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Life and Labors of a Poor Sinner

AUTHOR:

Dalton, Tolbert S.

CHAPTER XXIX

SERMON NO. 1

Sermon Delivered by Elder T. S. Dalton at Front Royal Old Baptist Church, Sunday, June 28, 1903.

I invite your attention for a while today to a part of the second chapter of Luke, especially the tenth and eleventh verses of that chapter. "And the angel said unto them, Fear not; for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord."

This is an announcement of the angel of God unto the shepherds in the fields nigh unto Bethlehem, as they watched their flocks by night. This is one of the greatest and most glorious announcements that ever graced the pages of ancient history, the announcement of the birth of the son of God, the fulfillment of that prophecy which said "Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall rest upon his shoulders, and of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end." This text is the fulfillment of that prophecy. Were it possible for us today to come to Bethlehem, that, little city of David, and behold this child cradled in a manger, wrapped in swaddling cloths, no doubt with the Atheist we would be ready to say, surely this cannot be the Son of God: The pride of man's nature revolts at the thought of poverty-the pride of our nature would lead us to reject this poor babe of Bethlehem. But when we consider the other side of this question that God dispatched an angel from the courts of glory to announce to these dejected shepherds as they watched their flocks by night, that "Unto you is born in the city of David a Saviour;" then listen to the myriads of angels as they gather around that one that has made the announcement, and we hear their voices saying, "Glory to God in the highest; peace on earth, good will to men." we are at once, in view of these circumstances constrained to say, "Surely this can be none other than the Son of God." We are made to conclude in a moment that this is the one that God spoke of when he said, "Let all the angels of God worship him." And the particular thought I, wish to rivet upon your minds today during my talk will be that this babe of Bethlehem is the Saviour - the Saviour definite. I would to God that I could only make that as definite as the angel did. The Saviour of sinners - not one among the many Saviours - not one of the means that God had ordained for the salvation of sinners, but the Saviour himself. Oh! how I wish I could impress that thought upon your minds that He is the Saviour, for God has ordained him as such.

It occurs to my mind that it shows a disposition of unbelief to conclude that there is any other means in the salvation of sinners outside of this one Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Son of David. That is the reason why I have ever opposed the idea of anything else being connected with the salvation of the sinner outside of Jesus Christ and him crucified. I remember that the apostle Paul, the eminent apostle of the Gentiles, said, "I am determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified." That was Paul's conclusion, that is mine, and has been for years past; though it is popular, though it is a scheme by and through which men can make money to declare that we are means in the salvation of sinners; though this is a scheme out of which numbers of the world are growing rich, but I had rather be poor like the babe of Bethlehem and declare God's sacred truth, and die with a conscience void of offence than to be a Vanderbilt or a Gould, and die with remorse of conscience because I had shunned to declare the truth for the love of money. I hope you will excuse me for this plainness of speech, for I must be plain, I must deal in simple matters of fact. God has sent this declaration to His people not merely as a little item of news that would have a tendency to affect the carnal mind, but as a declaration of divine truth that in Him, and Him only, is the hope of the sinner beyond the grave. Hence he could say, "Unto you this day is born a Saviour."

There is one other thought that I wish to mention. In Matthew's gospel we have a declaration of a star that guided the wise men as they went in search of the Saviour, and that star led them all the way and stood immediately over that hovel- that stable,- in which the Saviour was born; and these wise men entered that stable, gathered around that little babe and gave him gifts and then went out to spread the news of a Saviour born in to the world. These wise men were Gentiles. God saw fit in His divine wisdom to point the Gentiles to the babe of Bethlehem through the means of a star. But to the Jews He sent an angel from heaven which said to them, "Unto you this day is born a Saviour." How beautifully this corresponds with the teachings of the Spirit of God. In the first chapter of Matthew, when the angel Gabriel was dispatched from the courts of heaven and came to Mary, that Virgin, the descendant of Abraham, and said to her, "Behold I bring you good tidings," and goes on to tell her what it is. And Mary said, "How can such a thing be, seeing that I have never known a man?" As a matter of fact she was looking at it from a literal standpoint, and that Jesus must be brought into the world according to the course of ordinary generation. And the prevailing idea of that age was that Christ must be of worldly origin; just as the world looks at religion today. But listen to the language of the angel when he says to her "The power of the Highest shall come upon thee, and the Holy Ghost shall overshadow thee, and that Holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." Do you get the idea? Here is the production of a Son entirely out of the course of nature---altogether contrary to the course of nature. It is a divine production of God himself. Such an event has never been known in an the history of the world, nor ever will be known again while the world stands, as a virgin conceiving and bringing forth a son, and a virgin afterwards.

The best versed people on earth in obstetrics, the best writers that ever have been known to the universe never mentioned such a case. It cannot be known outside of the divine and infinite work of God. And I am here to tell you, my brother, that this is no more the divine work of God - this is no more contrary to the common course of nature -- than is the salvation of your own soul. The same God that produced this divine Being overshadows the soul of every sinner of Adam's race that shall ever inherit the climes of glory. It requires the divine work of the Holy Ghost to make one a child of God; and you cannot mix the works of earth with it to save your life. And this is the reason why I have ever stood opposed to the works of men in the affairs of our religion. Now I hope you understand me on this point; and if you do, then men should preach nothing but Christ and Him crucified and that is what I intend to do. You may have your missionaries and your good old sisters, and your many good old brethren, and their long prayers, and all this, but according to the teachings of God's word, none of them nor all combined can reach the case of a poor dead sinner that is dead in trespasses and in sin. We must all step back and admit that we can't do that.

I debated with a gentleman in the courthouse in Benton, Ill., a number of years ago, and he undertook to prove that certain works had to be performed by an alien sinner in order to be saved in heaven. I denied it. He spent his first hour in trying to prove to us that there was something everyone must do. Every one must do something for Christ-something for God; God had something for every one in the church to do. When I got up to follow him, I told the congregation there was nothing for me to reply to, for I admit the preacher has something to do, and the church has something to do, and everyone in the church has something to do; there are none but have something to do in living a moral, upright life as citizens of our country. But the particular point that I wanted him to make, is it in order to raise the dead to life? Can we do that? That is what I want to know. He admitted we could not do that - there is not means enough in our hands to do that. I then asked him to please state to the congregation whether you mean that God has that to do? He said, "Yes sir, that it what I mean." I then stated that after God had raised him from the dead then it was his duty to do something, and the man that will not do what God requires of him after he is raised from the dead is certainly very ungrateful. God has something for everyone of His children to do, and none should stand idle out of the vineyard, of the Lord. But all we do, or all we hear, does not raise the dead to life; but good works always follow after the giving to life. I know that is right. God must raise the dead.

After Lazarus had lain in the grave four days, Jesus came, and Mary said to him, "If thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. Jesus said unto her, "Thy brother shall live again." Martha said unto him, "I know he shall live again In the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and he that "liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?" The Saviour said, "Where have ye laid him?" They came to the sepulchre and Jesus said, "Take ye away the stone." And Martha said, "Lord, by this time he stinketh." Jesus did not say, "I cannot do anything with him, he has been dead too long, his case is too hard for me;" for there is no such thing as a case too hard for him. They rolled away the stone, and Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying "Lazarus, come forth," and Lazarus raised immediately up and came forth out of the sepulchre bound in grave clothes and a napkin was about his face. I have been trying to get that napkin off your face. After God had raised you up to life and given you to taste of the powers of the good world to come, then I want to get that old napkin off your face. But Paul said there is a veil over their face until this day when Moses is read, "Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away."

