The Bible My brethren and friends, I would be untrue to myself and to the best that in me is unless I express to you at this time my genuine appreciation, both to you and to almighty God, for the very kindly reception you have given me, for the presence of such a splendid audience, and for the interest you thus evidence in those things that transcend the realms of time. I rejoice that it is mine to come to the city of Nashville— a city known throughout the length and breadth of our land as one of learning, of culture, and of refinement. This is a city characterized by a religious zeal that is unsurpassed by any other in our American Union. I appreciate the fact that you have reverence for Jehovah and respect for his word. I have come, not for self-exploitation, nor publicity, nor for personal glory, but that I may be able in my humble manner to present to you the sweetest story ever told, with the hope that it may revive those who have tasted the joys of the Lord, that it may convict others and persuade them to spend their days in the service of "Him from whom all blessings flow." As we launch into the campaign before us, I am conscious of the fact that it differs from some others that now challenge the attention of our citizenship, in that the issues are neither transient nor ephemeral, but are perpetual and eternal. The things with which we have to deal appeal to that part of man that not only has to do with time and timely things, but that must stand in the presence of the great God of the universe at the last day and render an account for the deeds done here. I recognize that it is not in man that lives to direct his own steps; and, therefore, it is but becoming and it quite well behooves us to hide ourselves behind the cross of Christ and rest upon God's word. And hence the text, from Ps. 119:105: "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." I stand in your presence a firm believer in the all-sufficiency of this volume that lies before me. I realize that "all scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." And as said in 2 Pet. 1: 3: "According as his Divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness." Let me suggest to you that all this audience knows of either heaven or hell, or of the Holy Spirit, or of Christ, or of the angels, or of the boundless beyond toward which we are so rapidly passing, they have learned it either directly or indirectly from the word of God. In view of that, therefore, it is not amiss at this, our first, service to call attention to the study of this Bible as a boolean I take it that this company before me assembled accepts this book as the word of God Divine. I think I speak to people who recognize that the very foundation of our country and the civilization in which we abide rests upon our faith, confidence, respect, and reverence for God's word. Will you, therefore, with me study tonight some of the things that might be interesting, helpful, and profitable regarding this wonderful volume in our midst? I submit to you, first of all, that this is among the oldest books in all the world. I am aware of the fact that others claim to antedate it, but they have been weighed in the balance and found exceeding doubtful. The Bible records events from the beginning of creation down to the year 96 A.D. Many of the things reported therein transpired long before the pyramids were built along the course of the River Nile. Let it be remembered that the songs of David and Solomon had been sung: and they had gone to their rewards before the great classic poet of Greece had given the account of the Trojan War and the wanderings of Ulysses. Many of the books of the Bible were complete before the first public library was built in the old, historic city of Athens; and all the prophets, from Isaiah to Malachi, had given us a vision of future events and had passed away before the philosophies of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle were announced. Two thousand years have passed since the Holy Spirit laid down the pen of inspiration to grasp it nevermore, during which time wonderful things in the earth have been wrought. And yet it is strange to say that the Bible is just as applicable to the people of this hour as it was to those of the first century, when fresh it came from the hand that penned it. I think it interesting, further, to study the character of the writings, and also of the writers, because of the peculiar and unique features thereof. In this one library or collection there are sixty-six books, penned by practically forty different writers, stretching over a period from first to last of sixteen hundred years. And I ask: Who are they? Not a people surrounded by the advantages that characterize modern times, with all our equipment and facilities for learning, but descendants of a people that had been in bondage four hundred and thirty years, whose lives were burdened, and whose tasks were exceedingly difficult under the overseers and masters that used them to fill the already overflowing coffers of the great Egyptian government. They passed out from under that bondage by the hand of God and the leadership of Moses and wandered for forty years in the wilderness. Under Joshua they crossed the River Jordan and drove out the enemy, and finally took possession of the land promised unto their fathers. Untutored and unlearned though they were, not a literary folk by any means, scattered over a period of sixteen hundred years, writing about the same