The Overcoming Life Part 5

That is precisely what I mean. A great many are willing to accept Christ, but they are not willing to publish it, to confess it. A great many are looking at the lions and the bears in the way. Now, my friends, the devil's mountains are only made of smoke. He can throw a straw into your path and make a mountain of it. He says to you: "You cannot confess and pray to your family; why, you'll break down! You cannot tell it to your shopmate; he will laugh at you." But when you accept Christ, you will have power to confess Him.

There was a young man in the West--it was the West in those days--who had been more or less interested about his soul's salvation. One afternoon, in his office, he said:

"I will accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior."

He went home and told his wife (who was a nominal professor of religion) that he had made up his mind to serve Christ; and he added:

"After supper to-night I am going to take the company into the drawing-room, and erect the family altar."

"Well," said his wife, "you know some of the gentlemen who are coming to tea are sceptics, and they are older than you are, and don't you think you had better wait until after they have gone, or else go out in the kitchen and have your first prayer with the servants?"

The young man thought for a few moments, and then he said:

"I have asked Jesus Christ into my house for the first time, and I shall take Him into the best room, not into the kitchen."

So he called his friends into the drawing room. There was a little sneering, but he read and prayed. That man afterwards became Chief Justice of the United States Court. Never be ashamed of the Gospel of Christ: it is the power of G.o.d unto salvation.

A young man enlisted, and was sent to his regiment. The first night he was in the barracks with about fifteen other young men who pa.s.sed the time playing cards and gambling. Before retiring, he fell on his knees and prayed, and they began to curse him and jeer at him and throw boots at him.

So it went on the next night and the next, and finally the young man went and told the chaplain what had taken place, and asked what he should do.

"Well," said the chaplain, "you are not at home now, and the other men have just as much right in the barracks as you have. It makes them mad to hear you pray, and the Lord will hear you just as well if you say your prayers in bed and don't provoke them."

For weeks after the chaplain did not see the young man again, but one day he met him, and asked--

"By the way, did you take my advice?"

"I did, for two or three nights."

"How did it work?"

"Well," said the young man, "I felt like a whipped hound, and the third night I got out of bed, knelt down and prayed."

"Well," asked the chaplain, "how did that work?"

The young soldier answered: "We have a prayer-meeting there now every night, and three have been converted, and we are praying for the rest."

Oh, friends, I am so tired of weak Christianity. Let us be out and out for Christ; let us give no uncertain sound. If the world wants to call us fools, let them do it. It is only a little while; the crowning day is coming. Thank G.o.d for the privilege we have of confessing Christ.

TRUE WISDOM.

"They that be wise shall s.h.i.+ne as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever."

Dan. 12:3.

That is the testimony of an old man, and one who had the richest and deepest experience of any man living on the face of the earth at the time. He was taken down to Babylon when a young man; some Bible students think he was not more than twenty years of age. If anyone had said, when this young Hebrew was carried away into captivity, that he would outrank all the mighty men of that day--that all the generals who had been victorious in almost every nation at that time were to be eclipsed by this young slave--probably no one would have believed it.

Yet for five hundred years no man whose life is recorded in history shone as did this man. He outshone Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, Cyrus, Darius, and all the princes and mighty monarchs of his day.

We are not told when he was converted to a knowledge of the true G.o.d, but I think we have good reason to believe that he had been brought under the influence of Jeremiah the prophet. Evidently some earnest, G.o.dly man, and no worldly professor, had made a deep impression upon him. Someone had at any rate taught him how he was to serve G.o.d.

We hear people nowadays talking about the hardness of the field where they labor; they say their position is a very peculiar one. Think of the field in which Daniel had to work. He was not only a slave, but he was held captive by a nation that detested the Hebrews. The language was unknown to him. There he was among idolaters; yet he commenced at once to s.h.i.+ne. He took his stand for G.o.d from the very first, and so he went on through his whole life. He gave the dew of his youth to G.o.d, and he continued faithful right on till his pilgrimage was ended.

Notice that all those who have made a deep impression on the world, and have shone most brightly have been men who lived in a dark day.

Look at Joseph; he was sold as a slave into Egypt by the Ishmaelites; yet he took his G.o.d with him into captivity, as Daniel afterwards did.

And he remained true to the last; he did not give up his faith because he had been taken away from home and placed among idolaters. He stood firm, and G.o.d stood by him.

Look at Moses who turned his back upon the gilded palaces of Egypt, and identified himself with his despised and down-trodden nation. If a man ever had a hard field it was Moses; yet he shone brightly, and never proved unfaithful to his G.o.d.

Elijah lived in a far darker day than we do. The whole nation was going over to idolatry. Ahab and his queen, and all the royal court were throwing their influence against the wors.h.i.+p of the true G.o.d. Yet Elijah stood firm, and shone brightly in that dark and evil day. How his name stands out on the page of history!

Look at John the Baptist. I used to think I would like to live in the days of the prophets; but I have given up that idea. You may be sure that when a prophet appears on the scene, everything is dark, and the professing Church of G.o.d has gone over to the service of the G.o.d of this world. So it was when John the Baptist made his appearance. See how his name s.h.i.+nes out to-day! Eighteen centuries have rolled away, and yet the fame of that wilderness preacher s.h.i.+nes brighter than ever. He was looked down upon in his day and generation, but he has outlived all his enemies; his name will be revered and his work remembered as long as the Church is on the earth.

