Chapter 1

Transcribed from the 1888 "Joyful News" edition by David Price, [email protected]

BROKEN BREAD FROM AN EVANGELIST'S WALLET.

BY THOMAS CHAMPNESS.

"JOYFUL NEWS" BOOK DEPOT, ROCHDALE.

MDCCCLXXXVIII.

B. Wrigley & Sons, Limited, Printers, Acker Street, Rochdale.

To

ELIZA M. CHAMPNESS,

MY WIFE AND TRUEST FRIEND,

THIS

COLLECTION OF FRAGMENTS

IS OFFERED

BY HER YOKE-FELLOW IN THE GOSPEL.

ROCHDALE, September, 1888.

PREFACE.

This is a book made up of fragments. The Master once said "Gather up the fragments that nothing be lost." It may be that victuals will be found here that may feed those who cannot sit down to a meal. Many of the articles have appeared in _Joyful News_ already, but, perhaps, are none the worse for that. We send out this little book in the hope that both crust and crumb will be eaten!

I. SPIRITUAL FARMING.--NO. 1. DRAINING.

If the men who farmed England in the olden time could return, few things would surprise them more than the condition of the land. Many a field now bearing good crops each year, was in "the good old times" moorland or fen. Sheep and cattle graze where once only wild birds could live. Drainage has made the change. The land, once too cold and wet to allow anything valuable to grow, has been by grips and drain pipes, made to produce food for man and beast.

Is it not so on God's farm? "Ye are His husbandry," and just as the farmer knows that if he cannot have his wet land drained, his seed will be starved, or the young corn perish with the cold, so we who toil in the Lord's fields need to learn that in many places the first thing to be done is to

DRAIN THE LAND.

Do any of our readers complain that they cannot get an answer to their prayers for a revival, and that all the preaching and teaching seem to be wasted? Let us advise them to look under the surface. Are there not

CAUSES FOR THE FAILURE?

Would it not be well to try what draining the land would do? Are the most influential men cold and unresponsive to the call of the Spirit? What sort of people take the lead in the prayer meetings? Are they left to the zealous poor? Does every man of wealth and culture hurry home and leave the preacher to shift for himself? Who are the stewards? Are they men who will do their utmost to welcome strangers, or does their example tell on others so much that a visitor never has a word of welcome or a grip of the hand? What is the singing like? Is it of the colourless, tame style, whose only sign of life is the rapid gallop which kills devotion in so many places?

How is the Bible read by the preacher? Does he confine himself to the narrow round which he has read so often in the ears of the people that it has lost its charm--or does he seek out that which will be sure to interest; and does he read as if he believed it?

We think our readers know some congregations in which there can be no revival until the drainer has been at work, and that which starves the seed removed. What we want is to have the question asked at the next leader's or quarterly meeting.

WHAT WILL IT COST TO GET SOME DRAIN-PIPES?

A GOOD SHILLING IS BETTER THAN A BAD SOVEREIGN.

II. LITTLE MOSES. SERVE THE CHILDREN FIRST.

The story of Moses teaches us that LITTLE FOLKS ARE VERY HELPLESS. There he is in that basket. He cannot care for himself. He is in the power of the king's daughter. If she liked she could have had him killed, for it was plain to be seen that he was one of the Hebrew children. When you were in your cradle how weak you were, how helpless. If your mother had not cared for you, my dear boy, you would never have troubled the tailor to measure you for your new suit. Do you ever think how much you are in your mother's debt? When you were hungry she fed you, when you were cold she warmed you, when you were sick she nursed you. And you can pay her back. Not in money, for when you are old enough to earn gold you will not be rich enough to do that; but you can reward her by obedience, by love, and by letting her know by your kindness that you do not forget what she did for you years ago.

LITTLE FOLKS ARE WATCHED BY GOD. The crocodiles could have swallowed up the little chap at one mouthful, but they never even saw him. God steered the little bark, and brought its voyage to an end in a safe harbour. If anyone but the kind-hearted lady who became his second mother had seen him, the story of his life might have been very short. And the same God watches you, my dear child.

