

### About the Book

To introduce this book of some of his evangelistic talks, Gipsy Smith writes: "After much pressure I have consented to the publication of these Addresses. They were delivered to crowded audiences with a burning desire to bring those who heard them to an immediate decision for Christ. Here they are, practically as they were spoken, and if I am so led, they will be preached again, for God has been pleased to bless them to thousands. Whether heard or read, my one desire is the extension of Christ's kingdom all over the world."

Gipsy Smith

Romany tan,

Cambridge

1905

Rodney "Gipsy" Smith was born in a gipsy tent in Epping Forest, England. He was the son of gipsies, Cornelius Smith and his wife Mary. Growing up, he had to help support the family by making and selling items like clothes pegs around the area. He only had a few weeks at school one winter, and was unable to read or write. One day his father Cornelius came home to say that he had been converted, and was now a Christian. Cornelius helped bring his son to the Lord, and from that moment, Rodney wanted to share the way of salvation with others.

Now followed a difficult time, because he knew that in order to preach to others, he had to be able to read the Bible, both for himself and aloud to others. He writes, "I began to practise preaching. One Sunday I entered a turnip field and preached most eloquently to the turnips. I had a very large and most attentive congregation. Not one of them made an attempt to move away." When he started preaching to people, and came across a long word in the Bible he was unable to read, he says he stopped at the long word and spoke on what had gone before, and started reading again at the word after the long one!

Gipsy Smith quickly learnt to read fluently and was soon into fulltime evangelism, where he soon became known as Gipsy Smith, a name he accepted gladly. He joined the Salvation Army for a time, until being told to resign. Instead of this being a setback, he now took up a much wider sphere of work in England, before travelling to America and Australia where he became a much-loved preacher. In spite of meeting two American presidents at the White House, and other important figures in society, Gipsy Smith never forgot his roots. He never pretended to be anything other than a Gipsy boy, and was always pleased to come across other Gipsy families in his travels.

Other books by Gipsy Smith, published by White Tree Publishing:

My Life and Work: eBook ISBN: 978-1-9997899-4-7

Evangelistic Talks: eBook ISBN: 978-1-9997899-7-8

Original Dedication

To my wife,

who so unselfishly,

and without a murmur,

has given me up to the call

of God and humanity.

### As Jesus Passed By

### Gipsy Smith

(1860-1949)

First published in 1905

This eBook is from the 1905 British edition

This edition ©White Tree Publishing 2018

eBook ISBN: 978-1-912529-05-6

Published by

White Tree Publishing

Bristol

UNITED KINGDOM

More books on www.whitetreepublishing.com

Contact mailto:wtpbristol@gmail.com

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the copyright owner of this abridged edition.

Scripture quotations from The Authorized (King James) Version. Rights in the Authorized Version are vested in the Crown. Reproduced by permission of the Crown's patentee, Cambridge University Press.

### Publisher's Note

Because these chapters are taken directly from Gipsy Smith's talks, he did not slow down his speaking by giving the references of his many Scripture quotations. Other speakers have found that when people start to turn the pages of their Bibles, it causes a distraction and a delay. We have added them in this printed edition, where the reader may wish to check the wording for themselves, perhaps in a version of their own choosing. However, in the final chapter, which was clearly written rather than spoken, Gipsy Smith has given all the Scripture references, which shows his preference to do this in a written publication.

There are 12 chapters in this book. In the second half are advertisements for our other books, so this book may end earlier than expected! The last chapter is marked as such. We aim to make our eBooks free or for a nominal cost, and cannot invest in other forms of advertising. However, word of mouth by satisfied readers will also help get our books more widely known. When the book finishes, please take a look at the other books we publish: Christian non-fiction, Christian fiction, and books for younger readers.

### Contents

Cover

About the Book

Publisher's Note

1. As Jesus Passed By

2. Repent Ye!

3. Born Again

4. The Saviour of All

5. The Master's Touch

6. Utterly Destroy

7. He Went Away Sorrowful

8. The Final Choice

9. Saved and Unsaved

10. Gleaning for God

11. Hid with Christ

12. The New Life

More Books from White Tree Publishing

About White Tree Publishing

Christian non-fiction

Christian Fiction

Younger Readers

### Chapter 1

### As Jesus Passed By

_And as Jesus passed by, He saw a man called Matthew, sitting at the place of toll. And He saith unto him, Follow Me. And he arose and followed Him_ (Matthew 9:9).

This is Matthew's modest way of telling all generations how he was converted. Matthew could have made a great deal more of that epoch-making moment in his life. Sometimes I think when he wrote just as much as my text, he would not write any more that day.

Can you not see between the lines what a story is there untold? He does not even tell you that he lived in a big house. He does not tell you that he made a big feast. He does not tell you that he invited all his old friends to come and meet with Jesus at the feast. He leaves others to tell you that little bit of the story. He simply says there was a feast. Very modest is Matthew. He says Jesus saw a man, and said to that man, "Follow Me," and the man followed; that is all.

Some of us at certain moments of our lives cannot trust ourselves to tell all the story. We keep something back; we cannot trust ourselves to put the story into words. There are pages in every life that will never be written. There are stories untold to mortal ear over which the angels rejoice. There are moments when only the sky and the sun, the moon and the stars, the birds and the flowers, and the Heaven eternal can hear all we have to say of His wonderful grace and mercy. We can only tell a bit of it, just a little bit of it.

I want you to think of this wonderful moment -- and it was a wonderful moment, a moment when Gospels were born, a moment in which history began to breathe, a moment when in Matthew's soul there was placed the germ-joy that will make Heaven pulsate with hallelujahs. It was a wonderful moment in his life when he saw Jesus standing there calling him by name, speaking to him as a man would to his friend, appealing to him. Why should Jesus go to this man? Because this man needed Jesus.

I believe deep down in this man's heart he was longing for Christ. I am not so sure that he had not heard John the Baptist preach. I am not so sure that he was not already a convicted sinner. I am not so sure that he had not heard John say, "Behold the Lamb of God!" There were moments in his life when he longed to get a look at that dear face, to hear the music of that voice, and catch some inspiration from His life-giving message, and to feel the touch that healed. And I can imagine that even that day he could not see his books for his tears.

He was at his business, you remember. He sat at the place of toll, everything in front of him; and while he was thinking of the inward longings, while the soul-hunger was gnawing, while the man within the man was talking to him and setting in motion thoughts and feelings that were eternal, I can imagine him saying, "Oh, shall I ever see Him?" And maybe he laid his head on his hands in his grief, and at that moment Jesus said, "Matthew, Matthew, follow Me."

You know Matthew was ready to do it. He did it instantly, without asking a question, without any hesitation. He acted as though he had made his plans as to what he would do if he had the chance. He left all. He does not tell you that. He leaves the others to add that bit to the story, and his all was the possibility of becoming very rich. He left it all: he left his books, he left his business, he left his office, he left his position, he left his friends, he left all to follow Jesus. Matthew had counted the cost, and knew what he would do if the chance came. Jesus knew it too. He knew where Matthew sat, just as He knew where Nathanael prayed under the fig tree.

He knows where you are, as He knew Matthew at the place of toll, or Nathanael under the fig tree, or Zacchaeus in the tree. He knows, He sees. There is no look heavenward, there is no desire heavenward, there is no aspiration after goodness, there is not an honest struggle for a nobler life in your heart, in your home, anywhere, everywhere, but what God sees and God knows. And, listen to me, there never is a good desire, there never is a noble thought, there never will be an aspiration for a holier life, but what is God-given and God-inspired. He knows. And He knows where you sit. Here is a man handicapped, a jewel in an unlikely place. Here is a man that nobody wanted, ostracised by his very profession, separated from decent folk by his calling, unpopular and hated. There he was; he never had had a chance. The Church did not want him, but Jesus Christ took the trouble to save him.

The Church of his day did not want him, and I am afraid there are some Churches in England who would not thank you to fill them with the harlots, the publicans, the gamblers, the drunkards, and the sinners. And yet they are the sort that Heaven opens its doors to. Don't forget that. They are the people for whom Christ died -- not the righteous, but sinners. And there are people who would sit in committee and dictate to the Son of God as to who He is to save. They did it in Matthew's day. There are people who would sit in judgment on the Christ of God. They would question the authority of Omnipotence to save the sinner. "This Man eateth with sinners." It shows how much they knew of this Man and His mission to the world.

What does this story mean? It means this: that for every person there is a chance. The Christ I have to preach gives a chance to the worst, to the most unlikely, to the most degraded, to the most hated, to the most sinful, to the most despised, to the people who were born into the world with the devil in their blood, the blood of the gambler in their veins, the blood of the harlot in their veins. And when I think of it all and look at some people, the wonder to me is that they are not worse than they are. God have pity on the little boys and girls in the world who are made drunk before they are a year old! God have pity on the child-life of today! For such Jesus came. And He chooses to find out about these people, the people that nobody wants, and He says, "I want you; I am after you."

It is a new way of treating sinners. Did you ever think of it? A new way of treating sinners, wrong-doers. Prison for wrong-doers; the law courts for wrong-goers; the whole fabric of society is built up to keep off wrong-doers, to keep away wrong-doers, to keep out wrong-doers, to shut up and shut off wrong-doers, and Jesus Christ comes and opens His arms to them, and says, "Come to Me; I will receive you." That is the Christ for me! To set the prisoner free, to break the chains of them that are bound to open the prison doors and say, "March out; I will make you free by My mighty power." It means a chance for everyone. And Jesus sees far more in these people that are far from Him than we have seen yet.

If you and I had the eyes of Christ we would see in the filthiest wretch that walks the street something worth saving. If you and I only had the vision of Calvary we would never weary, we would never tire, we would never lose heart, and we would never lose hope. We would believe that for the worst there is a throne, a song, an anthem. May God help us to believe our gospel!

Why did Jesus go to Matthew? Because Jesus knew that Matthew needed Him. Nobody could do for Matthew what Jesus could. Don't forget that. Matthew had never had a chance. Nobody but Jesus could give him one. He was in a bad setting; his whole life was a tangle, his whole life was knots. Nobody wanted him. And you know people like that. There are some connected with you that you would rather not see. You tremble when you see them, and when their name is mentioned. There are some names you do not talk about to others; you try to forget; you won't talk about them. There is a skeleton in every cupboard. The most of us have somebody connected with us that we do not like to mention; we try to forget; and yet, God knows, the agony of it eats the life out of us. They are the people who need Him. It is no good to say to some people, "Believe, believe." They need somebody's fingers to unravel the knots, to untie and straighten things out; and who is to do it? Those whose whole life has been cursed from their very birth, they are handicapped in their very blood, and who is to deliver them?

Can anybody do it? Is there no God who can do it? Listen -- the fingers that weaved the rainbow into a scarf and wrapped it around the shoulders of the dying storm, the fingers that painted the lily-bell and threw out the planets, the fingers that were dipped in the mighty sea of eternity and shook out on this old planet, making the ocean to drop and the rivers to stream -- the same fingers can take hold of these tangled lives and can make them whole again, for He came to make the crooked straight, and the rough places plain. Blessed be God, Jesus can do for Matthew what nobody else can, and He can do for you what your friends cannot do. He can take the desire for drink out of you. He can cure the love of gambling that is eating the soul out of you. He can put out the fires of lust that are burning in your being and consuming you by inches. He can take the devil of lying out of you, the devil of cheating out of you, the devil of fraud, the devil of hypocrisy. Jesus can do what nobody else can; the preacher cannot, the Church cannot; but the Lord Jesus, who loves you, is mighty to save.

Let me go another step. There was something that Matthew could do for Jesus that nobody else could -- and I say that reverently. Jesus needed Matthew. Ay, and He needs you. They looked at Him and said, "This man is a sinner."

"Yes," said Jesus, "and he will write My first Gospel."

Only give him a chance. You do not know what there is hidden in the drunkard. There may be a preacher, there may be an evangelist, there may be a gospel. You do not know. Give them a chance; give them all a chance. "A sinner." They were fond of using these words. "He is a sinner." They used them about the man in the tree. "Yes," said Jesus, "he is a sinner, and he is a son of Abraham." And it was Jesus who spoke on both occasions. You would not have gone for a scribe for the Son of God, to a publican. No! But Jesus has a wonderful way of showing what He can do with unlikely material. A little child cried just now. Its little voice in coming days may startle England. The waving of its little hand may marshal the hosts of God. Who can tell? That little boy at your side may become a Parker, a Spurgeon, a Price Hughes, a Jowett, a Clifford, a McLaren, a Whitefield, a Wesley. Who can tell the possibilities of a child?

That little girl may be a Mrs. Fletcher, a Florence Nightingale, a Catherine Booth. Who can tell? And God wants them all. There are gospels hidden away, untold yet, but they will shine out and flash in letters, golden capitals, and make the world glad with a great gladness. You saw the sinner, Jesus saw the man. He saw the sinner too, and He knew what the sinner would be when grace had had a chance. The world sees the face and the clothes and the house, the street you live in, where you work, and reckons you up by how much your salary is. Jesus does not reckon that way. See that sailor -- drunken, filthy, vile of lip and impure in soul -- a drunken sailor. Nobody wanted him; nobody cared for him. God looked at him and saved him; and his name was John Newton, the poet, the preacher. But God could see the theologian, the preacher, in the drunken sailor.

See that man, a swearing tinker; so bad, he says of himself that when he began to swear his neighbours shuddered. Nobody wanted that tinker. But God looked at him and saved him; and his name was John Bunyan, the immortal dreamer. You would not have looked for "The Pilgrim's Progress" in that swearing tinker.

God looked at a man, a publican -- and you know what a publican is -- helping his brother to sell beer in Gloucester. God looked at him and saved him; and his name was George Whitefield, the mighty preacher. Look at that man selling boots and shoes in a shoe store in Chicago. God looked at him and saved him, and when He took the trouble to save him and that young fellow offered himself to a Congregational Church as a Church member, they saw so little in him that they put him back on trial for twelve months; and his name was Moody. And Moody put one hand on America and another hand on Britain, and they moved toward the Cross.

See that man, the plaything of the village, full of devilry, mischief, roguery, fond of pleasure and sin. Nobody cared for him except his mates, and God saved him; and his name was Peter Mackenzie, a sunbeam in the lives of thousands. Look at this picture -- a gipsy tent. There is a father and five little motherless children, without a Bible, without school. Nobody wanted them. Who does want a gipsy? They are nobodies, outsiders, ostracised, despised, and rejected. But God looked on that poor father and those five motherless little things and saw them in their ignorance and heathenism, hungry for God. And He looked again, and He said, "There are six preachers in that tent." And He put those arms that were nailed to the tree round the father and the children and saved them all; and I am one of them.

It takes love to see. Love saw more in Matthew than anybody; and sees more in you than anybody else. And if no one wants you, He does, and if no one loves you, He does. If no one cares, He cares; and if you think there is not a friend in the world, you have more friends than you think, and they are closer to you than you dream. God is here, and He says, "Come to Me, follow Me, and I will save you. I will give you a chance for this world and the next. Only follow Me."

Matthew never did a wiser or nobler thing than when he took Christ home. Everybody there had a chance of blessing that day. Think of what it would mean for your home if you, my brother, took Christ home with you. Your wife and children would have a chance they have never had before. If both of you -- husband and wife -- bow at His dear feet together, what joy there will be in Heaven and on earth! It will mean your home for Jesus. You will give Christ a chance with every child in your home by taking Him there. Matthew took Jesus home with him; and He will go home with you if you will ask Him, and He will go with you at this moment. God help you!

I can believe there are scores and hundreds who mean to follow Jesus. Who will leave all to follow Jesus? Who will sacrifice everything for Jesus' sake? Who will take their stand for Jesus, and who will go home and say to their friends, "I have come to tell you what great things the Lord hath done for me"? Jesus calls to you. Will you follow?

Chapter 2

### Repent Ye

_Jesus came into Galilee, preaching, ... Saying, Repent ye_ (Mark 1:14-15).

The Bible, especially the New Testament, is the handbook of repentance. It commands it, it urges it, enforces it, repeats it, drives it in everywhere. Over sixty times repentance is enforced. The great doctrine of repentance occupies a very prominent place in the teaching of Jesus Christ and His apostles. All the Epistles were written to show men how to do it, because there is no such thing as vital Communion, fellowship with God, without it.

I want to speak plainly about Bible repentance, and I pray God to help me, for I have not anything pleasant to say. It is far easier to congratulate than it is to admonish. My business is not to speak smooth things, but to say some things that you may resist, fight, get angry with; and you may get angry with me for saying them, but they are here, and it is my business to say, "Thus saith the Lord."

There is no intelligent conversion without an intelligent understanding of these words. May the Holy Spirit breathe light upon these truths, and help us to see them. For it is my business to make you see what God means when He says, "Repent ye." I am afraid that in our zeal to get people into the kingdom or the Church we have lowered the standard. These words meant far more when they were uttered than they do today with most people. I am afraid that with the familiar way with which we use them, and the constant contact with them and with the daily handling of them, we have somehow allowed their edge to be worn off. They do not mean as much to us. The depth, the breadth, the height, the length of these mighty utterances do not search us and illuminate and startle, and thrill and overwhelm as they used to. But they do mean as much.

If we have not eyes to see and ears to hear, if by long contamination with evil, and soothing the conscience with opiates from hell, if crying, "Peace" where there is no peace has brought a stupor upon us, that is our responsibility, not God's or His Word's. God means as much by these words today when He says, "Repent ye," as He did when they were first uttered. I am afraid we have brought them down, we have lowered them, we have pulled them from their heights down to the low levels of our own poor experiences. But that is not the way to climb with measured step the hills of light, and walk in unbroken fellowship with God.

I am afraid that in our zeal to get people into what we call the Church we have been more anxious about heads than hearts. In order to capture, we have compromised and lost. We have been more concerned about filling our Church registers than we have about the kingdom. We have not sufficiently emphasised the greatness of coming to Christ, and we have said, "It is only a step." Who told you so? Only a step to Jesus? It is not true. It is not gospel. Only a step to Jesus? Then it is a very big step. We have made it a very little thing, and we have multitudes of people joining the Churches. It is child's play. It used not to be.

When I came to Christ I came under the old Act. It was a conflict, it was a warfare, it was a pilgrimage, it was a struggle, it was cutting off the right arm and plucking out the right eye, it was being maimed if necessary. It meant sacrifice. There was a day in our calendar called Good Friday; there was a place called Calvary. It meant being forsaken, abused, slandered, rejected, despised, hated, persecuted, a fool for Christ's sake, sneered at, laughed at, misrepresented, suffering the Cross. What does it mean now? A picnic. It is a "social," it is an entertainment, it is a guild, an ordinance; and with multitudes of people who call themselves Christians it means nothing more. We have made it too easy, but Jesus never made it so. He never deluded anybody. He never cried "Peace" where there was no peace. He knew the danger of saying "Peace" when the soul was in anarchy, and the will in rebellion, and the whole man against God. He could not cry "Peace." No, He never made it easy. We have said to anybody and everybody, "Only believe." The New Testament does not say so. The devil believes, and believes more than you do. In his heart he knows more about it. He believes; and if he says he does not, he is a liar, he is shamming. He believes far more than any of us, but he is not a saint. Jesus has never made it easy.

There was one man who came and asked, "Are there few that be saved?" and He said, "Strive, struggle, agonise to enter in at the strait gate." He never made it easy. Here is another man who came and said, "Lord, I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest." But Jesus knew he had not counted the cost, and said, "Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head." (Matthew 8:19-20.) Here is another who came and said, "Lord, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" (Luke 10:25.) Jesus diagnosed the case instantly, and put His finger on the weak spot of his life and said, "If thou wilt be perfect, sell all thou hast and give to the poor, and come, follow Me." He did not make it easy.

Here is another man who came and said, "Lord, we know that Thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that Thou doest, except God be with him." Jesus said to him, "Ye must be born again." (John 3:2-3.) And to the multitude of people who listened to Him He said, "If any man will be My disciple, let him take up his cross and deny himself." (Matthew 16:24.) He never made it easy; and the man who makes it easy to be a Christian preaches a mongrel gospel.

Jesus said, "Repent." John the Baptist preached repentance. He came to preach it. It had the first place in his sermons. It was first and last with John, "Repent, repent." You say it is too startling, sensational, vulgar; but remember, it was God's vulgarity. "Repent." No man who preaches as John did will be popular. They put John in prison for preaching repentance, and so that the doctrine should not be silent, as soon as John was shut up, Jesus began where John left off, and His first public sermon to the world was on repentance. He knew where to begin. "Repent ye," said Jesus. That is His first utterance, and if you care to go to His last before He left His disciples and was received up yonder in the clouds, He gave them the commission to go and preach repentance. (Luke 24:47.)

So in the first and the last utterances of the Son of God you have repentance enforced. And when He was back again on the throne, when angels and archangels had received Him with the shouts of triumph and welcome which He deserved, when He had been exalted as a Prince and a Saviour to give repentance, as though He knew that some of us would shrink from driving it in, as though He knew that some of us would be afraid to push it home, He said to Saul who was later called Paul, "Saul, you go to the Gentiles and make them -- make them -- do works meet for repentance." (Acts 9:15 and 26:20.)

Jesus never made it easy. Let any man who ever tried honestly but one day in his life to serve God with all his powers, let him tell me if it was an easy thing to do. It is not easy. It is a struggle, it is a fight. Jesus Christ on Calvary is not a substitute for the life He means you to live, but the means by which you get the power to live the life. No, there is no salvation without repentance. This is the first step. First things first. And the man who misses repentance will miss everything. If your repentance is shallow, your religious life will be shallow. If your coming to Christ does not mean everything, you will not get everything. If your surrender is not complete, you cannot receive. If your hands are filled, you cannot take hold. It is only those who come empty-handed that can cling. It is only those who turn from darkness to light that understand God. It is only those who leave the devil who can receive God. No, we must repent.

"Then," you say, "what is repentance?"

Listen -- it is not conviction. It is possible to be convicted without repentance. Why, it is hardly possible to meet and talk with anybody in these days but at some moment of their life's history they have been convicted of their need of Christ. It is hardly possible to meet with anybody who does not know what he ought to do and what he ought to be. You cannot meet and talk with anyone that has not light about these things; but light is not life. What brings you to a mission service? Deep down in your conscience, the soul of you, hid away that nobody else can see, there is a real cry in your soul for God. That is conviction. That is God-given; that is Holy Ghost-brought; that is the result of the light that flashes over the cliff tops of eternity; that is the soul's awakening.

It is one thing to be awake, it is another thing to get up. You have often heard your minister preach. Maybe you have been hearing him for years. Perhaps you sit in the gallery or away back in one of the pews, or near to him, and every time he preaches and you hear him, you go home and say, "My pastor is right; I ought to be a Christian, I know I ought," and you feel beneath the powerful pleadings of your own pastor, beneath the pleadings of the evangelist, you know God's claims, you admit them, you feel them. They are right, they are reasonable, and you ought to surrender. That is conviction. But it is one thing to be convicted and another thing to repent.

Conviction is not repentance. What is repentance? It is not sorrow. Sorrow for sin is one element of repentance, but you can be sorry without repentance. There is a kind of sentimental sorrow, a sorrow at the thought of coming retribution and exposure, which is mean, selfish, devilish, and is not healthy and life-giving. There is a sorrow that weeps at funerals and sentimental plays, and weeps beneath the ordinary preaching and the special preaching.

There are multitudes of people who think they are not far from the kingdom because their tears come easily; they whisper all sorts of sweet messages to themselves because they can weep. They tell themselves they are not hard, and therefore there must be hope for them, and all the while they are holding on to forbidden things and walking in forbidden paths, and keeping company with those who are destroying them and leading them far from God.

It is no good to cover God's altar with tears while your heart is in rebellion. It is no good to hold out one hand apparently to the Cross, with the other holding on to a guilty hand behind you. You cannot hold Dagon in one hand and the Ark of the Covenant in the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. It is no good to sing on Sunday with your face toward the Cross, and on Monday with your feet toward the beer shop.

I sat in a home a few days ago playing with a boy of ten. His face was bright as the sun. He looked as happy as any child in the home, calling me "Uncle." Presently his mother had missed something, and she came in and said, "Jack, have you taken so-and-so?" His head dropped. "Jack, have you taken so-and-so?" No answer. "Jack" -- and she came and put her hand on his shoulder -- "did you take it?"

"Yes, mother;" and he began to cry. Oh, he was sorry; he did look sorry; he sobbed as though his heart would break. What for? He was just as guilty five minutes before, and he knew he was. What made him sorry? Sorry that he had sinned against his mother? No. Sorry that he had sinned against God? No. Well, what was his sorrow? He was sorry because he was found out. And there are multitudes of professing Christians whose religious sorrow is no deeper. That is the sorrow that worketh death. There is a godly sorrow, sorrow because I have sinned against God. "Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight. ... For Thou desirest truth in the hidden parts, honesty where no eye but Thine can see, transparency where no light but Thine can penetrate." (Psalm 51.)

There is a sorrow that means death. There is a sorrow for sin that worketh life. Which is yours? What is repentance? Listen. It is not promising to be better. There are plenty of people who have been promising to be better ever since they can remember, from boyhood or girlhood. When God has laid His hand upon them, as He does in a thousand ways, they are ready to promise, and do promise. Where are you, you who have been making promises till your hair is grey and broken every one of them, and angels beholding your shattered promises have shuddered to the tips of their wings? You are further from God than ever you were in your life, with all your promises. Your psalm singing and your hymn singing, and your church going, and your offerings, and all the rest of your religious paraphernalia, are so much mockery because you have not walked the straight and blessed path of obedience and trust.

It is not enough to promise. It means more than that. If it is not conviction, if it is not sorrow, if it is not the desire to be better and the promise to be better, what is it? What is repentance? Is it crying? No. Is it excitement? No. Is it emotion? Is it kneeling down and groaning? No. Is it going and hearing preachers? No. What is it? Listen. Jesus Christ tells you in that beautiful picture in the fifteenth chapter of Luke. It is a wonderful chapter. There are three cases in that chapter -- the silver, the sheep, and the son. The sheep was lost out of the fold, the silver was lost in the house. The sheep was lost without any intention of being lost, but it was lost. The silver was lost in the house through somebody's carelessness, and it may be there is somebody lost in your house, in your pew in the church, through somebody's carelessness. God help you to find out who that somebody is!

The son was lost, and it was his own fault. He was a prodigal before he left home. He was a rebel before he got a penny of his fortune. He was as bad in heart and in mind before he received a cent of the money as when he had spent it all. He was guilty the moment he said to himself, "I will demand the portion of goods that falleth to me." When the sheep went astray, a man went after it. When the silver was lost, a woman went after it. When the son went astray, nobody went after him. How is that? Remember who told the story. Nobody went for him. How is that? Because he was a man, because he was a moral agent, because he was accountable to God for his own act.

Why did not the father gather his servants with the elder brother, why did he not gather his neighbours together, and say, "Look here, I have lost my boy. Let us go and find him and bring him back in spite of himself"? Why did he not? Because if they had brought him back again, he would have been a prodigal still, he would have been a rebel inside the house as well as out of it, for no man comes till he returns; and Heaven and the Bible, Christ and Calvary, the Holy Ghost and eternity stand absolutely defeated before the citadel of the human will. Do not forget it.

Listen. The prodigal went astray, took every step from the homestead of his own deliberate choice, step by step away up into the far country, and he had to come to himself. He had to come back every inch of the way, and he did not send a letter home to his father and say, "If you will send the old chariot I will come home," and he did not ask anybody to give him a lift. He had to walk back every inch his own self, step by step, with bleeding feet and aching head, and broken heart. He had to do it. "But," you say, "the father ran to meet him, did he not?" Yes, he did, and He will run to meet you when He sees you coming, but you must come. Coming is repentance. It is the response of the will. Repentance is the response of the enlightened, redeemed man to the call of God, the "I will" of the soul. It is putting your hand on your heart and getting hold of what has been your curse, the thing that has chained you. It is getting hold of the thing that has made hell of earth for you, the sin of your heart -- for I have discovered that there may be a dozen sins in a man's life, but there are not a dozen that predominate. There is one overmastering, predominating, all-prevailing sin that enslaves and damns, and if that sin goes, everything goes. It is putting your hand to your heart and plucking that out, root and branch, and saying to God, "There it is, and I will die before I will sin again."

Have you repented in that fashion? Don't talk about Church membership, don't insult God by talking about the Communion, until you have done this. This is the first thing, and the others will not be expected until you have done this. "Repent ye." Make a full surrender to God. Listen to me once more. Repentance, when it is done, is such a beautiful thing that Jesus Himself said, "There is joy in Heaven over one sinner that repenteth." (Luke 15:7.) Have you repented along that line? There are some of you who do not understand how it is you have no peace and no joy in your profession. I know, just as well as if I lived with you. I know if you have no joy and no peace in your professed faith it is because you have never turned to God wholly. Some of you say, "I want peace." Never mind peace. Do as you are told, and peace will come. There are some people more concerned about nice feelings, happy feelings, ecstasies and joys, and all the rest of it, than they are about putting God in His place. Put God in His place, and you will have peace. Honour God, and you will have peace.

