Broken Bread, from an Evangelist's Wallet

by Thomas Champness

BURNING THE BOOKS AT EPHESUS.

This was one of the results of faithful preaching. Paul had declared the whole counsel of God, both in powerful addresses and in visiting from door to door. Miracles were wrought, but what seems to have impressed the writer of this account most of all, was not the healing of the sick, or the casting out of devils, but men parting with that which was worth so much money.

“They brought their books together, and burned them before all men; and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.

So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed!”

Has our religion been costly to us? Have we given up anything? These converts gave up their money-making sins publicly; and their public and costly repentance was made a great blessing. We wish every Christian who is engaged in any business that has made money for him at the expense of another’s morals, would see it his duty to make a bonfire of it! We have no doubt there are numbers of Christians whose consciences now and then give them a goutlike twinge. We do not doubt their religion because they do not obey their consciences; but we do say the word of God cannot grow mightily, it is stunted, and in consequence they are religious dwarfs, when they might have been giants in righteousness and holy influence.

XXXV. THE WAY TO PREACH TO THOSE WHO SLEEP IN SIN.

“Nathan said to David, Thou art the Man!”

But this was not the first thing he said. He approached the subject very carefully. David would not have allowed anyone to bring that subject home to him without resenting it. It is more than likely that very few were in the secret. Crafty Joab was not the man to let that story get out. It gave him power over the king all the time it was his secret, so that he could put pressure on David whenever he liked. We read, “The Lord sent Nathan unto David.” If we would know how to deal with our congregations, we must have the Lord’s commission.

Men may be on the Circuit Plan, and God leave them without appointments!

Let us never set off to preach without a message from God to the people, then we shall make folks say, what a plain Yorkshire Methodist said of Stoner, “Yon David’s varry thick with the Almighty.”

If the Lord send us, He will teach us how to talk, and most likely He will take us off the pulpit track. Some of us have given up the old “three-decker” style of preaching, feeling that it is as useless as last year’s almanack. Our hearers often knew what was coming, they heard the heads of the discourse, and began to see the end before we got there, wrapping themselves in a habit of indifference which

shielded them from the convictions we had hoped to produce. What “Californian Taylor” calls “Surprise Power,” ought to be in every discourse. David had no idea what the prophet meant to do before he had ended his story, and we should wait upon God until He has given us, not only the subject of our sermons, but the skill we need to take the sinner either by storm or holy subtilty.

The charming story with which Nathan began his address is instructive to those who wish to succeed as preachers. How interested the King became as he heard of the rich man’s greed and the poor man’s loss, until he was so stirred that he threatened the death of the tyrant! May not we preachers learn something here, that is, to interest our hearers, in order that we may profit them? Do we sufficiently care for this matter? Would it not be well, in the preparation of our addresses and sermons, to make sure that we are so interesting that our hearers cannot fail but listen? We should not be content with soundness of faith, or truthfulness of doctrine, but be so interesting as to command the attention of our audience. It is a question whether any man, who cannot make the people listen, should not be content to take his place in a pew. It is better to be able to heat or light the chapel well, than to wear out the patience of a congregation by prosy preaching, and it will be more to our eternal advantage to have been an industrious chapel-keeper than a dull preacher!

Nathan brought David to a stand. The royal hearer fell before the faithful preacher. He confessed his sin and deeply repented. Well might the prophet rejoice over his illustrious convert. It was indeed success to hear the king acknowledge his fault. We do not read that he praised the sermon, but he condemned himself. It is a small

reward to hear it said that we have preached a beautiful sermon, but it is delightful to learn that a sinner has been convinced of his guilt and danger. Let all of us who preach, determine that we will not call that service a success which either allowed our hearers to be drowsy, or won their applause, without causing a saint to be cheered on his pilgrimage, or an enemy of God to lay down his weapons and sue for peace.

OLD FASHIONED DOCTRINE.
Jeremiah, viii. 21 to ix. 16.

I.—He who is loyal to God is the truest patriot.—ch. viii., v. 21, ch. ix., v. 10.