What I want to do is to get that veil of conditionalism from over your faces and let you see the truth. I do think if all the ministers would follow that business more than they do, and labor together to pull the veils from over their faces, they would have all they could do, and we can accomplish that. But we cannot raise the dead to life.

I remember one Simeon, who lived away back before the Saviour, who had the promise that he should not depart this life until he had seen the Lord's Christ; and while he was in Jerusalem, the time came to have Jesus circumcised according to the custom of the Jews. They walked into the temple, Jesus eight days old; God gave that old servant Simeon to understand that the child was in the temple, and I can imagine I see that old decrepit servant of God crippling along on his staff going up to the temple to see the Saviour; and when he entered the temple he took the babe in his arms and lifted his eyes to heaven and said, "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace," "for mine eyes have seen thy salvation." He had seen the Son of God, he had seen the little son of Mary and he said, "It is God's salvation." Not an offer of salvation, but it is God's salvation itself. Would to God, brother, that you could see it; but you have the promise that you shall see it, just as Simeon has seen it, but not in this life. But the time will come when God shall raise these vile bodies of ours from the grave then we shall see Him just as He is; and the blessed thought is, we shall be "just like him." Yes, brother, just as certain as God is in heaven and we are present here today, that sure shall we see Him and be like Him. When He comes to make up His jewels, if we are truly the children of God, we will see Jesus and be with Him forever and be "just like Him." I do not mean that we will resemble Him in the face or be the same size of Him. I don't think our features will be changed, or that we will be smaller or larger there than we are here, and in this sense be like Him; but we will be made spiritual like Him, all sin and nature and suffering left in the grave and we raised up spiritual, just as the dear Saviour is spiritual, and in this, sense be "just like Him." I hope to be with the Saviour around the throne of God and to sing His praises in all eternity.

Brethren, this is truly a glorious announcement, and do not forget that it is to all His people. I do not think that God is dependent on you or me, yet it is our duty to go; and if I felt impressed to go to China and preach to the Chinese or if I felt impressed to go to Burma, I would surely go and spread the good news to those people. I would not wait for the Board to meet in order to see what I was to get, but I would go on. God would sustain me, for He said, "Lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the world," God can sustain a man as well in one part of the world as another. God has determined that the gospel shall be preached in every nation under heaven, and when God opens the way for His gospel to be preached to a nation, and sends His servants there, they will not need Gatlin guns nor armies of an hundred thousand men at their backs to enforce it and to kill out the poor heathen to open a way for the gospel among them; but God will open the way and make even the man's "foes, to be at peace with him," for God will surely bless His servants wherever they are to go and bring His people together.

I tell you, brethren, we should not court the favor or fellowship of the world, but be diligent in setting forth God's eternal truth. We sometimes get in too big a hurry. Brethren, this promise is to all people, to every nation, and God has a people among every nation under the sun; and it will have its desired effect and everyone of God's people out of every nation under heaven will be brought to the enjoyment of a sweet rest in glory. The greatest point with me is to know whether or not I am one of them; I have so many doubts and fears by the way that I often wonder if heaven can ever be my home. If you are a child of God, whether you belong to the Old Baptist Church or not, heaven and its glories will be your eternal home. And I hope by the grace of God to be with you there and join you in chanting the divine praises of God in all eternity. May God in His infinite wisdom and mercy bring us all at last to surround His throne in heaven is the prayer of your poor unworthy servant.

SERMON No.2

The sixth and seventh verses of the ninth chapter of Isaiah is the language of our text today. "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever." This is the reading of the text.

This is a prophecy, a statement of a grand truth; expressive of that upon which rests the hope of the children of God. And I hope to be enabled to deliver it in a way that will be interesting to you, and especially upbuilding and uplifting to the children of God. This prophecy includes not only the advent of the Messiah, the medium through which he was to enter the world; but also expresses the sacred truth of the perpetuity of the kingdom over which He was to be the one and only ruler, And the crowning thought of this text especially is that this Kingdom "is to stand forever." The Christian religion is different from everything else in the world. There is something connected with it that the world cannot comprehend, that the world cannot know. There is a deep and hidden mystery connected with the development of the great system of God that the world has ever been a stranger to; and the apostle Paul, being so sensible of this grand truth, expressed himself in this way, "Great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh," believed on in the world, received up into glory."

This is truly a grand mystery, and without taking into consideration the certainty of God existing in three separate and distinct offices, it is utterly impossible to understand it; and to this the apostle says, "There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one; " and referring to it again he says, "There are three that bear witness in earth, the spirit, the water and the blood, and these three agree in one." Now we can begin to see something of the mystery of what is termed in the sacred Scriptures, the Immanuel, God with us. I would not for a single moment leave upon your minds the thought that there are three separate and distinct Gods, three separate and distinct Spirits; but I would impress you with this thought, that some way wrapt up in a mystery, known alone to God, there is such a thing mentioned in the sacred Scriptures as that eternal Spirit, eternal God becoming human like we are. I wish I could impress that thought. Outside of this idea there can be no such thing as salvation for poor sinners, outside of this thought there is no such thing as God dying for man, outside of this thought there can be no such thing as God manifest in the flesh; and one of the strangest and most mysterious circumstances that ever penetrated the human brain is to think that God is born of a woman; and do you ever stop to think, brother, that even this circumstance is altogether contrary to nature? Such a thing had never been known in the history of the world up till that period, such a things has never been known since that period, and yet it is true. In the infinite wisdom of God a virgin conceived and brought forth a son that was called Immanuel. For this reason the prophet would say in the language of our text, "Unto Us a child is born." Did you notice, brother, that the prophet would not even so much as say that "Unto Joseph and unto Mary a child is born?" When we speak of an event of this kind, we say that unto a certain couple a child is born; but the prophet viewing this matter in a spiritual light would say, "Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given." In this he refers to his having been given to all the nations of the earth, "Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given."