A dear fellow came to me when I was in South Africa, and he said, "Sir, I want to get relief from a guilty conscience," and he had an awful story to tell, a story that made me shudder. He unfolded a page in his history that I dare not tell you. Then he said, "Sir, I want God's pardon." I said, "My brother, how do you expect to get it?" He said, "By an honest attempt to undo the past."

"Then," I said, "turn your face that way and wait for peace."

"But," he said, "that will mean prison, and it may mean a lifetime in prison."

I said, "Turn your face that way. It is no good to talk about peace while there is wrong to be righted, while there are stripes that need to be washed. It is no use to talk about peace till you get right with God."

"The kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace." (Romans 14:17.) Righteousness, that means rightness, wholeness, harmony -- and then the music. There will be no music till the instrument is put in tune. You know where you have to yield. You know the point.

Chapter 3

### Born Again

_"Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again"_ (John 3:7).

In my last address I spoke about repentance, and I tried to show you that repentance is something that we must do if we mean to be saved; that God commands it; that it is a universal command; that it is immediate. Now my theme goes a little further. I want to speak about something that must be done in us by the power of the Holy Spirit, for "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." (John 3:3.) Then, if that be true, I am not surprised that Jesus said with all the emphasis of the Godhead to this man, "Ye must be born again!" You may read it this way, if you will -- "Ye must be born anew," or this way, "Ye must be born from above."

Whichever way you take it, it means a new creature, the heart all wrong made right; it means the source of the life must be put right and in harmony with God, and the life flowing out of it purified, new created. The centre must be in harmony with the will of God. "A new creature," "a new creation," the life above brought into and lived out upon earth.

Now there are many people who think the Lord can make them good somehow or other just when they are going to die. Now, I claim if the Lord can do that just when I am going to die He can do it while I am living; and if He cannot do it while I am living, He cannot do it when I am going to die. And I claim that the Lord can make every man and every woman good, so good that He can look from His throne on the work of His hands and pronounce it good, and be pleased with it.

Some of you say, "I don't believe it." I do. If He could make Adam good out of nothing, He can make you good out of what is left. On reading these words, please put the emphasis on the words must and again. "Ye must be born again!' Now don't fight me because I bring this old- fashioned truth and press it home upon your conscience. Don't get angry with me because I try to make you face the great doctrine of the new birth. Don't turn up your nose and act as though you had outgrown this. This man probably knew more than you do, and perhaps he was a far better moral man than you are, and probably he had a better standing in the Church and in society than any of us. But Jesus Christ could not spare him, and did not spare him. He loved him too much to compromise. He did not lower the standard, and He could not make the way into the kingdom of His grace easy, not even for a master in Israel.

Do not, I beseech you, think that this is an old-fashioned theme. I know it is, but it is the only theme. I know it is an old story, but it is the only story. If you have a soul and an appetite, it is as new as the sunshine that streams through the gates of the morning. This story is as fresh as the dewdrops that hang like so many of God's diamonds, sparkling in the sunshine. It is as beautiful as the roses on a June morning; it is as fresh as a breath from the hills of God. It is not stale, it is not played out, it is not old-fashioned. It is a spring that never runs dry. It is a power, and the only power that can break fetters and can snap chains, that can open blind eyes and cure wounded lives, that can hush storms and still tempests. It is the power that can lift men from sin and ruin, utter and complete, back again to God. Oh, for the power to emphasise it!

I know there are some people who think we are antiquated when we preach the new birth -- old-fashioned, harmless perhaps, but a little to be pitied. They will sing about this around the steps of the throne. Old-fashioned? It is the song that keeps Heaven warm. The central attraction of the skies is He who hung on the nails. As you walk down some picture gallery and view a special masterpiece of some old artist, world-famed and celebrated, so when you reach Heaven, if you get there, and walk through the picture gallery of the skies, the picture that will stand out, and out-shine and live and thrill and attract its millions, will be the picture of the Cross and its dying Saviour.

Don't think you have got beyond the teaching of the new birth, and don't dare to say we do not need that. Don't you? What, not after that company you kept last Saturday? Don't you? What, not after what happened today in the city? Not after what you did today in your office or home? Why, some of you have got a letter in your pocket that you would be ashamed to let me see. God reads every line. Listen: "Ye must be born again." That is what is the matter with you. You want a new heart. God looks at the heart. This is not my word; Jesus said it. That is what I want you to see, that if you turn up your nose at the message or sneer at the preacher when he announces the text, "Ye must be born again," or if you think you have got beyond it, that it is out of date, and old- fashioned, will you remember that He who is the Jewel, for which this vast universe is the mere setting, turned aside from the manufacture of worlds and the controlling of the universe, stepped aside from it all to whisper this into the heart of dying humanity. Jesus said it -- not the preacher, but Jesus.

This doctrine does not belong to the Methodist Church any more than it does to the Baptist Church; and it does not belong to the Episcopalian Church any more than it does to the Salvation Army. They all preach it -- that is, if they are loyal to Christ -- and they live it as they follow Him. They cannot help it. This is as old as the hills, a little older than the Church. John Wesley preached from this text, but he did not invent it, and the Methodist Church is the monument and the outcome of that mighty preaching. George Whitefield preached from this text, and preached from it three hundred times, but he did not invent it. General Booth, one of the most wonderful men God ever gave to the world, who with his band of consecrated followers has belted the globe with a golden cable of song of salvation, and will take tens of thousands from the slums and sewers of city life to walk the streets of the New Jerusalem in white, he preached from it, but he did not invent it. It is no human invention. Jesus Christ said it. Do not forget that.

If you will realise who uttered these words you will learn to respect them, and you will uncover your head and bow before them. If, then, you cannot comprehend the infinity of them, you will in silence cease your criticism. If you would fathom their depths and scale their heights and measure their immensity, if you do not grasp all they mean, you will be silent. You will say in your heart, "If God has a message in them for me, then, Holy Spirit, make it plain."

Now will you notice, please, to whom He said it? To whom did Jesus say these words? A drunkard? No. A harlot? No. A murderer? No. An outcast of society? No. A poor gipsy? No. I think if Jesus were to come and speak a message to a gipsy tent, knowing its past and how much it has been despised, how little people have cared, and how little people have done to save its occupants, He would speak very tenderly. To whom, then, did Jesus say these words? Listen. A Church member. So you see it is possible to be a Church member without being born again.

Henry Drummond said during the second Moody campaign, in writing to his friend Professor Barbour, "The enquiry room this time, as before, reveals the awful fact that the vast majority of Church members know nothing about the new birth. They know the letter of the law as well as they know their own names, but they are as ignorant of free grace as any heathen." It is possible to have your name down in the Church register without having it in the Lamb's Book of Life. It is possible to take the cup of Communion and never take the cup of salvation. Jesus uttered these words first of all to a member of the Church, an office bearer of the Church of his day, a member of the inner circle, a prince, leader, and master in the Church, but he was not born again; not a child, an old man. Think of that. It startled him, it made him think; and I would to God you would think. If I can only get a man to think, I have done something.

The greatest difficulty a preacher has is to get men to think. When Christ said these words to this man, he began to think in a moment, and he said, "What, can a man be born when he is old?" That is a very pertinent question. It is possible to be saved when you are an old man. It is possible, but it is improbable. It is possible, but it will be difficult. You ask my brethren in the ministry how often they see a grey-head join the Church, man or woman. For every grey-head that comes to them for Church membership they will tell you that fifty under twenty-five will come. And I have seen a few hundreds, a few thousands, come to Christ. The exception is a grey-head. The majority of people who come to Jesus are under twenty-five, and if you go over twenty-five, to thirty, you will have less. If you go between thirty and forty you will have less; and if between forty and fifty you will have less still; and if between fifty and sixty less again; and if you go between sixty and seventy you may write it down wonderful when they come.

What does it mean to you, grey-heads? It means that you can say "No" to Christ till you lose the desire to say "Yes." That is what it means. "Can a man be born when he is old?" Try to learn the piano when you have passed sixty, and see if it is easy when your joints are grown fixed and stiff. And if it is not easy, what about this, the hardest study of all, the study to show yourself approved unto God? Don't think, my friend growing old, that you can crowd out of your life the things of God, the things of the Day of Judgment, the things of right, and holiness, and Heaven -- don't think that you can shut them out of your life, and then crowd them into the last five minutes of your existence. Eternal matters will demand a little longer attention.

"Can a man be born when he is old?" Listen. Yes, he may, for when God says it, it must be. He says it may be. But it will be a miracle. I rejoice if a grey-head comes to Christ, but I rejoice more if a boy comes. Some time ago I was in a large testimony meeting in connection with the Church of which I am a member, and a man got up and told us how God had saved him, and he had been a burglar and spent so many years in prison. When he sat down, up got his chum who sat beside him, and he told us with trembling voice and with tears that in 1881 he was before the grand jury for murder, and that he had been in prison about twenty years, but God had saved him.

He said, "The jury knew I was guilty, but the drink was in me. The judge knew it too; the drink was in me when I did it, and my youth saved me from hanging, and God has saved me." When he sat down another man rose, and he said, "I had been a drunkard for twenty years, and the Lord saved me." And when he sat down up got another, and he said, "I have been a forger of base money, and God has saved me." And then another got up and told us he had been a prize fighter and fought so many battles and won every time, and God had saved him. And then another man got up and said, "I have had a chequered career. I have ridden about Manchester with the present Prime Minister, and I have ridden in the police van. I have been a publican, and I have swept the floors for other publicans. I have been drunk on champagne, and I have begged a penny for a drink. I have dined with aldermen, and I have begged a crust in the street." And then he told us how Jesus had saved him.

So they went on, and I could not sit still any longer. I got up and said, "Men, listen. God has done wonders for you, but don't forget He did more for this gipsy boy than all of you put together: He saved me before I got there." Prevention is better than cure. I believe a fence at the top of a precipice is better than a hospital at the bottom. "Can a man be born when he is old?" Yes, he may, but God save the children!

"Ye must be." Then I can understand some of you saying, just as this man said, "Lord Jesus, blessed Jesus, I don't want to intrude, but how is it to be? Tell me how it works. Explain it. I cannot see it." No, and you never will see it. "I cannot understand it." No, and you will never understand it, but He will. Your finite mind grasp the Infinite? Don't expect it. "If I could only see it, if I could only see through the process, I would believe it." But you never will see through the process of it. You can believe yourself through, you can obey yourself through, you can conform to the purpose and the will of God and get through, but you will never get through on your own speculating and asking impertinent questions. That is not the way.

"Oh," says a man, "tell me about this thing, show me how the new birth works." You explain electricity to me, or sit in the dark till you understand it, and never ride in an electric tram till you can understand it. Explain the dewdrop; tell me how the thunder and the lightning slumber in the dewdrop. You cannot tell. Analyse the raindrop. You cannot, but God fathers it. Tell me how He kisses the little bit of black earth in your garden, and after He has kissed it a bunch of primroses blooms. Tell me how He did it, or stop your quibbles about this. Here is an easy one. Tell me how He came to my gipsy tent, when there was not a Bible, before I could spell my name, before I had ever heard of Him. That is the wonder.

Tell me how He got hold of my father, that grand old saint, when he was rough and raw, drunken, swearing, wild, and lion-like. Tell me how God in Christ got hold of him and won the children and saved us all and made these eyes, these inner eyes of my life, see Him and know He was my Saviour. Tell me how, will you? I do not know how, but I know He did it, and that is enough to go on with. Never mind the how of it. It must be -- must be.

Well now, let me stop here and ask this question: Are you born again? Can you close your eyes at this moment and say, "Yes, I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day"? (2 Timothy 1:12.) Can you say, "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak, God, sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in me. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death"? (Romans 8.) Can you say that?

"No condemnation now I dread,

Jesus and all in Him is mine;

Alive in Him my living head

Clothed in His righteousness divine.

Bold I approach the eternal throne,

And claim the crown through Christ my own."

Can you say it? Are you born again? What did you say -- you are a Church member? That is no substitute for the new birth. What did you say -- you are an office bearer? Are you a master of Israel, and know not these things? Dare you walk about God's heritage, with unclean hands handling holy things? Dare you strut in God's house with a filthy heart? O God, find us out! Are you born again? What did you say -- you are a Sunday school teacher? You would not be a Sunday school teacher in my Church if I were a minister unless I had evidence that you were born again. I would refuse to let any class of boys and girls be led by a blind leader. You have no right there till you are born again.

Are you born again? Have you got the witness within? Lord Jesus, help us to be honest! Now have you the witness of the blessed Spirit that speaks within, that gives the knowledge the head cannot, that gives the assurance that the world knows nothing about; that makes glad and warm the heart and bright and cheerful the life; that gives confidence and hope and Heaven? Have you got it? Because if you are born again, you have got it.

Listen. Here are some of the new birth marks: "He that is born of God loveth the brethren." (1 John 3:14.) Is that mark on you? Here is another: "He that is born of God abideth in Him." (1 John 3:24.) That is another mark. Is that on you? Here is another: "He that is born of God overcometh the world." (1 John 5:4.) Is that mark on you? Here is another: "He that is born of God keepeth himself in the love of God." (1 John 5:18.) Is that mark on you? Here is another: "He that is born of God hath the witness in himself." (1 John 5:10.)

There may be movement in your soul. You can make a dead body move if you put enough batteries underneath it -- but it is only the movement of a galvanised corpse. "Ye must be born again." Are you born again? Are you sure of it? Can you look Him in the face by faith and say:

"My Jesus to know,

And to feel His blood flow

'Tis life everlasting,

'Tis Heaven below"?

Our fathers and mothers sang that, and God forbid that we should ever outgrow the song. Do you know it? Have you the witness? Because you will have it when you meet the conditions. Have you seen a mother with her new baby, her first baby? One of the most beautiful sights in the world is a pure mother with a beautiful baby. Her heart is its school, its nursery. The baby lives and moves and has its being in her love. In the day she watches it, in the night she dreams of it. It is first and last thought with her. She feeds it, she caresses it, coaxes it, talks to it, tells it a thousand things that the baby understands, or seems to. And, loved and petted and caressed, in a few months the baby, taught and loved by the mother's heart, lisps, "Dada." Exactly; and just like that the Holy Ghost comes down into the new-born, new-surrendered, new-believing, obedient heart and coaxes it into saying, "Abba, Father, my Lord and my God." (Romans 8:15.)

This is the new birth. You may know the glorious bliss; you may know the triumphant victory; you may have the new song in your soul now. You may put your foot on the neck of your foe this hour. You may stand up God's man, God's woman, free for ever, now, if you will meet the conditions. God help you! "It must be."

Stop your arguing, stop your questioning. That is the old way of defeat and failure, doubt and unbelief. That is the devil's way. Listen to me. Come to Jesus this hour, bow before Him and say to Him in your own way, "Lord Jesus, whatever there is in this message for me, help me to receive it." That is the way. Do not think you can live the new life with the old heart. It cannot be. A new life means a new heart, and you will get it all at the Cross.

Chapter 4

### The Saviour of All

_A man with an unclean spirit_ (Mark 5:2).

_A certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years_ (Mark 5:25).

_One of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus ... besought Him, saying, "My little daughter lieth at the point of death"_ (Mark 5:22-23).

I WANT to speak about the three hopeless cases in the fifth chapter of Mark's Gospel. It is a chapter of incurables, if we speak after the manner of men. The first is the man possessed by the devil. We are told he had his dwelling among the tombs. No man could bind him; that he had often been bound with fetters and chains but had shaken them off like cobwebs; that he was in the tombs and mountains night and day crying out in his misery, cutting himself with stones in his agony; that he was a terror to the neighbourhood, wounded, naked, stripped, ostracised, alienated, lonely, suffering, sad, possessed by the devil. And this is but a sample case of what the devil would do with every man if he had his way. This is a photograph, a full-length photograph, taken by God's camera in all its ugly detail in all its mass of misery of what the devil would do with you and with me but for the hand that keeps him back. For the devil is like God in this, he is no respecter of persons.

When you see a poor creature in the gutter, vile of lip, bloody of cheek, blear-eyed, lost in mind, heart, body, soul, you can say to yourself, "I would be there but for grace." The devil delights in ruin, discord, destruction. Oh, there is a devil to fight. Some people say there is no devil. There is a good deal that is like one, and you cannot travel very far without seeing a good deal of devilishness. And if you say there is no devil you must forgive me if I tell you it is because you never tried to do right. It is easy to swim with the stream. A dead fish can do that. It takes a living fish to go against the stream.

When a man is asleep in stupor you may put chains about him and he is insensible, he does not know. But he does know when he wakes up; and if tonight you make up your mind that, God helping you, you will hate the wrong and turn your back on it, and set your face Godward and heavenward to do right, you will be convinced there is a devil before the morning. There is a devil, and he means your ruin. But, blessed be God, Jesus is not only God's Lamb slain, He is the Lion of the tribe of Judah, and He lives to destroy the power of the devil.

In this first case, the man whom friends and neighbours could not tame, the man that no power on earth had managed to grip and hold in, Jesus the Saviour in a moment transformed, turned his hell into Heaven, his darkness to light, and made him a son of God, an heir of Heaven. And Jesus is still that -- Lord over devils. And if the devil is in you Jesus can cast him out. Whatever devil possesses you, whatever of destructiveness, ruin and evil is in you, whatever of night and despair, chains and darkness are upon you; whatever devil has got hold of you and rules you and is destroying you, whatever that devil is, Jesus Christ will conquer if you will but give Him a chance, for He is still the wonder-working Jesus.

The second case is one of disease; and mark you, this case was as bad as could be. The woman had suffered for twelve years with a shamefaced disease, and nobody could help her. All the medical men around had tried, and they were not all frauds. There were those who would have healed if they could. They would have made a reputation if they could have diagnosed her case, if they could have arrested the disease and healed her. But they failed. Their fingers were not able enough; they could not reach the problem; they did not understand it; it was beyond them. Their sympathies might be ever so great, but they were baffled. She suffered many things of many physicians. She tried them all, and when her hopes rose a little with some expectation of relief, it was only to fall back again into a deeper disappointment, a greater mental suffering. But on the heels of everybody else's failure Jesus proves Himself Lord over disease.

And Jesus is still that. Some day there will be no disease; some day there will be no raging epidemic; some day there will be no fever; some day there will be perfect health, robust, round, full-orbed, strong health. We shall be like Him -- and He is healthy enough -- for we shall see Him as He is. And in proportion as we get like Him here, disease will disappear, for Jesus Christ came to destroy the works of the devil. If there had been no sin there would have been no disease. There would have been no suffering if it had not been for the breaking of the law. You may give me those three letters and I will spell all the misery and suffering, all the pain and agony, every woe and pang and heartache: S-I-N. And you cannot say "sin" without hearing the hiss of the serpent.

Take sin up into the fields of glory, let it climb the streets of light, let it take up its abode in God's fair fields of health where the flowers never fade and where the sun always shines. Let sin take its roots in the glory, and you will have to build a graveyard, for "the wages of sin is death." (Romans 6:23.) Sin makes you pinched in face, sin makes the eye recede, sin makes the step infirm and faltering; it makes the hand nerveless and unsteady, clouds the brow, dims the eye, and weakens the heart. Sin is the greatest heart disease the world ever knew. Sin darkens the morning and clouds the evening. Sin: the Lord help us to see it as He sees it! But, blessed be God, one interview with Jesus cured this woman's ills; one living, vital moment of contact with Him ended her trouble. And Jesus is still Lord of disease.

That is not all. You can do something with the man if the devil is in him; for if a man is filled with the devil there are moments in his life when you can reach him, there are moments in the worst man's life when, if you know how to take him, you will hold him. For there is, if you dig deep enough, in every person the bedrock, built by the fingers that built the eternities, and it is our business to find it. There is in every person the spark that will blaze when suns faint and go out like sparks from a blacksmith's anvil. Every person is therefore worth saving.

You can do something with the poor weakly, suffering body of a woman while she is alive, for the doctors will tell you that while there is life there is hope. But what are you going to do with a dead body?

And the third case is death. The woman had suffered twelve years, how long the devil had been in that man I do not know, but the little child was twelve years old, and she was dead. Ay, but Jesus is never conquered. He is always the conqueror. He is always equal to every emergency. You never knew Him defeated; and if you want to see Him at His best you want to see Him with a difficult case. And He went up to that little child and got hold of her hand. And He looked her in the face and He said, "Damsel, arise." If He had said "Arise," without saying "Damsel," there would have been a general resurrection. They would have all come to see which one He meant. But that eye of His which is the light of the world went into the gloom beyond and singled out that little spirit and said, "Damsel, arise."

And she sat up, and He said to her mother, "Give her something to eat." So that in the third case He proved Himself Lord of death. In that one chapter of forty-three verses you have all you need -- Lord over disease, devils, and death, the all-conquering Christ, gospel enough to save the world. That is the programme of redemption.

Let me turn it round once more. The man, the woman, the child -- what does it mean? This: Jesus is the man's Saviour; that is what it means. There is not a man that can do without Him. There is not a man that does without Him. You may think you do, but no man lives without Jesus. You may not acknowledge Him, indeed you may deny Him, but He is there, nearer than the seat you are sitting on, nearer than the clothes you wear, nearer than the food you eat, nearer than the child you love and about whom you put your arms, nearer than the friend on whose arm you lean. You may deny, but He is there. You drink from His fountain, you feed from His table, you walk about His world, every bit of which is marked by His own Cross. You cannot do without Him, and you do not do without Him. If you think you can, will you prove it by creating a planet and then go and live on it?

Don't talk about doing without Him while you depend on Him for every breath you draw. He is the man's Christ, and, brother, no man is at his best till he is Christ's. No man or woman can be, no man or woman can do, what God means him or her to be and to do till they are Christ's. And it is not a childish thing to be a Christian. It is a noble thing; it is not a weak thing -- if you think it is, try it. If you think it is a weak thing to be a Christian, make up your mind to be one and go and tell them where you work tomorrow that you have given your heart to God, and you will see it takes courage and moral force, backbone and will-power, and intelligence.

Cotton wool won't do it; jellyfish won't do it; cowards won't do it; it will take a brave person to do it. You try it. You think it is a sentimental thing to be a Christian. Try it. Religion is all right for Sunday schools, mothers' meetings, and parsons, some of you think. It is a manly thing, it is a noble thing, it is a brave thing to be a Christian. Don't forget it, Christ is our Saviour. The strange and wonderful thing to me is that it does not matter who the person is or where they come from, what their nationality, what their education, birth or breeding, what their culture, or what their outlook may be -- the moment a person looks into the face of Jesus they say, "My Lord and my God."

Every person sees in Him all they need. When they do see Him, whether they are a gipsy in their tent or a prime minister, whether they be a collier or royalty, it does not matter. The person who looks into the face of Jesus has found the spring that never runs dry, and they can say with the hymn writer:

"Thou, O Christ, art all I want,

More than all in Thee I find."

He is our Saviour, and the wickedest thing in the world is to know that and to refuse to serve Him. That is the sin that damns. You need not get drunk, you need not let loose your passions, you need not be a sewer of uncleanness. You can be a respectable, churchgoing, well-dressed, moral sort of person, and refuse the claims of the Son of God, refuse to allow Him the right of way within and without of your life, refuse to give Him the right place, refuse to fall down and worship Him and enthrone Him within you. That is the sin which damns -- the sin that sets Him at nought, the sin that refuses to love and to obey.

O man, father, brother, young man, I covet your life for Christ. He is worthy of your best thought, your purest thought, your noblest thought, your most brilliant thought, your most lofty conception, your gladdest day, your strongest heart-throb. Give Him the alabaster box of precious ointment. All He has given you, return it to Him in love and gratitude and consecration, I beseech you, for He is the man's Saviour.

Ay, but that is not all; He is the woman's Christ too. Jesus has not forgotten the women. Some of you men say that religion will do for women. Thank God, it will; and it is a blessing some of them have got a bit of religion. They do not get much comfort from the man they have to call husband. It is a blessing some women have got Jesus to look to, or I do not think they could live at all.

Have you forgotten that you promised God at His altar to take care of her you call wife? How you promised to shield her, to love and honour? Have you forgotten that you promised God in the most public, solemn manner before His altar and the recording angel that you would forsake everything for that woman? Have you forgotten it, because God will make you remember it some day? God has not forgotten it. She is nearly dead. Do you know it, O man? Listen. There is another way of murdering a woman beside blowing her brains out or cutting her throat. Poor woman, suffering woman, weeping woman, your hair grey long before it ought to be, your face pinched and your back bent, and you do not know what it is to have a moment's peace, and in your sleep you dream of misery, full of tears and disappointments and agonies -- Jesus knows, my sister. God help you to make Him your friend! He knows, He knows.

When sometimes you smile -- and you are forced to smile because others are there \-- when you have got sorrow enough behind, storm enough behind that smile to wreck a navy, He knows. He is the woman's Christ. If you will let Him, He will kiss your tears into jewels. The sun of His love will light up your face once more, and if the wrinkles do not go He will make them beautiful, and if your back does not straighten He will give you grace to bear the burden, and the flowers of paradise shall bloom again in your poor, wasted life, for the "wilderness shall blossom, it shall blossom abundantly." (Isaiah 35:1.)

Ay, He is the woman's Saviour. I do not know how any woman can turn her back on Jesus or keep Him out of her life. It is a sad thing when a woman says "No" to Christ, but when she is the cause of her children saying "No" it is sadder still. O mothers, O sisters, for Christ's sake and for your children's sake and for your husband's sake, open your heart to Jesus! Let Him take the throne-place in your heart.

Nobody will be as true as He, nobody will stand by you as He will. You can tell Him what you cannot tell anybody else. You love Him, you serve Him, you follow Him, and though others sneer and frown and treat you coolly and despise and call you a sinner, He will say, "Woman, thy sins are forgiven thee." (Luke 7:48.)

He is the woman's Christ. But that is not all. If I stopped there it would not be complete. He is the baby's Saviour, He is the child's Christ, He is the cradle Christ. And if you want to beat the devil you must fight him with the cradle. Oh that every mother would bring her babies to Jesus! "But," you say, "they are so little." Yes, but He is the God of little things. He painted the rainbow -- yes, but He kissed the daisy into being too. He put the wings on the archangel, and He feathered the sparrow. The mighty ocean -- yes, but He makes that out of the same material that He makes the dewdrop. He is the God of little things.

Don't despise the children. I would that I could take the dear little hearts and twist them into a garland of beauty and in all their innocence place their young affections on the head of my Lord. "Suffer little children to come unto Me." (Luke 18:16.) Jesus has not forgotten them. God save the children! Don't hinder them, don't stop them, don't get into the way of them; let them come. He is the man's Christ.

Brother, is He your Christ? He wants to be, He will be if you will take Him, He will be if you will follow Him, He will be if you will come out from what He hates, forsake that which grieves Him, that which killed Him. Forsake it, follow Him, and you will find that Jesus Christ can do for a man what you never dreamed He could.

Woman, sister, you of the weary life, you of the disappointments, you of the sleepless nights and weary days, you of the heart faintness and hunger, Jesus waits to come into your life and transform it into a thing of beauty. Will you let Him? And He is the child's Christ, and the children understand Him. Don't stop the children from coming.

I have a letter in my possession from a high Government official in one of the colonies of South Africa, written a few days after my mission in his city, in which he says, "You will be sorry, I know, and will sympathise with us, I am sure, when I tell you that our sweet little Winnie has gone home." Who was Winnie? She was a sweet little thing of ten. She attended our mission, and as intelligently as you could she gave herself to Christ. A beautiful child, she came with her mother to call on us, and when she left me she put her face up and kissed me, and she said, "Oh sir, you have helped me, you have helped me."

And if I went to South Africa to do nothing else but help that little girl, it was worth the journey. Just a few days passed, and she sickened with smallpox, and all that skill and money and physician could do was done to save her, but it was no use. When her mother and father were weeping she said, "Don't weep; I am going to Jesus." And then as they watched her she heard the angels calling, and she said, "I am here; don't you know me? I am Winnie, I am one of Gipsy Smith's little converts, and I am quite ready, I am quite ready, and I am coming." And she went to be with Him for ever. He is the children's Saviour. He is the woman's Saviour. He is the man's Saviour. The Saviour for us all. Let us all seek Him together.

Chapter 5

### The Master's Touch

_And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that virtue [strength, life], had gone out of Him, turned Him about in the crowd and said, "Who touched My clothes?" And His disciples said unto Him, "Thou seest the multitude thronging Thee, and sayest Thou, Who touched Me?"_ (Mark 5:30-31).

In my last address I tried to speak to you from the three cases given in the fifth chapter of Mark's Gospel, and I tried to show you that in this chapter of incurables Jesus proved Himself Lord over devils, disease, and death. And then we turned the jewel round and caught another flash of its beauty, and we saw that Jesus is the man's Christ, the woman's Christ, and the child's Christ. Now I want to speak about the middle case, this woman who had suffered many things of many physicians and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse. So Mark says.

When Luke tells the story he leaves that bit about the doctors out, but then he was a doctor himself. Mark has no scruple; and he says practically that all her attempts at healing, though they were many, and though they were the best she could procure, though she consulted the best skill, the wisest of the physicians, all her attempts only aggravated, tantalised, excited hopes that only ended in despair, and she was worse when they finished their attempts than before they started. And that woman but represents multitudes.