Talk about your field being a hard one! See how Paul shone for G.o.d as he went out, the first missionary to the heathen, telling them of the G.o.d whom he served, and who had sent His Son to die a cruel death in order to save the world. Men reviled him and his teachings; they laughed him to scorn when he spoke of the crucified One. But he went on preaching the Gospel of the Son of G.o.d. He was regarded as a poor tent-maker by the great and mighty ones of his day; but no one can now tell the name of any of his persecutors, or of those who lived at that time, unless their names happen to be a.s.sociated with his, and they were brought into contact with him.

Now the fact is, all men like to s.h.i.+ne. We may as well acknowledge it at once. Go into business circles, and see how men struggle to get into the front rank. Everyone wants to outs.h.i.+ne his neighbor and to stand at the head of his profession. Go into the political world, and see how there is a struggle going on as to who shall be the greatest.

If you go into a school, you find that there is a rivalry among the boys and girls. They all want to stand at the top of the cla.s.s. When a boy does reach this position and outranks all the rest, the mother is very proud of it. She will manage to tell all the neighbors how Johnnie has got on, and what a number of prizes he has gained.

Go into the army and you find the same thing--one trying to outstrip the other; everyone is very anxious to s.h.i.+ne and rise above his comrades. Go among the young men in their games, and see how anxious the one is to outdo the other. So we have all that desire in us; we like to s.h.i.+ne above our fellows.

And yet there are very few who can really s.h.i.+ne in the world. Once in a while one man will outstrip all his compet.i.tors. Every four years what a struggle goes on throughout our country as to who shall be the President of the United States, the battle raging for six months or a year. Yet only one man can get the prize. There are a good many struggling to get the place, but many are disappointed, because only one can attain the coveted prize. But in the kingdom of G.o.d the very least and the very weakest may s.h.i.+ne if they will. Not only can _one_ obtain the prize, but _all_ may have it if they will.

It does not say in this pa.s.sage that the statesmen are going to s.h.i.+ne as the brightness of the firmament. The statesmen of Babylon are gone; their very names are forgotten.

It does not say that the n.o.bility are going to s.h.i.+ne. Earth's n.o.bility are soon forgotten. John Bunyan, the Bedford tinker, has outlived the whole crowd of those who were the n.o.bility in his day. They lived for self, and their memory is blotted out. He lived for G.o.d and for souls, and his name is as fragrant as ever it was.

We are not told that the merchants are going to s.h.i.+ne. Who can tell the name of any of the millionaires of Daniel's day? They were all buried in oblivion a few years after their death. Who were the mighty conquerors of that day? But few can tell. It is true that we hear of Nebuchadnezzar, but probably we should not have known very much about him but of his relations to the prophet Daniel.

How different with this faithful prophet of the Lord! Twenty five centuries have pa.s.sed away, and his name s.h.i.+nes on, and on, and on, brighter and brighter. And it is going to s.h.i.+ne while the Church of G.o.d exists. "They that be wise shall s.h.i.+ne as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever."

How quickly the glory of this world fades away! Eighty years ago the great Napoleon almost made the earth to tremble. How he blazed and shone as an earthly warrior for a little while! A few years pa.s.sed and a little island held that once proud and mighty conqueror; he died a poor broken-hearted prisoner. Where is he to-day? Almost forgotten.

Who in all the world will say that Napoleon lives in their heart's affections?

But look at this despised and hated Hebrew prophet. They wanted to put him into the lions' den because he was too sanctimonious and too religious Yet see how green his memory is to-day! How his name is loved and honored for his faithfulness to his G.o.d.

Many years ago I was in Paris, at the time of the Great Exhibition.

Napoleon the Third was then in his glory. Cheer after cheer would rise as he drove along the streets of the city. A few short years, and he fell from his lofty estate. He died an exile from his country and his throne, and where is his name today? Very few think about him at all, and if his name is mentioned it is not with love and esteem. How empty and short lived are the glory and the pride of this world! If we are wise, we will live for G.o.d and eternity; we will get outside of ourselves, and will care nothing for the honor and glory of this world. In Proverbs we read: "He that winneth souls is wise." If any man, woman, or child by a G.o.dly life and example can win one soul to G.o.d, their life will not have been a failure. They will have outshone all the mighty men of their day, because they will have set a stream in motion that will flow on and on forever and ever.

G.o.d has left us down here to s.h.i.+ne. We are not here to buy and sell and get gain, to acc.u.mulate wealth, to acquire worldly position. This earth, if we are Christians, is not our home; it is up yonder. G.o.d has sent us into the world to s.h.i.+ne for Him--to light up this dark world.

Christ came to be the Light of the world, but men put out that light.

They took it to Calvary, and blew it out. Before Christ went up on high, He said to His disciples: "Ye are the light of the world. Ye are my witnesses. Go forth and carry the Gospel to the peris.h.i.+ng nations of the earth."

So G.o.d has called us to s.h.i.+ne, just as much as Daniel was sent into Babylon to s.h.i.+ne. Let no man or woman say that they cannot s.h.i.+ne because they have not so much influence as some others may have. What G.o.d wants you to do is to use the influence you have. Daniel probably did not have much influence down in Babylon at first, but G.o.d soon gave him more, because he was faithful and used what he had.

Remember a small light will do a good deal when it is in a very dark place. Put one little tallow candle in the middle of a large hall, and it will give a good deal of light.

Away out in the prairie regions, when meetings are held at night in the log schoolhouses, the announcement of the meeting is given out in this way: