Part 2

“Spike that gun,” was an order bravely executed by a young English officer and his command, at the battle of Inkerman, which gallant feat probably decided the fate of the day. Satan has planted his batteries for the destruction of the American home, and from every saloon in the land the wicked bombardment goes on, day and night, year after year, and every hour of every day some new house is sighted for destruction. Shall this cruel and desolating fire upon the American home forever continue? God forbid! “Spike that gun!” is the word of command that has gone forth to the great temperance host. “Spike that gun!” is the shout that rings out all along the lines of the great home protection army as they rush to the final charge. “Spike that gun!” shall be our battle cry until the last battery of hell has been silenced and every home in our land is safe from this desolating fire.

“Spike quickly that gun,” is the word of command, It is battering down the homes of our land, Its work of destruction will lose us the day, If no one the order to spike it obey.

PILGRIM WATCH THY CROWN.

Life is a journey and as pilgrims we tread its pathway, resting now and then for refreshment or ease. It is during these periods of rest that Satan employs every art to wrest from the traveler his dearest possession, his crown of life, which secures him an ample entrance to the heavenly city beyond. Folly, which represents the sensuous pleasures of the world, is employed to display her gaudy charms in order that the eye of the wayfarer may be turned aside and give Satan the opportunity to snatch the coveted treasure. At such moments let the Christian keep his crown before his eye, nor let him look back at the allurements and false pleasures which he has left behind. For, as a reward for this vigilance, a crown of life is assured him, one that is imperishable and brilliant and that fadeth not away.

Behold, I come quickly; hold that fast which thou hast that no man take thy crown. _Rev. 3:11._

THE BACKSLIDER.

At the brink of Niagara where the mists rise above tons of water which fall two hundred feet below, there is a rainbow seen almost constantly when the sun is shining, and within the circle of color some have seen the form of a beautiful maiden. One who was in a boat above the falls might see this entrancing vision and drop his oars and gaze rapturously, until, all unconscious, his boat glides over the brink and to destruction. The Christian also is in danger of such a fate. The world offers beauty and pleasure, and in such fascinating forms that it takes resolute will to keep from dropping the oars and drifting with the current of temptation and letting the good boat, which would save us, glide over the precipice into sin and into death.

So will not we go back from thee; quicken us, and we will call upon thy name. Turn us again, O Lord God of hosts, cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved. _Psalms 80:18–19._

DARE TO BE A DANIEL!

The resolute faith that enabled Daniel to face the den of lions is at the command of any child of God today, and nothing else will avail as an armor and defense when the ravenous beasts of passion, appetite, covetousness and revenge attack us in temptation’s hour. The source of strength in such emergencies is a childlike faith in God and the fount of that faith is His Holy Word. In the security which faith inspires, the den of torture and trial becomes luminous as the Mount of Transfiguration to those who resist evil and dare to stand true.

For in that He himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succor them that are tempted. _Heb. 2:18._

THE REMAINING GUEST.

Of all the pictures which memory paints on the heart none is so indelible as that of the hour of evening prayer when, at mother’s knee, we paid our first vows to God and pledged our lives to purity and truth. This picture has become the saving beam of light which has shot across the dark career of many who after a night’s revelry, and alone with conscience, refuse to drink further of sin’s deadly potion, but look back upon that early scene of innocence, and resolve to make it again a real experience. Although Remorse is the remaining guest of a night of sin, there is also the confident token of an angel of hope ever ready in the chamber of repentant despair.

Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes; but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment. _Ecc. 11:9._

AS CONSCIENCE PAINTS HIM.

There are days in everybody’s life when he sits alone with Conscience. The world and its undeserved blame or praise is shut out of that silent chamber. With his truthful guest the man of rags and the man of millions, the woman of toil and the woman of ease, must hold weekly if not daily and hourly communion. At these times the picture of the real self is thrown upon the vivid background of years. Now the false-hearted or boastful or proud will see and hear admonitions that would not be brooked from preacher or friend. True character divested of conventional habiliments of conduct through which the eyes of men can not peer, will stand bleak, ragged and forlorn. “Paint me as I am,” cried Cromwell, in righteous rage when the artist began to paint out of his portrait a slight disfigurement of his face. This he did though he knew that his portrait would go down through generations and thus perpetuate his ungainly visage. Who of us can say to conscience, “Paint me as I am though the world sees and the future sees me, let not my real self be hidden!”