And think will you for a moment; just let your mind rest for one moment upon this thought, that this son became the everlasting Father, and He is called "the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace." The great question in our mind is, how can that be? Brother it cannot, except that God himself, the eternal Father, was so interested in the salvation of His people in an the parts of the earth, simply for a purpose, known alone to Himself, assumed a body of flesh and was born of the virgin Mary, and became a little helpless babe, like yours and mine, and like we used to be. From the simple fact that He must become as one of us in order to reach our case. This being true that Jesus came, He came according to a fixed purpose; and now; brother, this one particular thought I want you to think about; and if I am not right tell me, show me where I am wrong. This thought is that Jesus had a purpose in coming here. God had a purpose in assuming a body of flesh; and did you ever stop to think that there is no law human or divine, by which a man, an innocent man, can take the guilt off the guilty and take it upon himself. There is no law that compels Christ to assume our sins; and, there is no way by which Jesus became responsible for our sins, except upon the principle that He assumed them in the covenant with His father before the beginning of the world; and there is no law by which it was done, But it was an old Jewish law that just as soon as a young man became espoused to his bride, or in other words became engaged to her, he became responsible for all of her indebtedness; and outside of that principle I am here to tell you that Jesus Christ never assumed that responsibility, except in the sense that He was espoused to His bride in the covenant of grace; and upon this principle, and this only, can the sinner reach heaven. Christ assumed the responsibility, He came in her room and stead, and He was espoused to her in the covenant before the foundation of the world and in consequence of the espousal He became absolutely responsible for her indebtedness, for all her claims; and no wonder that the prophet viewing these sacred truths would say, "Unto us a son is given." God gave this son because He was espoused to His bride, just like your father, young lady, would lead you to the altar and deliver you over to your espoused husband, and just so, young man, as your father would lead you to the altar and deliver you over to your bride; just so God, in His infinite wisdom and mercy, according to the covenant agreement, lead his church to the altar, led His son to the altar. He gave the bride to the son, the son to the bride, therefore they can all say, "Unto us a child is born." Remove that thought and you have destroyed every principle upon which the sinner can be saved in heaven. But with this thought we can see how He became responsible, how He took our sins, how we were given to Him, and now no wonder that He should be called Wonderful, (something full of wonder), the world cannot understand it today. It is wonderful, full of wonder, and His people look at Him with wonder today, and the least, most trembling, the most doubtful, and fearing child of God looks at Jesus Christ with wonder. I wonder did He die for me; I wonder was He given to me; I wonder if He is my husband; I wonder if I am His bride, wonderful, wonderful, full of wonder. The world looks upon it today as the most wonderful event that ever was known in the past history of the world.

"Counsellor, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." I want to tell you, my brother, wherever the peace of God reigns, wherever the influence of Christ reigns in the hearts of the people, peace pervades in every case. It is not the spirit of the Lord that gets up confusion among the children of God in the world; it is not the spirit of the Lord that makes you hate everyone who does not see as you see; it is not the spirit of the Lord that makes you think, "I am right, and everybody else is wrong." But I will tell you that a great majority of the Christian world today are like the poor old Quaker who says, "There is nobody right in the world but me and thee, and thee are wrong on some p'ints."

The spirit of the Christian religion is not hatred; Christianity somehow has a tendency to cause peace to reign in the hearts of all the children of God. Christianity has even such an effect as to make one long and desire for the betterment of the worst and most degraded alien of earth. I look out today upon the world and see sin mixed with everything; I see sin lifted high, Christianity trodden under foot, and the world is running wild after the fashions and forms of earth. The time has come that no man can be a child of God, unless he believes just like I do. This I assure you does not emanate from a renewed soul; Christianity is not hatred; where Jesus reigns there is peace. He is "The Prince of Peace;" and He so established His kingdom that peace reigns throughout the length and breadth of the reign and dominion of the Lord. Now I would not have you think for a single moment that I think all the Old Baptists in the world are perfect; we have had our trials, we have had, men to arise among us who have made trouble by bringing in strife and confusion, and have separated our ranks. But this is not the spirit of Christ, this is not the true spirit of religion, it is not the reigning power of God's grace in the soul. Where God reigns there is peace, and peace flows like a river; where Jesus reigns, love reigns in His church. He is to reign on, "He is to reign over this kingdom forever."

Now this kingdom He established here on earth, and how beautifully did Daniel speak of it in the forty-fourth verse, second chapter, when he said, "In the days of these Kings," having reference to the ten divisions of the European government, represented by the tell toes of the image, "In the days of these kings, shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom and it shall stand forever; and shall not be left to other people, and shall break in pieces and consume an these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever." The reason of the certainty and perpetuity of the kingdom of God is upon the ground that the government of that kingdom rests upon the shoulders of Jesus.

If this kingdom and its government were left in the hands of men, it would be in about the same shape as our political government today (excuse me for referring to that, for I must do it): if the present administration continues a few more years, being ruled by the money power of the earth, but a few more years will elapse until this grand old union of states will be abolished from the face of the earth.

But, my brother, I am glad, from the very depth of my heart, that the government of God's kingdom rests upon the shoulder of Jesus. "The government shall rest upon His shoulder;" There is no law maker but Him; we look to Him as the ruler of our church, we look to Him for its increase, we look to Him to keep it from all the evils of the world, we look to Him to preserve it through the vicissitudes of this life, we look to Him to bring us off conquerors, and we are glad to say this is right.

This being true, Jesus is our all and in all, and there is nothing left out. He is the hope, He is the salvation of His people, and the government is upon His shoulder; "And of the increase of this kingdom there is to be no end." Thank God! I mean to say by this that you and I cannot increase the number in the church; I had rather have one that the Lord brings in, than ten thousand that I had gotten in there myself. I had rather have one that God has made a true and genuine child of God, and that loves the true doctrine of grace - I had rather have one like poor old Moses, who said, "He chose rather to suffer the reproaches of the children of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of Egypt" than ten thousand I had made myself.

There are many of these faithful and tried one that God has brought in that are living faithful Christian lives and waiting patiently for their Lord to say to them, "Come home," like a precious faithful sister of this church who fell asleep last night. She had long desired and prayed for death, that she might go home to rest. Also like a precious sister who died while I was in Luray. I went to see her the evening before she died, and while sitting by her bedside, she said to me, "I want to die; I am tired of this life; I want to go home to rest." These words of this sister have strengthened me more than anything I can mention today. I have sat and listened to her tell what she hoped Christ had done for her, and it made my heart bound with joy, because I knew I had passed through the same things; and she died in the triumphs of faith; and I feel strong when I think she died in full triumph of faith. He will keep His children, and the increase belongs to Him. He will bring His children from the North and from the South, and they shall sit down in the kingdom of their Father and God's home will .be their home "and of the increase of His government and peace, there shall be no end."

Dear brethren and sisters of this church, be encouraged; while we are few in number we are firm in the faith, I am glad of that. But we are not all the children of God there are in the world, but they are scattered all over this world, North, South; East and West, and they will an be assembled from all the different parts of the earth, and He will say to us, "Child, come home. I have given my son to die for you and be with you, and I have kept you through the trials of life, and now I am ready to say to you, child, come home." Like the poor old battle-scarred, crippled and barefoot soldiers, who fought for this beloved old South country; when it was said to them, "Boys, lay down your arms and go home and rest with loved ones forever," I will tell you it was a sweet voice to them; almost without food or raiment; I tell you it was sweet to hear one say to them, "Go home." They hated to give it up, but it was good to hear them say "Go home." I felt that our cause was a good one, and I feel so yet. God knows my heart; I feel like when the voice says to me "Come home," it will be a sweet message to me; for I am as ready as; ever expect to be, an4 when the blessed Master shall call me to lay my armor down I feel that I will ascend to meet Him in the home of the blessed, and shall sit on His right hand and rejoice in the beauties and splendors of that blessed home forever. Oh! how sweet that will be.

SERMON No.3.