Jeremiah’s distress disfigured him, and he felt that tears were not sufficient to mark his sorrow for his country. Sinners against God should never profess to be politicians; they are unworthy to be classed on either side.

II.—Idolatry is the mother of all other sins.

Count up the different crimes these Jewish idol-worshippers were guilty of—as lying, slander, adultery, &c. He who breaks the first commandment has pulled down the fence, and can easily break the others. What an argument for Missions!

III.—If God acts consistently, He must punish sin.—ch. ix., v. 9, 10, 15, 16.

Hell is as necessary as Heaven to a perfect God. Queen Victoria could not be safe in her palace but for prisons, where felons are bound!

He who fears to preach future punishment is either an ignorant man or a coward.

XXXVI. SELFISHNESS AND PRAYER.
A CONTRAST.

“So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel, and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees.”—1 Kings xviii. 42.

What a Contrast!

And yet, both men were perfectly consistent. It is in each case what you would expect, and yet how differently it might have been. What a different story it would have been if only Ahab had listened to the teaching of God! How often we see men having chances of turning round and beginning a new life; failing to do this, they seem to become the worse for the lesson of Providence and the advice of those who warn them! Has it ever been so with you? Can you remember a time when God stopped you, and made you think, thus giving you a chance of reformation? Wretched Ahab! he had just seen which is Master. How contemptible Baal seemed now! The heavenly fire, which leaped in answer to Elijah’s prayer, disdained to notice the victims on the altar of the idol, while the blood of the false priests dyed the waters of the brook Kishon, a sacrifice to their own wickedness and deception. One would have thought Ahab’s good sense would have prevailed, and that he would have said, “Elijah, I will go with thee, and on Carmel’s top will unite with thee in prayer.” Alas for the history that might have been!

But some of you will say, “Did not Elijah say to Ahab, ‘Get thee up, eat and drink?’” Yes, he did. A few hours before, he had said, “If Baal, follow him.” Does not God allow us to be tempted continually? Did He not, in His wisdom and goodness, place the tree which bare forbidden fruit in the garden of Eden? Does He not say, by natural appetites and propensities, enjoy yourself? There was nothing wrong in eating, but if Ahab had but

Denied himself and gone with Elijah to pray,

the rest of his life would have been different, he might have been converted then. How often it happens that we hear a powerful sermon, perhaps on the first Sunday night of a Mission, but we have something to attend to on Monday, something that might be left without injury, or it may be a party or a concert, and so we do not go to the meeting next night. If we had done so, our whole life might have been changed!

Eat and drink! One wonders it did not choke him, for were not his subjects starving? The famine was sore in the land; men and women pined, children died of hunger, cattle and sheep perished in the fields, but all this, what had it to do with the king? He was hungry, and would eat and would be jolly, never mind about the poor people! Remember, my hearers, you cannot turn your back on God and be the same man you have been. Each time you say “No,” to God’s grace, you become less fit for His kingdom. If men could but see their souls—

If some of you could have a Mirror that would shew your soul,

You would look as though you had seen a ghost! We have portraits of ourselves years ago, and we look at them and

wonder at the change. Could you have a portrait of what you were, spiritually, ten years since, it would spoil your enjoyment. Beware, then, of eating and drinking when others are at prayer. It is better to be good than to be happy. Do right, though it may mean tears, for the smiles of selfishness are sores in the future.

Look at the other man now. He climbs the hill. There is nothing to be won from heaven by laziness. Climb to thy crown! Never mind the steepness and ruggedness of the way. God’s kings toil and sweat before their coronation. How Elijah would laugh in his heart as he thought of the boon he was about to bring down on his country!

Past victories encouraged him.

He had prayed that it might not rain, and for many months the heavens had been cloudless. Day by day the sun had scorched and burned on, as though there was to be no more verdure, the trees are but the skeletons of their former selves, and the ground is cracked, and gapes for drink. Ah! it is soon to alter! The God who has answered by fire is about to speak in the shower, and all nature is to put on a new suit of green at the bidding of prayer.