Perhaps you are longing for spiritual healing, for soul satisfaction, you are groping for light. You are trying to climb up out of the slough of your despond; you desire to get your chains broken and your fetters snapped. You say you want the assurance of sins forgiven, to be in possession of peace with God. You believe there is something for you that Christians talk about, and that the Bible describes in the death and resurrection of the Son of God; somehow in a vague fashion believing it is for you, but never getting it, hunting after but never finding, hungry for and yet never satisfied, always thirsty and never getting a drink of the living stream. Oh, how many quacks some of you have consulted, how many earthly nostrums you have been prepared to take, how many spiritual physicians you have listened to! And some of you spend your time in hunting up religious quacks.

There has not been a preacher in town for twenty years that you have not heard. You boast that there has not been a mission held anywhere within reach but what you have been there. You are front-seaters, bench-warmers, religious tramps. Don't smile -- I want you to see yourselves. You have been prepared to listen to anybody, any fad, any big person, any sensational story, any man-made message, any new thing. But you do not get healing that way. You have not got healing that way; and if I could see you through God's microscope, the microscope of Calvary, I should see you worse today than you were ten years ago, with all your attempts at redemption.

With all your attempts to become holy and righteous you are worse today than ever you were. And you have come to hear this preacher. But at the beginning let me be plain with you: I cannot save you. That is beyond me. But I know One who can, and there is none like Him. He is the only Physician; He is the greatest Physician; He is the most wonderful Physician; He is the cure-all when He has charge of the case. He is never baffled; He can diagnose every case. He goes to the root of the problem. There is no mistake with Him. He never makes a blunder. He never apologises. He never asks to be excused if you are conscious of sin and long for healing.

Give Him the right of way with your case, and He will make a cure, complete, eternal. But He must have His way -- then He heals. And all the poor, broken-down attempts at social, religious, and spiritual reform that you have seen, and all the backsliding, and the falls, and the blunders that you have seen around you, have all come about because Christ has not had His way. Give Christ His way, and He will heal completely. No, my friends, your cure is the woman's. That may sound an old-fashioned thing to say, but there is more truth in it than you have realised yet. Listen. The woman's cure is your cure. Her cure came on the heels of everybody else's failure. Christ's cure always comes there.

When people get to the end of things, then Jesus Christ bares His arm and shows His omnipotence, and declares Himself the mighty Saviour. He is a wonderful Jesus. Oh, it is not a quack you want, it is a specialist. It is not the preacher you want, it is not the missioner, it is not the lovely influences of a mission, it is not the beautiful hymns we sing, it is not seeing some great talker, some orator, some brilliant speaker. It is not being familiar with books or schools; it is Jesus -- Jesus. It is not the Bible, for "the letter killeth." (2 Corinthians 3:6.) You may be familiar with it, you may have gone through it I do not know how many times, but till it goes through you, you will not be any better. It is not in tramping to and from church. It is not in performance, it is not in ritual. Healing is in the presence of Jesus.

Soon after my father's conversion our tents were just outside Cambridge. My father could not read the Bible in those days. He was only a rough gipsy man, but he was saved, and he did the next best with his motherless children before he went to bed. He used to sing and pray every night. And, you know, when he and five children started to sing you could hear us a few fields away, on those dark, winter nights.

I can see my father now. He would say, "Before we go to bed, my dears, we will have a hymn or two," and he would strike off. We had no idea that the people in the cottages across the fields heard the songs and came a little nearer to catch the words, or that they stopped while he prayed. It was a strange thing to hear a gipsy man pray in his tent. These people never expected it. And one woman, we heard afterwards, was smitten in her conscience about her sin, and she said, "Here is a rough gipsy man praying, and he is not praying for me to hear him, for he does not know I am here. He is not praying for other people to hear, for he does not know that anybody can hear him. Here is a gipsy man praying. How is it? I was brought up in a Sunday school, my mother was a good woman, I came from a Christian home, and I am a mother and never pray for my children."

The arrow of conviction pierced her soul, and she went home with it sticking there, and it did not come out easily. For some time she said nothing about it. She kept quiet, but she suffered something of the agony that David must have felt when he said, "While I kept silence my bones waxed old ... for day and night Thy hand was heavy upon me. My moisture is turned into the drought of summer." (Psalm 32:3-4.) And I tell you when the light of God's holiness shines into a guilty soul it blisters it.

One night her husband came home from work, and he saw there was something the matter. He had noticed it for some days, and he said, "Mary, what is the trouble?" She did not answer. "Mary, are you ill?" and still she kept quiet. "Very well, I knew it was so, I have seen a change in you for some days," he said; "I will fetch the doctor," and away he went.

As soon as he had got outside the door she sent her boy to the old tent, and when he got to the tent he said to my father, "Sir, my mother heard you pray some weeks ago and she has never been happy since, and she wants to know if you will come and pray with her." And father said, "Of course I will," and away he went, and when he got there he found the poor woman crying for mercy. It was not long before the plan of salvation had been pointed out to her and she was rejoicing in Christ. She had met the condition, and her burden had rolled away. Her tears had become telescopes through which she could see Jesus.

Presently the doctor came with the husband. She looked up at the doctor and she said, "Doctor, I have found Him, I have found Him!"

He said, "My good woman, whom have you found?"

"Oh, sir," she said, "my poor soul has been hungry for Jesus, and I have found Him."

"Well," said the doctor, "you don't need me, for you have the best Physician the world ever saw."

And that is what I want to say to you: it is not this poor thing you want, it is Jesus. It is not these ministers. We are only fingers pointing, we are only voices crying; but, blessed be God, we do point and we do cry and we tell you in one concentrated, consecrated voice at this moment -- "Only Jesus can do helpless sinners good." Only Jesus; and all the efforts of your own will only end in misery. You may hear preachers, you may say prayers, you may go to church, you may take Communion, you may listen to quacks, you may hunt up religious nostrums, you may read books, you may long for healing and desire peace, and wonder when it is coming to you. It will never come till you come to Christ.

Five minutes' honest, definite, intelligent dealing with Jesus Christ will cure your problem, and nothing else will. That is the first thing I want to say. The second is this, that there is a tremendous difference between thronging Jesus and touching Jesus. There were six hundred thousand people left Egypt for the promised land who never reached it. Two men out of the crowd reached it. They were touchers, the others were throngers; and the others bleached their bones in the wilderness. There were many people at the Pool of Bethesda, but it was the one that stepped in first after the troubling of the water that was made whole; the others were throngers. Here is a multitude of people at this very moment crowding Jesus, speculating about Jesus, excited about Him, criticising Him, elbowing Him, but one woman touched Him, and that made all the difference. Which are you?

Have you touched Him, or are you a thronger? Some of you throng Him on Sundays, you throng Him in the Sunday school or church. And you throng Him at missions, and you have been doing it, some of you, till your hairs are grey. In the name of God I tell you -- and I tell you to startle you, I tell you to awaken you -- in God's name I tell you, churchgoer, you are a thronger. You have never touched Him yet, multitudes of you. If you had, your life would be different, for whatever Jesus touches is glorified. Which are you now? You know deep in your heart. Don't make any excuse, don't shuffle; don't, I beseech you, get away from the main issue. Have you come into living, vital, saving contact with the Son of God? Because you will know if you have.

I don't believe the doctrine which says you can be a Christian without knowing it. I believe that is a sop from hell to soothe your conscience into saying "Peace" where there is no peace. You cannot be awake without knowing it; you cannot eat your dinner without knowing it; you cannot go to church without knowing it; and you must not tell me that a man can be born again and made a new creature, have his chains broken, his night turned into day and his blindness to sight, his hell into Heaven, and not know it.

Listen. This woman knew, and so will you when you have touched Him. This is one of the surest things in God's world, for a man that can look up into the face of Jesus, and say by faith, "Thou art my Saviour," has got in his soul the joy that will some day make Heaven pulsate with hallelujahs. The person that could look up into the face of Jesus and say, "Thou art my light and my song, my sins are put away, my chains are broken, my Lord and my God," is sitting in the twilight of the coming glory. If they are not in Heaven, they are in the ante-room, and they are as safe as though they had been there a thousand years. For when God gets hold of someone He does not let go His grip. The Lord God Almighty take hold of you! Have you touched Him? Do you know this? I am not asking what else you know. Are you sure about this thing? Blessed assurance! Religious certainty is the certainty of religion. It is the ground, the bedrock, the indestructible rock beneath a person's feet upon which they can stand and say to the world, "Rage on, toss on, howl on, ye storms, and peal, ye thunders, and flash, ye lightnings, and break up, O ribs of nature; but it will be but the rocking of an infant's cradle as it lulls me to rest in the arms of Him who saves me, and keeps me by His grace."

Have you got it? "Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!" Do you know it? Are you sure of it? Because that is what He calls you to. You say, "Are you not forcing something that is not in the story?" No, it is all here. The woman came in the crowd behind, and I can hear her as she comes limping, stooping, catching her breath, hardly voice enough to speak out loud, saying in a whisper, but saying it, "If I can only touch the hem of His garment I shall be healed;" as much as to say, "There is power enough in the threads of His coat to save an old woman."

That is the faith that conquered Deity. "Only let me get to Him, and I shall be a new woman." Listen. She knew she was not healed, yet she says, "I shall be," and she touched. And what followed? She was made whole. The next verse says, "And Jesus, knowing in Himself that power had gone out of Him, turned in the crowd." What does that teach? This, my brother. my sister, this old-fashioned, despised doctrine, but it is going to have a resurrection in all the churches in England, this -- His Spirit answers to my spirit, and tells me I am born of God. That is the doctrine. It is no new story. Jesus knew, and the woman knew; and Jesus will know and you will know when you plough your way through the crowd -- whatever the crowd may be for you -- and insist on touching Him. Have you touched Him?

I know you are a member of the Church, but have you touched Jesus? I know you profess the Christian faith, but can you say this?

Life immortal, Heaven descending

Lo, my heart the Spirit's shrine,

God and man in oneness blending,

Oh, what fellowship divine!

Full salvation,

Raised in Christ to life divine.

Amazing grace, 'tis Heaven below

To feel the blood applied,

And Jesus, only Jesus, knows,

My Jesus crucified.

Is that your experience? For that is what He calls you to, to put your feet on the neck of your foe, and to bound with gladness. Have you touched Him? If not, get a little closer now. And if you have touched Him, that leads me to the next thing. If you have touched Him you must confess Him.

There is no such thing as getting healed and then being ashamed of the doctor. The man who is ashamed of the doctor is not worth healing. But there is no such thing as being a smuggler here; there is no such thing as playing hide-and-seek here. You must confess Him; He will see to that. If you are to get all He wants you to have, He will see you meet the conditions. She began in the crowd behind, and she ended up on her knees in front of Him, where all grateful souls end. He said, "Where is she that touched Me?" and He looked round about to see her that had done this thing; and mark, He turned round, and when He turned round she was there.

Don't you see, it was not as difficult as she thought. She thought she would get at His back; He gave her His face, and she knelt at His feet, and they made a ring there on the highway, and that was the inquiry room, and she told Him all the truth. Nobody hindered her, nobody checked her. She poured out her heart and her tears, and she told Him everything.

He listened patiently, and when she had finished, and when she had told all, and He knew she had told the whole, He said, "Daughter, thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace."

If you want to have peace as an accompaniment, peace as a friend and companion, peace as the bloom and blossom of things, the music inexpressible sounding forth in the life, let Jesus Christ come in and take the throne, and you will get peace. Men and women, come out of your hiding. Never mind the crowd. Christ is here, and you can touch Him if you will. You can get where there is always room for another in His presence, at His feet. He will make room if nobody else does. He will see that you get a place right in front of Him, if you only make up your mind to struggle.

"But," you say, "what can I do?" What could she do? She would not have been healed, she was not healed, without an effort, and you will never be saved without an effort. She seized her opportunity. Will you? Here was the Christ passing by. She made Him see her. She had only to touch the hem of His garment, but there was more in that touch than you think. The Lord help you to touch Him the same way, and you too will be made whole. Your night will break into lovely dawn; your misery into music; your tears will be kissed into jewels; your heartache into soul rapture; your lifelong agony will end in the joy of the presence of the risen Christ. Oh, touch Him! Do not throng Him longer. It ends all one way -- it spells failure, it spells loss, it spells agony. But touching means life.

Oh, how I thank God I have touched Him! I do not know as much as some of you, but I know this, I had not your chance, your opportunities, but I got this one -- I let nobody cheat me out of this -- and I shall never forget how I knelt as a gipsy boy and said, "O God, I want to love Thee, I want to be saved, I want to be good, and I will be saved, and I will follow Thee." I do not know how, but I touched Him at that moment, and He accepted, and He saved me.

God help you to touch Him in the same way, and the grace that turned the gipsy tent into a palace will change your life from the poor miserable thing it has been, into a thing of beauty and praise for ever.

Chapter 6

### Utterly Destroy

_Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not_ (1 Samuel 15:3).

_Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams_ (1 Samuel 15:22).

I TAKE those words as a starting point. What I wish to say is more in the form of an exposition of the whole of this incident. You who are familiar with this story will remember that for a long time the Amalekites had been a source of trouble and bloodshed to the children of Israel. God's patience had borne long not only with Israel but with their tormentors, and God decreed that these sinners, the Amalekites, should be punished.

At this point their sin was very aggravated, the measure of their iniquity was running over, and the word of the Lord came through the prophet to the king that these sinners were to be punished, wiped out, and Saul and his army were to be the instruments of judgment for the punishment of these rebels. For there is a limit to God's mercy. The man who sets out to fight Him will lose. The man who makes up his mind to defy God to the utmost will find he swears by a cause that will end in failure.

Saul marshalled his army of 210,000 men to slay a nation. The battle is over. We have not time to speak of that. Again the word of the Lord came to the prophet, and this time it is changed. You listen to it, put your ear close to it, and you will hear pathos indescribable. You will hear the falling of tears; you will see a shower of blood. Through these words there seems to rumble the woe of a broken heart. Listen. "Saul is turned back from following Me. He hath not performed My commandments. He has turned his back on Me, the man I honoured, the man I lifted up, the man I exalted, the man I crowned with possibilities stupendous, the man I chose from among his brethren, the man in whom I invested so much, and from whom I expected so much, the man who might have done so much as My representative. Saul -- he is turned back from following Me. He hath not performed My commandments." (1 Samuel 15.) I tell you these words seem to glisten with the tears of a disappointed God. "He has turned back."

If God were going to write a little bit about you and me, I wonder what He would say. He did speak out about this man. If He were to speak out about the preacher, I wonder what He would say. If God were to write on my forehead, not what you think I am, not what I seem to be, but as I am with Him, I wonder how many of you would listen to me; and yet my Lord knows me. I wonder if God were to speak out about these preachers what He would say. These singers, these office bearers, these Sunday school teachers, you who take Communion and parade your religion -- I wonder what God would say if He were to write in black capitals what we are across our face. I wonder how many of us would stop for our neighbours to see.

God knows everyone at their worst. You may deceive the preacher, you may deceive the missioner, and the preacher and the missioner may deceive you. God sees, God knows, and God judges, not according to our poor ideals, not according to our own limited notions and preconceived ideas of what goodness, holiness, salvation, being saved, and Christianity mean, but according to His eternal purpose in Christ Jesus from the foundation of the world. Would He say that you have turned back? For He sees the heart. There is such a thing as heart-backsliding, when nobody save God knows. You can backslide without the preacher knowing it; you can backslide without your master finding it out; you can backslide in a distant city, and it is astonishing what some people think they can do with impunity when they get out of the immediate community in which they are known.

When they go for a holiday, then they throw off restraint. "Nobody knows me, and I can do as I like." Can you? Not while God sits on His throne, without appearing before the great white throne some day to give an account of every thought as well as every deed. God knows. He sees the public backslider and He sees the secret backslider, and He knows every inch that is turned back. He knows it; it is noted down on high. Don't think that God is so busy managing worlds, and throwing out planets, fixing stars, and controlling the universe, that He has not time to think of you. God sees everything you do. All else was made for you. He knows the ideal life He wants you to live and He knows when He is deserted, and when you fall short of it, and when you forget Him, and when you are a rebel. God knows.

Saul turned back. Poor Samuel could not sleep that night. He cried unto the Lord all that night, and many a minister has had the same experience. Do you know what turns the preacher's hair grey? It is not work, it is worry. Work is pleasure, when a man has no care and burden, no pain and anxiety. Do you know what kills the preacher? Do you know what digs the grave for the preacher? Do you know what makes the preacher look an old man long before he ought? I will tell you -- the inconsistency of his flock, the backsliding of office bearer and communicant, the worldliness, the want of godliness -- that kills the preacher.

He cried unto the Lord all night. Poor preacher! God pity the preacher who has to minister to a Church that is more worldlike than Christlike! God pity the preacher whose flock runs after the world sooner than the prayer meeting! God pity the preacher that has to minister to a Church that lives for the superficial, the social, and is out of touch with God! That will kill the preacher. He cried unto the Lord all night, and when the morning came (because the secrets of the Lord are with them that fear Him) God spoke again, and said to Samuel, "Saul is coming home, and he is coming that way, go and meet him;" and Samuel went to meet the returning backslider.

And when Saul saw him coming he did what all shams do, he put on his religious face. He put on the face that goes to missions and conventions. We are all more or less guilty, for it is fashionable to put on a sort of religious face, a sanctimonious look and a sanctimonious tone in the voice and attitude. Some of you know all about it. There would have been a Bible on the table if Saul had had one, if he had been at home when the prophet was coming; and you have had a Bible on the table when the preacher has called, as though you had been reading it. You had never been looking at it, but you wanted him to think you had. "Blessed be thou of the Lord," said Saul. Don't you hear the tone? Don't you see he knew the language of Zion? "Blessed be thou of the Lord, I have performed the commandments."

"Then -- listen \-- what is that? Where did you get those sheep from? Where did you get those oxen from? If you have performed the commandments, if you have put the sword in up to the hilt, if you have spared nothing that was condemned to die, where did you get those sheep? What meaneth the bleating of the sheep in mine ears and the lowing of the oxen?"

"But," said he, "I did not do that, it was the people." Is that out of date? Don't try to appear better than you are, or the sheep will bleat, the oxen will low. God has a strange way of exposing fraud. He knows how. When you are found out, play the man if there is any manhood left in you; do not blame anybody. I know we begin to blame everything but the real cause of the trouble and of the mischief. If I come to some of you men and ask why you are not a Christian, whom would you blame? You know Christ's claim on you. You know He died for you, you know He demands your love and your service, and He wants you to be good and hate sin. He wants you to be delivered from it, for He died that He might make you good. How is it you are not as pure as the sunbeam, as sweet as the dewdrop, as lovely as the sun-kissed heights of the Alps, as enchanting as the air of a spring morning when wafted by an angel's wing? Because God makes all these, and He can make you as beautiful. That is His purpose. Calvary means that, that God wants to make you as beautiful as He has made all nature and even the crown of it.

How is it you are not like that? Do you say, "Well, sir, I had a bad start, and if you had had my bringing up you would have been as bad."

"My mother was wrong, my father was wrong," a poor fellow said to me on Huddersfield platform one winter's night waiting for the mail train. I had been preaching in Leeds. I got hold of this poor fellow and I talked to him. He was a commercial traveller, and he said, "It is no good to talk to me, sir; I am a drunkard," and he looked like one and smelt like one. He said, "The drink has got me by the throat, sir; no hope for me. My mother died of drink, my father died of drink; I was born with the devil in me."

"Well," I said, "you can be born again, and this time with the devil out of you." Jesus undertakes your case; He is a match for you. He is the friend of sinners, He is the Saviour of sinners. If you were perfect you would not need Him. He comes to those who are bad, and it does not matter how bad you are, Jesus Christ can grapple with your case; and though it may be difficult, He can make you a new creature, for He is a mighty Saviour. Do not blame your parents, do not blame your environment, because if you lived in a palace without a new heart you would make the palace a slum.

You do not cure a patient of smallpox by putting him into clean sheets; and if you put a pig in a parlour I know which will change the quickest. I know men who were converted, and changed their residence three times within a year, and each time into a better neighbourhood and into a bigger house. What a man is inside he is outside. He makes his own environment, and sin did not begin in a slum -- it began in a garden. Talk about a garden city: surely if any man had a chance from his environment Adam had. Don't blame your environment if you are not a Christian; do not blame your mother, do not blame your father. You may have had a bad start, but you will not be held responsible for the start: you will be held responsible for the finish.

You will not be held responsible for what your parents did, but for what you did. Do not blame society, for you are a part of society, and if society is not right, you be right and show society what you think it ought to be. Don't blame the Church, because most of you do. You say, "Find me a perfect Church, and I will join it." Well, emigrate, go to some little South Sea island where there are no inhabitants and found a Church, and when you get there it will not be perfect five minutes.

None of us are perfect in the Church, and if you find me a perfect Church I will have to stay out, for I am not perfect by any means, but I am trusting in a perfect Saviour. It is not what I am, but what He is. Don't blame the Church. The Church is the place where men should come who want to learn to be better than they are, and who believe in the power of Almighty God to make them new creatures. Don't blame the minister. Don't blame us, for we are only human, and if you think we have not got religion, you get it and show us what it ought to be -- and if you can show us anything better than we have, we will sit at your feet.

Don't blame the devil, for the devil can only tempt, he cannot make you sin. No man sins till he consents. He can tempt but he cannot make. Listen. All these years you have managed to resist God the Father, God in His holiness, God on His throne, God with all His power, with all His wisdom, with all His burning, scorching purity. You have managed to resist Him, you have managed to resist the Son of His love, the sacrifice of His heart, the atonement of the Cross, the redeeming blood and pardoning blood. You have resisted that. You have resisted the Holy Ghost, the Regenerator of the heart. You have resisted the Trinity successfully, and when you want to, you will resist the devil by the same personal will-power. You can when you want to.

Pray for the desire so that you will look yourself tonight square in the face, pull yourself up, pull yourself round, face yourself, compel attention, demand thought. Whatever else you do, look yourself in the face, if you are not Christlike, and good, and holy, and say at this moment, if you are wicked, unclean, lying, crooked, bad-tempered, if that is your condition it is because you love to be so, and you are content with it. It is your own fault and not your neighbour's, and not your master's, and not your servant's, and not the people about you, and not the Church, and not your father, and not God, and not His Son, and not the Spirit. It is because you have got a heart that is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. That is the plain truth, and may God help you to see it.

Now, if you read this history a little closer you will see what God means when He says, "Utterly destroy." All the trouble, all the rejection, all the loss to Saul and the kingdom for time and for eternity, all lay in that -- he was not willing to slay to the death. No, he must spare the best of the sheep and the best of the oxen. No harm in a few sheep, no harm in a few prize cattle -- they are all right; but God said, "Destroy, utterly destroy." And is not the same spirit eating the life out of us, killing our power, and spoiling us all along the line for life and service because we are not willing to obey?

What did that request mean? "I know I ought to be saved," said the writer of one of the requests for prayer sent to me in a recent mission, "but I am not willing to make the sacrifice." Then there will be no salvation till you do. You must slay to the death. If it is gambling -- and it is with some of you -- slay it. Would to God I had my way with drink and gambling, I would set fire to both. For the sake of generations unborn I would destroy it for ever. There are some of you mothers who would not give up your drink to save your children from becoming drunkards and your daughters harlots. There are some of you fathers who would not stop your gambling to prevent your boys from becoming assassins, but you will be held responsible at the judgment day for children who are born of half-damned parents.

They are scathing words, I know, but they are true. You may think it is awful to utter them -- it is more awful to demand that they should be stated. It is more awful to be the sinner. Your drinking and your gambling must go; your pride, your selfishness, your meanness, your bad temper, your un-Christlikeness must go. Slay to the death your love of pleasure, your love of show, your love of appearing more than you are. God wants you to be as sweet and as lovely and as transparent as the breath of Heaven's own morning. That is God's purpose. Slay to the death. And if some of you are to do that, you must disgorge what you have in your pocket, for some of you are living on that which belongs to other people.

Some of you are in offices you have no right to hold. Some of you are living a double life, and slaying to the death means uncovering, confession, and being true at whatever cost, and utterly destroying. Do you mean to face it? It is not singing hymns and going to church and saying a few prayers and then living as you like. That is blasphemy, that is mockery. Obedience -- a tremendous word -- obedience is better than sacrifice. There is something better than Communion. There is something better than going to Church, there is something better than walking down the aisle on Sunday morning very circumspectly and giving the impression that you are a saint.

There is such a thing as doing right -- that is religion. It is not in silk hats and frock coats and beautiful dresses; it is not going to church parade and making the thing a show. That is humbug and cant in the eyes of people who make no profession at all. It is being Christlike that tells for time and eternity. Obedience is a divine command. Some of you will have to decide now. You will decide between the oxen, the sheep, Agag the Amalekite, the world, the flesh, the devil on the one hand -- and Jesus and suffering, the Cross and Heaven on the other. Which shall it be? You have to decide.

This man, Saul, decided for the oxen and the sheep. He lost a crown, he lost a kingdom, and he lost God. The kingdom and the crown would not have been much, but to lose God, that is hell. If you have God, you can afford to lose a good deal, but to lose all and God, that is hell enough. May God save you from losing Him! Which will you have?

I was trying to preach on this truth a few years ago, and at the close of the inquiry meeting the wife of one of the ministers came to see me. She said, "There is a young lady there wants to speak to you. She refuses to go away. Nobody seems to be able to help her; she will speak to the preacher."

I said, "I will go with you," and we went into the room. I went to the other end of the room and spoke to this poor thing. She said, "Sir, I want to confess an awful sin. I am a mother, and I fathered my child on an innocent man. He was a student in one of the theological colleges studying for the ministry, and I blighted his life as well as branded him. I took him through three courts and won my case, but I have a bit of hell inside. He was dismissed and disgraced, and he is as innocent as you are. What am I to do?"

"Do?" I said; "Do right."

She said, "I have no peace."

"And you may never have peace in this world," I said, "but you may have pardon on condition. There is no such thing as peace for you, till you have done right, and undone the wrong."

I could not spare her. I had to be faithful in order to save. I said, "You must take off that brand as publicly as you put it on -- just as publicly."

"Oh, sir!" she said, "he will send me to prison."

I said, "If it means prison, and you go to prison, you will go with the consciousness that you made an honest attempt to undo the wrong, but for you the way to Heaven is via that confession, and there is no such thing as joy or peace in God for you without taking up your cross."

I shall never forget the effect my words made on that poor thing. She bent, she collapsed, and my heart ached for her. Yet I dare not heal the hurt of that poor thing slightly, nor cry "Peace" falsely. I had to be faithful, and as I knelt beside her I said, "When you are willing as far as lies in your power to undo the wrong, God will help you, and He will not forsake you."

Presently she bit her lip till it bled, and clasping the chair in front of her she said, "O God, I will do it if it means gaol."

It was not an easy path for that poor thing, but she walked it bravely. She went back to the court -- and I am speaking of what was in all the London papers -- she went back to the court and had the court revise the whole case, and in that crowded court she said, when they asked her why she made this confession, "Because I gave my heart to God, and I had to take this course to clear my conscience of its guilt."

Her confession relieved her own heart of its burden, cleared an innocent man, and made an impression on that city which is felt today. The only path of peace is the path of righteousness.

Utterly destroy, put away the evil thing, obey God. Put Him in His right place, and the joy and peace will come.

Will you do it now? You will obey His Word or reject it.

Which will you do? Saul rejected and lost a kingdom. If you are not careful you may lose your soul.

Chapter 7

### He Went Away Sorrowful

_But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful; for he had great possessions_ (Matthew 19:22).

He went away sorrowful, when young man heard that saying! Do you know what that saying was? Jesus had just said to him that he must sell all, give all, leave all, and follow Him all the way; that he must make a complete surrender of himself and all he possessed to Christ and for the purposes of His kingdom.

As he heard that saying he went away, for he had great possessions, and they were great hindrances. He was a rich man, and it is not easy for a rich man to be an out-and-out Christian. A rich man may be a Christian, and some are splendid Christians; but in my judgment it takes far more grace to keep a rich man than it does to keep a poor man. I know many good men who are also rich men, and their riches are consecrated to the service of God and men. But riches make it easy for men to go wrong and to do wrong. That is why the Book says, "Set not thy heart upon them." (Psalm 62:10.) "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." (Matthew 6:24.)

I want especially to speak to you about three words in the centre of this verse: "He went away." He was the rich young ruler, the aristocratic, cultured, refined, moral, popular, attractive young ruler, with a beautiful character and many magnificent points about him -- and he went away. I would like you first of all to remember that he came to Jesus. It is something to come. Nobody can see Jesus as the Lord but by the Holy Ghost. Nobody will desire to come to Christ but by the Holy Ghost. No one takes an intelligent step towards Jesus but as the direct result of the prompting of the Spirit of God. No man can come to Jesus Christ except the Father draw him.

Some do not come when they are drawn. I do not think we sufficiently emphasise this side of the Gospel truth -- that every upward look, every holy desire, every thought of goodness, every aspiration for a nobler life, does not come from the heart within, for that is a sink of iniquity. It is the work of the blessed Spirit which God has given to convict the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. The fact that you are here, is a proof that God is calling you, that He is trying to win you, is coaxing you, arousing you, startling you, making you anxious about these things, and leading you to desire them.