There is an Eye which never sleeps; and in the night, when even your mother has closed her eyes, God does not shut His. Do you ever think that in the darkness the eye of God can see you just as well as in the daylight? If it had not been so, you would not have grown in your sleep, as you have done every night. There have been many dangers near to you which you never knew, but God did, and has watched over you for good all your life. Thank Him, for even your mother could not have helped you, if God had not done so.

LITTLE FOLKS MAY BECOME GREAT MEN. That baby became one of the greatest men in Old Testament history. And how was it? He stuck to his book. We read that "Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians." This could not have been if he had scamped his lessons, could it? Then he left the company of the wicked, though it cost him a great deal, and he chose to be one of the people of God. The boy and girl who will follow his example will do well for themselves, for the life of Moses was one of the greatest honour, and, though he had to pay the price which must be paid if we would win the smile of God, he has been rewarded. Honour has come to him that never came to anyone else; for we learn from the Book of Revelation that in heaven his name is greatest of the great, for the saints sing "The song of Moses, the servant of God," and

THE SONG OF THE LAMB.

III. SPIRITUAL FARMING.--NO. 2. PLOUGHING.

There have been during the last few years great improvements in the construction of the plough, but no one dreams of any substitute for it. Ploughing is as necessary as sowing; that is to say, the land must be stirred and prepared for the seed. In heavenly husbandry there are some well-meaning folk who would dispense with the plough, and preach faith without repentance, but only to find that the birds of the air get most of the seed! If there is to be an abiding work there must be conviction of sin, and knowledge of guilt, and for this end there is nothing better than a plough, made of Sinai steel and wood grown on Calvary.

There are some directions given in the Old Book which it will pay our ploughmen to study. One is as to the choice of the team. Don't yoke an ass with an ox (see Deut. xxii, 10). In your motive power see to it there is no mixture of vanity with duty. You will not succeed in concealing the fact. A donkey is one of the worst of animals to hide. IT WILL TALK!

Let there be no stopping at home because the wind is in the east. "The sluggard will not plough by reason of the cold." If the ploughman means to succeed he must count on suffering; and if the devil cannot find anyone on his side to oppose, he will raise up some imbecile Christian to do so, who by some sneer or cold criticism, will try to keep the plough idle. Instead of looking which way the wind blows, get to work.

There must be no looking back. Mark the Master's words in Luke ix, 62. Keep your eye on the mark, just as the ploughman looks at the staff he has fixed as his guide. Keep looking unto Jesus. Many a preacher, who could make hell tremble for its own, has, by looking back, become respectably commonplace. So the fine promise of his youth dies ignobly, and is laid in the grave of Demas! Whether it be a bag of gold, or a fair face, or a pillow of down, thou art called to look back upon, do as the Master did--set thy "face toward Jerusalem."

Keep a good heart on it. "He that ploweth should plow in hope." What is called success does not mean reaping only. The plough is as honourable as the sickle, though they may not make a feast, or dress thy team with flowers! Whistle at the plough, and in time thou shalt be bidden to the harvest supper. John Baptist was a ploughman, and that was all; yet there are some reapers who would gladly exchange places with him, badly paid as he was. In these days too often the honour is paid to the successful evangelist, and those who ploughed and sowed are forgotten; but the time is coming when the promise shall be fulfilled--

"THE PLOUGHMAN SHALL OVERTAKE THE REAPER."

IV. A SHORT HOME MISSION SERMON.

"_The Iron did swim_."--2ND KINGS, vi, 6.

DID IT? THEN SUNKEN THINGS MAY RISE.

The axe had fallen into the river, to the great sorrow of the man who had used it. He was an honest man, for he mourned over the fact that it was borrowed. "It has sunk to rise no more;" and yet it swam! Why lose hope of the fallen and degraded? They are no lower down than the axe head was when at the bottom of the Jordan. "The iron did swim." How? for

SUNKEN THINGS DO NOT RAISE THEMSELVES.

If the axe had been let alone, it might have been at the bottom of the river now. The man who felt its loss called on a higher power than his own. He told his sorrow to one who had sympathy for him. Do we cry unto God about those who have sunk out of our reach? The lapsed masses, as we call them, were not all born so. Many of them have been Sunday scholars, and some of them church members. How do we feel about them? Does the thought of their degradation ever bring an "alas!" from our hearts? Elisha's God is nearer to us than the prophet was to the man who lost the axe. "Call on Him WHILE He is near."