Why should not the church of God climb the hill to bring down on the earth a shower of blessing? God had said to Elijah, “I send rain upon the earth,” and therefore the man of God said, “I will call upon the name of the Lord.” Have we no promise? What do these words mean—

“Whatsoever ye ask in My Name, that will I do?”

Find the reference to these words, and then look on them as a legacy. We may receive whenever we apply. Why, then, do we hang down our heads? Let us climb Carmel,

shouting as we go, “Hallelujah! The Lord reigneth!” Baal has not succeeded to the throne! Christ is there! But see, the man of God casts himself down on the ground.

Past success has humbled him.

It is well when it is so. We always tremble when we see a church elated over its success. A year or two ago, we Methodists saw a great ingathering of souls, and because we had harvest we have let our plough rust. Is there any wonder that we fear a decrease? It is sure to follow elation, and then we shall be told, “There is always a reaction after so much excitement.” That is a text from the devil’s bible. On the same hill top where Elijah won the fight, he falls down, to pray, with his face between his knees, and so is most humbled when most triumphant.

And now his servant is sent to look for the sign of success. Mark you, he sends him to

Look in the right direction,

“Toward the sea.” Do not go towards the dry land if you want rain, or in other words, if you want success in soul-saving, look not for it from those who get up entertainments and seek to make money by gambling in bazaars. Do not expect conversions from mere eloquence or rhetoric. Large congregations do not always mean abiding success. Beautiful chapels are not always remarkable for attracting those who need a Saviour. Look at the place from whence Wesley, Whitfield, and the others who were to win souls derived their power.

Do not let faith be chilled by waiting!

If you wait upon the Lord you have a right to be of good courage. “They shall not be ashamed that wait for Me,

saith the Lord.” If our trust is in the Lord, we can afford to wait. The longer He keeps us waiting, the more He will give us. Never mind if the servant says, “There is nothing.” It is not the Master’s voice. Go again. Don’t talk to me of nothing! Go again! Leave me to pray in peace till there is something to praise God for.

I can praise Him for the smallest sign.

Only “a man’s hand,” sayest thou? but what Man? It is the same Hand that wrote on the wall the sentence of Belshazzar. It is the Hand of which David sang “Thou openest Thine Hand and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.” We who look for Jesus remember that when He left us He did not clench His fist at the world that had treated Him so ill. “He lifted up his hands and blessed them.” He has not closed them yet, but sends blessings on even the rebellious. Faith sees in the open hand of Jesus the promise of great gifts for those who wait upon Him. We read, directly, “the heaven was black, and there was a great rain.”

If we pass over a few years we see the end of these men, the end so far as this world is concerned. They both ride in chariots. He who rose up to eat and drink, rides disguised, but is not able to deceive the winged messengers of death. The murderer is found out, and dies in his chariot.

Goes to Hell in his Chariot!

So perish those who prefer to eat when others starve, though they might unite with those who bring blessings on the perishing!

A year afterwards, the man who prayed walks along the road; there is one by his side who watches him with eager glance, and now comes the chariot of heaven.

God sends His Carriage to meet

the man who climbed the hill to pray, and soon he is parted from his young friend; but see! his mantle falls. Which of us will pick it up and wear it? Elijah’s garment will fit any of us, and will always be new if we pray. It grows threadbare and shabby when worn by those who prefer the table to the altar, and love the pleasures of the world better than the companionship of angels.

My brothers, shall we not become mighty in prayer? This is a talent all have received, put it out to interest at once. Lose no time in its use. Satan will gladly lend you a napkin, but then he will have your soul as the pledge. To cease to pray is to drift towards hell. Is there not a needs be for crying mightily to God? Can we look around our congregations and not feel that it is high time we went up the hill to cry to God for the rain that means revival? Let us each ask the question, Am I most like the man who lived to gratify his desires, or the man who lived to pray for others?

With whom shall I spend my Eternity, with Elijah of Ahab?