events, in a country not much larger than the county of Davidson, yet when their products are brought together and woven into one complete whole, there is not a contradiction or discrepancy of serious consideration found in the entire collection. The Jews have never been known as a literary people in fact. I think it well worth saving that. outside of the book of God and perhaps the history written by Josephus, there is not a literary production from the pen of a Jew that occupies first rank in the literature of the world. As a nation, they have disintegrated and have scattered to the four quarters of the earth; their very name has become a byword among the people; and yet they have lived and have given to the world a book that is found in every civilized land 'neath the broad expanse of heaven tonight, that occupies the first place, challenges the sincerest thought of the best of all the earth; and I suggest that it is not amiss to wonder, in passing, how account for matters of this kind? Sometimes we are asked: "Is the Bible a book noted for its science?" Is it of scientific value? Let it be modestly said that, in the commonly accepted sense of the term, it was never intended as a treatise of that kind and character; but out of all the books ever scanned by mortal man, let me say, without fear of contradiction, that it is the only one ever written of which every word is dependable and absolutely reliable. Let me say, further, that there is not a real scientific principle known that is in violation of or contradictory to the word of God. I know that throughout the ages the enemies of the word of the Lord have sought to find discrepancies. They have endeavored to discount God's volume on the ground that it is contradicted by scientific research, but they ought to bear in mind that science is yet in its infancy—that the accepted theories of yesterday are contradicted by those of today. Due to a failure to understand one or both, the Bible and science have been considered by many contradictory, and the fight has been on between them. But I have an idea that in the not far distance pseudo-scientists will have reached their limits, and then real science and the Bible will set out on convergent lines that will by and by come together. Forgetting, then, the bitterness of the past in the joy of newly found truth, they will clasp hands and together cast the crowns of their triumphs—the triumphs of science and Christianity—at the feet of their common Author and God shall be proclaimed Lord of all. I have noted as a historic fact that the civilization of every land has had to go back, despite the claims and progress of humanity, to the foundation laid by God in that wonderful document given to Moses, and upon that the governments of earth rest as upon a foundation of adamant. Moreover, in the special relationships of man to man, let it be understood and forgotten not that we go back to the Sermon on the Mount to find the philosophy of life, and the passing of the centuries has failed to record improvements upon that found there. I suggest this thought just now, in passing: that out of the great chaotic condition that exists in the nations of the earth there is a star of hope rising from its far-distant home a hope indicative of better things; and that hope is this: that when man, in all his boasted vanity, has proven a failure, when the nations of this earth have gone their limits, when business men of every type shall come to themselves, they may all recognize their dependence and accept the golden rule laid down by the greatest of all teachers— viz., that we must do unto others as we would have them do unto us. Then peace and tranquility, happiness and prosperity, will once more smile upon the earth. I call your attention next to this particular characteristic: The Bible, unlike all books written by man, does not become obsolete with the passing of the years. That is a statement that particularly belongs to the Bible, and to it alone. It is a boasted declaration of this generation that, due to progress and learning, our textbooks used a few years ago are no longer found in the schoolrooms of to-day. Where is the old blue-back spelling book? Where are McGuffey's old readers? Where are Smiley's arithmetics and Barnes' series of histories? They have yielded to the mutations of time; and, therefore, the books that we study today were unknown a generation ago. The very textbooks in our schools on science will give way to-morrow for those with different theories. There must be the adoption of a more modern book. The Bible knows no such thing as passing while the ages come and go. It is ever fresh, like unto a mountain spring from which all our fathers, grandfathers, and great-grandfathers slaked their thirst in generations gone by; and still, to us, the same spring offers that drink afresh, and it will continue to offer it to those yet unborn. While it treats of the most sublime problems known to man—of God and of Christ, of heaven and of hell, of salvation and redemption—yet the passing centuries have never added one single thought unto the statements therein found. Scientists cannot get ahead of it. Human progress cannot overtake it or get beyond it. Every generation born upon the earth finds the Bible waiting for it, with its fresh and never-failing stores of wisdom touching everything that affects the welfare of humanity. Another characteristic of the word of God is the fact that, unlike most, if not all, of the books