I invite your attention today for a short while to the seventh verse of the thirteenth chapter of Zechariah, which reads: "Awake, a sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts; smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered; and I will turn my hand upon the little ones."

This is a prophecy concerning the crucifixion of Christ; the one spoken of by the prophet Isaiah that was to be pierced, also the one mentioned in the first verse of this chapter as a fountain that is to be "opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem."

This particular text that we have assumed, is the voice of God calling for the sword of justice to awake against His Son; notwithstanding the Saviour had voluntarily agreed to be a sacrifice for sin, yet it was but right, it was proper, according to the covenant arrangements between him and the Father in the council chambers of eternity, that God should have the sword awake against Him. I want to call your attention in a brief way to what God calls Him; He first says, "he is my fellow;" as God, he was His fellow, His equal and Jesus himself thought it not robbery to be equal with His Father, and at one time declared that "I and my Father are one" that is - we are equal in power, but differ only in office work; and I would not for a moment undertake to impress you that God the Father and God the Son were two separate and distinct characters at all. They were separate in office work only, but not in the sense of their power and wisdom.

John says, "These three are one." And the particular thought now that I want to call your attention to, and I hope you will get, is that God calls upon the sword to awake against His son. It was not a rod of correction, for He needed no correction; "guile was never found in His mouth." He was never known to violate a single law, either moral or absolute, but lived a perfect life of obedience, hence the necessity that God should call upon the sword of justice to awake against Him. This was not a sword of war, but a sword of justice; for he that falls upon the battlefield is honored by his nation as something great, as one that has fallen in defence of his country; hence it was not a sword of war that was called upon to awake against Jesus, but it was a sword of justice; upon the ground that He must die as a criminal. Not that He was a real criminal, but He became a criminal by imputation, the sins of His people being charged to Him; and how I wish that I could impress that idea! Jesus himself was without sin, such a thing as evil was never in His thoughts, such a thing as wrong was never in His actions; hence He came as a substitute.

I know that there are people in the world today, and some claiming to be Old Baptists, that deny the doctrine of substitution. But, my brother, destroy the thought that Jesus was the substitute, and the sins of the sinner were imputed to Him --- charged to His account, and He became the guilty in the eyes of the law, in the room and stead of the sinner; and you have destroyed the principle of justice upon which God can save a sinner. Therefore God commanded the sword of justice to awake against His Son; this being true, God alone can say to that sword awake. Had that sword been brought against you and me, we must have died as criminals under the law of. God; but blessed sweet thought, Jesus was the "Lamb slain from the foundation of the world," in the purpose, council and decree of God.

Away back in the council chambers of eternity, before the dust of the highest hills was formed, God entered into a covenant with His son; and in that agreement Jesus agreed to assume the responsibilities of the sinner, that the sinner might live with Him in glory; hence in the very principles of justice, God could say to that sword, "Awake against Him;" that sword that had slumbered for 2000 years in perfect silence, while God winked at the weakness, and overlooked the fallen depraved condition of man. Yet this sword will not always slumber. The time will come, my brother, when the debt must be paid; and will you take into consideration just one moment the expression of the apostle Paul, "In due time Christ died for the ungodly." What thought can you get out of that, except that at the very time it was due, Christ died ? At the time it must be paid, Christ died; at the very moment that the hand of justice with its sword outstretched to strike the very vitals of the sinner, God in His mercy could say, "Stay thy hand," just as He did with Abraham when he had drawn his sword to strike the vitals of his own son. God said to Abraham, "Stay thy hand." When the sword of justice had been drawn in the hands of the law to strike the very vitals of every sinner of Adam's race, in view of that covenant arrangement God had made, He would call for that slumbering sword to awake out of its scabbard, for it had a perfect right to brandish itself, against the Son of God. It did awake, and take His life - He died. And, brother, listen. He died the ignominious death of the cross, not because He owed it, but because His people owed it. No wonder then that Christians in their ardor and zeal, love to sing that good old song,

"Amazing grace, (how sweet the sound)
That saved a wretch like me;
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see;"

Take the death of Christ and the display of God's grace out of the hope of the Christian and there is nothing left.

Will you go to Calvary with me, my brother, and see Christ in the hands of the wicked rabble, and hear the humble words of that Saviour? At no time did He use a harsh word, even in the very trying ordeal itself. Look, see those wicked men as they pierce His precious hands and feet with the nails, fastening Him to the cross; then see those strong, burly arms as they raise the cross and place it In the socket, mortised for its reception, and not a groan escaped His lips, all this suffering was for your sins and mine. He must bear it that we might live, arid up there on that cross we hear the last words that my Saviour utters, "It is finished." How true is that expression in the text, "Smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered." Will you look over the hills of Jerusalem? Everyone to his own place, leaving the dear Saviour alone in the hands of His enemies; and not one of His disciples remembered the promise Jesus made to them in Galilee; but not understanding it, they wandered about in sorrow; they became a scattered flock, for their Shepherd had been smitten and taken from them. Hence they are scattered in all the different parts of that country.

But, brother, God has made them a promise, and that promise is certain to be fulfilled. Let us turn from there just one moment, and notice that as they traverse the country their heads are bowed down, and their hopes are blasted, because their shepherd has been taken from them. And brother, will you turn from there and see those two penitent, troubled disciples as, they go to the little city of Emmaus, but a little way from Jerusalem: walking along, their hearts are so sad; they were scattered, and they were talking about what had taken place at Jerusalem, and were saying they thought that He verily would have redeemed Israel; when just at this time the Saviour appeared and walked with them and said, "What is this whereof you speak and are sad?" equivalent to saying, "What is the matter with you?" They turned to Him and said, "Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem," and knowst not these things? "And He said unto them, What things?" And they said unto Him how that a man called Jesus, approved of God by many miracles and signs, had been taken, crucified and slain. And this morning some of the sisters said to us that He had arisen from the dead. Our hopes have all gone down, we are scattered forever. But Jesus going back to Moses and expounding to them all the Scriptures concerning himself and His resurrection; concerning everything in regard to His death, explained the whole matter to them, and just while they were talking they came to the little town where they were going to stop for the night. They did not know Jesus; but persuaded Him, to turn in with them, as they were so anxious to listen to the beautiful words which He spake. So they went in, and while they were sitting at meat, He took bread and blessed it, and in this they recognized Him. But as soon as they knew who He was, He disappeared out of their sight. And those disciples were so elated, so lifted up, that they turned from the meal, that was spread for them, being anxious to tell their comrades that the Saviour was yet alive. They walked back to Jerusalem, and when they were gathered in a room and the door was shut, Thomas among the rest said, "I will not believe" it until I feel the nail prints in His hands, "and thrust my hand into His side." Just while Thomas was expressing his doubts, the blessed Saviour appeared in their midst and said, "Peace be to you." My children, I mean that I have fulfilled my word to you. And now He turns to doubting Thomas and said, "Reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side," feel the nail prints in my hands, "be not faithless but believing." I have my serious doubts of Thomas doing it, and he turned and said, "My Lord and my God." His hopes revived and he knew that the Saviour had arisen from the dead.