If the angels see us on our face, crying for rain, they will know that some day they will have to meet us and take us home in the chariot of fire. If they see that we are those who eat and drink when they should pray, they will know that our possessions, like Ahab’s chariot, will become a hearse, and that we are riding to hell in that which we have chosen for comfort.

XXXVII. “THE WIDOW WOMAN WAS THERE.”
I Kings xvii. 10.

Of course she was. All God’s trains meet at the junction. They don’t have to wait for one another. Elijah had left Cherith because the brook had dried up, and his first request shewed that he was in need of water. The poor widow seems to have been relieved that water was all the prophet asked, but he called to her to fetch a bit of bread as well. This broke her down. “Ah, Master, we have not so much as a cake. I have only a handful of meal, and I had come out to gather some sticks that I might bake a little cake for me and the lad, and then we shall have to die of hunger!”

“Never fear, God has sent me, and with His servant there shall come a blessing.

make me a cake first,

and then make for thyself, and God will keep on supplying our wants.”

The woman did so, and never wanted. If she had gone on the principle of

Take care of Number One,

she would soon have been in her grave, and the lad too, but the way to live is to care for others. “He that loseth his life shall save it.” While we are writing this, we are thinking of the great number who all through these bad times have fed the Preachers and their horses. God will see to it that they do not lose by their unselfishness.

Some will read this who are just on the point of leaving a place where God has cared for them, but they do not see their way in the future. Are you going on God’s errand? That is, are you in the path of duty? Then never fear. Ravens can wait at table as well as any tailed-coated white-cravatted serving man. And widows with only a handful of meal, can keep open house for God’s servants. My God shall supply all your need, and the less there is in the barrel, the more room for God’s hand!

“IT IS THE BLOOD THAT SAVES.”
Exodus xii.

The Israelites were not saved because they were children of Abraham, but because they followed the plan of salvation. Even Moses “kept the passover and the sprinkling of blood,” or there would have been a dead man in the house. If you and I are saved, it must be by the blood of the Lamb. The father who put the blood on his door posts was not ashamed to own his need of Divine protection, or that he trusted the word of God.

There is a false sentimentality that is abroad to-day, which would make us ashamed to speak of the atonement. We are told that it is sickening to hear of such terms as “The Blood of Jesus.”

What is the standard of taste?

We know of nothing higher than the word of God, and he whose fine feelings are shocked by Bible language, would find heaven not sufficiently æsthetic. May not such be said to count the blood of the covenant an unholy thing? When the destroyer is abroad, we shall be safe who hide behind the blood. We rejoice in the blood of sprinkling, when we believe there is wrath for the sinner. The giving God the lie, when He declares He will punish His enemies, fits the mouth of him who is too refined to speak of the precious blood of Jesus.

XXXVIII. “DO MEN GATHER GRAPES OF THORNS?”

This question was asked by a man who knew more than any one else, and he knew very well what the answer would be. We should suspect a man of insanity who looked for grapes on a thorn bush. And yet we see numbers of both men and women looking for happiness and comfort in the Public House, and judging from their appearance afterwards, we feel sure they went for grapes and found festering thorns!

It was our duty, some time ago, to be part of a deputation to support a memorial to the Magistrates at what is called “The Brewster Sessions.” There was a number of Ministers and others who represent the Temperance movement, with some ladies like-minded, and we took our places in the same court where the publicans and their friends were. Some of these had come to transfer licenses, others to seek to have in-beershops, and power to sell other kinds of drink. The Magistrates, however, refused both of the applications for new licenses, nor did we wonder, when we saw those who were waiting to be punished or pardoned, as the case might be.

In the gallery were a number of the friends of those who were waiting to have their names called upon, and then to appear in the dock. Besides these, were the usual loafers, many of whom have found, or will find work for the police, after going to seek grapes where thorns grow: and then

others, like the writer, who were on the lookout for a profitable way to spend an hour or two. It was a most instructive time, and one wonders how it is that long-headed Englishmen can, after seeing the results of visiting the publichouse, ever be persuaded that grapes are to be got there without trouble.