written by man, it can be translated into different languages and lose none of its power. I take it that this explains why the Greek and other classics of days gone by have remained in the language wherein they were penned. It has been demonstrated that a change to other tongues is but the depreciation, the sounding of the death knell, to the writings and productions of man. But here is a volume that seems to run freely into other languages. It has been translated into more than five hundred different tongues and dialects, and yet it is so plain and clear in its declarations that when we read it we scarcely stop to think that we are reading a book penned in a language other than our own. But let me announce a stranger fact still. Of all the books the world has ever known, there has never been but one that has incurred the hatred of mortal man. Many books have been disliked, but they had only to be let alone in order to pass out of existence and to be numbered with the past. But the Bible has had a persistent and murderous enemy ever on its trail, seeking to annihilate it, to wipe it from the face of the earth. Had you ever stopped to think of the reason for such a feeling manifested toward it? The Bible has a supernatural enemy who has experienced its power, and ever since he was "knocked out in the third round" the devil has marshaled all his forces to rid the world of the sword of the Spirit. But there is perhaps another reason which I suggest for your study to-night, and that is this: The Bible draws an appalling picture of man. It does not proclaim his career as one of progress, ever reaching toward holy realms, but rather the reverse. It suggests his course as one of dankness rather than light, because his deeds are evil. It does not picture man as having come into adverse conditions of life by no fault of his own, nor does it represent him as using all the powers of his being in trying to overcome a situation; but it says: "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." (Gen. 6: 5.) And then, coming down the ages to the New Testament, as revealed in Rom. 1: 29-31, the Bible pictures man as "being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant breakers without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful." And the picture further describes him as having gone astray and walking according to the course of this world and according to the spirit that works in the children of disobedience. His wisdom is ridiculed and his deeds condemned. He is without God and without hope. When a man looks upon that appalling scene, it is anything but encouraging and inviting; and, therefore, to rid the world of a portrait like that, the enemies have kept up the fight. But that is not all. Let me say to you to-night, the Bible is the only thing in all this wide world that claims to exercise authority and dominion over man. That very claim is contrary to our disposition and our nature. We are a democratic people, and love to boast of liberty, of absolute freedom; and I repeat: God’s word is the only thing that comes to us and proposes to hold us accountable and amenable for our deeds and for our steps along the pathway of life. Neither does the Bible consult us nor advise with us as to how we would prefer to have it; but it speaks, indeed, as one having authority—not upon a plane or level with mankind, but superhuman, and issues its decrees and its edicts in the form of "Thou shalt" and "Thou shalt not." Thus it speaks to the governors and kings, to fathers and to mothers, to masters and to servants, to the rich and to the poor, to the bond and to the free, circumscribing, therefore, our liberty and holding us in check. The disposition of the world is to break all bonds and to know no limitations, to yield to the appetites, the passions, and the lusts of our own being; and could the enemies of the Bible get rid of it, the man of sin would be revealed and anarchy would reign triumphant over the splendid land in which we live. But this is not all. There have been ambitious schemes and hellish purposes harbored by men—yea, by governments and by empires—to exercise dominion over other nations, regardless of their wishes and contrary to the principles of holy writ. Half a century ago the imperial German Government, prompted by such hellish intent and desire of world-wide power, started out to subject the peoples of this earth. Have you ever studied their tactics along this line? They first undertook to get rid of the book of God, and by legislative enactment they drove it out at the back door of the schoolroom and said: "We will train a generation of boys and girls, not under the influence of the God of the Bible, but under the influence of the god of war." And let me say to you that but for the fact that the power of the Bible was driven out and eliminated, the black crimes and the atrocious deeds that characterize historic pages could never have been possible. When I say to you that their propaganda started forty years ago, that it spread through their government, and that its influence reached the proud land of America, I but state that which all of us have come to recognize as a fact. German professors were dispatched to every country on earth, and we were elated and wonderfully puffed up when Germany and the language thereof was the standard of education in our own land. But, sadly, as our observation has led us to see, the faith of the youth of our own land has been shipwrecked and the very foundation of