Now, the looking-glass showed him that his face was dirty--_but I did not take the looking-glass to wash it_; of course not. Yet that is just what thousands of people do. The Law is the looking-glass to see ourselves in, to show us how vile and worthless we are in the sight of God; but they take the Law and try to _wash_ themselves with it, instead of being washed in the blood of the Lamb.
Christ For All
An old Welshwoman said Christ was Welsh, and an Englishman said:
"No, He was a Jew."
She declared that she knew He was Welsh, because He spoke so that she could understand Him.
Starting Right
Many a man is lost because he does not start right. He makes a bad start. A young man comes from his country home, and enters upon city life. Temptation arises, and he becomes false to his principles. He meets with some scoffing, sneering man, who jeers at him because he goes to a church service; or because he is seen reading his Bible; or because he is known to pray to God. And the young man proves to be weak-kneed; he cannot stand the scoffs and the sneers and the jeers of his companions; and so he becomes untrue to his principles, and gives them up.
I want to say here to young men, that when a young man makes a wrong start, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred it is ruin to him. The first game of chance; the first betting transaction; the first false entry in the books; the first quarter-dollar taken from the cash-box or the till; the first night spent in evil company--either of these may prove the turning-point; either of these may represent a wrong start.
Napoleon and the Conscript
There is a well-known story told of Napoleon the First's time. In one of the conscriptions, during one of his many wars, a man was balloted as a conscript who did not want to go, but he had a friend who offered to go in his place. His friend joined the regiment in his name, and was sent off to the war. By and by a battle came on, in which he was killed, and they buried him on the battle-field. Some time after, the Emperor wanted more men, and by some mistake the first man was balloted a second time. They went to take him, but he remonstrated.
"You cannot take me."
"Why not?"
"I am dead," was the reply.
"You are not dead; you are alive and well."
"But I _am_ dead," he said.
"Why, man, you must be mad. Where did you die?"
"At such a battle, and you left me buried on such a battle-field."
"You talk like a madman," they cried; but the man stuck to his point that he had been dead and buried some months.
"Look up your books," he said, "and see if it is not so."
They looked, and found that he was right. They found the man's name entered as drafted, sent to the war, and marked off as killed.
"Look here," they said, "you didn't die; you must have got some one to go for you; it must have been your _substitute_."
"I know that," he said; "he died in my stead. You cannot touch me; I died in that man, and I go free. The law has no claim against me."
They would not recognize the doctrine of substitution, and the case was carried to the Emperor. He said that the man was right, that he was dead and buried in the eyes of the law, and that France had no claim against him.
This story may or may not be true, but one thing I know is true: Jesus Christ suffered death for the sinner, and those who accept Him are free from the Law.
Green Fields or Desert?
When I was out in California, the first time I went down from the Sierra Nevada Mountains and dropped into the Valley of the Sacramento, I was surprised to find on one farm that everything about it was green--all the trees and flowers, everything was blooming, and everything was green and beautiful, and just across the hedge everything was dried up, and there was not a green thing there. I could not understand it. I made inquiries, and I found that the man that had everything green, irrigated; he just poured the water right on, and kept everything green, while the fields that were next to his were as dry as Gideon's fleece without a drop of dew.
So it is with a great many in the church to-day. They are like these farms in California--a dreary desert, everything parched and desolate, and apparently no life in them. They can sit next to a man who is full of the Spirit of God, who is like a green bay tree, and who is bringing forth fruit, and yet they will not seek a similar blessing.
Well, why this difference? Because God has poured water on him that was thirsty; that is the difference. One has been seeking this anointing, and he has received it; and when we want this above everything else God will surely give it to us.
Religion In the Home
What we want is family piety, righteousness in our homes. A young minister came to me, and said he couldn't get along with his wife, and what should he do? I told him to get out of the ministry. A man has no right to be in the pulpit unless he can get along with his family.
A Universal Failing