The mistake many good people make is looking on drinking as a failing, and not as a crime. It must be a sin for any one to make himself eligible for doing all sorts of mischief and wrong, as men do who take, as they say, “a sup of drink.” It is this sup of drink that gives them the impetus towards cruelty and lust, and we must insist upon it that for a man to prepare himself for wickedness is a sin against himself and his God. If this be so, the social element in drinking makes it all the more dangerous. Men and women drink often because it is considered a kind and hospitable thing to offer it, and an ungenerous and churlish thing to refuse it. What is this but calling a thorn a vine?

While we were in the court, several cases came before the Magistrates—“Drunk and Disorderly,” varied by obscenity and quarrelling. One woman told the Bench that she had been teetotal for five and a half years, till she came into the town to pay a debt, and then she had a glass, “and it will be twenty years before I have any more.” “Ah!” said “His Worship,”

“Listen to no Friend that wants you to take Drink.”

Another poor wretch was “Drunk and Incapable.” She told the Magistrates that she had come to get a situation, that her box was at the station. She had evidently seen better days. The Chairman said how sorry he was to see

a woman like her, evidently a superior person, in such a case, and she gladly promised to be a better woman, but she had been more than once to the thorn for grapes, and we fear will go again. There was a young fellow brought up for drunkenness and obscenity, whose fine was paid by his mother. She looked a decent but poor woman, and one could not but wonder what she had parted with to raise the money, to keep what one of the Magistrates called a blackguard, out of prison. But what will not a mother’s love do! These are a few of the cases which made us wonder that in our town we have so many places, licensed by the same Magistrates, to sell that which fits men and women to appear in the court to be punished.

We wonder how long it will take to make the English people see that so long as we allow drinking shops to abound, there will be a necessity for police and lock-ups, and that it is as easy to gather grapes of thorns as to expect peace and quietness and facilities for drinking to exist together?

GOD’S ANGER IS A FIRE THAT
IS AS DIFFICULT
TO STOP AS TO START.

XXXIX. NO BALLOT-BOX.

We see that certain politicians are busy trying to convince those who have any fear upon the matter, that it is easy for them to vote in such a way that no one can possibly find out for which side they have given in their vote. It is positively secret voting. Very likely this is as it should be, still it is a sad disgrace that such a thing should be at all necessary, and does not speak well for human nature. Why should it not be possible for men to vote openly? Because some who have done so have had to suffer loss. Is not this a blot upon our civilization, to say nothing of our Christianity?

But while it may be right that men should have the chance of voting secretly in Parliamentary matters, whether they be Conservatives or Liberals, we contend there should be no ballot-box for the election in which men settle whether Jesus or Satan should govern the world. There are sadly too many, who are like Joseph of Arimathæa, disciples, but secretly for fear.

We want no Secret Votes.

Say right out which side you are for. If this were the case, there would be a large number of absentees from public worship next Sabbath; whole pews would be empty because there is not one of the usual tenants who loves God, and yet they dare not say openly, I am for the Devil. On the other hand, if some were to say what is in their hearts,

they would have to leave the dinner-tables where filthy jokes are bandied about, there being no women present. And in some workshops and mills, men and women would have to speak out at the cost of ridicule and scorn. Yes, speak out, when they hear that which is opposed to truth and purity made the subject of daily conversation.

“Stand up, stand up for Jesus!”

we often sing in our meetings, and yet some who sing these words are craven in the presence of the foe. We should do well to take the advice of the same song when it says,

“Let Courage rise with Danger,”

We should think that man unfit for a soldier’s life who was not ready to unfurl his country’s flag, and let it be known for whom he is fighting. What is the position of those who read this paper? Do you, in your heart, believe that Jesus has the right to reign? Then shew it! Lose no time to put on Christ! Let all men see that you believe in the righteousness of our cause. Do not hide the love you have for Jesus. Let not your chance of being honourably wounded pass by. In heaven, should you reach it, there will be no opportunity of suffering for Him who loved you to the death.

Give your vote in public,

then, when we have won the election, you will not have to regret that you came out too late to be of use.