Brethren, the sheep shall be scattered, but here comes the precious thought, "I will turn my hand upon the little ones." I am not going to leave them to their own power; I know that they are weak and sinful - I know that they live in a world of sorrow. Brethren, will you allow me to say that this world is the Christian's hell? When we look at this world, its pleasures are but transitory; and we are but poor, trembling, troubled ones at best, and but for the hand that God turned upon us, I know not where we would have been today.

"I will turn my hand upon the little ones." The idea is that "No weapon formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord." There is nothing in what I have done or can do; but you take from me the hope that I have through the righteousness of Jesus Christ, and indeed you have taken my all. But, brethren, I am so glad and rejoice in the blessed thought that God says, "I will turn my hand upon the little ones." The Lord will take care of you, and will never suffer you to "fall by the hand of Saul." He is going to keep you securely through all the trying ordeals of life, until He shall bring you home. He may leave you for a time, but with everlasting mercies will He remember you.

That God had said, "If his children forsake my law," and "if they break my statutes" "then will I visit their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless my loving kindness will I not utterly take from him not suffer my faithfulness to fail." Nor my covenant shall not be removed from him, saith the Lord.

If you are a child of God, heaven is your home; God will fight your every battle, and God will keep you safely until at last He will say to you, "My child, come home." Oh! how sweet that will be to the child of God. Brethren, the troubles of this life are so great that Christians often pray for death. I remember a deacon of one of my churches, who sent for me to come and pray for him. When I reached his bedside he said, "I want you to pray that I may die." I said to him, "I can not do that," for I felt in my very heart that I wanted him to live as long as I lived, for he had been a great comfort to me.

Brethren, I want you to live long as I live, I want to feel that God protects me by His hand, and that His hand is turned upon us as His little ones through all the vicissitudes of life, and trust He will keep you and protect you until the battle is over, the victory won. Then we hope to hear Him say to us, "Come home." Oh! how sweet it will be to the dear children to hear their Father say, "Child come home." Christian, may God keep you, and I hope bring you to that blessed home in heaven.

Brethren, sing "Amazing grace."

SERMON NO. 4.

Our text for today is the eighth verse of the fourth chapter of Romans: "Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin."

We shall take occasion however, to mention some other things in connection with the chapter, as well as to call your attention especially to this particular text. The Apostle Paul had proven by logical and legitimate proofs, that the eternal salvation of the sinner was alone the work of God, independent of any stipulations on the part of man. When he comes to this chapter he introduces, not only the logical proof, but examples of that sacred truth that he had taught. Abraham was considered the father of the faithful and this Abraham was looked to by the Jews as the great leader in the Christian religion. Many of them had said, "We have Abraham to our father; and because they were the literal descendants of Abraham they thought to claim heaven on that principle; and the apostle introduces Abraham as the particular example, in proof of the doctrine that he expressed, set forth and proved. And he begins by asking this question, "What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found?" I want your attention to one particular expression in this text, that is what Abraham found as pertaining to the flesh, not as pertaining to the Spirit. Paul introduced this for a special object and that object was that Abraham was just like we are. Abraham had never attained to the state of perfection in the flesh, any more than we have, and in short, he had never joined the Sanctionficationists, nor never did he. Now I want to prove that. You remember, at least all of you Bible readers will remember, that Paul would rivet upon the minds of his readers that Abraham when he went with Sarah to Abimelech began to think, and this thought occurred to him, "Now if we go down there, and Abimelech finds out that Sarah is my wife, he will kill me and take her from me." Look how weak he was in the flesh. Then he began to persuade his wife to tell a story for him. "You tell Abimelech that you are my sister." You think you would not do that, but you would. Yes, you would all do exactly the same thing, you would try to have your wives tell a story for you; you would put all the blame on her. Like the fellow when the bear was about to enter his house, he climbed up in the loft, and left his wife to fight the battle; and after she had killed the bear he came down and said, "Haven't WE gained a victory?" Now the point I want to make is that Abraham persuaded his wife to tell a story. I know some people try to render an excuse for Abraham on the ground that Sarah was his half sister, but I do not care for that, for she told the story, and he cannot possibly get out of it on that ground, for she was his wife, and he was married to her; and to say, "You are not my wife, you are my sister," is still false.

And the Lord appeared unto Abimelech and told him that Abraham had deceived him. He called for Abraham and he came in before him and Abimelech said, "Why hast thou deceived me?" In that Abraham had absolutely persuaded his wife to lie for him. He said, "Thou art more righteous than I." He felt that the King, though he was wicked, was more righteous than he.

Now this man was the Father of the faithful, and yet he was a sinner. Now, friends, suppose heaven had depended on Abraham's works. Where would we have been? No liar shall enter the Kingdom of heaven, "All liars shall have their part in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone." Where would Abraham have been but for the mercy of God? And the thought that I wanted to rivet on your mind is, Abraham was just as good as you are, or as l am, just as good as any man that lives now. He was a man of faith - he was a man that loved God, he was one that lived an obedient life to the Lord. Even at one time his faith prompted him to offer his only son Isaac. And yet after all this, Abraham proved that he was a sinner still.

Now this was the lesson that Paul introduced as an example here for you and me. "For it Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory." Yes, he has after proving the frailty of his own nature, and the sinfulness of his flesh, in persuading his wife to tell a story for him. If he were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory, "For what saith the scripture?" Paul was one of these men that always goes to the Scripture in proof of his statements, the Scripture says; "Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness." Brethren, I wish to express this thought that it was not Abraham's works that justified him, "For Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness."

Then the apostle goes on to illustrate in this language, "Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. " The idea is simply this, brethren, for if righteousness and salvation comes as a sequence of works, then God does not save a sinner by His grace at all; it is a debt that God owes him for his work. If a man employs me to perform a certain amount of labor for a certain amount of money, after I have finished it, he justly owes me that amount. If God has promised salvation to sinners for something they have done, after the sinner has performed that work, God simply pays the debt due him; that is all there is in it.

Paul would impress you with the thought of this one truth, "Now to him that worketh the reward is not reckoned of grace, but of debt." Hence if a man works for salvation, the receiving of it is the payment of a debt; and if God is simply paying off his debts by saving sinners, there is no mercy in it; it is just, it is right. But then he comes with another thought, "But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted to him for righteousness." Whose faith is counted for righteousness? The man that believes in the God that justifies the ungodly. I want to impress this; the idea that an ungodly man must become godly in order for God to justify him is not true. I want to tell you that God justifies a man while he is ungodly; and if He does not He never will. I win prove this, "But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted to him for righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works." That is the way David believed it, and that is the way I believe it. Now here is what David said, "Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sills are covered." Here I stop a moment, that one is a blest man "whose sins are covered." I will ask this question: "Are all whose sins are covered blessed?" Yes, sir, if God has covered up your sins by the obedient life and atoning blood of Jesus Christ upon the Roman cross, you are blessed, and all the rest of the human race whose sins are covered. Then comes the text, "Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin." The question arises why does He not impute sin to a man? Brethren, I want to tell you if God imputes a single sin to you, if when you come before the judgment bar of God, God imputes a single sin to you, heaven you will never see; set that down as an established fact. There is no use in harboring the idea that God is weighing the matter in a balance, and that if the scales should happen to turn a little in your favor, He will take you to heaven for it. Some of you are like the poor man who sent for the preacher and made all his confession to him --- told everything that he had done, and among the rest he had killed his neighbor's ox. Just before he died, the preacher asked him, "How do you think the account stands with you now? The poor fellow said, "If it were not for that old steer, I would pull through all right." God is not going to weigh your deeds in a balance, and if the balance should tip a little in your favor, take you to heaven. You need not get up such an idea as that, for you will never get to heaven on that theory. I know very well that I can never get to heaven on that system. If it were works, I could not do it. But heaven does not depend on your works, but upon the grace and mercy of God. If you are ever saved it will be because your sins are covered by the atoning mercies of Jesus Christ. Now I am just as confident of that as I am that I am a living man and we are here today.