What do we sing sometimes? "Every virtue we possess, and every victory won." What is the next line? "And every thought of holiness, are His alone." Have you found in your heart a desire for Jesus Christ? You must nurse it and coax it. It is God's blessed Spirit-given to lead you from darkness to light. Do not resist it, but yield to its pathos and power, and it will lead you through the dungeon to the palace, from the prison to the freedom of the gospel; from misery to the joy of His salvation, from the bondage of the devil into the glorious liberty of God's dear children.

It will lead you all the way. And when you begin, do not stop, go on. Do not listen when some try to stop you. Do not halt by the way. Turn not to the left hand nor the right. I know there are those who will be foolish enough, wicked and diabolical enough to oppose you and to slander you. Move steadily on with your eyes upon the Cross. Let it not be said of any of you that he came so far, and then went away again.

Now, this man came to Jesus. It is something to come. Some of you have never done even that. You have never moved an intelligent step towards Jesus Christ. You have taken a good many steps the other way. You have gone so far that when you turn and look back at the distance between you and goodness, and God, and Heaven, you are alarmed. If you dare stop and look back, you are alarmed at the picture that presents itself. You are startled at the distance you have travelled down the wrong road.

Stop a moment and listen. Have you ever taken an honest step towards the light? Have you ever taken an intelligent step towards Jesus Christ? Have you ever moved honestly towards a better life? This man did. He came to Christ. But he not only came, he came running. It looks as if he was an earnest, enthusiastic seeker after truth. Remember who he was -- an aristocratic, rich young ruler, a popular, educated man, whom everybody in the city knew; and yet, in broad daylight, that man was seen running to Jesus. Walking was not fast enough. He came, says one of the writers, running to Jesus. And I tell you that when we are in earnest after God and Heaven and eternal life, and when our eyes are open to see the exceeding sinfulness of sin, like Bunyan's pilgrim we shall put our fingers in our ears and flee from the city of destruction towards the land of light, and love, and liberty. We shall run crying, "Life!"

The Lord help us to be in earnest! The young man ran; he seemed to be in earnest. Watch him! When he gets to Jesus he kneels, so that it looks as though he were humble. It is a good thing to kneel. It is not a weak thing nor a mean thing to kneel. It may be childlike, but it is not childish. It takes a man to do it when there are other folk looking on. It is not a foolish or a sanctimonious thing to kneel. There are some who think it is, and they do not, will not, kneel in consequence. They never pray. You prayed once when you were at your mother's knee. But there are some of you who have never prayed since you said, "Gentle Jesus, meek and mild" and "Jesus, tender Shepherd, hear me." Some of you have never prayed since you felt your mother's hand upon your head, except to ask God to blind you, to damn you, to paralyse you, to strike you dead. Some of you can do that. You contaminate God's pure air with your oaths and curses. You might have been to hell for your education, and had the devil for your schoolmaster, you have mastered the language of the pit so perfectly. May God help you to quit your swearing!

It is a mercy God has not heard those awful prayers. I say again that it is not a childish thing to pray. It is a beautiful thing to pray; an ennobling thing. It is an act that Jesus is pleased to see. When a man turns from his sin, his rebellion, his uncleanness, his drunkenness, his lying, his pride, his wicked abominations, and his lust, and gets upon his knees to pray, the Son of God looks over the battlements of the skies, and says, "Behold, he prays."

Do not think it is a childish thing to pray. It is the way to Heaven. This man prayed. If you look at him a little closer, you will see he seems to be not only in earnest and humble, but as if he is honest. He opens his heart to Jesus. He seems to say, "Just tell me what to do. I want eternal life. I know I have not got it. I feel a hunger that has never been satisfied, that I have never been able to appease. There are thoughts in me which I do not understand. There are depths in my being I have never been able to fathom, heights I have never been able to scale, immensities I cannot measure. I somehow feel I want life, eternal life. What shall I do to get it? O man of sorrows, Jesus of Nazareth, good Master, tell me what I am to do."

And Jesus led him step by step. He tried him by the law; and the young man said, "All these have I kept from my youth up; but I do not feel satisfied. Something is missing. What lack I yet?"

And Jesus said, "Hear, then! Sell that -- t-h-a-t -- thou hast and give to the poor, and come and follow Me; and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven."

Look, listener. He ran to Jesus and seemed enthusiastic. He knelt to Jesus and seemed humble. With honest frankness he confessed his heart's need to Christ; and if he take but one step more, he will be saved. If he makes a surrender of himself and his possessions, the angels will sing for joy, and the Church of God will be the richer for all time. If he be honest, brave, courageous, and whole-hearted, and just steps over the line, what joy for time and eternity he will create.

But listen, immortal spirit. See yourself, will you? He came there, but he went away. Do you not see how much you can do, and yet do nothing? Do you not see how far you can climb, only to fall into the infinity of horrors? How much you can seem to know and yet be a fool? How moral and attractive and beautiful it is possible to be in the eyes of the world, and yet be bad enough to turn your back on Christ, and go your own way? Is not that a full-length portrait of yourself?

You may be present at a mission service. You may have come to talk with Jesus. These wonderful privileges may be yours, and yet you may go away. Is it possible for a man to talk with Jesus, to look into the face of Jesus, to handle Jesus, and yet to go away? Yes, this young man did it, and went away. You can do more than that. You can live with Jesus and not know Him. Judas did for three years, and then sold Him for thirty pieces of silver. Some of you have sold Him for less than that. Judas had a field out of the bargain. You have got nothing.

Listen. You can do more than live with Him. You can die in His presence, and never know Him. The thief did, and cursed Him in his dying moments. You can have a great many privileges and yet go away. What are you doing? Is that your history? If this young man had only stepped across the line, if he had only declared himself, how differently the story would have read. If he had looked upon the sacrifice which Jesus commanded him to make, and then looked on Jesus and on Heaven, and thought of all it meant; of the height, the length, the depth, the breadth, the eternity, the joy, the honour, the usefulness for time and eternity that comes to a man who is associated with, and living in and for Emmanuel; if he had taken just that one step, he might have written an Epistle, he might have been an evangelist of the early Church.

If he had come into the kingdom with all his influence and all his magnificent character and capabilities, he would have swept hundreds and thousands into the kingdom of God. All that was lost because he did not come. And when you stand at the bar of God you will be held responsible not only for what you have done, but for what you might have done if you had been on the right side. God has made certain investments in you, and He expects some return now -- and by and by; and woe be to the man or woman who meets with a disappointed Christ. You know what happened to that fig tree. He cursed it. He did not die for it. He died for you. He was disappointed, and He cursed the tree at night, and in the morning it was dead.

I want you to think. "He went away." Where did the young man go to? Back to his riches; but his riches did not satisfy him, and they never would. Riches are convenient. They may gratify you to a large extent. They may give you opportunities for pleasures and preferments. They may help you to widen your outlook for a little, or may blind your outlook. Riches are convenient, but they do not feed the man within. A soul cannot be fed on bricks and mortar. The man who rides in carriages and drives the fastest horses, who drinks the finest sparkling wines, and sits in the fastest company does not revel in these things long. He turns away from them, wearied and tired, and sick at heart.

A lady said to me a little while ago, "I can have all I want, as far as money is concerned," and a big tear rolled down her cheek. "I can have my delights, my fine clothes, my carriage, and my box at the opera or the theatre. I can have my fashions and my fashionable society," and she shook like a tired bird; "but I am weary of it all. I want Jesus. These things do not satisfy me."

If gold could feed a soul, then happy would that man have been who went down in that seething whirlpool and left two millions of money behind him. There was not a ripple to mark the place where he sank. His millions made him a suicide. A millionaire died a little while ago and left twenty millions. His own family said he was the most miserable wretch they ever knew. You cannot satisfy the man within with riches. You are not built that way. You are built with different material, the material out of which God builds the planets, out of which God builds the eternities.

When worlds go out like sparks from a blacksmith's anvil, when those planets are split wheels on the high roads of the eternities, you will still exist. Why do you not try and feed your soul on things eternal? Why feed on air, and "spend your money for that which is not bread and your labour for that which satisfieth not?" (Isaiah 55:2.)

His riches could not help him. When he left Jesus, he left the riches of the skies. He left the treasures that never fade away. His riches could not help him, and they cannot help you. Where did he go? Did he go to his friends? Who could take the place of Jesus? He had left Him. His friends were as badly off as he. He had not found in his friends what he had wanted, or he would not have come to Jesus. The true friends of this world are few and far between. False friends bless you while the sun shines; they applaud you whilst your pockets are full, your cheek red, your eye clear, and your brain brilliant; but let sorrow come, let the cyclone of misery strike you, the avalanche of failure fall upon you, and then where are your friends? They do not know you.

The friendships of the world are poor. Do not think you will find a substitute in humanity for Jesus Christ. He is "a friend that sticketh closer than a brother." (Proverbs 18:24.) Where did he go? Back to his pleasures? They faded, and passed away with the evening. They were gone with the morning cloud. They perished in the using, faded like the flowers, and went out with the light. There is a certain amount of gratification in worldly pleasure, I know, but it does not last.

Wait till the bloom has gone from your cheek; it can never be put back. You may try, but we know when it is not real. When the eye grows dim, you can never light that fire again. Wait till the brain refuses to think, till the hand trembles, and the step is infirm. What then? Where are the pleasures then? You may call them up, but they will refuse to come; you may thunder, but they will be deaf; you may ask the pleasures of the world to fulfil their part of the contract, the bargain they promised to give you; but they are bankrupt, they are sold up and empty.

The pleasures He gives are for evermore. Where did the young man go? Did he go to Heaven? Come now, you are an intelligent person; I appeal to your judgment and your conscience. Did he go to Heaven? Remember, Jesus Christ was there. This young man came to Jesus, but he went away when he was told what to do to get into the kingdom. Did he go to Heaven? No, he left that when he left Jesus.

If you could climb the steps of gold, get through the gates of pearl, and search for the man, you would search in vain. If you looked across the landscape of eternal beauty you would not find him; if you looked at the processions of triumph you would not find him there; if you looked through the many mansions you would not find him; if you looked for him among the multitude which John saw, which no man can number, that "have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb," (Revelation 7:14) you would not find him there.

He is not known to the Lion of the tribe of Judah. And if you went and said to Jesus, "Master, where is that young ruler? The last time I saw him was in that evangelistic service, and he seemed concerned. He ran, he was moved, he prayed, he wept; he asked then what he was to do to be saved; he seemed very promising. Where is he?" I think Jesus would say, "Do you not know that he went away? He might have been here, but he left this when he left Me. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father but by Me." (John 14:6.)

There is no other way given under Heaven whereby we can be saved. The person who refuses to take that course, morning, noon, and night, goes out into the darkness, the deep, dark night, the starless, hopeless, eternal night. "He went away."

Jesus comes to you now, my brother, to you, my sister, with a voice full of pathos, full of pleading, full of love for you, full of power to save you. He knows what you are thinking, what you are feeling. You are concerned about your soul, because His Spirit is striving with you, making you think of eternal things. In the light of this young man's case, now that you are on the point of turning one way or the other, He says to you, "Will you also go away?" Can you go, in the face of that? Dare you go away? If you dare, some day you will hear Him say, "Then they went away, now they must go into the outer darkness." You must settle it with yourself.

Nobody can hinder you if you will come; nobody can make you come unless you will. How can I help you to do it? I plead with you for Jesus Christ's sake not to go another step in the wrong direction, not to take another step away from Jesus. If you cannot get to Him because you feel too feeble, if you feel too paralysed and physically unable to take a step towards Him because of sin, then turn your face to Him. Do not turn your back upon Him, for that means death.

Fall upon your knees, looking unto Jesus. Pray now. You say, "I cannot pray." Say this prayer, "Lord, help me," and if you cannot say it all, say "Lord." If you cannot say even that, then look, for "There is life for a look at the Crucified One, There is life at this moment for thee." With all the power of my being, for Christ's sake, for the sake of the Cross, for the sake of the bloody sweat, for the sake of the grief and shame, do not go away. Move towards Him, and let it be now, remembering that "there is joy in Heaven over one sinner that repenteth." (Luke 15:7.)

Chapter 8

### The Final Choice

_And as he reasoned of righteousness and temperance_ [or, as the Revised Version has it, 'self control'] _and judgment to come, Felix trembled [or, was terrified], and answered, Go thy way for this time: when I have a convenient season_ [and please note the little word 'more' which you so often put in when you quote this verse is not in the verse at all: it is often incorrectly quoted, 'When I have a more convenient season'] _\-- when I have a convenient season I will call for thee_ (Acts 24:25.)

This is a wonderful picture. I wish I could paint it. Three people -- one God's prophet, God's messenger, the other two a man and a woman who were living a very sinful life. Paul is in prison, awaiting his trial, and these two want some new excitement, something to amuse and something to entertain. Time, though they live in sin, hangs heavily. They are spending their money for that which is not bread, and their labour for that which satisfieth not, and like the man of whom we read that longed for some new pleasure, and offered a reward to anybody who would invent one, these two want something else to excite, something to pass away the time, and so they send for God's prophet that he may entertain them.

Says the verse that precedes this one, "He sent for Paul and heard him concerning faith in Christ." And it needs courage to preach to one man, or to two people. There are those who can preach to the crowd. It takes a man with the vision of the Cross to preach to two people; to see that a little child may be a nation; and when we have the right spirit we shall see in one person something worth preaching to. If you are sent to preach the truth, you must be unsparing and faithful, you must declare the whole counsel of God. It takes courage to preach to the man who sits in a high position, when he is close to you, when he is in his own house and you are sitting at his table, or in his own room face to face. That was the picture. There sat Drusilla, there sat Felix, and here stood Paul, and he may have had the chains on him, the chains that told of suffering for Christ's sake.

Paul never had a better chance than then of making a friend of one who could help him when the trial came on. His enemies were outside, his accusers were away. Those who were thirsting for his blood were not in this little, quiet meeting amongst the three. If he will only flatter, if he will only congratulate instead of expostulate, if he will fawn upon Felix and toady to him, if he will compromise he may capture this man at any rate, then he will have a friend at court when the day of trial comes.

But, listen, Paul was not made of that material. He could suffer, he could die, but he could not sin, he could not dilute his message. His message was burning in his very soul; his message had come down to him as "Thus saith the Lord." And he seemed to take in the whole situation, and realise that this was his only chance of dealing personally, pointedly, piercingly with this sinner in front of him and the other sinner beside him. And so he reasoned -- of the Cross? Not to begin with. Of the shed blood? Not to begin with. Did he preach from this text, "God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son"? Not to begin with. Did he say, "He that believeth on the Son shall be saved"?

No. He reasoned of righteousness, he talked about God's holiness. He talked about God's love for righteousness and holiness, and how it was His purpose to lift men into that atmosphere. And he would talk about God's hatred for sin, and he made sin appear sin. He did not excuse sin; he meant Felix to see and feel the awfulness of his own sin. He reasoned of rightness, wholeness, Godlikeness, purity. He brought Felix up to face the blazing light and the scorching presence of God's purity. He talked of righteousness. I do not think that that side of the truth in these days is enforced as it ought to be. We have preached the love of God till some are lovesick. You know God's love. What you need to be told, and what I mean to tell you before I get through, is that God hates sin as much today as when Christ hung on the nails to put it away, and that He does not look upon sin with the least degree of allowance.

Pau reasoned of righteousness to a man who was unrighteous. He talked about self-control -- temperance -- to the man who was intemperate, and whose passion was running wild. The man within was riot. His whole being was in a state of anarchy, a rebel. He talked of righteousness, judgment; and as I have tried to enforce before, religion that honours God is right-doing, walking straight, holding a constant witness to the cleansing power of the precious blood. It is not hunting up meetings and preachers and going to conventions, taking your pencils and writing down in little note-books pretty little sayings, beautiful little extracts, pretty thoughts.

It is letting them blaze in your life when the convention is over, when the meeting is past, when the Sunday is gone -- Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, three hundred and sixty-five days in the year all aglow, warm with holiness unto the Lord. Righteousness. "The kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness -- rightness." (Romans 14:17.) It is turning from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God. It is the wicked man forsaking his wickedness in conformity to the will of God.

Righteousness \-- not going to church, nor being christened, or confirmed, or baptized, or taking Communion. All that will fall into the proper place, but first of all righteousness, rightness, right relationship with Heaven, readjustment with God, putting me in my right place with God, and God in His right place in me and in all my concerns. What we want is sin dethroned, self dethroned, Christ honoured and Christ glorified not only among the angels, not only among the saints who march around the steps of the throne, not only among those who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, and are singing the song of Moses and the Lamb, but down here in the city, in your home, in your workshop, in your business -- rightness, righteousness in your yard measure, righteousness in your weights and scales, righteousness in your ledger; to handle your ledger with as much religious feeling and fervour as you take your seat in the pew on Sundays and handle the Communion cup -- this is what the gospel means.

I tell you this is a mighty, sweeping gospel. It is an unsparing gospel where sin is concerned. "He reasoned of righteousness, of temperance, and of judgment." (Acts 24:25.) Judgment, don't forget it; judgment here and judgment yonder. Do not forget that "God hath appointed a day in which He will judge the world." (Acts 17:31.) Do not forget that there is a great white throne, and that we will have to stand before it. Do not forget that we shall stand as we are, and not as we seem to be, and that we will have to give an account of the deeds done in the body. And do not forget that it will not be a mock judgment, it will be a righteous judgment, that God will be the judge, and that He will render to every man according as his work shall be.

Oh to have listened to Paul as he waxed fiery, flaming as he talked of righteousness and of judgment! Oh to have seen the flash in his eye, and the pointed finger and the erect figure as he shook and the chains rattled, while he lifted as high as he could that hand, pointing to the great white throne! Oh to have seen him as he pealed out the truth upon Felix like a mighty thunderclap into his conscience and into his brain until he shook, until the seat shook on which he sat, until he clutched it and said, "Hold, that will do, Paul! I know it is true. I have heard as much as I can carry, I have got as much as I can bear; that will do. Go back to the dungeon. It is not convenient. I know it all, I feel it all; I know what I ought to do. My soul, my conscience, my better self, my illuminated judgment, everything -- God the Spirit, your word and your presence, and these clanking chains -- tells me what I ought to be and what I ought to do, but it is not convenient. When it is convenient I will send for thee."

Cannot you hear Paul marching down that corridor? Cannot you hear the rattle of those chains? And don't you hear the slamming of the door that shuts the old saint up -- glorious old Paul -- in that dungeon for Christ's sake? Listen. The slamming of that door is but the echo of another door which closed itself for ever against these two when Paul was ordered off. When he went, their chance went with him. Oh how different the story might have read! How blessedly it might have ended! How triumphantly it ought to have ended! But the man hugged his sin and would not yield.

Now, why did not Felix become a Christian? He might have been an apostle, he might have been an evangelist, he might have written an Epistle. It takes a saint to do that. He might have left a message which would have blessed the world; he might have left a decision that would have been an inspiration for all time. But he went the other way. He decided against Paul and Paul's Christ. And surely if any man in the world ever had a fair chance of salvation, Felix had. With the world shut out and with that great soul-winner in front of him, with nobody to interrupt, nobody to come between, nobody but Paul and His Master facing him, and the plan of salvation in front of him, and the heavens opening above him, and the light streaming down upon him, and God speaking through his saint -- surely no man ever had a better chance of life eternal than this man.

Surely, my brother, my sister, you cannot look in the face of God one day and say, "I should have been a Christian if I had an opportunity." You cannot say that, because you have this blessed hour in which to yield to God. If you never had a chance before, you have one now. And if you never had anybody to talk to you about these things, you have someone now. You cannot plead at the great white throne that you never had a chance. Felix cannot. Surely no man ever had a better preacher than Paul, the prince of preachers. There was no diluting of the message with Paul. There was no stooping to suit his people. He was not afraid of the man in the chariot and he did not despise the man in the gutter. Why, Paul, glorious old Paul, he said himself, "I determined to know nothing among you save Christ and Him crucified." (1 Corinthians 2:2.)

There was no mongrel gospel with Paul. There was no water and milk gospel with Paul. It was the pure, unadulterated, unchanging, living message. Surely you cannot say when you get to the white throne, if you have not a wedding garment on, you cannot say, "Well, if I had only heard the pure gospel I should have been saved." You cannot say that. You have had it from the pulpit, you have had it from the lips of your own ministers, you have heard it till you can go to sleep under it. You are hardened by the process of listening to it. For this mighty gospel, what it does not soften and weld, it hardens. It is the savour of life or of death. You know it, and you are familiar with it. You have had the gospel as faithfully as ever Paul preached it. Surely this man might have been saved, for he was convicted. He felt more than he wanted to feel. He trembled, but, mark this -- he trembled, but the woman did not. That is striking.

I have often seen two people sit together under the same sermon, and I have seen one shake and tremble and weep beneath the power of God, and I have seen the other rebellious and hard and hindering. I have seen one want to come, and I have seen the other pull him back. When a woman does set herself against Christ, she does. I have not been an evangelist for a quarter of a century without finding out that when a woman does come to Christ, she comes all the way. I believe this man would have been saved, yea, I know he would, but for that woman. Felix trembled; she did not. He felt, he was convicted, he was awake, he knew, he was concerned, he was wrought upon. Haven't you been there? Is not your conscience, my sister, my brother, with me at this moment?

Don't you feel your sin; don't you see something of its wickedness; don't you realise something of its damning power; don't you see how it is spoiling you, how it is robbing you of your manhood; don't you see how your life is embittered; don't you see how it is leading you away from God and rightness? Don't you see it? I know you do. That is the Spirit at work within you. Your conscience and your judgment is bearing me witness. Don't you see that you can get as far as trembling conviction, and yet stop and refuse to take the decisive step? Why do you not yield? I want to push that question till I get an answer. Why didn't Felix surrender?

If he heard the gospel from the lips of that faithful man and felt its awful import; if that stupendous opportunity was his in which he might have built a throne, why did he take the dungeon? If the hour was his in which he might have set an anthem ringing around the throne, why did he forge the chain? If the hour was his in which he might have decked the brow of Emmanuel, why, in the name of everything that is good, did he grovel in the dust and allow hell to drive over him its chariots and to grind him to powder? Why?

Don't you see the damning effects, the deluding effects, the destroying effects of sin? The reason is given in one word -- sin. His own sin. Beside him sat another man's wife with whom he was living. Are you surprised that Paul talked of righteousness? How could he talk of anything else? Could God smile on that? He talked of righteousness. I should think so. And Felix knew if he became a Christian, that woman must go home to her husband; at any rate, she must go from him. He knew that, and he looked at her, and in that look he lost his soul. He said, "No, it is not convenient. When it is I will call for thee." But he never did, he never had another chance.

Samson lost his strength through a woman. The daughter of Herodias danced Herod into the pit. Drusilla was the chain that bound this man Felix for time and for eternity. What is binding you? What is fettering you? What is getting you by the heart and life? What has gripped you in its clutch? What is it? You know. You know. Who is it? You know, and God knows. The truth will out some day. The truth will out, for every man has some special sin. It may not be lust for a woman, but it may be lust for gold; it may be lust for drink, it may be appetite in another form, it may be ambition, which is just as damning. What is it? Every woman has her own sin. It may not be lust for a man, but it is lust of some sort, and there are some women who will sell their souls and the souls of their children for dress and trinkets. May God save you.

Listen -- it is a choice between sin and holiness. It is a tremendous choice, but there can be no two opinions about it, if you look at it wisely and well. It is a choice between the low and the high, the earthly and the heavenly, time and eternity, the perishable and the imperishable, the tinsel and the real gold, the passing moment and the Heaven that awaits those who will only obey. Men and women, sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty, rise to the occasion. Don't mingle for yourselves the bitter drink; don't fly in the face of your eternal interests. Don't fight against God. Don't hug your sin. Don't play the fool -- don't. God wants to save you, and He will save you. He would have saved that man if he had come, but he did not; and because he did not, God could not. "Ye will not come unto Me that ye might have life." (John 5:40.) "How often would I have gathered you under My wing ... and ye would not." (Luke 13:34.)

It is not God's fault. If a man goes to hell -- whatever hell may mean, I pray you may never find out -- but whatever hell is, if a man goes there, it is because he will not accept God's remedy. You cannot charge God with your destruction; you must charge it home to your own will in the choice of evil, in your own wicked, rebellious, God-dishonouring, God-hating, Christ-rejecting life. You must charge yourself.

I cannot hear my Lord libelled without protest. Some of you say, "Do you think God is a God of love, to send a man to hell?" God does not send him there; he sends himself. You don't go to hell because you are a sinner, but because you refuse God's remedy. You refuse God's grace; you refuse the way of salvation. God wants to save you from your sin, and He will save you now if you will submit. Will you give up your sin? You don't want me to name your sin. If I did know it, I would hold it before you till you loathed it; I would make you face it; I would hold it in front of you till you ran away from it. I would make you see your own sin, in spite of yourself, were it in my power, till you yielded and gave yourself wholly to Jesus Christ.

My brother, my sister, let this be a time of real surrender, when you turn from the wicked thing, the thing that God hates in your life, the thing that has made you all you are, the thing that is destroying you day by day. Turn from that, and turn from it now, and you will hear Him say to you as you come, though your coming is faltering, though it is weak, if it is coming, if it is turning from sin, if it is yielding to God your heart, your life, all there is, with no reservation; the whole being, absolute, entire -- if it is a real surrender, you will hear Him say, "Thy sins are forgiven thee"; and if your ears were a little keener, then you would hear the angels singing, "The dead is alive, and the lost is found." (Luke 15:24.)

Chapter 9

### Saved and Unsaved

_The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved_ (Jeremiah 8:20).

The two last words in this verse are those which I wish to speak to you about. I will not ask you to follow me through the textual windings of these words, but simply to think of some of the things they suggest. I want you to listen, you whom these words specially describe, for whatever you or I may think, there are only two classes of people: there are the saved and there are the unsaved.

First, the people who are really Christ's by an intelligent decision, surrender, and living, vital faith; those who have passed from death unto life; those who are described by the words of the apostle, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:1); those who are described by that wonderful word, "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that when He shall appear we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." (1 John 3:2-3.)

Those who are born again and have the witness within that they are accepted in the Beloved; those who can say, with the poet:

Amazing grace, 'tis Heaven below

To feel His blood applied,

And Jesus, only Jesus know,

My Jesus crucified.

Those who can say with Wesley:

No condemnation now I dread;

Jesus, and all in Him, is mine!

Alive in Him, my living Head,

And clothed in righteousness divine,

Bold I approach the eternal throne,

And claim the crown, through Christ my own.

Those who are hidden in Him by faith, and who can say with the apostle, "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death: for what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law," says the apostle, "in Christ Jesus hath made me free." (Romans 8:2-4.)

There are many among those I am addressing who know what that experience is. They have come to Calvary by faith; they have bathed His feet with their tears; they have wiped them with the hair of their head; they have heard Him saying just as really and truly as He said it to the woman who did it, "Thy sins are forgiven thee"; and you came from the Cross singing, "I will love Him because He first loved me."

There are those among you -- I say it on the authority of the Word of God -- who have passed from death unto life, who know Jesus saves them, who have consigned themselves and handed themselves over to be Christ's men and women. They have sealed the contract; they are God's property, and they sing, "Not my own, but saved by Jesus, I am His"; my life is His, and must flow along His channels; my words must be spoken as in His presence, and my all must be done as for eternity. There are those who know that they are saved. "Ye are saved by grace." It is all of free grace, perfect love working on behalf of those who are perfectly worthless. It is not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy.

No work of our own would accomplish this. We are not saved by works, but we are saved for works. You cannot be saved by your works, but you cannot be saved long without works. You cannot build a house without materials, and you cannot live a new life with an old heart. You must know Christ in your own heart before you can claim those mighty words in capitals -- SAVED BY GRACE.

My heart saddens as I think of the multitude who are not really saved. And God knows. He sees the innermost heart. "Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts," says the Psalmist. (51:6.) God can turn the light on in the most dingy corner of every heart and life, and though there may be the profession and the cloak of religion and the outward garb -- going to church, hymn singing, Bible reading, and all these things -- yet the heart itself may be like a cage of unclean birds. Though the outward platter be clean, there may be rottenness and corruption within. That was the charge our Lord brought against the people who thought themselves saved and who did not want the Light when it came, but rejected it.

Some of you are in the same state. Indeed, you have got angry with me for telling you the truth. You would rather be left alone; you don't thank me nor anybody else for telling you the truth, and the devil within you cries out, as it did to the Son of God, "Let us alone, torment us not." (Mark 1:24.) And that is the sad part of it to me, that here in the dawn of the twentieth century, with light, with education, with respectability, with church-going, and a sort of sentimental concern for all these things, that you should listen to me, while on your poor scared conscience, on your poor, worthless and wasted life, and even church-going respectable life, there is written, as by the finger of God, those two words on you -- on you, my brother, and on you my sister, though you were at church last Sunday -- Not Saved; and the ink in which they are written was distilled by your own iniquity, which makes it all the blacker.