"The iron did swim." How was it done?

SOMEBODY SHOWED IT THE WAY.

An example was put before it. A stick was thrown in, and the iron imitated it. O, the power of a godly example! Let us who work among the ungodly show them the way to live. Let the churches move over the places where the degraded lie. We shall never lift them while we remain in our beautiful churches and chapels. Only this week we saw the iron made to swim, by the personal contact of ministers and well-dressed people taking hold of the street folk, and cheerily inviting them into God's house. A man may be only "a stick" when in the pulpit; but in hearty personal dealing with the degraded, he may be one who can make the iron to swim.

* * * * *

"LIVE IT."

A good man, the other day, was advising Ministers to preach more on the doctrine of "Entire Sanctification." One of them replied,

"LET US LIVE IT, THAT IS THE BEST WAY TO PREACH IT."

Perhaps both were right; one thing is certain, that the way to make the doctrine more popular is, to have more of those who believe it to "live it." We might greatly increase the number of preachers, for every Christian might preach. Women as well as men, we might preach every day, for every duty would be a pulpit, and every trial an oration. No one would complain the sermons were too long; for all people are willing that you should never cease to do them good. What say you reader! Will you enter the ranks of this Ministry?

V. THE BATTLE OF THE BEANFIELD. 2 SAMUEL, xxiii, 11, 12.

What a picture is here! A field of ripe beans, just ready for the harvest, and then the leaves and pods all blood-stained or trampled down! Those Philistines liked to fight rather than to work, preferring plunder to ploughing, so they would cross the border and carry away the results of the farmer's toil. But they made a mistake in coming where Shammah lived!

HE STOOD!

Have not many of us to complain that the enemies of God's people still like to plunder our harvest fields? How Satan grasps at our elder scholars! He is not content with gutter-children. He likes to take our young men and women, and so we hear drunken men quote scripture, and bloated women hum psalm tunes!

What shall we do? We read, "The people fled from the Philistines." Shall we leave the results of our Sunday school work in the hands of the enemy? Is it not time that we made a stand? The thing is becoming monotonous, so much so, that in some places it is thought not worth being grieved about, that the young men and women, who have passed through our schools, never attend the chapel, and are lost to us for years, if not for ever!

"Soldiers of Christ arise!"

If a lad enlists, and is sent to Aldershot, we soon put the chaplain on his track, and shall we not do something for those who are carried away by those sons of Anak which we call the theatre and racecourse? Would it not pay us to have a holy band of men and women to hunt up our lapsed scholars, and to fight for the harvest we sowed and have waited for so long, only to see it carried away by the Philistines?

In all our large towns there are neighbourhoods where the enemy of God and man is strongly entrenched. And yet there are churches and chapels in those streets. The few who attend those places pass houses, once respectable, but now given up to vice. Homes where there was once family worship, are now, to use the words of the Wise man, "The way of hell, going down to the chambers of death."

What is to be done? "There are not many members now." "There is no one to work." So it might have been said in the bean-field; the people were gone, all gone but Shammah. He stood, and God showed, then, as now, that He was prepared to stand by the minority, if it were loyal to Him, for He wrought a great, not an ordinary one, but a great victory!

There are yet great victories to be won when we turn on our pursuers. Don't be carried away by bad example. We go with a multitude to do evil, when we refuse to fight for the results of past work done by ourselves or our fathers. Shammah seems to have said, "If I am to die, I will die here among the beans. Better so than pine to death for want of them." Is it not true that with the harvest of our toil they carry away our faith in God, and in His word? Much of the Bible is lost to those who flee rather than fight. A great deal of our hymn book is for

"BELIEVERS FIGHTING."

Those battle songs cannot be enjoyed by men who never leave the barracks. No wonder the old tunes are not sung by craven hearts. Let those of us who have left Shammah to fight alone, rejoin him, then we shall have the joy of conquest, and the gladness of those who divide the spoil.

* * * * *

WAITING AND READY.