our civilization undermined. But we are on the crest of turning back, and I am delighted to know that from various platforms educators, statesmen, and preachers are warning the people and arguing very strongly that upon the simplicity of that faith announced in Holy Writ rests the hope of our republic and of our civilization. Hence, as long as God's word stands and men respect it, no such outbreaks are possible unto a civilized people. That no influence can be in its way, the enemy has sought to destroy the Bible from the face of the earth. May I suggest to you, as a matter of history, some of the efforts that have been made along that line? At first it was tried by physical force. The powers of church and state have been united to rid the earth of every book that bears the name of Jehovah upon it. Officers have been selected and empowered to make a detailed search into the homes to find God's word, and, if it were found, to confiscate it and bring it unto the powers that be for its absolute destruction. Edicts and decrees went forth, laws were passed, and those persons found with the Bible were subjected to fines and imprisonment—yea, unto death itself. But the devil and his cohorts failed in a matter of that sort. Then they turned and called to their support the intellect and learning, saying: "By that means we will rid the earth of that hateful book which holds in check our ambitious schemes and desires." The Bible has, indeed, been an anvil on which many a hammer has absolutely been worn out. Old Voltaire, in the generations gone by, proudly boasted that while it took twelve men to write it up, he would show the world that one man could write it down, and predicted that before the close of his century there would not be one found upon the earth. Following in his tracks, our own Tom Paine, who did so much for the cause of liberty and freedom during the darkest days of the Revolution by bringing out the various issues of "The Crisis," became puffed up and inflated and turned his attention to the writing of a wonderful book that he called "The Age of Reason." This spread like wild fire all over the land, and tauntingly and proudly its author and his friends boasted that in fifty years the Bible would be found only in some of the museums of earth. But be it remembered that thrice fifty years have come and gone; Tom Paine has also gone the way of all the earth; his book is scarcely mentioned, read, or heard of; while every year there flows from the presses ten million copies of the book of God. How do you explain this remarkable fact? What the philosophy? I think there is but one explanation, and that is found in the declaration of the peerless apostle to the Gentiles, when he said in Heb. 4: 12 (A. R. Y.): "The word of God is living and active." This is corroborated by Peter's declaration that the word of the Lord lives and abides forever. And in that is a peculiar remark well worthy of our consideration. I am conscious that we live in a land characterized by death; that all the things beheld by the natural eye have death and decay written thereon. I wonder, is it a fact that in this wide world of ours, that has become a veritable charnel house of death, is there one thing which the forces of corruption have been unable to touch or to destroy? I am made to understand and to believe that the word of God still lives in that inexhaustible and inextinguishable manner—yea, it lives with a life superhuman and nothing short of Divine. It is comparable unto nothing, save, perhaps, the Word that was made flesh. Jesus, the Christ, had no special marks about him to distinguish and differentiate him from the rest of his fellows. Yet he declared that in himself was life. The world believed it not. The evidence of it was not his splendid teachings nor the very fine precepts by him given, but it was that he was able to burst the bars of death asunder and to rise triumphant over the powers of the Hadean world. The Bible does not "behave" itself, if you please, unlike other books. There is nothing about it that is especially distinguishable, and yet there is that difference between it and all the writing of man that there was between Jesus, the Christ, and the rest of the world that lived in his age. With what I have suggested to-night as but a skeleton, let no man present think that this is a product of mere mortal man. If so, I suggest that the matter could be clearly tested. Let man, wherever he chances to be, write a book its equal or its superior; and this he ought to do unless these twenty centuries have so dragged him down and deadened his powers that he has "evolved in the wrong direction." I submit to you, further, that God's word has never been equaled by the literature of any nation the world has ever seen. Strange indeed that in the career of Greece and of Rome, or in the great Elizabethan Age, some collection of literature was not penned that would transcend in prominence and influence the word of God. Man did not write it. I want, as his counsel, to put in the plea of "not guilty." Let me say also that the Bible belongs not to any period or to any age. It belongs to all classes of mankind and to every condition of life wherein humanity may chance to dwell. The Bible appeals to the common characteristics and impulses of every man and woman upon the face of the earth. It comes unto the humble, unto those of contrite spirit, unto broken hearts, and gives unto them a halo of hope and a glittering star to guide every