Their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another. _Romans 2:15._

COVERING HIS SINS.

Here is a picture of universal application, though all do not indulge the same sin as the man here shown――endeavoring to cover his greed by showing to the world the monument of a college professorship endowed by his gifts or money. The world may be deceived in part, but what of his own conscience? He can not hide from himself his true nature and he forgets that God is ever at his side, judging not the act but the motive, never mistaken in His estimate, rejoicing at the good, sorrowing for the bad, but all-seeing and ever-seeing.

For the eyes of the Lord, run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. _II Chron. 16:9._

THE SELF MADE MAN.

Paul was not “a self made man,” for he said, “I can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth me.” That was his claim, and it is in pleasing contrast with those individuals whose boast is that their successful careers are monuments of their own endeavor. Crowned with pride, clothed with the tattered rags of self-righteous egotism, with garments a patch work of shabby gentility, such men divide their worship between their unworthy selves and the idol of Mammon which they draw in their train. The track over which they glide in such confident security is slippery and treacherous. Based simply upon reputation it is full of breaks and seams into which any moment the unsuspecting egotist may plunge.

Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. _Prov. 16:18._

THE STRAIT GATE.

The invitations which God has extended for men to come into His kingdom are all broad and generous. “Every one,” and “whosoever,” these are the key words of His gracious command. And yet the summons to a better life and to future bliss is not entirely unqualified or unconditional. No man can with confidence approach the portals of heaven with a proud heart or with unclean lips or with hands stained with sin. The gate of heaven is high, but narrow. It will not admit the evidence of any worldly possession and by no means of the fruits of self-love or base ambition or sensuality, covetousness, pride or deceit. The strait gate is big enough for any sinner, but it is too small to admit his sins.

And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life. _Rev. 21:27._

PAY DAY.

It is a solemn thought that life has no ending, but that some day there will be a season of harvest and a time of accounting, when each man must render a report of his stewardship and be rewarded or punished for the deeds done in the body. In that dread hour of settlement there will be no respect of persons. The rich and the poor, the great and lowly, must subject their moral natures to the same inflexible standard. The winnowing fan of God’s justice will spare not the proud nor powerful. They will all go to their own place. The chaff from the wheat, the sheep from the goats will be forever separate.

He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. _Rev. 22:11._

O GRAVE! WHERE IS THY VICTORY?

Death has no terror for the child of God. Neither the damp sod nor the granite tomb can hold the free spirits of the children of faith. We commit them to the earth and shed the parting tear and are too prone to fancy that the cold ground holds the object of our love; but it is only the cast-off covering of the soul that we bury. The real self, the indestructible and everliving spirit, has been caught up into heaven and long before the hearse and the cortege of weeping friends have left the tomb, the glad song of the departed one has swelled that of the angelic host in the refrain, “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

And there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things have passed away. _Rev. 21:4._

HOLDFAST.

Parsimony often walks under the name of prudence, and stinginess may try to palm itself off as thrift. The man who puts aside the widowed and orphaned, by the plea that he is laying in store for a rainy day, takes extreme hazards with Fate. Her hand even now draws aside the curtains which reveal his destiny. The rainy day comes sooner than he thinks and his mortal remains are carried to the grave unattended by the sad procession of any whose distress he might have lifted. Holdfast is forever held in the tomb of his loneliness and misery. He sadly misread life’s great lesson, that it is far better to give than to receive. He never knew that he was his brother’s keeper. He lived for self and died as he lived. Although nominally religious such men as Holdfast never learn that

Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction. _James 1:27._

RESCUED.