The other day, looking out of a train, as we stopped at a country station, I saw a row of buckets painted red, with the word FIRE on each of them. There they were, waiting to be used, if occasion required, and I noticed that each of them was filled with water. Only a humble kind of agent is a bucket, yet being full of water and near at hand, it is easy to see that in the event of fire breaking out there, it is more than likely it would be put out without doing much damage.

Are we,--Ministers, Local Preachers, Sunday School Teachers, Class-leaders, and other workers--are we ready for use? It is not enough that people can tell by our appearance that we are separated for service--are we ready? It did not suffice the man in charge of that little station to have those buckets on the stand, and it is not enough that we are in the pulpit or the class-room.

ARE WE FILLED?

We can be filled with that which will put out the fire, and if we are not full, who is there to blame but ourselves? Those buckets might have been neglected till the hoops dropped off, and the power to hold water was gone, all because they were not kept full, and if so, they would be an apt illustration of some who have ceased to be the men they were, and only that they fill the same place, we should not dream of them being used at all.

VI. "HIS CHAINS FELL OFF." ACTS xii. 7.

IN ANSWER TO PRAYER:--Do you know any one tied and bound? Have you prayed for them without ceasing? Are you conscious of the enemy putting YOUR hands or feet in fetters? Are you unable to reach that purse which was at one time always within your grasp, so that now you do not give to the poor as you once did? Are your feet prevented from going on errands of mercy? Do the manacles keep you at home on Sundays, instead of walking muddy lanes to preach? If so, how do you like it? Do you not think you should cry to God?

We know a godly and cultivated minister who got into Doubting Castle, some years ago. He was losing hold of God, and his duty was becoming irksome, so he cried unto the Lord in his trouble. "I let them all go to bed," said he, "and had an all-night of prayer," and his chains fell off.

VERY QUIETLY. Not a single soldier was awakened. God can speak in loudest tones, as at Phillippi. He can bring His people out without anyone knowing, till they tell the tale themselves. It has often been the case, that some gentle, quiet preacher has been the instrument of deliverance to the Lord's chosen ones. There has been a revolution in nature. What a blessed change! How the chains of winter have fallen off, and that surly east-wind jailer been dismissed without noise or clamour.

When free, Peter went to tell those who had prayed him out. He found them in a state of great surprise. How good of God not to limit our success in prayer by our faith, or the want of it. In this also He does "exceeding abundantly." Still they did not fail, depend on it, to praise the Lord. Herod soon found it out, and was abashed. He would not dare to meet a Christian in the street, for the smile on the believer's face would say, "His chains fell off." Do not let us who can pray be ever discouraged. We can touch the heart of God, so let us sing--

"The Lion of Judah shall break every chain, And give us the victory again and again."

ISAIAH I.

I.--Feed an ass once, and he will know the place again. Feed a sinner all his life, and you only make him more capable of rebellion (verses 2 and 3.)

II.--There are no wounds smart like those given by God's rod (verses 6 and 8.)

III.--Sin manufactures dunces so stupid, that even God's rod cannot mend them (verse 5.)

IV.--Religion without piety sickens God (v. 11, 14.) There are folk in church and chapel more hateful to God than those in the public-house.

V.--Sin is dirt (verse 16.)

VI.--God can bleach even crimson-dyed hands (v. 18.)

VII.--Those who are strong to sin shall burn in a fire hotter than their lusts, and more quenchless than their hatred to goodness (verses 28 and 31.)

VII. LEAPING AND PRAISING. ACTS iii, 8.

Little did the lame man's friends think that this was the last time they should ever carry their dear one to the spot where he begged his bread. Perhaps you have offered your last prayer to-day for some one's salvation. He may come home to say, "Carry me no more, but let me walk with you to heaven."

No one could blame the poor fellow for being excited. He had never walked before, and the delight he felt made him use his new found strength. You see he has dropped his crutches. Anyone could light the fire with them now, he needed them not. Reader, do you still use spiritual crutches? Why not look for the fulfilment of the prophet's words, "Then shall the lame man leap as an hart."

HE ENTERED WITH THEM.

He could not have been persuaded to leave them; indeed, we read of him further on standing with the apostles when they were brought before the magistrates. It is a good sign when men stay with those who were made a blessing to them. If Methodism had with her to-day all she has lifted from poverty and degradation, she would need neither testimonials nor benefactors.