Yet you know it need not have been so; you might have been saved. Some of you come from the best homes; you had the best training possible. Love! Yes, the tenderness of a mother's love, and all that means; a father's love, and all that means; the sweetest and most beautiful surroundings were yours; you were born, cradled and nurtured in a home filled with goodness, and in your veins there flows the moral blood, the moral momentum -- the result of a godly ancestry.

In your veins there flows -- in some of you -- the blood of saints and martyrs; and yet you are not saved. Think of your opportunities, of your Sunday school days, your church days. You have been lifted to the gates of gold with the superior weight of advanced opportunity. You cannot plead ignorance at the bar of God. The very angels would cry out against you, and say, "We flew to that man on errands of mercy"; the sun, the moon, and the stars would cry out; the rocks, the streams, and all nature would join in the chorus, "Away with him, for he knew better."

If you had been born in a gipsy tent where there was no Bible I could pity you, but you come from homes where a Bible was in almost every room, where you were just saturated with a mother's influence. It might have been different; it ought to have been, for you had the light -- light enough to save a nation. Think of it; think of it. God help us to think! Think of all that has been lavished on you, of all the hopes that have been centred and focused upon you. Think of all that God has done for you, of the trouble He has taken, of the patience with which He has borne with you. Think of the mercy He has shown you, of all the life given to you; and remember He has spared you for one purpose -- to save you, and somehow or other you have managed to thwart and frustrate His designs until today.

Not saved -- and salvation cost so much, was purchased so dearly. If you want to know how dearly, go a long way back. Sin is old, but the Blood is older: God had a Lamb slain before the foundations of the world; and if you want to know how much it cost God to save you, go back to the beginning, away back over the mighty sea of time; and if that is too far, go to Calvary, to Bethlehem, to Nazareth, to Gethsemane. Did you ever think of it? It was no sudden sorrow that overtook Him; it was a long-looked-for and anticipated agony.

When He worked on that carpenter's bench and took hold of that piece of timber, He must have thought of the piece that would be a Cross upon which He would hang. And when He took up that hammer, don't you suppose He thought of another hammer that would strike Him; and when He handled those nails, don't you think there were other nails in His mind that would pierce His hands and feet? And when He took the knots out of that timber, don't you think they would remind Him of the thorns that would pierce His lovely brow? Ah, He must have thought of it; He knew it all; yet He faced it all, and did not turn to the right nor to the left.

When His loved ones tried to prevent Him going to that bloody tree, He set them back and set His face toward Calvary. Born in another man's stable; buried in another man's grave; His first pillow, straw; and His last, a crown of thorns. His first companions, cattle, and His last, thieves. His first resting-place, somebody else's manger, and His last, somebody else's grave; and it was for me, for you. Have you ever thanked Him? Have you ever gone on your knees and showed your gratefulness? You have cursed Him, taken His name in vain, rejected Him and spurned Him, and spurned His followers and ridiculed or criticised unmercifully, but you have never thanked Jesus. That is the damning sin -- ingratitude. Don't forget!

My brother, my sister, there is nothing that has cost God so much as this, and yet there is nothing which you have treated with such contempt. Don't be afraid of the Cross. I know it is your humiliation, but it is also your salvation. I know it shows up your darkness and your sin, but it is the key which unlocks the gates of gold and invites everybody to come in and share the bounties of God's love. I would rather be Gipsy Smith this side of the Cross than Adam on the other side. If we sin, we have an Advocate with the Father. They used to go to the Cross to die, now they go to live. It used to be the place of death, but now it is the place of life. Flashing out from that Cross with its outstretched arms inviting the world, I hear words -- words sweeter than any music the world has ever listened to -- crying, "Him that cometh unto Me, I will in no wise cast out." (John 6:37.)

God help you to come! Think of it in this light: Not saved, and salvation so important. If your sin was base and black enough, cruel enough to tear Jesus from the Throne and nail Him to the accursed tree -- and He was obedient even unto death -- what will your sin do with you if you do not get rid of it? It will have no mercy. Unless you are saved according to God's plan, you are lost. There is no other Name, no other Way, no other Salvation, and if you miss this, you miss all. Your salvation depends upon that Cross; your freedom depends on that surrender; your hope for this life and for the life to come hangs on that Cross. Pull that down and you are doomed; the world has absolutely nothing instead to offer you. Turn your back on this, and you are lost for ever.

Think of it in this light: Not saved, and your chances of being saved going, passing away. Some of you have less chance now than you ever had in your life, and if you miss this opportunity you may never have another. You can never tell how near Death may not be; and if you let this chance go by, God help you, for it may be your last on earth. My brother, my sister, be saved now; Jesus calls and wants to save you, but even He cannot save you against your will. He has seen your heart moved and made tender, and you have gone away unsaved. He has had to say, "Ye would not come unto Me that ye might have life" (John 5:40.)

If I could save you, I would. If my arms were strong and long enough I would bear you all to Jesus. If one word of mine could do it, I would speak it; if anything I could do would bring the unsaved gathering to my Lord, how gladly would I work a miracle! But it is beyond me, and there are some things Jesus cannot do; and one of them is that He cannot save a soul against its will; and unless some of you make haste He will have to tell you some day that He would have saved you, but you thwarted Him. He longed to do it, but you would not have it; you resisted to the bitter end.

When my father was a young man, a band of our people, the gipsies, fifty or more of them, had been picking a field of hops on a farm near Tonbridge in Kent. Some of you may be old enough to remember it, for it is a matter of history, and if you have ever occasion to visit Tonbridge, ask to see the monument they erected to my people. These gipsies had finished one field, and were crossing to another field on the other side of the Medway. They mounted the wagon -- men, women, and children -- and away the horses started, and their jokes, songs, and laughter made merry music to the other toilers in the fields as they passed.

As they turned a bend in the lane they saw the old rotten wooden bridge over which they hoped to pass safely. The river was in flood and flowing over the roadway, and when the women saw it they were frightened, and some of them screamed -- for gipsy women are only like other women \-- and before the drivers could stop, the horses, startled by the screams, ran away, crashing into the sides of the old structure, and instantly they were all thrown into the flowing river current.

A brave young gipsy seized one of the horses drifting down, and watched for one who was dearer to him than anyone in the world -- his mother -- and the gipsy boy loves his mother. Presently he saw her, and after many struggles he reached her. But she seized him in such a way that he could not manage to save her, and at last she sank. When the day of the funeral came there were over thirty gipsies buried, and people gathered from all the countryside to show their sympathy with these poor people.

Forgetting the crowd and the clergyman, the poor lad crept down into the trench which contained the coffins, and kneeling beside his mother's he cried, "Mother, mother, I tried to save you; I did all a man could do to save you, but you would not let me." And if some of you don't mind, Gipsy Smith will have to cry at the Bar of God, "I did all a man could do to save you, but you would not let me." And if you don't mind, Jesus Christ will have to say, "I did all a God could do to save you, but you would not let Me."

"Oh, be saved, His grace is free;

Oh, be saved, He died for thee."

Chapter 10

### Gleaning for God

A Talk to Christian Workers

_Now Peter and John went up to the temple at the hour of prayer_ (Acts 3:1).

IF Peter and John had been absent from that particular prayer meeting I think they might have been excused, especially if you think for a moment of the wonderful times through which they had just passed. For if ever men in the world had their minds and hearts crowded with food for reflection, with something to take up their mind and occupy their attention, these men had.

Peter and John had just witnessed the crucifixion; they had just witnessed the resurrection; they had just witnessed the ascension; they had just witnessed the fulfilling of the promise, "I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh." They now knew, as they never did know, never could have known without that experience, what Jesus meant when He said, "It is expedient for you that I go away, for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come; and when He is come, He shall abide with you for ever." (John 16:7.)

They now knew something of what Jesus meant when He said, "Tarry at Jerusalem until ye receive the promise of the Father." (Luke 24:49.) They now knew something of what He meant when He said, "Ye shall receive power after the Holy Ghost is come upon you." (Acts 1:8.) They had waited in that upper room in obedient prayer, believing prayer. They were all there, and they were all of one mind and of one heart, and they waited till the dawn of Pentecost kissed their brow and bathed their hearts and filled their spirits.

When it was noised abroad that this mighty indwelling, this reinforcement, this tide, this indefinable something had taken possession of these men, when it was noised abroad in the city, you know the result. The people flocked in their thousands, and when they looked at these men they could not understand it. They saw something in them that they had never seen before. They felt something about them which they had never felt before. They were changed; marvellously changed. They were bold, such boldness as they had never witnessed. They took knowledge of their boldness, and their speaking moved them and surprised them, for they all heard them speak in their own tongue, wherein they were born, and yet they were unlearned and ignorant men. And they said, "What meaneth this? This is what it means. They are not themselves; they are not responsible; they are drunk."

I wonder if anybody would ever come to your quiet, sedate, orthodox, refined, smooth, poetic, beautiful service and say, "You are drunk." I wonder if anybody would ever come up into your church and look at your minister and look at your professing Christians and say, "They are all drunk together." The fact is, we are too sober. That is what we are trying to avoid. We do not want people to say that; we want them to go away and say, "That is just beautiful." The people will not say it is just beautiful if we are faithful. We want people to go away and say, "Oh, I did enjoy that!" I never heard of anybody enjoying a surgical operation, and that is what every sermon ought to be. It ought to be a piercing to the quick. It ought to be a stirring of the man within. It ought to be the undoing of things and making us feel and realise what we are in the presence of Almighty God. "They are drunk," that is what they said. Does not that piece up with what they said of the Lord?

They said His disciples were drunk; they said of Him, "You must excuse Him today, He is not all there, He is beside Himself," practically, "Jesus is insane," because He forgot to eat bread, because He forgot all those who had natural claims and ties upon Him. Because in the service of God, in the glorying of His father and in the doing of His will, and in the redemption of the world, He tarried not nor turned not to the right nor to the left until all might be accomplished, they said, "He is beside Himself." (Mark 3:21.)

I wonder if anybody in the world ever got the impression that you were insane; you had got so much God, so much religion, so much of the Spirit of Jesus; you were so unselfish, so Christlike, so Calvary-possessed that they said you were insane? The fact is, we are all too sane. They said, "These men are drunk with new wine."

"No," said Peter, for it is astonishing how acute at hearing Holy Ghost-filled people are -- "no," he said, "we are not drunk. You are wrong. We are not drunk, as ye suppose. We are more sober than you think. But listen: this that you see, this that you hear, this mighty movement that you are feeling, this lightning flash, this illumination, this arrest of the attention, this evicting of sin, this crying for God \-- it is not wine. This is a fulfilment of the promise, 'I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh.'" (Acts 2:17 and Joel 2:28.)

Now, listen: if that first little picture of the early Church that you have in this chapter, or the preceding chapter, on the day of Pentecost, if that was God's ideal Church, will you paint that picture as it was and as it ought to be, and will you paint the picture of the Church of God, so called, today, and will you put the two side by side, and dare any man in his sane mind and in his sane moments say this is as that? Dare any man say that the Church today -- and when I speak of the Church I use the word in the sense that the Bible uses it -- dare any man say the Church today is that? I think if we are honest we shall say that we have fallen from grace. May God help us to get back again!

You cannot read your Bible, you cannot read these Acts of the Spirit through the Apostles, you cannot read of these wonderful days of the first Church without feeling, "If that is God's ideal, where are we?" And do not blame anybody, because we are part of the society. The Church of God is made up of units, and you and I are units of that great Church, and we are responsible in our degree and in our capacity and according to our light; we are responsible for the general condition of things. The Lord open our eyes that we may see as these men saw.

When a mighty Spirit came and took possession of them, and Peter had spoken a little bit, three thousand people fell and cried for mercy. That was a wonderful day's work, was it not? Three thousand conversions in a day! And then they say sometimes, "You must not count converts." Well, they counted them this time, and Jesus says there is joy in Heaven over one. If He counts one, He counts three thousand. And on the heels of that wonderful ingathering of souls, three thousand of them, they had a big collection. So you see the collection is as religious as getting people converted. Don't ever turn blue when the collection is made or announced, because the collection is as religious as Calvary, and until you know how to give, you do not know what Calvary means. The collection is scriptural, and when a man puts his chequebook on God's altar and says, "Here, Lord, here is my name. Fill in that cheque just as you like. You know how much I can afford and you know how much I can give. Fill it in for what you like," you may know he is not far from the kingdom.

Giving means grace, and when a man gets from God he must give to God. Now, if Peter and John had come together and said, "Look here, brethren, we have had all these wonderful experiences and we have seen three thousand people converted, and we have so many converts to look after and to form into a Church," I can believe that this was not neglected by Peter and John, because as a rule the Lord knows the people with whom He can trust three thousand converts. The Lord knows the Church nowadays where He can trust newborn babes. If the Lord gave some Churches that I could name new-born babes, they would have to put out their nursing, for they have neither food nor clothes for them, and no atmosphere that they could breathe.

The Lord knows the people He can trust with converts. I can believe Peter and John did just exactly what I am saying they did -- all that men could do to conserve what they had captured. If Peter and John had got together and said, "Now, look here, there is all this collection to be invested and stored, and taken great care of; all our Church coffers are full, we must have committees and trustees and all the rest of it," that would not be neglected either, we know. I am sure Peter and John did not handle it, because a little later they had none.

Now, fancy Peter and John, with the Cross in their view, with the resurrection shining like a star in their sky, with the ascension fresh in their memory, with this mighty power of the Holy Spirit upon their lives, and the cry of three thousand souls in their ears. And yet Peter and John, who saw all that in the morning, could not stay away from the weeknight prayer meeting, and therein lies the power of their victory.

You let me see the weeknight prayer meeting of any Church in your neighbourhood, and I will gauge its spiritual life. The weeknight prayer meeting is the spiritual thermometer of any Church, and if you will tell me how often you go to a weeknight prayer meeting I will tell you where you are; and if you will let me hear you pray in public, and give me a chance to put my finger on your spiritual pulse, I will diagnose your spiritual life. There never was a day in the history of the world when the Church was so rich in many ways as she is today. We never had such magnificent preaching as we have today. We never had such a multitude of splendid preachers as we have today.

There have been times when we have had fewer great preachers, and they stood out like mountaintops, but the average man today is preaching the Gospel of the Son of God full and free. There never was a day when we had such magnificent church buildings as we have today. There never was a time when men were putting their hands deeper in their pockets to give their gold to the cause of God as they are doing today. There never was a day when you had such magnificent singing, Church singing -- and do not think I am down on music, because I learned my music from God's choirs in feathers: the thrush, the nightingale, the skylark, the linnet. When God's choirs begin to sing, everybody else must be silent. I do not mean vocal gymnastics, either, I mean singing -- singing.

There never was a day when the Church had such magnificent singing as she has today. There never was a day when the Church of God was giving so much to save the masses as she is doing today. Why, you remember, and so do I, ten or twelve or twenty years ago the mission room was in a back street, a little low-ceilinged place, if it was not down in a cellar with the windows broken, and the forms all crazy and wanting mending, an old asthmatical harmonium in a corner with one pedal gone, and twenty or thirty young ragged urchins running about, and two or three young ladies to keep them quiet. And if you had anybody whom you had to let preach somewhere, and you did not want him in the Churches, somebody like Gipsy Smith, you sent him to the mission room.

And in the school of the big church, if you had a set of old hymnbooks or Bibles that you could no longer go on with -- books with half the pages missing -- and an old instrument that you could manage with no longer; somebody got up and asked, "What shall we do with the old one?" And some economic brother said, "Oh, send it to the mission room," and you expected to convert the slums by that cheap method. You have changed all that, thank God. You are spending as much as fifty thousand pounds on mission halls, and you are giving your grandest instruments, your best singers, and your mightiest preachers to reaching the masses. All that is changed, and some of us have seen it changed. I wish we could change our prayer meetings too. The weak spot in the Church of God is its prayer meetings.

You can crowd your schoolrooms with entertainments, you can crowd them with dramatic performances -- and some of our Churches have them. I wish I could have my way with such Churches. I would either convert the folk in them or I would set fire to the buildings. I would not allow God's house to be desecrated by worldly methods. You cannot save humanity with the devil's tools. You can crowd your churches with worldly things, but try to get the people to a prayer meeting, they have got asthma, they have got a cold, they cannot come out at night. The Lord Mayor invites them to dinner, and you hear nothing about the cold or the asthma, and they can go out in a dress too short at the top and too long at the bottom. Is it true? Is that a fancy picture?

Listen -- we are playing at religion. We are playing at it -- the Lord help us to live it. These men went to the prayer meeting, and I want you to see that if the Church is to do anything in any neighbourhood for Jesus Christ, she must put her prayer life right. There is no substitute for prayer. Get all the learning, get all the culture, get all the gifts and all the grace, all the harmony and all the poetry, all the architecture and all the political and social influence, and grapple with it all and consecrate it at the feet of Jesus, but remember there is no substitute for prayer.

Peter and John went up to the house of prayer at the time appointed. Do you go to the prayer meeting? It is a poor Church that does not know how to pray. I have been to America five times. I have spent two and a half years in that great continent in the five trips, and I learned in the Churches of America that whatever else they do, they attend the weeknight prayer meeting. I think I am perfectly safe when I say that two thirds of the Church membership will be at its weeknight prayer meeting, and if you were to go and ask a man to dine with you on that night he would say, "No, that is prayer meeting night." A man would lose social as well as religious standing if he did not go to the prayer meeting. How many of our people think they lose standing in society if they go?

Where are our heads of families on prayer meeting night, where are our businessmen on prayer meeting night, where are our Sunday school teachers and superintendents, our choir leaders, on prayer meeting nights? Listen, men and women; all the rest will not count for a row of pins, not so much, for there is not as much point about what you do. It will amount to nothing if you do not pray. You may preach till doomsday to your children, and your servants, and to the people you have influence over about going to church; when it is prayer meeting night, and they know you could go and you do not go, and that you have no desire to go, all your preaching is of no use. It is the practising that tells.

These men went to a prayer meeting. And please remember it was Peter and John who were going together. Peter was not John, and John was not Peter. They were two opposites. They were as wide apart as men could be by disposition and in thought, but they went together. And it is getting Peter and John together at the prayer meeting that brings victory. It may be that there are two men in your Church, and if you could only get them on their knees at the prayer meeting you will have a Revival. It may be two women. I mean those people who have not spoken to each other lately. They are the two I mean. If you could only get them together at the prayer meeting, what a glad day it would be for the minister and for the congregation! If you could only get these people together!

Well, you say, they do come occasionally. Yes, I know, one in this corner and one in that corner. Both will pray, and they will pray at one another. Have you ever heard it? Have you ever noticed five or six people in a prayer meeting in a room? They are as far apart as the walls will let them get, and they are all saying, "Where two or three are met together," and if the walls were another mile apart they would be off. I do not know whether you see these things -- I cannot help seeing them.

Brother, find your Peter, will you? That would be a Revival. Find your John, that would be a Revival. Go and shake hands with the man you have not spoken to lately, shake hands with the woman you have not been on friendly terms with. That is what I mean by getting together. In a large Church I made that statement not long ago. At the close I wanted to speak to one of the officials when he came into the vestry for his hat, and I said, "Will you wait a minute, I want to speak to you?"

He said, "Don't stop me now, I am in a hurry."

I said, "What is the matter?"

"Well," he said, "I am going to do just what you have told me."

I said, "What is that?"

He said, "I am going to speak to a brother office bearer that I have not spoken to for five years, and it is all my fault, and while this Divine impulse is upon me I will do it before I sleep. I am going to find my Peter."

And he had got him in a front pew at night where everybody in that crowded church could see him, and he wanted to rise and sing, "Praise God, from whom all blessings flow."

The spirit of strife between those two men had torn the Church to shreds. You find your Peter. Peter and John went together. It is a good thing for you Christians of all denominations to mix up a little. You have been living too far apart; and the nearer we get to Christ, the closer we shall get to each other. We have to live together when we get to Heaven. Some of us had better learn how down here. Do not forget it. They went together at the hour of prayer.

Now, I want you to notice this, that Peter and John could be heard. I know they would, when they said their prayers on their knees. They would be heard. I will tell you why. They lived their prayer. If you want the Lord to hear you say, "Our Father" on your knees, you live our Father on your feet. If you want the Lord to hear you when you get into the Temple, you hear somebody else's prayer before you get into the Temple. If you want the Lord to see you in the Temple, see somebody who needs you before you get to the Temple. If you want the Lord to put His hand on you in the Temple, put your hand on someone before you reach the Temple.

These men started a little bit earlier, and gained a little bit of extra time on the way, to look out for someone they could find to take with them into their pew. I wonder how many of us do that? I wonder if any of you ever start ten minutes earlier on Sunday morning. I wonder if you do ever see a poor person outside, paralysed, crippled, handicapped, demoralised, degraded, cursed by sin. I wonder if you ever take time to speak to that person and say, "Look here, I have a book and I have a seat, and you come and sit with me; come along." For there are lots of people who will never come to Church till they are carried. Do not forget that.

This man would not have been at the door if he had not been carried there. Somebody loved him, somebody cared for him. He was lifted to that spot, and when Peter and John came along they saw him. Yes, listen: these are the men that God can trust with a bit of victory. They had eyes for three thousand, and they had eyes for a crippled man. They had eyes for people who had houses and lands and money, and they had eyes and heart and hands for the poor fellow who wanted something. That is the man the Lord can trust. Have we eyes for the crippled, have we eyes for the harlot, have we eyes for the drunkard, have we eyes for the gaolbird, have we sympathy for the cursed?

There are thousands outside our Churches and you have libelled them, miserably slandered them, hurled insult at them for their injury. Have you tried to save them? There is in the worst in your city just as much as there was in you to which grace can appeal, if you will only speak your gospel. God help you to act! There they are. How many of us try to save and rescue the perishing? It is easy to sing in the cushioned pew, or in the drawing room with comfortable slippers on. That is not religion, that is sentiment, that is dreaming. If you want to save the perishing you must go and handle them. Who is willing to do it?

We talk about the non-churchgoers, what about the non-going Church? We slander people when we say they do not want the Church. It is nonsense, it is not true. I will not hear them libelled. They do want God, they do want the Bible, they are not hostile to Jesus Christ, but they do hate the poor caricature they see of Him in the lives of so many of us who profess to follow Him. They hate that, but they do not hate Jesus; they respond to Jesus, and they know Jesus when they see Him. And I have lived to learn that there are far more people who will come and sit in your pew if you ask them than you dream of.

I do not know what you do in your town when there is an election, but I know what they do where I live. It does not matter how far a man lives from the polling booth, the candidate goes and sees him if he has a vote, if he is on the register. They go and knock at his door, and they do not leave it till it is answered. They treat him with respect. He is a voter. If the wife comes to the door, they ask to see the master, and then they are invited to sit down, and if there is a bird in the cage it is the finest bird that ever was; if there is a little flower in the pot -- well, it is a beautiful flower, and if he has got some chickens they go and look at his chickens; and if there is a dog, they pat the dog; and if there is a baby, they don't forget to kiss the baby, though it is not over-clean.

They have their eyes on the vote, and if the man is not at home they go again and again and again till they are sure of him, or the other man is, and when the day of polling comes they are so anxious to get the man up to the scratch that they don't wait for him to walk, they send a carriage or a motor car. Is that true? How much do you do when you want him to come to Church? You never invite him, you never go and see him, you never tell him there is a service. The only thing you do is to pull a piece of rope, and tell him by that piece of brass or metal that there is a service going on, and the fellow says that, "when they wanted my vote they could come and see me, but now they want me converted they don't know me."

And the working man sees through the fraud, and it is time he did, and it is time you saw it. Listen: the crippled will respond to the touch of real sympathy. You do not know what is in them; you have never dived, you have never dug, you have never searched. There are more than you think. A little while ago I stood in a wonderful mine in Kimberley -- a diamond mine. I was taken down 2,520 feet, and they gave me a pick and I brought down some of that blue mould carrying the diamonds to my feet. Some of it crumbled, and I searched with the electric light, but I could see no diamond. Yet in that ground there are diamonds of countless value, and God put them there.

Somebody was riding through London one day with Ruskin, and said, "What disgusting stuff this London mud is!" Ruskin said, "In that mud there are the sand and soot and water and lime out of which God makes opals and sapphires and diamonds." And if God can make opals and sapphires and diamonds out of London mud, He can make something out of the poor invalid that lives next door to you, if you will only help God to save him, and that is your business and mine now. Fasten your eyes on somebody. If they are crippled, you know not what is there. Give it a chance. Smile on them, love them, help them; they will surprise you. There may be a lump of humanity, all dwarfed, twisted, crooked, never had a chance yet, remember; cursed in its birth, made drunk in its mother's milk, born with the blood of the harlot, the drunkard and the thief in its veins. In God's name have pity on such! Christ died for the worst.

If you believe it, live as though you did, and help them back to God. Peter and John fastened their eyes on this poor crippled man, and that was the dawn of the eternal day for the poor fellow. They said, "Look on us," and he did, and he expected something immediately -- and there are lots of folk who have looked at you and expected something. Have they been disappointed?

"Look on us." And then Peter made a beautiful little speech, and preached a nice little sermon. He said, "In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, rise up, and walk." Now, you and I might do that until further orders. But Peter did not stop there. Throwing back the robe he bared his arm, and got near enough, and he picked him up by the right hand and lifted him up. I wonder what some of you would do with a poor crippled person.

You will have to stoop if you would lift. Good stoopers are needed in the Church. When I was a gipsy and travelled the counties of Cambridge, Essex, Suffolk, and Norfolk, I used to see the farmers go into the fields with their wagons and carry the golden grain to the ricks, and when the stack yards were bursting with prosperity, then the farmers would open the gates of the fields and let the parishioners go in. And do you know what they called it? Gleaning.

I noticed, when I was only a boy, that good gleaners had to be good stoopers. And, brothers, if you go out into God's fields to glean the crippled for Him, you must stoop. If you are going to lift anybody, you will have to stand a little higher than they are, or you won't lift them far. Make sure of your standing. Peter got hold of him by the right hand and lifted him up, and there are moments in a man's life when a lift of that sort will lift him not only for time, but for eternity.

I have got hold of men's hands in South Africa and looked them in the face, and they have never said one word; just gripped their hand, and it has been the touch of their mother's grip again, it has been the touch of their home, and I have seen big tears fall like bubbles on a mountain stream. I tell you there is something indescribable in the touch of a human hand. Take your glove off, handle these poor things for Christ's sake. It is all very well to say, "Oh, you believe in the Lord Jesus."

Listen: you have got good blood in your veins; you have got the moral momentum of a godly ancestry coursing through your veins. You were brought up in a Christian home, you have had the advantages of education, of Church life, ministers in charge of your Sunday school, teachers to visit you, Christian parents to love you. You have everything in the world to help you to believe, to be good, yet there are moments when it takes all there is in you to keep you right. If that is so, have pity on those who have not had your chance. It is all very well to say, "Believe, believe." You have got to become Jesus Christ in human form, and let them handle you, and believe in Him as He reveals Himself through you. God help us to do it.

The crippled will be saved when the Church handles them. He went to church -- of course he did. And there are lots of people who will come into church leaping and dancing for joy when you go and handle them. That is the way in for them. That is the way in; the way into your pew is through your hand and through your heart, and through your eyes and through your legs and through your life. The way to God for some of these people is by you. They will come fast enough, only give them a chance, and make them feel you want them. They feel you want their votes.

When they come to church they look at the pews and see the little cards with names on them, as much as to say, "Keep off the grass," and if twenty or thirty of them got to church before some of you were there, and got into your pew from the slums before you reached it, some of you would turn up your nose and call the deacons or the office bearers and say, "This is my pew."

Then we talk about the non-churchgoer. The Lord save us from cant and humbug. Don't you monopolise any little bit of God's heritage. It does not belong to you. It is His. His house is open for the world. Give Him a chance in His own house, and give those a chance that need Him most. Poor crippled man, of course he got more than he asked for. He asked for alms, and the Lord gave him legs. It is always a surprise; Jesus always gives more than we ask, and you and I, who have tried to love Him for years, find every day a glad surprise. We thought we could not stand, but we walked. We thought we could not walk, but we ran. We thought we could not endure, but we are living. We thought we should never hold on, but here we are, blessed be God.

Brother, sister, live your gospel, and the crippled all around you will touch your hand, and through it they will catch the pulse of the love which went to the Cross, which is strong enough to save the world. God help us to do so. Amen.

Chapter 11

### Hid with Christ

A Talk for Christian Beginners

If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory.

_Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: for which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: in the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them. But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him: where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all_ (Colossians 3:1-11).

I WANT if I can to emphasise some very wholesome truths in this talk, especially for the sake of those who have just set out to serve the Lord. I will take as the basis of my remarks Colossians 3 verses 1 to 11. Now look at the first verse: "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above." As much as to say, "You have professed faith in Christ, you have taken your stand in the most public and solemn way possible, and declared yourselves to be on His side. You have taken upon yourself the great name of Christian. Now," says the apostle Paul, "if that is so, we shall expect to see it in your life."

It is not enough to stand up, you must keep up. It is not enough to stand, you must walk. It is not enough to have a name, you must have a life. For if Christianity be anything, it is a progressive life. When once you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Saviour from sin, when once you have made Him your Lord and your king, then you must, if you are to be loyal, true, honourable, then you must dedicate every moment of your life to His service. You must let it be seen everywhere that you are now not your own, but that you belong to Him; that the profession you made the other night or years ago when you said, "As for me and all I am concerned with and have any authority over, I will serve the Lord," that profession must be lived out.