footstep further on; it comes to every man, in whatsoever station of life he may be, and challenges the very best thoughts of his being. Indeed, the Bible is the miracle of the ages. Despite the attacks of pagans, infidels, philosophers, and pseudo scientists, the Bible still stands forth against all such, and is more widely read, more highly respected, and more influential tonight than any other book in all the world. Since its inspired and immortal truths were penned thousands of years ago amid the quiet hills of Palestine, wonderful changes in the affairs of men have been wrought. I think of once lordly Egypt that has been forced to pass under the dominion of a foreign foe. The orators, the poets! the painters, the sculptors, and the architects of once glorious Greece have long since passed away, and their works have slowly, but surely, yielded to the mutations of time. Imperial Rome raised her head sublime, and from the seven-hilled city spread abroad her power and her influence over all the nations of the earth, then humbly bowed her head and ceased to be. Desolation marks the site of old Carthage. Tyre and Sidon no longer send their ships to distant ports. The proud fleets of Spain, laden with the rich treasures of the Aztecs and of the Incas, have long since ceased to sail the seas. The picture of worldwide dominion painted by the ambitious schemes of Napoleon has long since faded, and the "man of destiny" died amid the lonely scenes of Saint Helena. Empires have been overthrown, dynasties have fallen, and the meteoric light of would-be reformers has flashed across the arched sky, only to be swept into oblivion and forgetfulness; while the Bible, a Divine product, woven into the texture of human thought and history by the gradual unfolding of the ages, still stands, bidding defiance to every wave of infidelity, giving comfort and hope to Christians, and pointing sinners to the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. It is the book of books, that book that outshines all other books in the literary firmament, as the sun outshines the splendid planets that in their orbits revolve around him. It is, indeed, the mariner's north star. It is the compass of every Christian to guide his frail bark across the tempestuous sea of life and finally induct him into those scenes that we expect to burst upon our enraptured visions over there. It is, indeed, a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. It lives and abides forever, and this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. If you will believe it and obey it, the promises are yours. As we stand and sing the song selected, I am glad to invite you to come and do His bidding. NOTE.—For some of the thoughts in the above sermon I am indebted to "The Fundamentals," Volume V. Rightly Dividing The Word Of Truth As a text tonight I want to read you a few verses from Second Timothy: "Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness. And their word will eat as cloth a canker: of whom is Hymeneus and Philetus; who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some. Nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity." (2 Tim. 2: 15-19.) I take it as a matter of fact that the most trusted companion and beloved associate of the great apostle Paul was this young man Timothy, found by him on his second missionary tour. Him Paul took and circumcised, and from that until the close of the apostle's career they together converged their thoughts and ideas. Near the close of that eventful career of the older, two letters were addressed to this young man well worthy of being memorized and thoughtfully and earnestly studied by every youth of the land and by all those who recognize their responsibility to God. In the fifteenth verse of the chapter thus announced I repeat the statement to Timothy: "Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." I submit to you that this is equally applicable to-night to all those who would have God's favor and approval upon them. Man is a thinking being, and thus is distinguished from all the other creatures of earth. The Bible is addressed unto intelligences—not to passions, nor the desires, nor the emotions, but to that which is high and noble, which marks the difference between us and all other things created. For that reason God has given this instruction, that 28 Hardeman's Tabernacle Sermons you and I study with the intent before us of being approved unto God. Time was when man did not need such admonition; but in view of the fact that the days of inspiration were drawing to a close and Heaven's will to mortal man was almost completed, Paul said to Timothy: "Study to show thyself approved unto God, rightly dividing the word of truth." I recall the fact very well that back during the personal ministry of the Savior on a certain occasion he said specifically: "And ye shall be brought before governors and kings. Take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak." (Matt. 10: 18, 19.) Now, in instructing the apostles further with reference to the coming of the Holy Spirit, Jesus said in John 14: 26: "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." Then, again, as stated in chapter 16, verse 13: "Howbeit, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come." Thus the apostles, in marching out over the territory and fields untraversed and unexplored, guided by inspiration, took the old Jerusalem blade in hand, blazed the way, peeled the sapling, knocked the bark from the