Here I want to introduce Abraham a little further, "Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered." Then he asked this question, "Cometh this blessing then upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also?" We ask then when was faith reckoned to Abraham, while he was in circumcision or uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. From this we learn that Abraham did not perform these conditions in order to become a man of faith, but he was a man of faith before he performed conditions to the law of circumcision. This being true, brethren, then the conditions to be performed by man come after he is regenerated --- after he is circumcised in heart --- and not before.

I am not going to deprive you of a job, but it is not the performance of stipulations in order to get home to glory; but if God has raised you up from the dead --- if God has made you a fit subject for His kingdom --- after He has implanted the divine principles of grace in your heart, then the apostle meets you with this expression, "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above." Do you get the idea? "If ye be risen seek." The idea is, if God has lifted you up--if God has quickened you into life--if God has sent forth His spirit into your heart, then "Seek those things which are above." Set your affections on things above, for you are dead, and "Your life is hid with Christ in God."

Jesus taught exactly the same lesson when he said, "If ye love me, keep my commandments." Not keep my commandments in order that you may love me, but "If ye love me, keep my commandments." And as regards the condition of the man that loves God, John says, "Beloved, let us love on another; for love is of God and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God." And I will tell you, brethren, the poorest evidence of a Christian in the world, is to see him hate everybody else except his own people. I do not hate a man because he differs from me religiously. The poet truthfully said,

"And he's an heir of heaven that finds
His bosom glow with love."

I love a child of God wherever you find him; he may be found engulfed in the meshes of Arminianism---l may find him among the worldly-wise, and all spotted and fettered by the world---yet I love him. Hence obeying the commandments is not the cause of your loving the Lord, but an evidence of it. Therefore I claim that it is not what you do in this world that gains heaven. The performance of these conditions mentioned above is simply a duty that you owe to God as his humble child, but do not claim heaven for it; but when you claim heaven, let it be upon this ground, that my sins are covered by His atoning blood; and if ever I get to heaven it will be because Jesus bought it for me, and bought me for it, and I expect to gain it upon that ground. It gives me a sweet hope that after while, through the blood of Christ, I will gain that blessed portal.. I still expect to do the very best I can in loving obedience to my blessed Lord until He calls me from this old world; and hope on through His mercy and His grace, that covered up all my sins, and still hope on that I am sealed with His blood. In this I feel that I can adopt the sweet words of the poet,

"Of merit now let others speak;
But merit I have none:
I'm justified for Jesus' sake,
And saved by grace alone."

This is why Paul could say, "Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin." God bless you all.

SERMON NO. 5

The first clause of the tenth verse of the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah is the language of our text, "Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief." My mind was called to this expression on yesterday while Brother Garland was preaching to us the sweet gospel of the crucifixion of the Saviour, and why he was crucified; it was then that this expression forcibly entered my mind. All of the noted infidels of the past, such as Tom Payne, Voltaire, Hume, and many others, too tedious to mention, have predicated upon this text much of their unbelief of the teachings of God's sacred word. But while this is true, there is not a sentence in all the volume of inspiration that expresses plainer truth than is found in this one expression of the inspired prophet of the Lord. The greater part of the teaching of Isaiah is concerning the Son of God, what He should suffer, and the glory that should follow. In so much that the majority of the past commentators of the Bible have referred to him as the apostle among the prophets. But it has been a question in the minds of the infidels of the past, to know how it could be true that God should be pleased to bruise His own Son, bring Him to suffer, bring Him to shame and contempt before the world, and yet be a loving, merciful, kind, and benevolent Father. The infidel says that no human would have done such a thing. They claim that there is not a father upon earth today, nor in the past, that would be willing to bruise his own son even to death for the benefit of others. Therefore their idea based upon this thought is, that he cannot be a really merciful and kind God that would be guilty of such an act.

Do you know, friends, in the early part of my life when I would read such expressions as these in the Bible, I would think it was inhuman, simply upon the ground that it was contrary to every thought of reason, contrary to the principle of justice, contrary to every principle of science, that God Himself should bruise His own Son, even to death, for the benefit of others. And such an expression as this would sometimes come in my mind, "Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?" Sometimes I would think of expressions of this kind "that it behooved Christ to suffer," that it was so written, and the Savior himself referring to the matter says, "Thus it is written" (referring to this prophecy) "and thus it behoved Christ," (the word behooved as used there has become obsolete) and if we were writing that sentence today, any of us, we would write it "Thus it is written, and thus it became Christ to suffer." I used to think of such expressions as that and wonder how it became Him to suffer. If the sinner is guilty, if the sinner has absolutely violated the law of God, if the sinner has brought himself under the wrath of God by his own act of disobedience, how can it be that it became Christ to suffer for him? And I want to say to you today, friends, that upon this very thought hangs every principle of the sacred truth of God. If I were an Arminian today, I would be fearful of even expressing the thought that it pleased God to bruise His Son. If it were true that heaven accrues to us in consequence of our tears, our grief, our performance of stipulations in any way, there was no necessity for the suffering of the Son of God. If tears would pay the debt, if groans would appease the wrath of God, if our turning away from sin would make up the deficiencies of the past, then why need the Son of God suffer? I would to God that you would all think of that. No wonder that grand, old poet Cowper, should have said,

"There is a fountain filled with blood."

Brethren, get the thought, a fountain filled with blood, it is not partly filled with blood, and partly with works of man, and a man partially plunged in blood and partially with his own works, but he is wholly cleansed by the blood of Christ. But Cowper the grand old hero, the poet and lover of God, of this sacred truth says, the fountain was filled with blood. He does not stop at that, but says it was

"Drawn from Immanuel's veins."

The idea is that whatever is necessary for the cleansing of the sinner, whatever was necessary to the fulfillment of God's law, Jesus did. It was "drawn from Immanuel's veins." No wonder then that he should have said,

"And sinners plunged beneath that flood
Lose all their guilty stains."

They may be plunged beneath their own works and yet not lose those guilty stains, they may be plunged beneath the water, equal to that in the times of Noah, and plunged as deeply as the antediluvians and drowned, yet it will never take away their sins; it will never remove the stain. They may be plunged beneath the flood of their own works, which they think they have bountifully worked for the Lord; but this cannot remove the stain, No wonder also that Cowper should have said,

"The dying thief rejoiced to see
That fountain in his day;
And there may I, though vile as he,
Wash all my sins away."

