe-making. When he asked for credit, the merchant asked: “Did I not see you yesterday in Mr. Lenox’s pew?” “I don’t know, sir; I was at church, and a kind gentleman asked me to sit in his pew.” “Yes, young man, that was Robert Lenox. I’ll trust anyone that Mr. Lenox invites into his pew. You need not trouble yourself about references. When the goods are gone, come and get more.” “The attendance at church that Sunday,” said this young man in after years, “was the means of my becoming a prominent successful merchant, and contributor to the support of God’s house.”
A humble brickmason who confessed Christ united with His people. Rising in meeting, he stated the reason that prompted him to this step. “I used to think,” he said, “that I could be as good out of the church as in it. I felt that I was moral and upright and had as clean a character as the next man; but one day while walking by a building under construction, I happened to see a new but dirty brick lying in the road useless and neglected. ‘There,’ said I to myself, ‘are you, Henry Crane, thinking you are as good a brick out of the church as if you were in it. But you are of no account to anybody, and nobody cares anything for you. You are lying around in everybody’s way, and nobody cares to step over you; they all tread you down into the mud as if you were a stone. If you were built into the wall, as you ought to be, you would amount to something, and have an honest man’s place. Then you would be of some use.’ So I made up my mind that I would not be like that brick any longer. That is why I have come out on the Lord’s side and joined the Lord’speople, that I may be built into the wall and have a place in the building of God.”
To attend and be a member of a church should be considered a pleasure rather than pain, a privilege rather than duty. Some boys go because they are compelled by parents who are members. They laugh and talk, instead of worshipping God. Without a blessing they enter the sacred place, without a blessing they leave.
The most sacred entrance to the Kremlin, in Moscow, is called the “Redeemer Gate,” because there is hung in it a picture of the Saviour—a picture of great sanctity. Even the Emperor has to uncover his head as he passes through this gate. The passage under the gate is long, but even in a terrific snow storm every one is compelled to uncover his head. It is said that when Napoleon refused to take his hat off while passing before the sacred picture, a sudden gust of wind took it off for him. God’s House is sacred. There He manifests Himself, having declared, “Ye shall reverence My Sanctuary: I am the Lord.” (Lev. 19:30). And Jesus said: “My House shall be called the House of prayer.” (Matt. 21:13).
The blessedness derived from attending and uniting with the church exceeds the blessedness of everything else. God’s Word approves it. Nehemiah said, “We will not forsake the House of our God.” (Neh. 10:39). David said, “How amiable are Thy Tabernacles, O Lord of Hosts! my heart longeth, yea even fainteth for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.” (Ps. 84:42). Paul exhorts not to forsake “the assembling of ourselves together.” (Heb. 10:25).
It is at church where God says: “There I will meetwith thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat.” (Ex. 25:22). It is there God provides a spiritual feast of good things for the soul. “He brought me,” said Solomon, “to the banqueting house and His banner over me was love.” (Cant. 2:4). It is here He reveals His glory: “I will glorify the House of My glory,” (Isa. 60:7) said God. Jesus declared, “There am I in the midst.” (Matt. 18:20). Because of this General O. O. Howard stood the scoffs and sneers at West Point, and said: “I gripped my Bible, shut my teeth and went for my mother’s and Jesus’ sake.”
To unite with the church is proper and profitable. It is one of the ways of confessing Christ. That beautiful character, Henry Drummond, united with the church at twelve. How interesting to read his first experience in taking part in meeting. “In prayer,” he wrote, “I trembled in voice and all through. Voice seemed not my own. I had outlined the prayer during the afternoon, but didn’t remember it.” Little by little however he became a man who had great liberty in addressing God and pleading with man.
Many men who live without uniting with the church do not want to die out of it. When the great shipbuilder John Roach was struck with a mortal illness, he said. “I want to be received into the church.” Let any Christian boy consider carefully that out of seven millions of young men in this land, only two-thirds attend church and only one-twelfth belong, and he will say with General Grant when baptized by Bishop Newman, “O that I might live for years, that I might show the joys of being a consistent member of the church.” Church relationship, my boy, creates holy desires and aspirations, augments power for doing good, throws a magic uplifting influence around others and extends the kingdom of Christ on earth.
RESULTS OF CHURCH RELATIONSHIP.
The results of church relationship are too numerous to mention. To be a church member glorifies God, enlarges influence, and leads others into the broad fields of usefulness, where God can own and bless.
In “Darkest Africa,” a great man did a great work, through loving and uniting with God’s people in youth. In a little village of Scotland, stood an old church, whose pastor had preached therein for many years. One Sunday morning he was accosted by one of his deacons, whose face wore a very resolute but distressed expression. “I came early to meet you,” he said, “I have something on my heart to say to you, Pastor. There must be something radically wrong in your preaching and work; there has been only one person added to the church in a whole year, and he only a boy.”
The old minister listened. His eyes moistened and his thin hand trembled on his broad-headed cane. “I feel it all,” said he, “I feel it, but God knows that I have tried to do my duty, and I can trust Him for the results.” “Yes, yes,” said the deacon, “but ‘by their fruits ye shall know them.’ (Matt. 7:20). One new member seems to me a rather slight evidence of true faith and zeal. I don’t want to be hard; I have had this matter on my heart and I have only done my duty in speaking plain.” “True,” said the old man, “but ‘charity suffereth long and is kind: beareth all things, hopeth all things!’ (1 Cor. 13:4, 7). Ay, there you have it: ‘hopeth all things!’ I have great hopes of that one boy. Some seed that we sow bears fruit late, but its fruit is generally the most precious of all.”