Every day, and every hour of every day, not only in the Church but in the home, in the workshop, in the business, in the office, in the political arena, in public and in private, I am Christ's man, I am Christ's woman: and I must act, I must live, I must walk, I must so conduct myself, so transact my business, so think and so speak, that the Divine stamp will be on me and will be felt and seen everywhere. I must live with this ever before me, "I am risen with Christ," and by my life my neighbours, my friends, my servants, my master, my acquaintances and relatives must see that my heart is set on things above.

You say you have been in the inquiry room, you had your name taken down as an inquirer, you knelt and prayed with those who tried to help you, and you really did on your knees honestly and intelligently seek to give yourself to Jesus Christ. Did you think that the battle was over then? If you did, you never made a greater blunder. It is only beginning. That was the initiative, that was the first step, that was the turning, that was the yielding, that was acknowledging the facts of the case. Now the fight will begin, and it will be a fight. It will be a conflict from here till the great white throne is in view. But remember, you are not alone. They that are for you are more than all that can be against you. You joined the Church a long time ago? You took Communion, and you are perhaps an office bearer, a deacon, a Sunday school teacher, and go to church regularly? Is that all the evidence that you have of the new-born life? Have you nothing else to say for yourself but that you take Communion and go to church twice on a Sunday, and you are a Sunday school teacher and occasionally -- for such miracles do sometimes happen -- you go to the week-evening prayer meeting? Is that all the evidence you have that you are a King's son or daughter? If ye then be risen with Christ, let us see the resurrection life or we won't believe your profession, and if I were your pastor I would not believe in your professed Christian life unless I knew by your beautiful walk that God had saved you from sin, and that you were seeking to walk as becometh the Gospel.

I wonder if your wife knows you have been in the inquiry room -- and she is a good judge. I wonder if your husband knows that you have been in the inquiry room, my sister. He will know every time he comes home from work if you are a real Christian woman. He will come home a little faster than he used to in order to get a look at you. Just as sure as the sun rises and shines and kisses the earth into beauty, when God touches the human life He transforms it from sin to grace. I do not care how bad the man is that you live with, I do not care how bad the woman is that lives with you, or how bad the workmates are that you work with: deep down in their hearts they will admire the beautiful thing God makes. I wonder if your master knows that you are born again, because he will if you are. The man who is really born again will watch his religion in the minutest details of his life. His religion will be seen in the little things. Everybody will know that you are born again who knows you. You remember that wonderful instance in the life of the Son of God when that leper came to Him and said, "Lord, if Thou wilt Thou canst make me clean," and Jesus said, "I will; be thou clean," and He touched him and his leprosy departed from him, and then Jesus said to the man, "Tell nobody; see that no man know it, but go, show thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing according as Moses hath commanded for a testimony unto them." (Matthew 8:2-4.)

I think that man said, "Blessed Jesus, I shall tell the first man I meet." He could not help himself. A leper cleansed and nobody know it? It could not be. And if you are a new man or woman in Christ Jesus, I tell you somebody is going to know it. And thank God for it. "Seek those things that are above." Let your life be in harmony with your profession. That is what it means. It is not enough simply to have your name put down somewhere, to join a club, or an educational institution, or a social meetinghouse. It means living a life that shall be in harmony with the law of God, that shall glorify God, that shall be God-honouring, that shall be a witness for His glory in the world in which you live, that shall be saying quietly though you never say a word, "My life is what God has made it, and He can do the same for you," beautifully lived, beautifully clean, full of music, full of God, and that life will be a sermon unanswerable, and many a man will listen to a sermon like that who would never listen to one from the pulpit. They will see that sermon lived out when they will not read Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, the Acts, and so forth. But though they will not look into these things, they will search your life, and they will take knowledge of you that you have been with Jesus.

What the world wants more and more of today is the faithful sermon lived in workshop, marketplace, warehouse, bank and shop and store and railway train and tramcar: the life which is Christlike. God means us to live, and I pray God that life may be seen in you and seen in me more and more. And the apostle Paul goes on, "You have to live this life for this reason -- for your life, the old life, the selfish, sinful life, the old life of unbelief and sin, the old life of world and flesh and devil, and seeking your own, the old life is dead." The Lord help you to bury it.

Some of you stick to the corpse and drag it about with you. You are like Lazarus -- you are out of the grave, but you need the grave clothes off. If you are risen with Christ, the old life is dead. You know the apostle said on one occasion, "Christ died for me." Then he said again, "I am crucified with Christ." So Paul was only preaching what he realised, what he experienced.

Christ took my place; Christ hung on the Cross for me, and bore the shame and the curse for me, He paid the debt for me. "He loved me, and gave Himself for me." Oh, the mystery of it! Oh, the length and breadth and depth and height of it! He died for me. And oh, the next step is still more wonderful. "I am crucified with Christ." The old man dead with Christ. And then Paul goes on to say in another place, "I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." (Galatians 2:20.) And then he says, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." (Philippians 4:13.)

So He not only pays my old debts off, but He puts me in the position that I need never get into debt anymore. He gives me a life which shall enable me to do these things, to walk before Him, and to please Him; and I have the testimony that my life is accepted in Christ Jesus. "For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God," hidden away in the heart of God. (Colossians 3:3.)

I shall never forget when, as a young disciple, I grasped that thought for the first time. I cannot tell you the comfort it was to me. I cannot tell you the strength it brought me. I cannot tell you the courage it gave me when I realised that my salvation did not depend on my feelings or my thoughts or my frames or my surroundings, my success or my failures: but my salvation depended on my living faith and my honest obedience in a living Christ. Will you grip that, you who have just trusted Jesus as your Saviour? The mission is soon over, the missioner soon gone, and the dark days come -- the days of fighting, the days of conflict, the days when you stand alone, the days in which there is no light.

The day will come in which you have to stand alone to face the foe singlehanded, and have to fight hard if you mean to win; without a scrap of feeling, without any sensation of joy or peace; when you have to go at it with the facts before you, with God's unalterable Word staring you in the face, and to stand by it in spite of suffering. And I tell you it will be a source of strength to you in that moment if you can close your eyes and say to the devil and the world and the flesh and everything that seems to be against you, "Look here, my life is hid with Christ in God, and it does not matter how I feel or what I am, it all depends on what He is." God help you to believe that.

Mind you, I am supposing that you will honestly seek to do right, and I am supposing that you will honestly keep your faith settled, grounded in God. I am honestly supposing that you will neither turn to the right nor to the left, nor listen to the voice of the tempter. But I am now speaking of the days that will come; for they come to us all, and they come to me -- days when I have not much feeling, days when I am weary and tired, days when I am alone and have to fight the devil alone. Ah, there are times when I am too tired to pray, when if my salvation depended on my getting on my knees and praying for an hour I could not do it, and the Lord knows I could not do it.

I never passed through such physical, mental, or nervous strain in my life as during my recent mission in South Africa, and there were many nights when I got home from my work too tired to kneel down and pray -- nights when I could not sleep. And you know the devil generally comes when a man is down, and the devil says to him, "Where is your feeling now? Where is your happiness now? Where is your joy now? Where is your shouting feeling now?" And do you know what I do on these occasions when I am too tired to pray? I just throw myself on the bed and say, "Blessed Jesus, we are on the same old terms; it is all right, my life is hid with Christ in God."

Don't be afraid. Jesus says, "I give unto My sheep eternal life, and no man shall be able to pluck them out of My hand." (John 10:28.) No man shall snatch them out. Don't walk out. Have sense to stay in the safe place, the sure place; stay there. The devil may tempt, but you know you need not yield; you can resist him. Jesus does not undertake to save you from temptation, but He undertakes to save you in it, to keep you from yielding. Do not think you have more temptation than you can stand. With every temptation that comes, God comes, for He says, "Ye shall not be tempted above that ye are able to bear, and with the temptation I will make a way of escape." (1 Corinthians 10:13.)

God comes as soon as the devil. Don't think that the devil can run faster than God. God is ahead of him all the time, and if you will believe it, He will hold you and He will keep you. And nobody can rob you of this assurance, if you will make up your mind to hold it with a steady faith, with an obedient faith.

I shall never forget a little bit of my own experience soon after my father's conversion. He and his two brothers -- the three gipsy men -- were all converted in one week, and it was a rare thing to see three gipsy men -- my father was the least of the three, and he stood six feet -- it was a rare thing to see those big fellows transformed by the grace of God. Wherever they were seen, people wanted to see them again and listen to their beautiful testimony, for it was a wonderful work of grace that was done in and for those three men.

In 1874 they were invited down to Portsmouth for a week's mission, and between Portsmouth and Southampton they liked them so well that the week became three, four, five; and it was six weeks before they came home, and you know when father was away from our tent, mother was away too, for he was both to us. Mother was gone. The other tents had their mothers, we had not, and oh, those six weeks did seem a long time to us who were motherless. And one morning a letter came to say they would be home tomorrow, and we were ready for them at six o'clock in the morning.

We did not know anything of trains, and we were ready at six in the morning to receive them, but it was night ere they came. And when father came into the old tent we all made way for the baby girl to go to him first, as was our custom, and he sat down and put his arms round her and kissed her. She was the baby, and he had not seen her for six weeks. The others of us were waiting our turn, but she had too long for some of us.

It was my turn next, and I think I felt it more than the rest. My boyish heart longed for love and sympathy, for I never got over my mother's death. I longed for the touch of my father's hand and heart, and my little sister did not come out, and I said at last, for I could stand it no longer, "Come out, come out, it is my turn!"

She turned her black eyes on me, and said, "You get me out of my father's arms if you can."

"Well," I said, "I cannot do that, but there is room for me, and I am coming in," and I crept in, and oh, the joy that seemed to steal into my boyish heart as I felt those dear arms about me!

My brother, my sister, God's arms, your Father's arms are about you if you will but believe it. Your life is hid with Christ in God.

Seeing this is so, I want you to notice this especially. There is some very straight talk¬ing here, no diluting of the gospel with Paul, no attempt at saving people's feelings or preconceived notions. He puts in the knife with no asking if he may. Paul is a wonderful spiritual surgeon, and he begins the operation without any questioning. He says, "Mor¬tify" -- make dead -- "your members which are upon the earth."

As the Spirit reveals to you more and more the life of Jesus, and as you become acquainted with His Word, when you take the next step and walk humbly with your God, and you detect in your heart and life elements of the world, the remnants of evil, any roots of bitterness; as you detect unruly members, evil members in your life, says the Holy Ghost through this wonderful apostle, "Make them dead." Kill them, put the knife in, utterly destroy. Mortify, self-suicide, that is what it means. Kill self, kill the world, kill the flesh, kill the devil, mortify. "Make dead your members which are upon the earth."

Then he names the black list: fornication -- and he is talking to the children of God -- fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, the evil look, the evil spring, the passion within, the impure thought, the suggested thing that is wrong. Though it may seem beautiful -- slay it, kill it. Your life within is to be a slaughterhouse for all that God hates. "For which things' sake," he says, "the wrath of God cometh upon the sinner and the disobedient." And if a man will allow any of these things to live in his life, if any Amalekite is allowed to lift his doomed head in your life, remember the sheep will bleat and the oxen will low, and there will be death to somebody.

You and I have to die to sin or to die with sin. Sin must die, or I must. The Holy Ghost and the sin of the past cannot live in the same heart. One will go out. Therefore he says, "Make dead."

Buried with Christ and raised with Him too,

What is there left for me to do?

Simply to cease from struggling and strife,

Simply to walk in newness of life.

That is our business. We are to turn from the things we used to love, and of which we are ashamed to think today. We are to turn from them in loathing and disgust, and walk the straight life with the Son of God. Then in the eighth verse he makes this statement -- "Put off all these." How thorough Paul is! He seems to leave nothing. He enters into every detail. "Put off these things -- anger, you must not be angry, you should be sweet and beautiful, full of smiles, full of sunshine; you must not frown or feel like it; you must not get angry; you must not slam doors and knock things over and stamp about the house as though you would shake creation -- because that is not like Jesus. You have to be like Him. Put off anger. And if grace cannot sweeten your temper, it cannot do much. Mind your temper. Keep a bit in its mouth and a kicking-strap on too.

The Psalmist says in one place, "Be not as the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle." (32:9.) And there are some people who need a kicking-strap as well as a bridle, and they are called Christians.

"Put off anger." I have seen people turn red in the face and swell at the neck and bite their lips -- what a storm was raging! -- and they managed to keep it in -- that is, it was silent. And when it was over, they said, "I didn't say anything, did I?" No, but you looked daggers, and you did more harm with that five minutes' explosion than you did good in a year of your Christian life.

That is the thing that makes it difficult for the person who lives with you to be a Christian; that is the thing that hinders you winning for Christ; and you would win them if you were even and if grace had had its perfect work within you. If God has saved you from big sins, He can save you from your temper. I know He can. Trust Him even for that. Put off anger, wrath.

What is the difference between wrath and anger? There is a difference, a very big difference. Wrath is anger with the lid off, and then you say things, you splutter, then you are not responsible for what you do say, and you would give your right arm to unsay some things. Years ago you made a wound that has never been healed, you made a breach that has never been bridged, and those hot, cutting, wrathful words did what will never be undone this side of the gates of pearl. They may be forgiven, but undone never. Somebody has said that:

"Boys flying kites, haul in their white-winged birds,

You can't do that when you are flying words.

Thoughts unexpressed may sometimes fall back dead;

But God Himself can't kill them when they're said."

Put off wrath. There are members of Churches who have lost friends -- dear friends. You would have rather lost your right hand than lose them, and you lost them through the cutting word that you have never been prepared to take back. They flew high, they flew straight, they went into the very soul of your friend: they were cut to the quick. It was your withering word that did the mischief. Put off wrath.

Something else \-- what is it? Malice. "Put off malice." Is there any difference between wrath and malice? Yes, malice is wrath cooled down, settled into what? Hatred, murder -- and nobody can be a child of God with murder in the soul. The Book says if I hate my brother I am a murderer. You have done the deed inside if you hate anybody: you are a murderer. Put off anger, put off wrath, put off malice, and be attractive, lovable, full of the spirit of Jesus: "there was no guile found in His mouth," (1 Peter 2:22) and you are to be like Him.

Then Paul makes another statement. He says, "Lie not one to another" -- lie not, and he is talking to believers. Be truthful, do not tell any lie, any business lie, any society lie, or any other kind of lie, white lie or black lie -- and the whitest lie I ever knew was as black as the devil. Lie not. Don't put in your window, "Selling off at a great sacrifice" if it is not so. It may be a sacrifice to the other fellow, not to you. You do not exist for philanthropic purposes. Tell the truth. Don't tell people you are glad to see them when you are not. Don't ask people to stay for tea when you do not want them, and don't ask people to call and see you just because it looks the proper thing to do, if in your heart you do not mean it.

Lie not. Lots of people in the Church of God cannot get on in their spiritual life because of the spirit of lying. Don't tell the preacher you enjoyed his sermon when you did not. If you do enjoy the sermon, tell him so; it will help him to preach better next time. But lie not. Be truthful. Say nothing rather than equivocate or talk double. And it means be honest, too. This "lie not" means honesty in life and character as well as in words. It means paying your debts. It means making restitution.

On the Monday morning after the first Sunday I preached in Johannesburg, a gentleman walked into the house of a leading Dutchman, took out of his pocket a gold watch and said, "This watch is yours. I stole it from you eight years ago. I heard Gipsy Smith yesterday and I got converted, and now I must give back this watch. It does not belong to me." That is religion.

Some years ago in one of my missions in a village a Yorkshire man professed conversion, a rough man, a drunkard, a swearer, a gambler, and he joined the Methodist Church. One of his pals of years ago called on him and said -- "Jack, I hear thou's gotten converted."

"Yes," said he, "I have."

"And joined t' Church?"

"Yes, and joined t' Church."

"Well, Jack," he said, "you remember so many years ago you borrowed a sovereign off me?"

"Oh, yes," said Jack, "I remember very well."

"Well," he said, "now you are a Christian I shall expect that sovereign back."

"Oh," said Jack, "the Lord has pardoned my sins, and that is one of them."

I was not long in finding Jack, and I said, "Jack, that may be a very convenient sort of Gospel, but if you are a Christian you will pay that man his sovereign, if you sacrifice a coat to do it."

Then the apostle Paul said something else. "Put away filthy communications" \-- blasphemy, filthy talking. Listen again: if you are a Christian you will never tell another filthy tale. If you are a Christian you will never listen to another filthy tale. If you are a Christian, young man, young woman, you will never listen to another smutty joke. There are scores, hundreds of young people who have lost their hold on God and become backsliders, and old people too, because they indulged in smut. Put filthy communications out of your mouth. Say nothing that needs to be whispered. Listen to nothing that you would not like your mother to hear. Tell nothing you would not like Jesus to listen to.

Do not say anything about your neighbour that you would not like to say face to face. Keep your tongue, keep your speech, keep your mouth, keep your heart, keep your body, keep your life for Jesus' sake. And He who calls you to this beautiful life will put His wing around you, if you will but trust Him and obey Him. And all the strength, and all power, and all the wisdom, and all the Christlikeness He will breathe into you, and you will become for Christ a great power for good and a blessing to all about you. Amen.

Chapter 12

(Last Chapter)

### The New Life

A Message to New Converts

I WANT to have a talk with you about the new life and the way to live it. Do not think your decision for Christ means the fight is all over; it is only beginning. But remember all about you are forces Divine; you will no longer walk or battle alone. God, the Almighty God, is for you; and just as sure as He sits on the throne, you will overcome all opposing forces if you will trust and obey.

Do not be afraid to believe this. Tell yourself this is true. Go over your surrender to God every often.

Sing it aloud when you wake in the morning,

Meet the new day with its jubilant strain,

No condemnation, for Jesus hath found you.

Saved you -- you are His. "By grace have ye been saved" (Ephesians 2:5). Let there be no doubt about this; be sure this is so at the beginning. "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life" (John 3:36). Press hard on the word hath; claim the assurance now; let the certainty of these words be your hope, your joy, and strength. God says it, and it must be so, and no power on earth can gainsay it or overthrow it for a moment.

You have yielded yourself to Jesus, you are born again, you have accepted Him as your Saviour for time and eternity. He who bore your sins on Calvary has now broken their power and saves you from the guilt and power of sin. You are accepted in the beloved; you are no longer an alien or afar off; you have been brought nigh by the blood of His Cross. You are now the child of God.

"As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him, rooted and built up in Him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving (Colossians 2:6-7). You are now in Him, as the branch is in the vine, part of Him. Keep every channel of your being open, and in sympathy with your root and head, that every part of you may be filled with the life Divine. Never let the vine be ashamed of the branch, or even feel it to be a dead weight. Be filled with life and health, and there will be beauty and fruit. Abide in Him, keep your roots in Him, and you may grow.

Abiding means fellowship with Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Allow nothing to break this Communion or intrude for a moment between you and your beloved. Hold a constant witness to the cleansing power of the precious blood; live at the foot of the Cross. Keep heart and mind fixed upon Him by an habitual obedience. The need for this is made very clear in the Master's words, "If ye keep My commandments ye shall abide in My love, even as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love" (John 15:10).

Obedience is abiding. Love must obey, because it rests in the eternal love. Oh, the blessedness which can and does say, "I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep (or guard) that which I have committed unto Him against that day" (2 Timothy 1:12). Surely this must prompt fruitfulness and every good work (John 15:8; 1 John 2:36). Cultivate moral backbone. Be able to stand for Christ. Let there be constancy in your character, firmness of mind. Fix your whole being upon God to know and understand Him.

Daniel was greatly beloved because he set his mind and heart upon God. The Divine heart felt it could depend upon Daniel, and knew he would be true and loyal, anywhere and all the time. The heart of God longs for those in whom He can delight (Matthew 3:17), and upon whom He can depend. He desires all who love Him to be strong, pure, and holy in heart and life. Nothing else will or can bring Him glory and give Him joy.

These are some of the unchanging facts of God's Word. Those who understand, believe, and obey these things, will be calm, strong, holy and peaceful, fully assured of God's pardon and cleansing. They will be humble, grateful, bold to speak, and ready to do any and every service for the glory of God and the good of humanity. "Let your light shine before men" (Matthew 5:16.)

Never fail to witness for Christ, in your home, first of all, not only in word but in deed; in the Church amongst fellow-Christians, and in the world, never be ashamed of Jesus. You are to be a witness for Him \-- this is His desire for you. "Let the redeemed of the Lord say so" (Psalm 107:2). "Ye shall be witnesses unto Me" (Acts 1:8). "They overcome by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony" (Revelation 12:11).

There are thousands of professing Christians who have no joy, because they bear no witness for Christ. Oh, for the boldness of Peter when he said, "We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard" (Acts 4:20). As far as you can, undo the past. If there is anything wrong in your past, and you can put it right, do so without delay. If you have taken anything from any man, restore fully, or go as far as you can in that direction. This is right.

Not only forsake sin, but confess it, for that will put you right with the man you have wronged, as well as bring you into close relationship with God. For God "requireth that which is past" (Ecclesiastes 3;15). The jailor at Philippi took Paul and Silas, "the same hour of his conversion and washed their stripes!' (Acts 16:25-40.) He could not wait till morning. When morning came he was rejoicing in God. Joy always follows stripe-washing. Let all those who know you, see your religion means doing right all along the line. This may mean time and trouble, and even suffering, but the soul made right with God must get right with man.

"If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men" (Romans 12:18). "The wicked borroweth and payeth not again, but the righteous showeth mercy and forgiveth" (Psalm 37:21). "Render therefore to all their dues" (Romans 13:7). "Owe to no man anything but to love one another" (Romans 13:8). Let your conscience be clear on this matter. Have nothing hidden away in your life which will not bear the light.

The kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost (Romans 14:17). Righteousness first: the rest will follow. Bible reading must be done. If you are to grow, you will need "the sincere milk of the Word, that ye may grow thereby" (1 Peter 2:2).

One of the great needs of today is more real knowledge of the Word of God. "Let the Word of God dwell in you richly in all wisdom" (Colossians 3:16). Rise in time in the morning to read your portion. The day will be all the brighter because you have looked into the living Word. Seek some truth by which to fight the battles of the day. Hide it in your heart, delight in the law of the Lord, then when Satan assaileth or difficulties arise, you will have your sword with which to fight the enemy, for the power of the Word will be within you. By taking heed to His Word you will be able to live clean and pure, noble and strong (Psalm 119:9).

Cultivate the habit of prayer. The abiding in Him means a life of prayer. Get into the habit of talking to God as you would your dearest and closest earthly friend. Speak to Him -- only speak and He will hear, for He is so near to the heart that has fully surrendered and is fully trusting Him. You need not go through a great many high-sounding sentences in order to pray -- indeed, sometimes there is far more in silence than in words, when one bows in heart and in spirit before the Lord. And, mind you, you can talk with God all the time -- in the private place, in market, mart and office, schoolroom, bank and drawing room, kitchen and factory, God is there, near, always -- blessed be God! -- to those who hang upon Him.

Do not be discouraged because you cannot make long prayers. The most effectual prayers I ever heard were short. All the prayers recorded in the Bible were brief; but they kept on praying, praying always. Live in the spirit of prayer, that is the ideal life. You cannot be always on your knees. I cannot; and God does not want us to either. There are duties which, when done faithfully, are prayers. When the heart and eye are single, every act may be a prayer. All work well done, and done unto the Lord, may be obedience to the words, "Pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

Don't lose heart because you are tempted. You will be more conscious of temptation now you have given yourself to God and are trying to do right. The devil is now your bitter enemy; he will seek to trip you at every step. He would delight to overthrow you;. Your fall would be a great victory for him. But, remember, you are not alone. Jesus is not only for you, He is within you, and all about you, as a wall of fire. You have nothing to fear. The Mighty One lives to bring you through the temptation, more than conqueror. You do not fight alone, or you would fail. The Lamb slain before the throne is also the Lion of the tribe of Judah, and He lives to give victory again and again. Be not afraid!

But you say, "Suppose I am overtaken and fall into sin. What am I to do then?" Go back to God instantly for pardon and cleansing. The command is "Sin not"; "but if any man sin we have an advocate with the Father" (1 John 2:1). If a little child should go out just after being washed and dressed and made beautifully clean, and fall down into the mud and spoil the clean clothes and cut his hands and face, you know what that child would do, do you not? He would get up crying, all dirty and bleeding, and would run back to mother -- his best friend -- and tell her all about the fall, the cut hands and face, and she, like the mother she is, would wash and cleanse, heal and kiss him. The mother's heart could do no less.

God is better than a mother. Try Him. Do not lie there; get up and go to Him for pardon and healing, and He will say to thee, "As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort thee" (Isaiah 56:13). Be glad in the Lord. Have some sunshine in your voice, some song in your soul. When there is a song in your soul, it will be heard in your voice. Your religion should never make children and dogs run away from you. Do be attractive. Let the morning shine in your face, and the song the angels sing in your voice. Do not live in the shade. "Forget not all His benefits" (Psalm 103:2).

Count your blessings, think of all God has done for you, and you will have joy, the cream -- and good milk always gives cream. Be out and out for Christ; do not sit on the fence. If you are at once altogether decided to follow Jesus anywhere and everywhere, it will make it much easier for you and everybody else. Take your stand against everything doubtful. Do nothing and go nowhere where Jesus cannot go with you or smile upon you. Let your life be the Christ life. Do as He wills; in all things seek His glory, not the wishes of those around you, but God first in all things.

You will not please all the people, I know, if you are to be what He wills; but this is in the business (1 John 3:1). As the world knew Him not, so it will not know you, if you are like Him. Hot saints are sure to make lukewarm folk mad. Remember, you are saved to serve. Christ Himself came, not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for the world. You, too, must be of service to someone if you would enter into the joy of the Lord.

Try to register some bit of honest work for Christ and man, every day you live. There may be tears and heartache in the work, but remember Christ's life was service for you. If you are His, you must serve. All He did was done because He loved. "I must work," said Jesus. If you have His Spirit, can you be selfish and idle? "As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God" (Romans 8:14).

You may be saying, "What can I do?" Do the little things. Begin in the home; speak lovingly, act gently. Serve those who are near you -- father, mother, sister, brother, wife, husband, child. Sink your own will and rights for their good; do not seek all the good for yourself. Always be willing for those about you to share with you, and ever be willing to deny yourself. A heart filled with the love which "never faileth" will in the end win great victories. We possess most truly when we give most away. We save ourselves only when we lose ourselves for Christ's dear sake. Let this mind be in you.

I have one other word to say to you; it is this: Connect yourself at once with the people of God. Join a Christian Church where you can take root and grow. You will need all the help you can get from Christian fellowship, and you ought to be imparting help and hope to others. Be an active Church member, keep awake, and wide awake. Help to bear your share of all the burden of the Church life.

Attend its ordinances, be regular at the services, and, above all, do attend the weeknight prayer meeting. Take part in all services and life of the Church. Do not be silent when you should be heard. Be a shining, bright beam of God's sunshine, as beautiful as the coming of spring, as warm and life-giving as summer, and as full of fruit and benediction as the autumn.

THE END

Return to Table of Contents

### More Books

More Christian books from White Tree Publishing are on the next pages, some of which are available as both eBooks and paperbacks. More books than those shown here are available in non-fiction and fiction, for adults and younger readers. The full list of published and forthcoming books is on our website www.whitetreepublishing.com. Please visit there regularly for updates.

**White Tree Publishing** publishes mainstream evangelical Christian literature for people of all ages. We aim to make our eBooks available free for all eBook devices, but some distributors will only list our books free at their discretion, and may make a small charge for some titles -- but they are still great value!

We rely on our readers to tell their families, friends and churches about our books. Social media is a great way of doing this. Take a look at our range of fiction and non-fiction books and pass the word on. You can even contact your Christian TV or radio station to let them know about these books. Also, please write a positive review if you are able.

Christian non-fiction

Christian Fiction

Younger Readers

Return to Table of Contents

## Christian Non-fiction

Four short books of help in the Christian life:

So, What Is a Christian? An introduction to a personal faith. Paperback ISBN: 978-0-9927642-2-7, eBook ISBN: 978-0-9933941-2-6

Starting Out \-- help for new Christians of all ages. Paperback ISBN 978-1-4839-622-0-7, eBook ISBN: 978-0-9933941-0-2

Help! \-- Explores some problems we can encounter with our faith. Paperback ISBN 978-0-9927642-2-7, eBook ISBN: 978-0-9933941-1-9

Running Through the Bible \-- a simple understanding of what's in the Bible \-- Paperback ISBN: 978-0-9927642-6-5, eBook ISBN: 978-0-9933941-3-3

### Be Still

Bible Words of Peace and Comfort

There may come a time in our lives when we want to concentrate on God's many promises of peace and comfort. The Bible readings in this book are for people who need to know what it means to be held securely in the Lord's loving arms.

Rather than selecting single verses here and there, each reading in this book is a run of several verses. This gives a much better picture of the whole passage in which a favourite verse may be found.