Wherever the tide of human life flows very deeply and swiftly, there shipwreck is most frequent and we place Rescue Missions at these points. But do we ever think of there being rescue missions in the skies? Could we scan the far battlements of heaven we might, perhaps, see them lined with hosts of angels watching and waiting to descend to the rescue of some tender child whom it were better to snatch away to scenes of glory, than leave it in an atmosphere that reeks with moral contagion. It was such a scene as appears on the page opposite that Isaiah saw when he wrote “He shall gather the lambs with his arm and shall carry them in his bosom.”

He shall save the children of the needy, and shall break in pieces the oppressor. _Psalm 72:4._

“SUFFER LITTLE CHILDREN.”

Great hearts are the quickest to be touched by the appeals of childhood. It is an evidence of Christ’s greatness, that he delighted not in the patronage and intercourse of the influential and mighty, but sought the friendship and love of children. Their credentials to His favor are not based upon race, or station, creed or complexion. Their frankness, their innocence, their simplicity, place them in nomination and his great heart immediately responds to those traits. “Suffer little children to come unto me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” Unless ye become as a little child (in frankness and simplicity and innocence) ye shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Whosoever shall receive one of such children in my name, receiveth me; and whosoever shall receive me, receiveth not me, but him that sent me. _Mark 9:37._

“IT IS I.”

On the water the disciples did not recognize the Master. In the synagogue, or the highway, or at the table, they would have known him instantly, but in the unusual scene on a stormy Galilee, his presence brought alarm instead of solace. Christ may come to us when and where and how we least expect him. It will not be strange if amidst the storm, which modern science has engendered, and in which the brave gospel ship is rocking, Christ himself should come to the frightened student of His word and say, “It is I, be not afraid.” If this be true, then, science will shed its dazzling light upon his own sacred person and we shall see him more nearly as he is.

Fear not: I am the first and the last; I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore. _Rev. 1:17, 18._

TOO BUSY.

Knock! Knock! Knock! Since childhood’s youngest day there has been a loving guest waiting at the door of our heart’s chamber. Long years we have heard that gentle, patient, persistent knock! knock! knock! Long ago it was louder, distincter, clearer, because, now we have passed from quiet, restful childhood into the loud and stirring world. Nevertheless, into business, into politics, into society, even into sin, that faithful Friend has followed us and is bound, still if possible, to gain admittance to our lives. But we are absorbed, indifferent, and, in a word, too busy. We also have another guest who has our ear. Therefore, keep out! No admittance! Life closes! Eternity dawns, and we begin to hear, not the knock, knock, knock of our unwelcome guest, but the clank, clank, clank of the chains of bondage which our new master is forging.

Behold a stranger at the door, He gently knocks, has knocked before, Has waited long, is waiting still, You treat no other friend so ill.

Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. _Rev. 3:20._

SHADOWED.

In the midst of life we are in death, in the midst of joy we are in sorrow and in the midst of luxury we are in want. There are more kinds of luxury than those which mere wealth can bring, and there are kinds of want as many――luxury is a state of abundance, whether of wealth, or books, or intellect, or privileges beyond our personal need. Want is a state of poverty of clothes, or food, or of physical or mental necessities of whatever sort. It is a fact that one half of the world possesses that which the other half needs. The poor need the assistance of the rich in matters of physical comforts and counsel. The rich need the meekness and patience which are the soonest found in the lowly cottage or the pauper’s hut. The world will reach its ideal state when every one, as his brother’s keeper, will vie with each other in a wholesale interchange of fellowship and goods. The barrier to this glad consummation is the selfish indifference with which one half of the world works and worships. It is blind to the constant presence of want which has claims to be paid. Until these debts to duty are discharged worship will be a mockery and religion a hollow show.

The rich and poor meet together: the Lord is the maker of them all. _Prov. 22:2._

SHIPWRECKED: BUT NOT LOST.