The old minister went into the pulpit with a grieved and heavy heart, and closed his discourse with dim and tearful eyes. He wished that his work was done forever and that he was at rest under the blooming treesin the old churchyard. He lingered in the church after the rest were gone. He desired to be alone. The place was sacred and inexpressibly dear to him. It had been his spiritual home from his youth. Before this altar he prayed over the dead forms of bygone generations, and had welcomed the children of succeeding ones; and now to be told that his work was no longer owned and blessed!
No one remained, no one? “Only a boy.” He watched the trembling man. His soul was filled with loving sympathy. He went to him, and laid his hand on his black gown. “Well, Robert?” said the minister. “Do you think if I were willing to work hard for an education, I could ever become a preacher?” “A preacher?” “Perhaps a missionary.” There was a long pause. Tears filled the eyes of the minister. At length he said, “This heals each ache in my heart, Robert. I see the divining Hand now. May God bless you, my boy. Yes, I think you will become a preacher.”
Some few years ago there returned to London from Africa an aged missionary. His name was spoken with reverence. When he went into an assembly the people rose; when he spoke in public there was a deep silence. Princes stood uncovered before him, nobles invited him to their homes, and on one occasion he was presented with a sum of five thousand guineas in recognition of his great services. He had added a province to the church of Christ on earth; he had brought under the gospel influence the most savage of African chiefs; had given the translated Bible to strange tribes; had enriched with valuable knowledge the Royal Geographical Society, and had honored the humble place of his birth, the old Scottish church, the United Kingdom and the universal missionary cause.
Who was the boy? Who was the minister? The latter is forgotten. He sleeps beneath the trees in thehumble place of his labors, but men remember his work because of what he was to that one boy, and what that boy was to the world. “Only a boy that had joined the church,” but that boy was the great missionary Robert Moffatt. Had he neglected church and mingled with bad company and formed bad habits, what a great work would have been left undone, what an obscure life he would have lived, and the name so universally known would never have been uttered with reverence as it is now!
Of hunting bees, one writer has said that the manner of catching them is very ingenious. He puts a piece of honeycomb into a box. Then he catches a bee and covers him within the box. As soon as the fright of the prisoner is overcome, he moves about, tastes the honey and is satisfied. The prison becomes a home. Being loosed, he finds his way back to the hive and in a little time returns, bringing others with him. He has told the secret story of his find to his former associates, and they in turn follow him back until the bee-hunter’s box is filled with a swarm of bees. This is God’s appointed way of building up His church and saving the race. He first reveals Himself to one soul, entrancing him with His love and thrilling his soul with the joys of salvation. This one, having tasted the sweetness of forgiveness and the joy of hope, goes to another, narrating his experience and discovery, and he in turn finds another, until one by one he brings them into the great church hive. Andrew brings Peter, (John 1:41) Philip brings Nathaniel, (John 1:45) Joel Stratton brings Gough, Robert Eaglen brings Spurgeon, and you, some other boy.
O, my boy, attend church regularly. If you are not a member, become one. Then tell the story of Jesus and His love. Seek to bring others to church, for if theHouse of God is the Gate to Heaven, what must Heaven be? If the songs of Zion, the gospel preached and prayers offered are cheering and helpful, what must it be to be in the presence of Him who is the key-note of all songs; the sum and substance of all truth, the way, and the life? Can you not say:
“I love Thy church, O God;Her walls before me stand,Dear as the apple of Thine eye,And graven on Thy hand.For her my tears shall fall;For her my prayers ascend;To her my cares and toils be given,Till toils and cares shall end.”
“I love Thy church, O God;Her walls before me stand,Dear as the apple of Thine eye,And graven on Thy hand.For her my tears shall fall;For her my prayers ascend;To her my cares and toils be given,Till toils and cares shall end.”
“I love Thy church, O God;Her walls before me stand,Dear as the apple of Thine eye,And graven on Thy hand.
“I love Thy church, O God;
Her walls before me stand,
Dear as the apple of Thine eye,
And graven on Thy hand.
For her my tears shall fall;For her my prayers ascend;To her my cares and toils be given,Till toils and cares shall end.”
For her my tears shall fall;
For her my prayers ascend;
To her my cares and toils be given,
Till toils and cares shall end.”
CHAPTER XXVIBe a Worker for Jesus
INTRODUCTION TO CHAPTER XXVI
By C. C. McCabe
By C. C. McCabe
By C. C. McCabe
“Forth in Thy name, O Lord, I go,My daily labor to pursue,Thee, only Thee, resolved to know,In all I think, or speak, or do.”
“Forth in Thy name, O Lord, I go,My daily labor to pursue,Thee, only Thee, resolved to know,In all I think, or speak, or do.”
“Forth in Thy name, O Lord, I go,My daily labor to pursue,Thee, only Thee, resolved to know,In all I think, or speak, or do.”
“Forth in Thy name, O Lord, I go,
My daily labor to pursue,
Thee, only Thee, resolved to know,
In all I think, or speak, or do.”
The manifold relations that a boy sustains to society forces him to labor in many spheres, and each has its special compensation, but the noblest and best rewarded service is for Jesus. Such calls into exercise the purest impulses, inspires the best deeds, grants the truest freedom and protects against destroying vices.