respective trees, and left open the pathway directing man to salvation and redemption and the remission of sins. After all that had been done, Paul then said to Timothy and to the rest of us: "Study that you may be able to follow the old blazes and walk in the same path and be governed and guided and directed accordingly." Do you know that it would not do me any special good if I could open my mouth to-night and speak by direct inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God? Strange to you as that may seem, it is in perfect harmony and accord with the book of God; for could I so speak at this time, I would be privileged to proclaim unto you only that which now I can do, provided I have heeded the apostles' instructions, for be it remembered that Paul said in Gal. 1: 8: "But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that we have preached unto you, let him be accursed." And, to give double emphasis, he repeats and says: "As we said before, so say I now again, If any man [that gets an American, a Spaniard, a Frenchman, an Englishman, or any other man under the vast domain of heaven's realm] preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed." And I am conscious of that supreme solemnity to-night. I recognize that every time I rise in the presence of dying humanity, woe is unto me if I proclaim not the gospel of Christ. Why ought man to study? Due to the fact, first of all, that the Bible, unstudied and unsearched, is like unto a mine unworked and undeveloped. The great Klondike region of to-day, pouring forth riches from its veins of gold, is the same Klondike that has been there throughout the generations and centuries that have passed; but for years and years it remained unprofitable, undeveloped, unattractive, without benefit or usefulness to mortal man; but when the search was made by digging into things that were therein hidden and buried, treasures came forth and streams of wealth flowed out that have enriched the world. My friends, the great mass of humanity is an honest, earnest body of people. We differ on things political, social, and religious many, many times because of the fact that the questions in which we are interested have not been studied and investigated, for study and investigation always bring out the facts. Time was when every man in the world believed that this earth was flat; and when the great Italian geographer, Toscanelli, suggested its rotundity, and Sir John Mandeville confirmed the idea, and Columbus determined to prove it, the world laughed with scorn and ridicule; but the search and the investigation and study demonstrated that the earth is a globe that revolves upon its axis, and, therefore, brings about night and day. Just so with reference to the word of God. Thousands of people have passed from the stage of life and entered into the boundless beyond without ever stopping to question or express the thought solemnly to themselves: "Am I accountable unto God for the investigation of his word? Do I know whence my bearings are taken? Can I read my title clear to mansions in the sky?" I submit to you, further, I ought to study God's word, in company with you, because of the fact that it contains all the light and revelation that the world has ever had. Occasionally I have met with people who claim to have some special revelation, who claim to know more about things sacred and eternal than do the rest of common mortals; but upon closer inspection and closer investigation, I have yet to find the man that knows one single solitary thing of the great beyond that the rest of us could not know if we apply the admonition given by Paul to Timothy. Therein, ladies and gentlemen, is the source of all light to guide our barks across the tempestuous sea and into the grandeurs and glories that we expect to burst upon our visions over there. In that book is the whole revelation, the scheme of redemption and salvation, the hope of the world, and all things for which the human heart sighs. Therefore, study it, not only with a view to this life, but with special reference to the life beyond. Let me say, it is the book which will be opened on the plains of eternal judgment, and out of the things written therein you and I will be judged and our destinies determined. In view of such, I think it timely for us to study God's will toward mortal man; but the text assigns a reason for such. "Study to show thyself approved unto God"—not for the sake of public controversy, not for personal advantage over your fellows, not that you may receive the eulogy and commendation of man, but to be approved by Jehovah. "Study to show thyself approved unto God ;" and if Heaven's smiles are lavishly bestowed upon you, count all things else as naught. I trust, therefore, I may speak your sentiments that in our investigation of truth Divine the one supreme object in view is that God will be pleased and that we may stand approved in his sight. Not only so, but "study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed," and at the same time "rightly dividing the word of truth"—a workman that has no need of fear, that has nothing to be ashamed of, surrounded by a halo of light upon his countenance, conscious of the fact that God's word is the foundation upon which his hopes are founded. Study as a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, and at the same time rightly divide the word of truth, or handle aright God's book and teachings to mankind. The last statement therein found suggests, as