I am glad that he did not leave out one thought in that, where he said, "Dear dying lamb"---friends get that thought---

"Dear dying lamb, thy precious blood
Shall never lose its power."

Human agencies lose their power, human conditions fail to reach the case, but thy blood shall never lose its power

"Till all the ransomed church of God
Be saved to sin no more."

How glad I am that this is true. But go back a little; in view of the fact that so few in the world believe the teaching of God upon this subject, calls forth from the old prophet, "Who hath believed our report?" The infidel does not believe it, some scientists will dispute it, and the world looks upon it with disdain, ready to say that such a thing cannot be. It is contrary to all human reason, is the reason why he asked the question he did, "To whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?" "He shall grow up before him as a tender plant, as a root out of dry ground:" "there is no beauty" nor comeliness about Him, that when we should see Him "we should desire him." An expression truer than that was never used. The world sees no beauty in the Lord, they see no beauty in what He has done for poor sinners. The only thing in which the world today can see beauty religiously, is for every man to have a chance to be saved; there is beauty in that for the world, but such a system God never taught. There is not an expression in God's word that leads us to believe such a thing as that. But there are expressions in God's word that lead us to believe that Jesus Christ, the immaculate Lamb of God, was prepared in the council chambers of eternity as a sacrifice sufficient to meet the demands of God's law.

It is a self evident fact that Jesus, in the council chambers of eternity, agreed in the covenant to be bruised instead of His people, it is also a fact that God purposed the salvation of His people through the bruising of His Son before the dust of the highest hills was fashioned. I would to God that I could impress upon your minds today, that salvation was not an after-thought with the Lord, it was not an emergency case, it was not something that He just happened to think of when it was needed, but it was something fixed in the divine councils of heaven before the earth was made, or man upon it. God knowing just what would be, foreseeing the end from the beginning, He knew what man would do and while He did not compel him to do it, man did it freely because he wanted to, but God in His mercy and in His grace, treasured a fullness of grace in His Son, and, determined in the everlasting covenant that His son should suffer in the room and stead of His people, and when the fullness of the time was come that the offering must be made, either by the real violators of God's law, or by His substitute, "in due time Christ died for the ungodly." Oh, how I wish I could impress that thought upon your minds. "In due time Christ died for the ungodly." And I would have you look at another thought there, God did not suffer men to "bruise Him," it pleased Him to do it. Therefore He caused His own sword to awake against Him. The reason it pleased Him to do it is that He knew what would be accomplished. He knew the end. It was a fact established in the mind of Jehovah that if Christ died in the room and stead of the sinner, that the sinner would be saved from his sins, and brought off conqueror into the sweet home of bliss to rest in the presence of God and the bosom of Jesus Christ forever. No wonder then that the prophet should say, "When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days." Get the thought there, brethren, when Jesus Christ hung upon the cross He knew what was to be accomplished, He knew that the bruising of His body, He knew that the offering of His soul, was a sure and certain satisfaction to divine justice, and that His people would reign with Him in glory, and He should see them; not only did He know that, but He knew God would prolong His days; that is, that God would raise him up from the dead, and that He should live, in the presence of His Father through all the ages of eternity, and His people should live with Him in glory; this is the reason the prophet said, "The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hands." There is no uncertainty in this truth; just as certain as God has said it by the mouth of His prophets, so surely will it be fulfilled. His people shall rest with Him in eternal bliss and glory at God's right hand forever. Therefore "It pleased the Lord to bruise Him, He hath put Him to grief." God did that, that his people might be saved with Him in glory; it was a pleasure for God to do that. Oh, what mercy, that God should bruise His son for such poor rebels as we are! Oh, what abundant grace was displayed in that, that He should be bruised by His own Father that His people might live with Him in heaven; yet He agreed to it all in the covenant of redemption before the world was. God had so fixed it, brethren, and after Jesus died and went into the grave, and arose from the grave, and ascended home to God, He sent forth the Holy Spirit to give them the benefits of the death of Christ and bring them to a sweet knowledge of the things that the Lord had done for them, and make them rejoice in a sweet hope of a final rest in heaven. When that Spirit comes to the heart of a poor sinner and gives him to feel his need of a Saviour, teaches him his dependence upon a Saviour, until he comes to a full reliance upon God's grace and God's mercy (the Spirit brings him to this point), then he is made to realize that Jesus Christ is his Saviour. This is revealed to him and he rejoices in a sweet hope of an everlasting home in heaven; and all of this, my brethren, is but the efflux of the eternal purpose of God in the salvation of poor, lost and ruined sinners.

I hope you have understood me on this subject, and perhaps I have kept you as long as I should. May God bless you and bring you to a realization of these sacred truths.

SERMON No.6.

It becomes rather a matter of request that we deliver a discourse today on the last clause of the seventeenth chapter of Revelation: "And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely."

I would like to make a statement like this: There is not a text in all the volume of God's Book, so far as my capacity to understand is concerned, but what I believe with all my heart, and I will state in the beginning, however, that there are people who have the idea that this special language of the Saviour stands in contradiction to certain principles of doctrine that we hold. If it does, every principle of doctrine that we hold is wrong. If there is a single text in all the volume of inspiration that stands in opposition to any point of doctrine that we hold, then the doctrine we hold is wrong; but I want to state that the great misfortune with us is, and always has been, that we do not always understand it. We get a wrong idea in reading it; and do you know, my friends, that there are some who search for something that seemingly suits their theory, instead of trying to learn the truth. Their every effort will be to sustain that theory, that is their nature, their thoughts; it is as natural as it is for them to live. You take a man that disputes the sovereign grace of God alone in the salvation of sinners, and every text that seemingly points to his theory is accepted, and every other one is denied. Like a gentleman I was once debating with: I was trying to vindicate the doctrine of election, and I believe I did do it; but I noticed one thing in his speeches and replies to me, every text that plainly and positively taught the doctrine of God's sovereign election, he said was a mistranslation, and those that were seemingly for his theory were translated right. Now I want to say that the Bible as it reads just suits me, and I would not change it to the dotting of an "i" nor the crossing of a "t," for it is good enough, and the text that we have assumed this morning does not stand out in opposition to the doctrine of God's sovereign choice of His people; but rather vindicates it, as we are prepared to show you, if God will help us, before we close this discourse.