Few lives there are upon whose page sooner or later there is not written the record of a tragedy. It may come in the loss of a friend, or a parent, or a wife or husband, or a child. It may come in the wreck of a fortune or the stranding of a worldly ambition. Some day while pursuing a peaceful voyage the cry will go forth, “Breakers ahead,” and in spite of our vigilance and our prayers the stout ship will founder and we will be cast upon untrodden shores of duty and experience. It is in such emergencies as these that the Christian has resources that the man of the world knows not of. Unlike Crusoe he does not turn his desperate gaze toward the half-sunken ship if perchance he may regain some of its stores. He recalls rather those sweet promises of God which await redemption in the hour of need. “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” He remembers that and forthwith in the midst of his extreme peril and helplessness he cries: I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth. Psalms 121:1–2.

Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and He bringeth them out of their distresses. _Psalms 107:28._

THE LOST SHEEP.

No name by which the Savior is known brings Him into such close and tender relations with His people as that of Shepherd. “I am the Good Shepherd and know my sheep and am known of mine.” As members of the fold of Christ we are guaranteed His loving care and solicitous protection. “But other sheep I have which are not of this fold.” By that He means that His shepherding care extends over the entire world, and no bruised or fallen lamb exposed to the rocks and hardships of the wilderness, can ever get beyond the Shepherd’s patient search. No winds can be too harsh, no storms too angry, no mountain steeps too treacherous to defeat his patient will to reclaim the lost. Though by ignorance we fall into error and violate his commands, though by willfulness we transgress His law and traverse the road of disobedience, though the lamp of our innocence be shattered and the light of our hope fades away in desolation and despair, the Shepherd comes to us and calls, “Son, daughter, give me thine heart.”

Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost. _Luke 15:6._

CANCELED DEBTS.

Debt is one of the most disturbing and harassing factors in human experience. It sows nettles in the pillow of poverty, and even the merchant, farmer and banker pursue a weary existence when they are compelled to live under the shadow of overhanging indebtedness. How many hearts would be lightened today if by some magic stroke their books of debit and credit were balanced and for once they could feel and know that they owed no man anything. The weight which financial indebtedness imposes is comparable only with the weight which the debts of sin heap upon us. As we think of the sins of envy, and of malice, and of hatred, falsehood, deceit and cupidity, which our conscience has been justly charging up against us since early years, the load becomes all but intolerable. At this moment the great Debt Payer steps upon the scene. He presents a check in payment of the entire amount. It is payable to our order. He says, “Endorse this and your account with sin is square.” As an evidence of our love and faith we write our names with confidence and boldness across the back of the check and step forth into life with new hope and new determination.

For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. _Hebrews 10:14._

“FOLLOW ME.”

Every soul has its calvary and that crucial hour in each life will witness the peaceful, forgiving, trustful spirit that was seen in Jesus, or it will witness the hateful, furious appalling dissolution that came to the unrepentant companion of his cross. “Follow me,” he cries from the scene of his crucifixion. “Follow me through the carpenter shop of Nazareth and the sick room of Nain and the street riots of Capernaum and the tears of Gethsemane.” We should expect no share in the fruits of Christ’s death, unless we participate in the work of his life. The cross is a meaningless symbol until we approach it over the pathway of humility, trust, self-denial and obedience.

“Though Christ a thousand times in Bethlehem be born, But not within thyself, thy soul shall be forlorn. The cross on Golgotha thou lookest to in vain, If not within thyself it be set up again.”

THE HOPE OF THE RACE.

What life is at all fruitful in success and the joy that attends it unless that life has constantly in view a purpose and pursues it with fidelity and hope. Likewise how can our race achieve its best endeavor unless it lives under the constant purpose to achieve a certain goal. Human life must have an object of existence that is worthy of its high endowments. The only objects which are worthy of our pursuit are Purity, Peace and Truth, and the only embodiment which the world has ever known of these supreme things was Jesus of Nazareth. Therefore we look toward his second coming with confidence and longing. As the embodiment of our highest aspirations he will be the fulfillment of all our desires. At his approach the clouds of uncertainty, ignorance, superstition, distrust, doubt and despair will vanish.

For all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest. _Rev. 15:4._

THE ROCK OF AGES.