you will observe, the possibility of a wrong division; and I think I am not unmindful nor unconscious of the danger and confusion and chaotic scenes that have resulted because of a failure at this point. When boys and girls come to Freed-Hardeman College, with which I have connection, and bring us textbooks for their investigation and study, I never think, nor does any other member of that institution, of offering the advice to the boy or to the girl to "close your eyes and open the book; and wherever it opens, there begin to study." If a boy says, in arithmetic, for example, "I want to study common fractions," I know there is a certain part of that book where that particular subject is discussed; and I turn him not to bank discount nor partial payments, but unto the specific part designed to teach the subject of fractions. If he brings any other book, the same principles prevail. When Paul said, "Rightly dividing the word of truth," I ask you: Upon what basis shall we proceed? In our old geographies right at the first there were two large maps, one facing the other—one of them on the right-hand page, showing the eastern hemisphere, and the other on the lefthand page, showing the western hemisphere. I remember, further, these hemispheres were subdivided naturally into continents, and that in the North American Continent we had still further subdivisions viz., the Dominion of Canada, the United States, Mexico, and Central America. When the boys began to study our own civilized land and wanted to know of the manufacturing industries of the 32 Hardeman's Tabernacle Sermons country, I never thought of turning to that part of the geography that discussed the great plains, but I directed them unto our New England and middle Atlantic sections, because I understood in those divisions such information could be found. When it came to the production of corn or wheat or the raising of hogs and the fattening thereof, I turned them not to the Rockies nor to the sun-kissed coast of the Pacific, but to the North Central States, assured of the fact that I was acting in the right way. May that now serve to illustrate the fact that the Bible is divided into two great parts. As agreed upon by all, there is a blank leaf just about the center, indicating these divisions—the Old Testament of thirty-nine books, from Genesis to Malachi, and the New Testament with its twenty-seven books, from Matthew to Revelation. That there are further subdivisions admits of no possible question. What are they? We walk by faith, and I recall the fact that the Savior, in that little trip with two of his disciples to Emmaus, said, in Luke 24: 44: "These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms." And when we thus follow his direction, no mistake can possibly be made. Will you, therefore, continue, as patiently as has characterized your hearing heretofore, in the investigation of these subdivisions? I think I realize the importance of a proper division of the word of God, of a correct understanding of matters just at this point. In the survey of a piece of land, the accuracy and perfection thereof depend upon finding the beginning corner. If we can, therefore, find the proper place to begin, and there plant our Jacob's staff, and level the compass, and then run through to the close accurately, there is no question but that perfect harmony, absolute oneness, will characterize the results of every man who thus does. Much of the confusion that exists in the religious realm is due to the feet that we have planted our tripod, our Jacob's staff, if you please, at different places from which to take our bearing; and so long as that custom and that idea prevails, confusion on the part of honest, earnest, sincere people will evermore characterize our labors and our endeavors. Think you to-night, ladies and gentlemen, that the law of Moses is that by which we are to be governed, directed, and unto which we are accountable? If so, let me persuade you to the contrary by saying that it was never intended for a single soul beneath the shining sun or the twinkling stars except a man that was born in Abraham's house or bought with his money. There is nothing in the term "law" that suggests its application or its duration or its extent. It simply means a rule of action, a code or a principle by which men and women are to be governed or directed. It may be applicable to a special people for a limited time. No one thinks that the laws of the city of Nashville are applicable to the people of Davidson County. The laws of Tennessee are not binding upon the people of Kentucky, nor are the people of Arkansas subject to the statutes and laws of the "Volunteer State." So why is it that people have jumped at the conclusion and imagined that because God gave a law unto Moses, and through him unto a special people, it was intended for all time and applicable unto all men? This is one of the strangest things with which we have to do. There are a series of questions that will, perhaps, bring out the truth respecting this part of the investigation. I want, therefore, to specifically and definitely propound them. First of all: Unto whom was the law of Moses given ? In Deut. 5: 2, 3 there is this statement: "The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day." That, ladies and gentlemen, was with reference to an event that transpired just about two months after Moses, by a mighty hand, had led the house of Israel out of bondage in Egypt and across the Red Sea, on the