As well as being for personal use, these readings are intended for sharing with anyone in special need, to help them draw comfort from the reading and prayer for that date. Bible reading and prayer are the two most important ways of getting to know and trust Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour.

The reference to the verses for the day are given, for you to look up and read in your preferred Bible translation.

eBook ISBN: 978-0-9933941-4-0

Paperback ISBN: 978-0-9932760-7-1

116 pages 5x7.8 inches

A Previously Unpublished Book

### The Simplicity of the Incarnation

J Stafford Wright

Foreword by J I Packer

"I believe in ... Jesus Christ ... born of the Virgin Mary." A beautiful stained glass image, or a medical reality? This is the choice facing Christians today. Can we truly believe that two thousand years ago a young woman, a virgin named Mary, gave birth to the Son of God? The answer is simple: we can.

The author says, "In these days many Christians want some sensible assurance that their faith makes sense, and in this book I want to show that it does."

In this uplifting book from a previously unpublished and recently discovered manuscript, J Stafford Wright investigates the reality of the incarnation, looks at the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, and helps the reader understand more of the Trinity and the certainty of eternal life in heaven.

This book was written shortly before the author's death in 1985. The Simplicity of the Incarnation is published for the first time, unedited, from his final draft.

eBook ISBN 13: 978-0-9932760-5-7

Paperback ISBN: 9-780-9525-9563-2

160 pages 5.25 x 8 inches

Available from bookstores and major internet sellers

### Bible People Real People

An Unforgettable A-Z of Who is Who in the Bible

In a fascinating look at real people, J Stafford Wright shows his love and scholarly knowledge of the Bible as he brings the characters from its pages to life in a memorable way.

Read this book through from A to Z, like any other title

Dip in and discover who was who in personal Bible study

Check the names when preparing a talk or sermon

The good, the bad, the beautiful and the ugly – no one is spared. This is a book for everyone who wants to get to grips with the reality that is in the pages of the Bible, the Word of God.

With the names arranged in alphabetical order, the Old and New Testament characters are clearly identified so that the reader is able to explore either the Old or New Testament people on the first reading, and the other Testament on the second.

Those wanting to become more familiar with the Bible will find this is a great introduction to the people inhabiting the best selling book in the world, and those who can quote chapter and verse will find everyone suddenly becomes much more real – because these people are real. This is a book to keep handy and refer to frequently while reading the Bible.

"For students of my generation the name Stafford Wright was associated with the spiritual giants of his generation. Scholarship and integrity were the hallmarks of his biblical teaching. He taught us the faith and inspired our discipleship of Christ. To God be the Glory." The Rt. Rev. James Jones, Bishop of Liverpool

This is a lively, well-informed study of some great Bible characters. Professor Gordon Wenham MA PhD. Tutor in Old Testament at Trinity College Bristol and Emeritus Professor of Old Testament at the University of Gloucestershire.

eBook ISBN: 978-0-9932760-7-1

Paperback ISBN: 978-0-9525956-5-6

314 pages 6x9 inches

Note: This book is not available in all eBook formats

### Christians and the Supernatural

J Stafford Wright

There is an increasing interest and fascination in the paranormal today. To counteract this, it is important for Christians to have a good understanding of how God sometimes acts in mysterious ways, and be able to recognize how he can use our untapped gifts and abilities in his service. We also need to understand how the enemy can tempt us to misuse these gifts and abilities, just as Jesus was tempted in the wilderness.

In this single volume of his two previously published books on the occult and the supernatural (Understanding the Supernatural and Our Mysterious God) J Stafford Wright examines some of the mysterious events we find in the Bible and in our own lives. Far from dismissing the recorded biblical miracles as folk tales, he is convinced that they happened in the way described, and explains why we can accept them as credible.

The writer says: When God the Holy Spirit dwells within the human spirit, he uses the mental and physical abilities which make up a total human being . . . The whole purpose of this book is to show that the Bible does make sense.

And this warning: The Bible, claiming to speak as the revelation of God, and knowing man's weakness for substitute religious experiences, bans those avenues into the occult that at the very least are blind alleys that obscure the way to God, and at worst are roads to destruction.

eBook ISBN 13: 978-0-9932760-4-0

Paperback ISBN 13: 9-780-9525-9564-9

222 pages 5.25 x 8 inches

Available from bookstores and major internet sellers

### Howell Harris

### His Own Story

Foreword by J. Stafford Wright

Howell Harris was brought up to regard the Nonconformists as "a perverted and dangerously erroneous set of people." Hardly a promising start for a man who was to play a major role in the Welsh Revival. Yet in these extracts from his writings and diaries we can read the thoughts of Howell Harris before, during and after his own conversion.

We can see God breaking through the barriers separating "church and chapel", and discover Christians of different denominations preparing the country for revival. Wesley, Whitefield, Harris. These great 18th century preachers worked both independently and together to preach the Living Gospel. This book is a vivid first-hand account of the joys, hardships and struggles of one of these men -- Howell Harris (1714-1773).

eBook only

ISBN: 978-0-9933941-9-5

From the Streets of London

to the Streets of Gold

The Life Story of

Brother Clifford Edwards

A True Story of Love

by

Brother Clifford Edwards

eBook only

ISBN: 978-0-9933941-8-8

A printed copy is available directly from Brother Clifford \-- thejesusbus@hotmail.co.uk

This is the personal story of Clifford Edwards, affectionately known as Brother Clifford by his many friends. Going from fame to poverty, he was sleeping on the streets of London with the homeless for twenty years, until Jesus rescued him and gave him an amazing mission in life. Brother Clifford tells his true story here in the third person, giving the glory to Jesus.

### Seven Steps to

### Walking in Victory

Lin Wills

eBook ISBN: 978-0-9957594-3-5

Also available as a booklet

www.lenandlin.com

How is your Christian life going? Finding it hard and not sure why? Wherever you might be, Seven Steps to Walking in Victory is a very short book to help you see where you are in the Christian life, and help you keep on the right path to the victory that comes through walking closely with Jesus -- to live the Christian life you always wanted to live!

### Seven Keys to

### Unlock Your Calling

Lin Wills

eBook ISBN: 978-1-9997899-2-3

Also available as a booklet

www.lenandlin.com

God has a special plan for each and every one of us -- that includes YOU! He has given all of us unique gifts. Not sure what that might mean for you? Seven Keys to Unlock Your Calling is a very short book that will help you discover how to explore those gifts and encourage you to go deeper into all that God has for you.

English Hexapla

The Gospel of John

(Paperback only)

Published to coincide with the 400th anniversary of the Authorized King James Version of the Bible, this book contains the full text of Bagster's assembled work for the Gospel of John. On each page in parallel columns are the words of the six most important translations of the New Testament into English, made between 1380 and 1611. Below the English is the original Greek text after Scholz.

To enhance the reading experience, there is an introduction telling how we got our English Bibles, with significant pages from early Bibles shown at the end of the book.

Here is an opportunity to read English that once split the Church by giving ordinary people the power to discover God's word for themselves. Now you can step back in time and discover those words and spellings for yourself, as they first appeared hundreds of years ago.

Wyclif 1380, Tyndale 1534, Cranmer 1539, Geneva 1557,

Douay Rheims 1582, Authorized (KJV) 1611.

English Hexapla -- The Gospel of John

Published by White Tree Publishing

Paperback ISBN: 978-0-9525956-1-8

Size 7.5 x 9.7 inches paperback

Not available as an eBook

### Roddy Goes to Church

Church Life and Church People

Derek Osborne

No, not a children's book! An affectionate, optimistic look at church life involving, as it happens, Roddy and his friends who live in a small town. Problems and opportunities related to change and outreach are not, of course, unique to their church!

Maybe you know Miss Prickly-Cat who pointedly sits in the same pew occupied by generations of her forebears, and perhaps know many of the characters in this look at church life today. A wordy Archdeacon comes on the scene, and Roddy is taken aback by the events following his first visit to church. Roddy's best friend Bushy-Beard says wise things, and he hears an enlightened Bishop . . .

Bishop David Pytches writes: A unique spoof on church life. Will you recognise yourself and your church here? ... Derek Osborne's mind here is insightful, his characters graphic and typical and the style acutely comical, but there is a serious message in his madness. Buy this, read it and enjoy!

David Pytches, Chorleywood

eBook ISBN: 978-0-9935005-0-3

Paperback ISBN: 978-09927642-0-3

46 pages 5.5 x 8.5 inches paperback UK

Available from bookstores and major internet sellers

### Heaven Our Home

William Branks

White Tree Publishing Abridged Edition

"I go to prepare a place for you." This well-known promise from Jesus must cause us to think about the reality of heaven. Heaven is to be our home for ever. Where is heaven? What is it like? Will I recognize people there? All who are Christians must surely want to hear about the place where they are to spend eternity. In this abridged edition of William Branks classic work of 1861, we discover what the Bible has to say about heaven. There may be a few surprises, and there are certainly some challenges as we explore a subject on which there seems to be little teaching and awareness today.

eBook only

ISBN: 978-0-9933941-8-8

### I See Men as Trees, Walking

Roger and Janet Niblett

Roger and Janet Niblett were just an ordinary English couple, but then they met the Lord and

their lives were totally transformed. Like the Bethlehem shepherds of old, they had a compulsion to share the same good news that Jesus Christ had come into the world to save sinners. Empowered by the Holy Spirit they proclaimed the gospel in the market place, streets, prisons, hospitals and churches with a vibrancy that only comes from being in direct touch with the Almighty and being readily available to serve Him as a channel of His grace and love. God was with them and blessed their ministry abundantly. Praise God! (Pastor Mervyn Douglas, Clevedon Family Church)

The story of Roger Niblett is an inspiration to all who serve the Lord. He was a prolific street evangelist, whose impact on the gospel scene was a wonder to behold. It was my privilege to witness his conversion, when he went forward to receive Christ at the Elim Church, Keynsham. The preacher was fiery Scottish evangelist Rev'd Alex Tee. It was not long before Roger too caught that same soul winner's fire which propelled him far and wide, winning multitudes for Christ. Together with his wife Janet, they proceeded to "Tell the World of Jesus". (Des Morton, Founder Minister of Keynsham Elim Church)

I know of no couple who have been more committed to sharing their faith from the earliest days of their journey with the Lord Jesus Christ. Along the way, at home and abroad, and with a tender heart for the marginalised, Rog and Jan have introduced multitudes to the Saviour and have inspired successive generations of believers to do the same. It was our joy and privilege to have them as part of the family at Trinity where Janet continues to serve in worship and witness. Loved by young and old alike, they will always have a special place in our hearts. (Andy Paget, Trinity Tabernacle, Bristol. Vice President, International Gospel Outreach)

eBook ISBN: 978-0-9935005-1-0

Also available as a paperback

(published by Gozo Publishing Bristol)

paperback ISBN: 978-1508674979

### Leaves from

### My Notebook

New Abridged Edition

William Haslam

(1818-1905)

You may have heard of the clergyman who was converted while preaching his own sermon! Well, this is man -- William Haslam. It happened in Cornwall one Sunday in 1851. He later wrote his autobiography in two books: From Death into Life and Yet not I. Here, in Leaves from my NoteBook, William Haslam writes about events and people not present in his autobiography. They make fascinating and challenging reading as we watch him sharing his faith one to one or in small groups, with dramatic results. Haslam was a man who mixed easily with titled gentry and the poorest of the poor, bringing the message of salvation in a way that people were ready to accept. This book has been lightly edited and abridged to make reading easier today by using modern punctuation and avoiding over-long sentences. William Haslam's amazing message is unchanged.

Original book first published 1889

eBook only

ISBN: 978-0-9935005-2-7

### Blunt's Scriptural Coincidences

Gospels and Acts

J. J. Blunt

New Edition

This book will confirm (or restore) your faith in the Gospel records. Clearly the Gospels were not invented. There is too much unintentional agreement between them for this to be so. Undesigned coincidences are where writers tell the same account, but from a different viewpoint. Without conspiring together to get their accounts in agreement, they include unexpected (and often unnoticed) details that corroborate their records. Not only are these unexpected coincidences found within the Gospels, but sometimes a historical writer unknowingly and unintentionally confirms the Bible record.

Within these pages you will see just how accurate were the memories of the Gospel writers -- even of the smallest details which on casual reading can seem of little importance, yet clearly point to eyewitness accounts. J.J. Blunt spent many years investigating these coincidences. And here they are, as found in the four Gospels and Acts.

First published in instalments between 1833 and 1847

The edition used here published in 1876

eBook only

ISBN: 978-0-9935005-5-8

### Fullness of Power

### in Christian Life and Service

Home and Group Questions for Today Edition

R. A. Torrey

Questions by Chuck Antone, Jr.

This is a White Tree Publishing Home and Group Questions for Today Edition. At the end of each chapter are questions for use either in your personal study, or for sharing in a church or home group. Why? Because: "From many earnest hearts there is rising a cry for more power: more power in our personal conflict with the world, the flesh, and the devil; more power in our work for others. The Bible makes the way to obtain this longed-for power very plain. There is no presumption in undertaking to tell how to obtain Fullness of Power in Christian life and service; for the Bible itself tells, and the Bible was intended to be understood. R. A. Torrey (1856-1928) was an American evangelist, pastor, educator, and writer whose name is attached to several organisations, and whose work is still well known today.

"The Bible statement of the way is not mystical or mysterious. It is very plain and straightforward. If we will only make personal trial of The Power of the Word of God; The Power of the Blood of Christ; The Power of the Holy Spirit; The Power of Prayer; The Power of a Surrendered Life; we will then know the Fullness of Power in Christian life and service. We will try to make this plain in the following chapters. There are many who do not even know that there is a life of abiding rest, joy, satisfaction, and power; and many others who, while they think there must be something beyond the life they know, are in ignorance as to how to obtain it. This book is also written to help them." (Torrey's Introduction.)

eBook only

ISBN: 978-0-9935005-8-9

Ebenezer and Ninety-Eight Friends

Musings on Life, Scripture

and the Hymns

by

Marty Magee

Samuel, Mephibosheth, and a woman on death row -- people telling of our Savior's love. A chicken, a dinosaur, and a tarantula -- just a few props to show how we can serve God and our neighbors. Peanut butter, pinto beans and grandmother's chow-chow -- merely tools to help share the Bread of Life. These are just a few of the characters in Ebenezer and Ninety-Eight Friends.

It is Marty's desire to bring the hymns out of their sometimes formal, Sunday best stuffy setting and into our Monday through Friday lives. At the same time, she presents a light object lesson and appropriate Scripture passage. This is done with the format of a devotion book, yet it has a light tone and style. From Ebenezer to Willie, Marty's characters can scarcely be contained within the pages of this whimsical yet insightful volume.

eBook ISBN: 978-0-9957594-1-1

Also in paperback

from Rickety Bridge Publishing

ISBN: 978-0-9954549-1-0

Available from bookstores and major internet sellers

ALSO BY MARTY MAGEE

### Twenty-five Days Around the Manger

# A Light Family Advent Devotional

Marty Magee

Will a purple bedroom help Marty's misgivings about Christmas?

As a kid, Martha Evans didn't like Christmas. Sixty years later, she still gets a little uneasy when this holiday on steroids rolls around. But she knows, when all the tinsel is pulled away, Whose Day it is. Now Marty Magee, she is blessed with five grandchildren who help her not take herself too seriously.

Do you know the angel named Herald? Will young Marty survive the embarrassment of her Charley Brown Christmas tree? And by the way, where's the line to see Jesus?

Twenty-Five Days Around the Manger goes from Marty's mother as a little girl awaiting her brother's arrival, to O Holy Night when our souls finally were able to feel their full worth.

This and much more. Join Marty around the manger this Advent season.

eBook ISBN: 978-0-9954549-1-0

Also in full colour paperback

from Rickety Bridge Publishing

ISBN: 978-1-4923248-0-5

Available from bookstores and major internet sellers

The Gospels and Acts

In Simple Paraphrase

with Helpful Explanations

together with

Running Through the Bible

Chris Wright

White Tree Publishing presents a paraphrase in today's English of passages from the four Gospels -- Matthew, Mark, Luke and John -- relating Jesus' birth, life, death and resurrection in one continuous narrative with helpful explanations, plus a paraphrase of events from the book of Acts. Also in this book is a brief summary of the Epistles and Revelation. For readers unfamiliar with the New Testament, this book makes a valuable introduction, and it will surely help those familiar with the New Testament to gain some extra knowledge and understanding as they read it. Please note that this is not a translation of the Bible. It is a careful and sensitive paraphrase of parts of the New Testament, and is not intended to be quoted as Scripture. Part 2 is a short introduction to the whole Bible -- Running Through the Bible \-- which is available from White Tree Publishing as a separate eBook and paperback.

Translators and others involved in foreign mission work, please note: If you believe that this copyright book, or part of this book, would be useful if translated into another language, please contact White Tree Publishing (wtpbristol@gmail.com). Permission will be free, and assistance in formatting and publishing your new translation as an eBook and/or a paperback may be available, also without charge.

Superb! I have never read anything like it. It is colloquially worded in a succinct, clear style with a brilliant (and very helpful) running commentary interspersed. I have found it a compelling read -- and indeed spiritually engaging and moving. Canon Derek Osborne, Norfolk, England.

eBook only

eBook ISBN: 978-0-9935005-9-6

### Faith that Prevails

The Early Pentecostal Movement

Home and Group Questions for Today Edition

Smith Wigglesworth

Study Questions by Chuck Antone, Jr.

This is a White Tree Publishing Home and Group Questions for Today Edition. At the end of each of the seven chapters are questions by Chuck Antone, Jr. for use either in your personal study, or for sharing in a church or home group. Why? Because _Smith Wigglesworth, often referred to as the Apostle of Faith, putting the emphasis on the work of the Holy Spirit, writes, "_ God is making people hungry and thirsty after His best. And everywhere He is filling the hungry and giving them that which the disciples received at the very beginning. Are you hungry? If you are, God promises that you shall be filled."

_Smith Wigglesworth was one of the pioneers of the early Pentecostal revival. Born in 1859 he gave himself to Jesus at the age of eight and immediately led his mother to the Lord._ His ministry took him to Europe, the US, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, the Pacific Islands, India and what was then Ceylon. _Smith Wigglesworth's faith was unquestioning._

_In this book, he says, "_ There is nothing impossible with God. All the impossibility is with us, when we measure God by the limitations of our unbelief."

eBook only

eBook ISBN: 978-0-9954549-4-1

### The Authority and

###  Interpretation

### of the Bible

J Stafford Wright

When we start to think about God, we soon come to a point where we say, "I can discover nothing more about God by myself. I must see whether He has revealed anything about Himself, about His character, and about the way to find Him and to please Him." From the beginning, the Christian church has believed that certain writings were the Word of God in a unique sense. Before the New Testament was compiled, Christians accepted the Old Testament as their sacred Book. Here they were following the example of Christ Himself. During His ministry Jesus Christ made great use of the Old Testament, and after His resurrection He spent some time in teaching His disciples that every section of the Old Testament had teachings in it concerning Himself. Any discussion of the inspiration of the Bible gives place sooner or later to a discussion of its interpretation. To say that the Bible is true, or infallible, is not sufficient: for it is one thing to have an infallible Book, and quite another to use it. J Stafford Wright was a greatly respected evangelical theologian and author, and former Principal of Tyndale Hall Theological College, Bristol.

eBook only

eBook ISBN: 978-0-9954549-9-6

### Psalms,

### A Guide Psalm By Psalm

J Stafford Wright

The Bible Psalms. Do you see them as a source of comfort? A help in daily living? A challenge? Or perhaps something to study in depth? Psalms, a Guide Psalm by Psalm will meet all these requirements, and more. It is an individual study guide that can be used for daily reading in conjunction with your own Bible. It is also a resource for group study, with brief questions for study and discussion. And it's a Bible commentary, dealing with the text of each Psalm section by section.

eBook only

eBook ISBN 978-0-9957594-2-8

### The Christian's Secret

### of a Happy Life

Hannah Whitall Smith

White Tree Publishing Edition

Christian and happy? Do these two words fit comfortably together? Is our Christian life a burden or a pleasure? Is our quiet time with the Lord a duty or a delight? The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life was first written by Hannah Whitall Smith as monthly instalments for an American magazine. Hannah was brought up as a Quaker, and became the feisty wife of a preacher. By the time she wrote The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life she had already lost three children. Her life was not easy, with her husband being involved in a sexual scandal and eventually losing his faith. So, Christian and happy? An alternative title for this book could have been The Christian's Secret of a Trusting Life.

How often, Hannah asks, do we bring our burdens to the Lord, as He told us to, only to take them home with us again? There are some wonderful and challenging chapters in this book, which Hannah revised throughout her life, as she came to see that the truth is in the Bible, not in our feelings. Fact, faith and feelings come in that order. As Hannah points out several times, feelings come last. The teaching in this book is firmly Scripture based, as Hannah insists that there is more to the Christian life than simply passing through the gate of salvation. There is a journey ahead for us, where every step we take should be consecrated to bring us closer and closer to God, day by day, and year by year.

eBook only

eBook ISBN: 978-0-9957594-6-6

### Every-Day Religion

Hannah Whitall Smith

White Tree Publishing Edition

How are we to live out our Christian lives every day? This book isn't about everyday (ordinary) religion, but about a living faith that changes our lives day by day. Hannah Whitall Smith had to live her life based on her trust in Scripture and the promises of God. In 1875, after the loss of three children, and her husband suffering a mental breakdown after being accused of infidelity, she was able to write The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life, in which she showed that it is possible to find peace with the Lord, no matter what life throws at us, through trusting in His promises.

In 1894, after the death of yet another child, with her three surviving children professing atheism, and her husband losing his faith, Hannah's trust in the Lord Jesus is still so strong that she is able to write in her introduction to her Scripture-based Every-Day Religion, that the purpose of the book is, "To bring out, as far as possible, the common-sense teaching of the Bible in regard to every-day religion. ... How to have inward peace in the midst of outward turmoil."

eBook only

ISBN: 978-1-9997899-0-9

### Haslam's Journey

Chris Wright

White Tree Publishing Edition

Previously published 2005 by Highland Books

If you only intend to read just one Christian book, this should be the one! You may have heard of the clergyman who was converted while preaching his own sermon. Well, William Haslam is that man. It happened in Cornwall one Sunday in 1851, and revival immediately broke out. Later, another of William Haslam's "famous" sermons will cause a mass walkout of assembled clergy in St Paul's Cathedral! Once he starts to preach the Gospel with zeal, you can rejoice over powerful conversions in nearly every chapter.

Haslam's Journey consists of selected passages from William Haslam's two autobiographies: From Death Into Life (published 1880, his Cornish ministry) and Yet Not I (published 1882, set mostly in Bath, Norfolk and London), abridged and lightly modernised. Just under half of the originals is included. With copious notes and appendices by Chris Wright, editor of Haslam's Leaves also from White Tree Publishing. William Haslam writes with humour and great insight.

William Haslam writes about his early life: "I did not see then, as I have since, that turning over a new leaf to cover the past is not by any means the same thing as turning back the old leaves and getting them washed in the blood of the Lamb. I thought my acceptance with God depended upon my works. This made me very diligent in prayer, fasting and alms deeds. I often sat and dreamed about the works of mercy and devotion I would do."

eBook only

ISBN: 978-1-9997899-8-5

### My Life and Work

Gipsy Smith

White Tree Publishing Edition

Rodney "Gipsy" Smith was born in a gipsy tent in Epping Forest, England. He was the son of gipsies, Cornelius Smith and his wife Mary. Growing up, he had to help support the family by making and selling items like clothes pegs around the area. He only had a few weeks at school one winter, and was unable to read or write. One day his father Cornelius came home to say that he had been converted, and was now a Christian. Cornelius helped bring his son to the Lord, and from that moment, Rodney wanted to share the way of salvation with others.

Now followed a difficult time, because he knew that in order to preach to others, he had to be able to read the Bible, both for himself and aloud to others. He writes, "I began to practise preaching. One Sunday I entered a turnip field and preached most eloquently to the turnips. I had a very large and most attentive congregation. Not one of them made an attempt to move away." When he started preaching to people, and came across a long word in the Bible he was unable to read, he says he stopped at the long word and spoke on what had gone before, and started reading again at the word after the long one!

Gipsy Smith quickly learnt to read fluently and was soon into fulltime evangelism, where he soon became known as Gipsy Smith, a name he accepted gladly. He joined the Salvation Army for a time, until being told to resign. Instead of this being a setback, he now took up a much wider sphere of work in England, before travelling to America and Australia where he became a much-loved preacher. In spite of meeting two American presidents at the White House, and other important figures in society, Gipsy Smith never forgot his roots. He never pretended to be anything other than a Gipsy boy, and was always pleased to come across other Gipsy families in his travels. Like Billy Bray and others uneducated writers, Gipsy Smith tells the story of his life in a simple and compelling way. This is the account written by a man who gave himself fully to the Lord, and was used to help lead thousands to Jesus Christ as their Saviour.

eBook only

ISBN: 978-1-9997899-4-7

### Living in the Sunshine:

The God of All Comfort

Hannah Whitall Smith

White Tree Publishing Edition

Hannah Smith, who suffered so much in her personal life, has an amazing Bible-based grasp of God's love for each of us. She writes in this book: "Why, I ask myself, should the children of God lead such utterly uncomfortable Christian lives when He has led us to believe that His yoke would be easy and His burden light? Why are we tormented with so many spiritual doubts, and such heavy spiritual anxieties? Why do we find it so hard to be sure that God really loves us?

"But here, perhaps, you will meet me with the words, 'Oh, no, I do not blame the Lord, but I am so weak and so foolish, and so ignorant that I am not worthy of His care.' But do you not know that sheep are always weak, and helpless, and silly; and that the very reason they are compelled to have a shepherd to care for them is just because they are so unable to take care of themselves? Their welfare and their safety, therefore, do not in the least depend upon their own strength, nor upon their own wisdom, nor upon anything in themselves, but wholly and entirely upon the care of their shepherd. And if you are a sheep, your welfare also must depend altogether upon your Shepherd, and not at all upon yourself!"

Note: This is Hannah Smith's final book. It was first published as Living in the Sunshine, and later republished as The God of All Comfort, the title of the third chapter. The edition used here is the British edition of Living in the Sunshine, dated 1906.

eBook only

ISBN: 978-1-9997899-3-0

### Evangelistic Talks

Gipsy Smith

White Tree Publishing Edition

This book is a selection of 19 talks given by Gipsy Smith which will provide inspirational reading, and also be a source of help for those who speak. There are also 20 "two-minute sermonnettes" as the last chapter! Rodney "Gipsy" Smith was born in a gipsy tent in Epping Forest, England. He was the son of gipsies, Cornelius Smith and his wife Mary. Growing up, he had to help support the family by making and selling items like clothes pegs around the area. He only had a few weeks at school one winter, and was unable to read or write. One day his father Cornelius came home to say that he had been converted, and was now a Christian. Cornelius helped bring his son to the Lord, and from that moment, Rodney wanted to share the way of salvation with others.

He quickly learnt to read fluently and was soon into fulltime evangelism, where he became known as Gipsy Smith, a name he accepted gladly. He preached throughout England, before travelling to America and Australia. Wherever he went he was a much-loved and powerful preacher, bringing thousands to the Lord.

eBook only

ISBN: 978-1-9997899-7-8

### I Can't Help Praising the Lord

The Life of Billy Bray

Chris Wright

White Tree Publishing Edition

"I can't help praising the Lord!" said Billy Bray. "As I go along the street I lift up one foot, and it seems to say 'Glory!' and I lift up the other, and it seems to say 'Amen'; and so they keep on like that all the time I am walking."

Billy was a tin miner by trade and he loved his native Cornwall, but his love for souls was greater. When he was criticized for building a new chapel he replied, "If this new chapel ... stands one hundred years, and one soul be converted in it every year, that will be one hundred souls -- and one soul is worth more than all Cornwall!"

Billy Bray (1794-1868) found a real excitement in his Christian life, and discovered the secret of living by faith. His outspoken comments are often amusing, but the reader will be challenged by their directness.

This book has a strong message of encouragement for Christians today. Billy believed and accepted the promises in the Bible, and lived a life that was Spirit filled.

FW Bourne, the writer of the original book, The King's Son, knew Billy Bray as a friend. In it he has used Billy's own writing, the accounts of others who had met Billy, and his own memories.

Chris Wright has revised and edited FW Bourne's book to produce this new edition, adding sections directly from the autobiography of William Haslam who met Billy, and from Billy Bray's own handwritten Journal, keeping Billy's rough and ready grammar and wording, which surely helps us picture this amazing man of God.

eBook

ISBN: 978-1-912529-01-8

Paperback ISBN: 978-1-912529-00-1

5x8 inches 86 pages

Available from major internet stores

Also on sale in Billy Bray's Chapel

Kerley Downs, Cornwall

Christian Fiction

### The Lost Clue

Mrs. O. F. Walton

Abridged Edition

A Romantic Mystery

With modern line drawings

Living the life of a wealthy man, Kenneth Fortescue receives devastating news from his father. But he is only able to learn incomplete facts about his past, because a name has been obliterated from a very important letter. Two women are vying for Kenneth's attention -- Lady Violet, the young daughter of Lady Earlswood, and Marjorie Douglas, the daughter of a widowed parson's wife.