XL. “WHAT CHRISTIANS MAY LEARN FROM POLITICIANS.”

Many a time, during an election, we have wished that we could see the church of God as much in earnest to send men to heaven as they are to send those they vote for to Parliament. It must strike some of the ungodly, when they have Christian men at them day and night

Canvassing,

not taking No as an answer, but doing their utmost to win them—How is it that this Christian, who knows that I never attend a place of worship, has not shown one-hundredth part of this zeal to get me to go to chapel or to begin to pray? Is he not likely to think;—after all, he does not believe his Bible, or he could not be as careless about my soul as he is?

Men of business have no time to seek the souls of the lost; that is parson’s work; that must be left to Sunday;—and yet, we have seen, during the election, keen, clever business men, up and down stairs, calling on their neighbours, and making sure that they have given their vote on the right side, and this in addition to many a visit paid since the candidates were selected, and the time drew nigh for getting them returned.

How freely they bear ridicule! Men who would blush to talk of religion do not hesitate to be sneered at for the sake of their party, wearing their colour and priding themselves on their opinions. We have nothing to say against

this. Men ought to have the courage of their opinions, but why not own up and play the man for Jesus Christ?

We should like to know what the election has cost for

Printing.

Many thousands of pounds have been spent, and spent freely, without a grudge, for placards and cartoons. Any man who had a new idea in the shape of a striking advertisement could have it adopted by his party, regardless of cost. All this, too, we don’t object to, but we say that if any of us Evangelists wanted to spend a small proportion of this amount in trying to get men and women to come to God’s house during a Mission, there would be a tremendous outcry against his

Extravagance!

One interesting feature in this matter is the large number of

Private Carriages

used to convey voters to the poll. It was very amusing to see some of the men riding in state, in the custody of the owner of the carriage! It was good to tell they had not been used to it, and felt that they were on their good behaviour. What struck some of us was the readiness of ladies and gentlemen to lend their vehicles for this purpose. We can have no possible objection to this, but we wonder what would be said to us if we counselled them to send their carriages to bring the aged and feeble to the house of God? We should be told that we had no idea of the fitness of things. This would be true if heaven were less than earth, and politics of more importance than religion.

It is a queer world, and we wonder sometimes if the time will ever come when men shall believe their Bibles as much as their newspapers? As we have seen during the last few days, professing Christians of the most apathetic order, going half wild about Whigs and Tories, we have said to ourselves,

When the Son of Man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?

DON’T FLATTER THE DEVIL!
Acts, xvii.

We read that the Apostle “was grieved” to hear this possessed woman speaking favourably of him and his companion. He could not bear for it to be even suspected that his mission was tolerated by the devil. Her masters made money by her wrongdoing, and he would not have their patronage. He and Silas were happier in the cell, sore and hungry as they were, than in listening to the praise given by the evil one!

It is better to have frowns than favour from those who are opposed to truth and righteousness. Let Evangelists and such like,

beware of the favour of the wicked.

Do not seek the smiles of those who live by wrong doing. We shall never cast out the devil while conniving at his crimes. It is not by popularity that we win our greatest victories. Paul had no converts he prized more than those who formed the Church in the town where he had been in jail. Let those of us who love an easy and painless life think of his words—

“If we suffer we shall also reign with Him.”

XLI. A SERMON ON A TEXT NOT FOUND IN THE BIBLE.

Mr. Justice Groves.—“Men go into the Public-house respectable, and come out felons.”

My text, as you see, my dear readers, is not taken from the Bible. It does not, however, contradict the Scriptures, but is in harmony with some, such as “Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink.” Habakkuk ii. 15; “Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink.”—Isaiah v. 11. “Take heed to yourselves lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness.”—Luke xxi. 34. “Be not among winebibbers.”—Proverbs xxiii. 20.

The statement of the text is likely to be true,

as it was spoken by an English Judge, and given as the result of long observation, and of hearing evidence given upon oath. What is more likely to be true than a declaration from the Bench? and as such it deserves the attention of every one of us. Let us then consider