2. This argument is used by the Church. The Church says with assurance, Come with us and we will do thee good ; for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel. It says this with emphasis ; it says it pleadingly. It has blessings, promises, and powers, of which it is sure. It knows that men are in need of what it possesses. It sees men living to little purpose and for little ends. It sees the sin and the sorrow. It has deep pity for the deep pathos of human life. Its whole work is to do men good, as it declares the gospel of the Kingdom, calling them to pardon and peace, offering them salvation, presenting to them the manifold riches of Christ, pointing to the way of life and of joy. The heart of the true Church yearns over men with a great longing, seeing them to be, though they may know it not, wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. It has a message for * O»nou W. Hay M. H. Aitken.
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you, which it is irreparable loss for you to neglect It offers you a great and eternal good.^
1 It seems in these days that this is the only invitation to church now possible. All that is now possible is to indvxx people to go to church. They must be drawn, not driven. " Come with us," the congregation in G-od's house seems to say to outsiders : " Come with us, and we will do you good." It is well, it is a great thing, if the services of the church are felt to be pleasant : but it is vital and essential that they be felt to be helpful. They must do you good, or there ifl something wrong either in them or in you.2
3. In what ways may we hope to get good by coming to church ?
(1) By Recognition of the Unseen and Eternal. — When we gather in church, here is something, coming regularly, coming frequently, that keeps us in remembrance that there is more than what is seen and felt; that there are realities and interests beyond what our senses reveal to us, which are the most substantial and enduring of alL It is a great matter — ^in this world of things we see and touch, and pressed as we are continually by the power which these things have to make us vaguely feel and practically live as if there were nothing beyond them — that this testimony is borne, at least every Sunday, to the existence and solemn importance of the Invisible and Spiritual.
Tell me the old, old story
Of unseen things above, Of Jesus and His glory.
Of Jesus and His love.
(2) By Repetition of the Story of the Cross. — We go to church to think of things ; we go, intending that our minds be specially occupied with certain matters which, in the bustle of our life, we are ready to forget. There is a whole order of ideas present to our mind in God's house, which (to say the least) are not habitu- ally associated with any other place we go to. There is an old story to be pressed upon us: an old story which is of such a nature, that though we know it quite well, we like and we need to hear it over again. For it may be told perpetually without anything like wearisome repetition : and all outward surroundings in this life go so much to make us unmindful of it, that we need
1 Hugh Black. « A. K. H. Boyd.
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sorely to have our minds specially and earnestly urged in just this particular direction.
Tell me the story often,
For I forget so soon; The early dew of morning
Has passed away at noon.
(3) By Realization of the Presence and Power of Christ. — For there is more in God's house than instruction, or than stirring up the fading and feeble remembrance : more than that and deeper. God Almighty has appointed and decreed that there shall be a real power and grace and help in the ordinances of His house; and Christ has said, in sober earnest, that " Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."
Tell me the story always,
If you would really be, In any time of trouble
A comforter to me.
2. The second argument is, Come with us for the good you can do.
1. Moses had another plea, even after refusal — a plea, under the circumstances, far more powerful to such a man than the offer of personal good. It was the plea, not of Hobab's need of Israel, but of Israel's need of Hobab. He knew the country, knew all the dangers and resources : he was a man of great influence and wisdom ; and cared for Moses, and presumably also for the great religious interests at stake in Israel's future. To have him with them would be a source of strength to all. And so Moses' invita- tion took another form. He appealed to Hobab's heart and not to his interests : he appealed to their need of him, and no longer to anything of good that might come to himself. " Leave us not, I pray thee ; forasmuch as thou knowest how we are to encamp in the wilderness, and thou shalt be to us instead of eyes."