Written in 1905 by the much-loved author Mrs. O. F. Walton, this edition has been lightly abridged and edited to make it easier to read and understand today. This romantic mystery story gives an intriguing glimpse into the class extremes that existed in Edwardian England, with wealthy titled families on one side, and some families living in terrible poverty on the other.

eBook ISBN: 978-0-9932760-2-6

### Doctor Forester

Mrs. O. F. Walton

Abridged Edition

A Romantic Mystery

with modern line drawings

Doctor Forester, a medical man only twenty-five years old, has come to a lonely part of Wales to escape from an event in his recent past that has caused him much hurt. So he has more on his mind than worrying about strange noises behind his bedroom wall in the old castle where he is staying.

A young woman who shares part of the journey with him is staying in the same village. He is deeply attracted to her, and believes that she is equally attracted to him. But he soon has every reason to think that his old school friend Jack is also courting her.

Written and taking place in the early 1900s, this romantic mystery is a mix of excitement and heartbreak. What is the secret of Hildick Castle? And can Doctor Forester rid himself of the past that now haunts his life?

Mrs. O. F. Walton was a prolific writer in the late 1800s, and this abridged edition captures all of the original writer's insight into what makes a memorable story. With occasional modern line drawings.

* * *

Ghosts of the past kept flitting through his brain. Dark shadows which he tried to chase away seemed to pursue him. Here these ghosts were to be laid; here those shadows were to be dispelled; here that closed chapter was to be buried for ever. So he fought long and hard with the phantoms of the past until the assertive clock near his bedroom door announced that it was two o'clock.

eBook ISBN: 978-0-9932760-0-2

### Was I Right?

Mrs. O. F. Walton

Abridged Edition

A Victorian Romance

With modern line drawings

May Lindsay and her young stepsister Maggie are left penniless and homeless when their father the local doctor dies. Maggie can go to live with her three maiden aunts, but May at the age of nineteen is faced with a choice. Should she take the position of companion to a girl she doesn't know, who lives some distance away, or accept a proposal of marriage from the man who has been her friend since they were small children?

May Lindsay makes her decision, but it is not long before she wonders if she has done the right thing. This is a story of life in Victorian England as May, who has led a sheltered life, is pushed out into a much bigger world than she has previously known. She soon encounters titled families, and is taken on a tour of the Holy Land which occupies much of the story.

Two men seem to be a big disappointment to May Lindsay. Will her Christian faith hold strong in these troubles? Was she right in the decision she made before leaving home?

Mrs. O. F. Walton was a prolific writer in the late 1800s, and this abridged edition captures all of the original writer's insight into what makes a memorable story. With occasional modern line drawings.

eBook ISBN: 978-0-9932760-1-9

### In His Steps

Charles M. Sheldon

Abridged Edition

This new abridged edition of a classic story that has sold over an estimated 30 million copies, contains Charles Sheldon's original writing, with some passages sensitively abridged to allow his powerful story to come through for today's readers. Nothing in the storyline has been changed.

A homeless man staggers into a wealthy church and upsets the congregation. A week later he is dead. This causes the Rev. Henry Maxwell to issue a startling challenge to his congregation and to himself -- whatever you do in life over the next twelve months, ask yourself this question before making any decision: "What would Jesus do?"

The local newspaper editor, a novelist, a wealthy young woman who has inherited a million dollars, her friend who has been offered a professional singing career, the superintendent of the railroad workshops, a leading city merchant and others take up the challenge. But how will it all work out when things don't go as expected?

A bishop gives up his comfortable lifestyle -- and finds his life threatened in the city slums. The story is timeless. A great read, and a challenge to every Christian today.

eBook ISBN: 978-0-9927642-9-6

Also available in paperback 254 pages 5.5 x 8.5 inches

Paperback ISBN 13: 978-19350791-8-7

A Previously Unpublished Book

### Locked Door Shuttered Windows

A Novel by J Stafford Wright

What is inside the fascinating house with the locked door and the shuttered windows? Satan wants an experiment. God allows it. John is caught up in the plan as Satan's human representative. The experiment? To demonstrate that there can be peace in the world if God allows Satan to run things in his own way. A group of people gather together in an idyllic village run by Satan, with no reference to God, and no belief in him.

J Stafford Wright has written this startling and gripping account of what happens when God stands back and Satan steps forward. All seems to go well for the people who volunteer to take part. And no Christians allowed!

John Longstone lost his faith when teaching at a theological college. Lost it for good -- or so he thinks. And then he meets Kathleen who never had a faith. As the holes start to appear in Satan's scheme for peace, they wonder if they should help or hinder the plans which seem to have so many benefits for humanity.

eBook ISBN 13: 978-0-9932760-3-3

Paperback ISBN: 978-0-9927642-4-1

206 pages 5.25 x 8.0 inches

Available from bookstores and major internet sellers

### When it Was Dark

Guy Thorne

Abridged Edition

What would happen to the Christian faith if it could be proved beyond all doubt that Jesus did not rise from the dead? This is the situation when, at the end of the nineteenth century, eminent archaeologists working outside Jerusalem discover a tomb belonging to Joseph of Arimathea, with an inscription claiming that he took the body of Jesus from the first tomb and hid it. And there are even remains of a body. So no resurrection!

As churches quickly empty, some Christians cling to hope, saying that Jesus lives within them, so He must be the Son of God who rose from the dead. Others are relieved that they no longer have to believe and go to church. Society starts to break down.

With the backing of a wealthy industrialist, a young curate puts together a small team to investigate the involvement of a powerful atheist in the discovery. This is an abridged edition of a novel first published in 1903.

Guy Thorne was the English author of many thrillers in the early twentieth century, and this book was not intended specifically for the Christian market. It contains adult references in places, but no swearing or offensive language. Although it was written from a high church Anglican viewpoint, the author is positive about the various branches of the Christian faith, finding strengths and weaknesses in individual church and chapel members as their beliefs are threatened by the discovery in Jerusalem. White Tree Publishing believes this book will be a great and positive challenge to Christians today as we examine the reality of our faith.

White Tree Publishing Abridged Edition

Published jointly with North View Publishing

eBook only

ISBN: 978-0-9954549-0-3

### Silverbeach Manor

Margaret S. Haycraft

Abridged edition

Pansy is an orphan who is cared for by her aunt, Temperance Piper, who keeps the village post office and store. One day Pansy meets wealthy Mrs. Adair who offers to take her under her wing and give her a life of wealth in high society that she could never dream of, on condition Pansy never revisits her past life. When they first meet, Mrs. Adair says about Pansy's clothes, "The style is a little out of date, but it is good enough for the country. I should like to see you in a really well-made dress. It would be quite a new sensation for you, if you really belong to these wilds. I have a crimson and gold tea gown that would suit you delightfully, and make you quite a treasure for an artist." This is a story of rags to riches to ... well, to a life where nothing is straightforward. First published in 1891.

White Tree Publishing Abridged Edition

eBook only

ISBN: 978-0-9935005-4-1

### Gildas Haven

Margaret S. Haycraft

White Tree Publishing Abridged Edition

For several years in the peaceful English village of Meadthorpe, the church and chapel have existed in an uneasy peace while the rector and the chapel minister are distracted by poor health. Now a young curate arrives at St Simeon's, bringing high church ritual and ways of worship. Gildas Haven, the daughter of the chapel minister is furious to discover the curate is enticing her Sunday school children away. The curate insists that his Church ways are right, and Gildas who has only known chapel worship says the opposite.

Battle lines are quickly drawn by leaders and congregations. Mary Haycraft writes with light humour and surprising insight in what could be a controversial story line. With at least one major surprise, the author seems to be digging an impossible hole for herself as the story progresses. The ending of this sensitively told romance is likely to come as a surprise.

White Tree Publishing Abridged Edition

eBook only

ISBN: 978-0-9935005-7-2

### Amaranth's Garden

Margaret S. Haycraft

Abridged edition

"It seems, Miss, your father drew out that money yesterday, and took it all out in gold. The Rector happened to be in the Bank at the time, but was on his way to town, and could not stop to talk to your father just then, though he wondered to hear him say he had come to draw out everything, as treasurer of the fund." Amaranth Glyn's comfortable life comes to an end when the church funds disappear. Her father, the church treasurer who drew out the money, is also missing, to be followed shortly by her mother. The disgrace this brings on the family means Amaranth's marriage plans are cancelled. Amaranth is a competent artist and moves away with her young brother to try to earn a living. There are rumours that her parents are in France and even in Peru. Caring for her sick brother, Amaranth wants life to be as it was before the financial scandal forced her to leave her family home and the garden she loved.

White Tree Publishing Abridged Edition

eBook only

ISBN: 978-0-9935005-6-5

### Rose Capel's Sacrifice

Margaret Haycraft

White Tree Publishing Edition

Rose and Maurice Capel find themselves living in poverty through no fault of their own, and their daughter Gwen is dangerously ill and in need of a doctor and medicine, which they cannot possibly afford. There seems to be only one option -- to offer their daughter to Maurice Capel's unmarried sister, Dorothy, living in the beautiful Welsh countryside, and be left with nothing more than memories of Gwen. Dorothy has inherited her father's fortune and cut herself off from the family. Although Gwen would be well cared for, if she got better and Rose and Maurice's finances improved, would they be able to ask for Gwen to be returned? Another story from popular Victorian writer Margaret S. Haycraft.

White Tree Publishing Abridged Edition

eBook only

ISBN: 978-0-9954549-3-4

### Una's Marriage

### Margaret Haycraft

Una Latreille inherits the St Pensart's estate which has been in the family since the Norman Conquest. Unfortunately the estate is now bankrupt, and although still in mourning, Una's only hope of living in the style to which she has been accustomed is to marry a wealthy man, and quickly. Several suitors have disappeared after learning of the debts, and the one man who still expresses any interest in Una is Keith Broughton. Keith started work as a mill hand, and is now the young and wealthy owner of a large woollen mill. But how can she possibly marry so far beneath her class? Reluctantly, Una agrees to marriage on condition that there is no physical contact between them, and certainly no honeymoon! She also insists that she will never, ever suffer the indignity of meeting anyone in his family, or put one foot inside the door of his mill. This book was first published in 1898 by SW Partridge and Co, publishers of both Christian and secular books. Although there is no openly Christian message in this story, unlike the majority of Margaret Haycraft's books, it deals sensitively with the true nature of love -- as well as being an extremely readable story.

White Tree Publishing Edition

eBook only

ISBN: 978-0-9957594-5-9

### Miss Elizabeth's Niece

### Margaret Haycraft

"You have scandalised your name and ours, and the only thing to do is to make the best of it, and teach Maisie at least the first principles of ladylike conduct." Trevor Stratheyre, from a wealthy and aristocratic English family, impulsively marries Maisie, a servant girl he meets while touring the Continent. Maisie's mother had died at an Italian inn, leaving three-year-old Maisie to be brought up by the landlord and his wife, where she helps as a maid at the inn and cares for the animals. Maisie is charming and affectionate, but when Trevor brings her back to Stratheyre in England as his bride, to the large estate he is expecting to inherit, it is clear that Maisie's ways are not those of the upper classes. When she tells titled guests at dinner that she was once herding some cows home and one was struck by lightning, trouble is bound to follow.

White Tree Publishing Edition

eBook only

ISBN: 978-0-9957594-7-3

### Keena Karmody

Eliza Kerr

Keena Karmody finishes school in London and invites her young French teacher, Marie Delorme, to stay with her on her grandfather's estate at Céim-an-eich in Ireland as her tutor, to complete her education. One day Keena will inherit the large house and the family money. As time goes on, Marie Delorme's stay becomes permanent as she makes secret plans to take possession of the estate. When Keena's grandfather dies, Keena finds that he has made a very different will than the one everyone expected, and Marie is now mistress of the house. What is the shameful family secret that no one has ever discussed with Keena? Her only hope of getting her life back together lies in discovering this secret, and the answer could be with her father's grave in Tuscany. Homeless and penniless Keena Karmody sets out for Italy.

"When she had sought out and found that grave in the distant Tuscan village, and learned the story of her father's life and death, perhaps then death would come, and she might be laid there at his side in peace, and Marie would dwell in Céim-an-eich."

White Tree Publishing Edition

eBook only

ISBN: 978-1-9997899-5-4

### The Clever Miss Jancy

### Margaret S. Haycraft

Miss Orabel Jancy is indeed clever, and she knows it. The oldest of widowed Squire Jancy's six children, all living at home, Orabel is the author of several scientific books, and has many letters after her name. To Orabel, education and intellectual pursuits are everything that matter in life. She is secretary of a women's intellectual club that teaches that women are superior to men, and the members have all agreed to remain single because men would hold them back in their academic goals. However, when Orabel was born, a deathbed promise was made with a friend that Orabel and the friend's son, Harold Kingdon, should be given the opportunity to marry. Nobody thinks to mention this to Orabel, and she only learns of the arrangement when she is grown up and Harold Kingdon is already on his way from India -- to propose to her! Even before Harold arrives, Orabel decides she cannot possibly marry a lowly military doctor, when she is so intelligent. As soon as they meet, the feeling of dislike is mutual. But Orabel's younger sister, Annis, who never did well in academic subjects, is also of marriageable age, and would dearly love to settle down with the right man. Their younger brother and small sisters view the developing situation with interest.

The Squire had never found courage to broach the fact of the offer to Orabel, who looks as though her blue eyes would wither the sheet of foreign notepaper in front of her.

"You know, Orabel," puts in Annis, "we did hear something long ago about papa and mamma promising somebody or other out in India should have a chance to court you."

"Oh, do say 'yes,' Orabel," pleads a chorus of little sisters. "It will be so lovely to have a wedding, and Phil can be a page and wear a fancy dress."

"Can he?" growls Philip. "I'd like to catch myself in lace and velvet like those kids at the Hemmings' last week. Orabel, I think you ought to send him your portrait. Let him know, at least, what he's wooing."

With these words Philip beats a prudent retreat, and Orabel gives utterance to such tones that Annis, trembling at her side, is almost in tears.

"Has it come to this," Orabel asks, "that I, the secretary of the Mount Athene Club, should be affronted, insulted by a letter like this? Am I not Orabel Jancy? Am I not the pioneer of a new and emancipating system? And who is this Harold Kingdon that he dares to cross my path with his jests concerning infantile betrothal?"

White Tree Publishing Edition

eBook only

ISBN: 978-0-9957594-9-7

### A Daughter of the King

Mrs Philip Barnes

There are the usual misunderstandings in the small village of Royden, but one year they combine to cause serious friction. An elderly lady, the embodiment of kindness, is turned out of her favourite pew by the new vicar. Young and old residents start to view each other with suspicion when a banished husband returns, allegedly to harm his wife and children as he did once before. Both Mary Grey and Elsa Knott want to marry young Gordon Pyne, who lives in the White House, but Gordon is suddenly accused of his father's murder. This is a very readable romance from 1909, with many twists and turns. It has been lightly abridged and edited. A story in the style of those by White Tree Publishing's most popular author, Margaret S. Haycraft.

White Tree Publishing Edition

eBook only

ISBN: 978-0-9957594-8-0

### Hazel Haldene

Eliza Kerr

Two grownup sisters live under their older brother's thumb. He is obsessed with perfect Christian doctrine and farming, and cannot see why his sisters should want any company but his own. Marie is fond of a local artist, but her brother will not allow such a marriage. Marie's only hope of freedom is to run away and marry in secret. When she returns to the family home eight years later with a child, surely she will be welcome by a brother who professes religion. This story by Eliza Kerr again takes the theme of rejection, but her stories are all very different as well as involving.

White Tree Publishing Edition

eBook only

ISBN: 978-1-9997899-8-5

### Rollica Reed

Eliza Kerr

When Rollica Reed is left an orphan at the age of sixteen, a friend of her father's takes her in, much to the dismay of his wife and two older daughters who consider themselves to be the cream of Victorian society. The wife and daughters resent Rollica as an intruder, and try to make her life wretched, humiliating her in front of friends and telling her she is too common to be a lady. The two unmarried daughters are concerned by Rollica's naturally good looks, and want to cut her off from meeting any of their friends. Rollica soon learns she must not show any sign of weakness if she is to survive. But can she ever forgive?

White Tree Publishing Edition

eBook only

ISBN: 978-1-9997899-6-1

### Freda's Folly

Margaret S Haycraft

Freda Beresford is an aspiring young writer whose work is constantly rejected. Her young brother wants to go to university, but money is scarce. One day Freda receives a letter from a distant aunt, congratulating her on getting a story published in a leading literary journal. Enclosed is a large cheque and a promise to help Freda to a literary career. The money would mean that her brother can go to university, and Freda begins to feel famous at last. Unfortunately, Freda did not write the story, but she accepts the cheque and the deception starts. What begins as a light hearted novella, from one of White Tree Publishing's favourite authors of fiction, gets darker as Freda's deception has far reaching consequences. Readers will share Freda's unease as her initial deception leads her deeper and deeper towards the inevitable disgrace.

White Tree Publishing edition

eBook only

eBook ISBN: 978-1-912529-02-5

### Sybil's Repentance

Margaret S Haycraft

Sybil Agmere, an orphan, is taken in by a loving mother with four children and a strict grandfather. The mother's brother left the family home in disgrace many years before, never to be mentioned again. Sybil calls the mother her aunt, and is concerned when the brother reappears. The grandfather changes the inheritance in his will, but Sybil, at the age of eleven, reasons that if she can destroy the latest will, justice will be done. Her aunt will inherit, and all will be well. As the years go on, as Sybil sits in the family home, she sees that destroying the will is bringing nothing but trouble, yet she cannot admit to what she did. And even if she did admit it, the past could never be changed. After being persuaded into an engagement with a most unsuitable man, Sybil sees any hope of happiness fade away. Surely it is too late to undo the years of injustice and of wrong. There are wrongs no repentance can set right.

White Tree Publishing edition

eBook only

eBook ISBN: 978-1-912529-04-9

eBook coming 14th May 2018

### Sister Royal

Margaret S Haycraft

Beryl Rosslyn Aylmer, known from childhood as Bride, is suffering from seizures. Her young brother, Bonny, calls in Dr. Gildredge, but quickly realises he has made a mistake, for he takes an immediate dislike to the man. Dr. Gildredge is determined to become famous throughout Europe, and diagnoses a rare condition in Bride that he will attempt to treat, and write about it in the medical journals -- whether she recovers or not. Dr, Gildredge soon sees that the only way to keep control of Bride's treatment is to persuade her to marry him, and also stop young Bonny from seeing her. As is to be expected, the outcome is far from straightforward. This story by Margaret S Haycraft is a very readable mix of romance and revenge.

White Tree Publishing edition

eBook only

eBook ISBN: 978-1-912529-03-2

## Books for Younger Readers

(and older readers too!)

### The Merlin Adventure

Chris Wright

The day Daniel Talbot brought home a stuffed duck in a glass case, everyone thought he'd gone out of his mind. Even he had his doubts at times. "Fancy spending your money on that," his mother scolded him. "You needn't think it's coming into this house, because it isn't!"

When Daniel, Emma, Charlie and Julia, the Four Merlins, set out to sail their model paddle steamer on the old canal, strange and dangerous things start to happen. Then Daniel and Julia make a discovery they want to share with the others.

eBook ISBN: 978-0-9954549-2-7

Paperback ISBN: 9785-203447-7-5

5x8 inches 182 pages

Available from major internet stores

The Hijack Adventure

Chris Wright

Anna's mother has opened a transport café, but why do the truck drivers avoid stopping there? An accident in the road outside brings Anna a new friend, Matthew. When they get trapped in a broken down truck with Matthew's dog, Chip, their adventure begins.

eBook ISBN: 978-0-9954549-6-5

Available now in paperback

Paperback ISBN: 978-1-5203448-0-5

5x8 inches 140 pages

Available from major internet stores

The Seventeen Steps Adventure

Chris Wright

When Ryan's American cousin, Natalie, comes to stay with him in England, a film from their Gran's old camera holds some surprise photographs, and they discover there's more to photography than taking selfies! But where are the Seventeen Steps, and has a robbery been planned to take place there?

eBook ISBN: 978-0-9954549-7-2

Available now in paperback

Paperback ISBN: 978-1-5203448-6-7

5x8 inches 132 pages

Available from major internet stores

### The Two Jays Adventure

The First Two Jays Story

Chris Wright

James and Jessica, the Two Jays, are on holiday in the West Country in England where they set out to make some exciting discoveries. Have they found the true site of an ancient holy well? Is the water in it dangerous? Why does an angry man with a bicycle tell them to keep away from the deserted stone quarry?

A serious accident on the hillside has unexpected consequences, and an old Latin document may contain a secret that's connected to the two strange stone heads in the village church -- if James and Jessica can solve the puzzle. An adventure awaits! This is the first Two Jays adventure story. You can read them in any order, although each one goes forward slightly in time.

eBook ISBN: 978-0-9954549-8-9

Available now in paperback

Paperback ISBN: 978-1-5203448-8-1

5x8 inches 196 pages

Available from major internet stores

### The Dark Tunnel Adventure

The Second Two Jays Story

Chris Wright

James and Jessica, the Two Jays, are on holiday in the Derbyshire Peak District in England, staying near Dakedale Manor, which has been completely destroyed in a fire. Did young Sam Stirling burn his family home down? Miss Parkin, the housekeeper, says he did, and she can prove it. Sam says he didn't, and he can't prove it. But Sam has gone missing. James and Jessica believe the truth lies behind one of the old iron doors inside the disused railway tunnel. This is the second Two Jays adventure story. You can read them in any order, although each one goes forward slightly in time.

eBook ISBN: 978-0-9957594-0-4

Paperback ISBN: 978-1-5206386-3-8

188 pages 5x8 inches

Available from major internet stores

### The Cliff Edge Adventure

The Third Two Jays Story

Chris Wright

James and Jessica's Aunt Judy lives in a lonely guest house perched on top of a crumbling cliff on the west coast of Wales. She is moving out with her dog for her own safety, because she has been warned that the waves from the next big storm could bring down a large part of the cliff -- and her house with it. Cousins James and Jessica, the Two Jays, are helping her sort through her possessions, and they find an old papyrus page they think could be from an ancient copy of one of the Gospels. Two people are extremely interested in having it, but can either of them be trusted? James and Jessica are alone in the house. It's dark, the electricity is off, and the worst storm in living memory is already battering the coast. Is there someone downstairs? This is the third Two Jays adventure story. You can read them in any order, although each one goes forward slightly in time.

eBook ISBN: 978-0-9957594-4-2

Paperback ISBN: 9781-5-211370-3-1

188 pages 5x8 inches

### The Midnight Farm Adventure

The Fourth Two Jays Story

Chris Wright

What is hidden in the old spoil tip by the disused Midnight Mine? Two men have permission to dig there, but they don't want anyone watching -- especially not Jessica and James, the Two Jays. And where is Granfer Joe's old tin box, full of what he called his treasure? The Easter holiday at Midnight Farm in Cornwall isn't as peaceful as James's parents planned. An early morning bike ride nearly ends in disaster, and with the so-called Hound of the Baskervilles running loose, things turn out to be decidedly dangerous. This is the fourth Two Jays adventure story. You can read them in any order, although each one goes forward slightly in time.

eBook ISBN: 978-1-9997899-1-6

Also available in paperback

Paperback ISBN: 978-1-5497148-3-2

200 pages 5x8 inches

### Mary Jones and Her Bible

An Adventure Book

Chris Wright

The true story of Mary Jones's and her Bible

with a clear Christian message and optional puzzles

(Some are easy, some tricky, and some amusing)

Mary Jones saved for six years to buy a Bible of her own. In 1800, when she was 15, she thought she had saved enough, so she walked barefoot for 26 miles (more than 40km) over a mountain pass and through deep valleys in Wales to get one. That's when she discovered there were none for sale!

You can travel with Mary Jones today in this book by following clues, or just reading the story. Either way, you will get to Bala where Mary went, and if you're really quick you may be able to discover a Bible just like Mary's in the market!

The true story of Mary Jones has captured the imagination for more than 200 years. For this book, Chris Wright has looked into the old records and discovered even more of the story, which is now in this unforgettable account of Mary Jones and her Bible. Solving puzzles is part of the fun, but the whole story is in here to read and enjoy whether you try the puzzles or not. Just turn the page, and the adventure continues. It's time to get on the trail of Mary Jones!

eBook ISBN: ISBN: 978-0-9933941-5-7

Paperback ISBN 978-0-9525956-2-5

5.5 x 8.5 inches

156 pages of story, photographs, line drawings and puzzles

### Pilgrim's Progress

An Adventure Book

Chris Wright

Travel with young Christian as he sets out on a difficult and perilous journey to find the King. Solve the puzzles and riddles along the way, and help Christian reach the Celestial City. Then travel with his friend Christiana. She has four young brothers who can sometimes be a bit of a problem.

Be warned, you will meet giants and lions -- and even dragons! There are people who don't want Christian and Christiana to reach the city of the King and his Son. But not everyone is an enemy. There are plenty of friendly people. It's just a matter of finding them.

Are you prepared to help? Are you sure? The journey can be very dangerous! As with our book Mary Jones and Her Bible, you can enjoy the story even if you don't want to try the puzzles.

This is a simplified and abridged version of Pilgrim's Progress -- Special Edition, containing illustrations and a mix of puzzles. The suggested reading age is up to perhaps ten. Older readers will find the same story told in much greater detail in Pilgrim's Progress -- Special Edition on the next page.

eBook ISBN 13: 978-0-9933941-6-4

Paperback ISBN: 978-0-9525956-6-3

5.5 x 8.5 inches 174 pages

Available from major internet stores

### Pilgrim's Progress

### Special Edition

Chris Wright

This book for all ages is a great choice for young readers, as well as for families, Sunday school teachers, and anyone who wants to read John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress in a clear form.

All the old favourites are here: Christian, Christiana, the Wicket Gate, Interpreter, Hill Difficulty with the lions, the four sisters at the House Beautiful, Vanity Fair, Giant Despair, Faithful and Talkative -- and, of course, Greatheart. The list is almost endless.

The first part of the story is told by Christian himself, as he leaves the City of Destruction to reach the Celestial City, and becomes trapped in the Slough of Despond near the Wicket Gate. On his journey he will encounter lions, giants, and a creature called the Destroyer.

Christiana follows along later, and tells her own story in the second part. Not only does Christiana have to cope with her four young brothers, she worries about whether her clothes are good enough for meeting the King. Will she find the dangers in Vanity Fair that Christian found? Will she be caught by Giant Despair and imprisoned in Doubting Castle? What about the dragon with seven heads?

It's a dangerous journey, but Christian and Christiana both know that the King's Son is with them, helping them through the most difficult parts until they reach the Land of Beulah, and see the Celestial City on the other side of the Dark River. This is a story you will remember for ever, and it's about a journey you can make for yourself.

eBook ISBN: 978-0-9932760-8-8

Paperback ISBN: 978-0-9525956-7-0

5.5 x 8.5 inches 278 pages

Available from major internet stores

### Zephan and the Vision

Chris Wright

An exciting story about the adventures of two angels who seem to know almost nothing -- until they have a vision!

Two ordinary angels are caring for the distant Planet Eltor, and they are about to get a big shock -- they are due to take a trip to Planet Earth! This is Zephan's story of the vision he is given before being allowed to travel with Talora, his companion angel, to help two young people fight against the enemy.

Arriving on Earth, they discover that everyone lives in a small castle. Some castles are strong and built in good positions, while others appear weak and open to attack. But it seems that the best-looking castles are not always the most secure.

Meet Castle Nadia and Castle Max, the two castles that Zephan and Talora have to defend. And meet the nasty creatures who have built shelters for themselves around the back of these castles. And worst of all, meet the shadow angels who live in a cave on Shadow Hill. This is a story about the forces of good and the forces of evil. Who will win the battle for Castle Nadia?

The events in this story are based very loosely on John Bunyan's allegory The Holy War.

eBook ISBN: 978-0-9932760-6-4

Paperback ISBN: 978-0-9525956-9-4

5.5 x 8.5 inches 216 pages

Available from major internet stores

### Agathos, The Rocky Island,

### And Other Stories

Chris Wright

Once upon a time there were two favourite books for Sunday reading: Parables from Nature and Agathos and The Rocky Island.

These books contained short stories, usually with a hidden meaning. In this illustrated book is a selection of the very best of these stories, carefully retold to preserve the feel of the originals, coupled with ease of reading and understanding for today's readers.

Discover the king who sent his servants to trade in a foreign city. The butterfly who thought her eggs would hatch into baby butterflies, and the two boys who decided to explore the forbidden land beyond the castle boundary. The spider that kept being blown in the wind, the soldier who had to fight a dragon, the four children who had to find their way through a dark and dangerous forest. These are just six of the nine stories in this collection. Oh, and there's also one about a rocky island!

This is a book for a young person to read alone, a family or parent to read aloud, Sunday school teachers to read to the class, and even for grownups who want to dip into the fascinating stories of the past all by themselves. Can you discover the hidden meanings? You don't have to wait until Sunday before starting!

eBook ISBN: 978-0-9927642-7-2

Paperback ISBN: 978-0-9525956-8-7

5.5 x 8.5 inches 148 pages

Available from major internet stores

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