VIII. "THE LORD HATH NEED OF HIM." MARK xi, 3.

What! of an Ass? Yes, "God hath chosen the foolish things of the world." He gets renown to Himself by "using things which are despised." Let us never despair of the most foolish of men, if he become the servant of Jesus. It is said of the great John Hunt, that when a young man, he gave no promise of the talents he shewed in the work of the Ministry. We have spoken with one who knew him before his conversion, who made us smile as he described his gait and style of life. Yet this ungainly ploughboy became a man whom to know was to admire. It was in Christ's hands, though, he improved so greatly.

DOES THE LORD REALLY NEED AN ASS? Yes. The Scriptures foretold that Jesus should come "riding upon an ass." Is it not beautiful to think of the poor despised Ass fulfilling so grand a prophecy? "The knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth." We may help that on. Will the young men and women who read this bear in mind that no one ever used this ass till Jesus did? Why should He not be the first to use you? "What!" say you. "Do you compare us to an ass?" Well, if we do, the Bible is before us. "Man be born like a wild ass's colt." And, if you have not remembered the claims God has upon you, the poor ass has the best of it, for the Lord says "The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his Master's crib, but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider." Have you noticed that unconverted men and women are pictured in Exodus xiii. 13, where you see a young ass with his neck broken? The Lord needs you that He may redeem you from your fate, and that you may be spared to bear his yoke.

Is not the best way to elevate men, to let the Lord have the use of them? However coarse and mean we are by nature, He can refine and elevate us. And any part of our life that is in danger of baseness may be lifted to beauty and blessing by putting it under the Christ. What a change came over this animal in one short day! An ass in the morning, but the

THRONE OF GOD

before the sun went down!

* * * * *

IN THE WILDERNESS SHALL WATERS BREAK OUT.

Is not that good news for you? After being so long without a revival, would it not be welcome? Welcome you say--welcome as water in a desert. Yes, and that is just what is promised. A revival in THE MOST UNLIKELY PLACE IN THE CIRCUIT, where even the raciest of preachers seems to be dull, and where there is a monotony which would shame a prison. Yes, there, right there, look out for the water, not stagnant, but water that "breaks out." "Then shall the lame man leap as the hart" that finds the stream it needs, and the "dumb shall sing," for this living water shall quench his thirst, and loosen his dried-up tongue. When shall it be? Young local preacher, why not when thou preachest the next time? Look for it to the throne of God and the Lamb.--Rev. xxii., 1.

IX. TWELVE BASKETS FULL OF FRAGMENTS GATHERED FROM THE MIRACLE OF CHRIST FEEDING THE MULTITUDE.

1.--MAN NEEDS HELP. "They have nothing to eat." (Mark vi. 36.)

2.--GOD IS BETTER THAN GOOD MEN. "Send them away," said the disciples. (Mark vi. 36.) "They need not depart," the Lord replied. (Matt. xiv. 16.)

3.--MINISTERS SHOULD ALWAYS BE ON THE LOOK-OUT FOR THE CHILDREN, THEY GIVE HELP AS WELL AS TROUBLE. Andrew said, "There is a lad here." (John vi. 9.)

4.--YOUTH CAN GIVE TO JESUS WHAT NO ONE ELSE POSSESSES. "There is a lad here which hath five barley loaves." (John vi. 9.)

5.--UNBELIEF WOULD FAIN CRAMP THE LOVE OF JESUS. "What are they among so many." (John vi. 9.)

6.--"ORDER IS HEAVEN'S FIRST LAW." The crowd must sit down in companies of fifty before Jesus would feed them. "He commanded them to make them all sit down by companies." (Mark vi. 39.)

7.--CHRIST WOULD NOT HAVE US EAT WITHOUT ASKING A BLESSING. "Looking up to heaven he blessed." (Matt. xiv. 19.)

8.--CHRIST'S HANDS CAN DO NO MORE THAN OURS. It was His touch that multiplied the loaves. If the disciples had kept the one basket, there would have been many faint by the way. Faith is the truest economy. (Matt xiv. 19.)

9.--THE USE OF THE CHURCH IS TO PASS IT ON. "Gave the loaves to the disciples, and the disciples to the multitude." (Matt. xiv. 19.)