I want to say first that an unwilling soul will never be in heaven. A soul that does not will to be saved will never be saved. Now, I think that is a clear statement. Hence you will see in a moment that we are willing to risk the whole matter by hinging it upon that one word "will," We have never called that in question, but the great misfortune that arises in the way of us believing that this invitation of the Lord is a universal one may be found in this expression: the Saviour in writing to certain people said of them, "Ye will not come to me that ye might have life." Now I want to enforce one thought here; this expression is not an invitation, but it is a positive statement. It simply states a fact that cannot be denied, and there is hot a thinking person in the world but ought to see the meaning of the Saviour in speaking to those Pharisees. " Ye have not the WILL to come to me." Hence the will stands out in opposition and stands in the way of the man coming to the Lord. If he had the will the text that we have quoted invites him. He has not the will, then I ask every thinking individual, does the text invite him? The text we have quoted simply says, "Whosoever will let him take the water of life freely." The very expression itself shows that the word will in that text is a descriptive word. It is not used to show a component part of the man, but it is used to show the condition of the mind of the man, the condition of his feelings, or, in other words, expresses the state in which he is. Take these two texts together that we have quoted, and we have a positive statement that Some people are willing to come to the Lord, and some are not. Now there is no getting around this. I will stop just long enough to ask this intelligent people today, why some people are willing to come to the Lord, and some are not? Is it a difference in the nature of the people? Is it a difference in their state as fallen creatures under the law of God? The apostle positively says that we were all by nature the children of wrath even as others. The very expression signifies that every individual of Adam's race is a child of wrath. God did not make them that way, and I would not have you think for a moment that God's decrees made you a sinner, nor that God's decrees are the cause of your condemnation; but would have you know that it is a consequence of your own act, the disobedience to the requirements of the divine laws of heaven, that has made you the children of wrath. We recollect that once we made mention of that point in a discussion with a gentleman; and when he got up to follow us he said in substance, "My opponent has said that it is our own act that has made us sinners, and children of wrath. What a man can do, he can undo; and if a man has made himself a child of wrath, let him become a child of God. If he can do one" says he, "he can do the other." When we arose to follow him, we admitted that his theory was correct in a great many points; but he had missed it in one especially. No one calls in question that the majority of things that men do, they can undo; but there is one thing certain that a man can do which he can never undo, and that is, he can commit suicide and never undo it in the world. Did you ever stop to think, brother, that is what we did? In violation to the law of God --- committed suicide. God told us that, "In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." We violated the law of God and brought death on ourselves; hence we have committed suicide and cannot undo it. Did you ever stop to think that while man is in that condition he is prone to sin, prone to evil; he cares no more for God nor for His service than if there were no such thing. Brother, will you look back over the past history of your life and see whether or not there was a time when you cared nothing for the service of God, when you trampled the mercies of God under your feet, when people preached of the sufferings of the Son of God, and told of the glory that should follow, you cared no more for it than a stick or a stone. I ask you then was there not a time, somewhere along the journey of life, that all this was changed with you, and the service of God somehow had a sweetness in. it, and instead of falling as upon a stone or a block, it dropped into your poor heart as the very sweets of heaven itself. When the house of God became the place of your delight, when you longed for the time to come to lay aside the secular affairs of life, and seek the house of God to listen to the sweet songs, to listen to the petitions as they ascend to the Hill of Zion, humbly begging for the mercies of God to rest upon you, a poor trembling sinner in the world; when you could sit under the sound of the gospel and it became as sweet to you as honey itself. Did you ever stop to think brother, that just at that time you become a wilting servant of God; one that was willing to turn his back upon the world and obey the injunctions of the dear Savior. You were no longer seen among the class that will not come to the Lord. The very expression necessarily signifies that God has quickened that dead soul into life. "You hath He quickened, who were dead in trespasses and in sins." I do not think brethren, if you will allow us to give our idea along this line, that it takes a year or two years, or even a month, or a week, for God to bring a soul to a knowledge of Himself; and did you know when you call for the poor sinful soul that feels his need of a Savior, to forsake the world, to come to the altar and put his head on a bench, to beg God for mercy, that you were calling a child of God to come? He is already a child of God, the very moment he is touched by the quickening Spirit of God, that moment he is a child of God; I care not how sinful and wicked he may feel, it does not hinder him from being a child of God. The difference is this: a child of the world is a sinner, running after sin, while a child of God is a sinner, running away from sin; even hating the very life that he lives in sin, and the other loving the pleasures of sin. Now I hope you get the difference. The little new-born babe does not have a different life when it grows up from that which existed in its infancy. So it is with you, my brother when you are touched by the spirit of the Lord and quickened into divine life, you become as a new born babe, old things pass away and all things become new to you; new thoughts, new desires, new hearing, new love, new zeal; and somehow or other you have a mind and a will to spend the remainder of your days in the divine service of God.

I remember the day when as a mere boy, I trust God brought me to a sweet knowledge of the truth, I felt then that I wanted to spend the remainder of my days in the service of my Master, rather than gain the highest positions that earth can give. I had a will to do it, and that very moment this text applied to me. I ask you, my brother, does this not necessarily show that God discriminates between him that will and him that will not? Does this not necessarily show the doctrine of God's sovereign choice in making one willing and not the other? Now as to the reason why, God does this, I am not going to tell you, God does as He pleases with His own. Brother, I am going to say this to you in love, if the time has ever been that you ceased to will to run after the world, and your whole thoughts were turned to God, then I am here to tell you that you are a child of God today, whether you belong to the Old Baptist Church, or some other church, or no church at all. If God has ever touched your soul by the quickening influence of His Spirit, heaven will be your home. If the time has ever been in your history when in the deep silence of the night, you heaved a sigh to God, "God be merciful to me a sinner," you are a child of God and heaven will be your home. For the scripture positively says that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.

Having the knowledge that these are the feelings of the children of God, can you blame us for saying that we go forth with this blessed and heavenly watchword given by the divine Savior himself, "Whosoever WILL, let him take the water of life freely." Dear child, we have never shut heaven's fountain to you. If you have ever felt the need of it, drink freely; feast your souls upon the manna that God rains down for His children; feast your souls upon the water that flows from beneath the throne of God. Delight your souls in the glory of the Lord; eat of the sweet manna and rejoice; be strong and courageous in battling for the truth of the dear Master. Brethren let us be what we may today, but God knows our heart, we love to see every little child of God, who has the will and the truth of God in their heart come, and I love to see them feast their thirsty souls upon the riches of God's mercies and grace. I love to see the little child of God prove that he loves the Savior by walking in His footsteps, willing to leave the world, and take delight in His services. That one who runs for a little while seemingly so bright as a Christian, and then the first thing you know forgets the Lord and everything connected with His service, has not the will to serve Him; then in reality he never did have it, But when God works in one to will and to do of His good pleasure, that poor soul will will forever; even in death he has a strong refuge, and at last is wafted to a sweet, blessed, immortal rest at God's right hand forever.

Christian, you can see that this does not destroy God's sovereign choice of His people, but rather proves it to be true and He will at last bring His children together in sweet love. Christian, I do not fall out with you; but if you have ever felt as we have described, we hail you happy as a child of God, and sweetly hope, through God's grace, to meet you in that blessed world. But if you fail to see the doctrine of God's sovereign choice in this text, you have missed the entire volume of God's truth. Now we know whereof we speak. We only wish we could live more devotedly to the cause of our dear Master, because He has done so much for us, in making us the children of God and giving us a sweet hope beyond this vale of tears. We look around us today and see vacant seats, that were a month or two ago filled with loved ones, now they are vacant. Just a span now until you and I will be gone, but oh, we hope to meet them in heaven to join them in praising God! Life with us is but a few days at most; and we trust to spend them in humble obedience to the Lord, and at last be wafted to that sweet home. May this be our happy lot, is the prayer of your unworthy servant.

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