other side of which they sang the song of redemption. Passing down the eastern shore of the Red Sea, they came unto the group of mountains in the south 34 Hardeman's Tabernacle Sermons ern part of that wonderful country designated as Horeb; and while the great multitudes 'waited below, Moses ascended the height of that historic mountain, and there, fresh from the hand of God, received the decalogue, or Ten Commandments, which was the covenant between God and his people. That was the constitution or the great Magna Charta of a theocracy—a system of government that was to be inaugurated for a special people for a definite time. May I ask, then, as a further thought, just when this happened?. The answer is forthwith from Heb. 8: 8, 9: "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day [what day?] when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord." There you have it—the time, the place, the people; those that were alive that day, descendants of that mighty host that had spent four hundred and thirty years in bondage, scattered along the shores of the River Nile. But I ask again: Why was the law given, and how long was it intended to last? In Gal. 3: 19 Paul has this to say: "Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till [and thus the limit is fixed] the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of the mediator." The Bible student will recall the fact that four hundred and thirty years before that—namely, 1921 B.C.—God called Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees and suggested unto him the promise: "Abraham, I will make of thee a great nation; I will multiply thy seed like the stars of the heavens and the sands of the seashore; I will bless them that bless thee, and I will curse them that curse thee, and in thee and thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." There was the first definite promise of salvation to mortal man. Four hundred and thirty years after that, as Paul said, because of transgression and to bring to men a recognition of their sinfulness, in stepped the law inaugurated and brought unto the posterity of Abraham until the Seed promised should by and by make his advent upon the earth. If you are interested to know to just whom that referred, I call your attention to Gal. 3: 16, where it is said: "Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ." It would not be a violation, therefore, of the word of God for me to thus say that the law was added because of the transgression until the Christ should come, after which, when by him fulfilled, it was banished, obliterated, and wiped out of existence, as the further thought shall demonstrate. But you ask again: "What bearing, what attitude, what relation did Christ sustain "hereunto?" From Matt. 5: 17, 18 we have this statement, where Jesus said in that memorable Sermon on the Mount: "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." Thus the Savior gave his solemn declaration that he came not to destroy nor to violate the law, but he came to fill it full and to fulfill it; and thus he spent a third of a century walking and talking and moving among men in perfect harmony with and in obedience unto the law, until such opposition had been aroused, such prejudice had been engendered, that he was finally arrested, arraigned, hurried through various mock trials, and at last consigned to death outside the city's walls. Heaven veiled its face, the sun no longer shone upon the earth, all nature became clad in the very garb and habiliments of mourning, because of the fact that the Son of God had assumed the fulfillment of the triumphant and culminating purpose of his existence among men. After several of the utterances on the cross were enunciated, at last the Savior bowed his head upon a heart made to ache and said: "It is finished." I ask you, ladies and gentlemen, what, among other things, does that embrace? Certainly there was included 36 Hardeman's Tabernacle Sermons that theocratic form of government, that system that reigned from Sinai to Calvary, that he came to fulfill. "I have accomplished my purpose with reference "hereunto." It would naturally follow: "What became of that wonderful document that so successfully guided them, fulfilling its purpose for the fifteen hundred years preceding?" Paul declared (Col. 2: 14) that Jesus the Christ blotted "out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross." In Eph. 2: 13-22 it is declared: "But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were afar off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who bath made both one, and bath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in the ordinances; for to make in himself of twain [the Jew and Gentile] one new man, so making peace; and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: and came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord: in whom ye also are builded together for a habitation of God through the Spirit." But hear again Rom. 7:1-7: "Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? For the woman which bath a husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man." I believe this audience understands that illustration. The woman that is married unto a man is bound by the law of God, with only one exception, as long as he lives. If while husband number one lives she be married unto another man, though the courts and though the General Assembly of Tennessee may decree to the contrary, Paul says that she shall be called an "adulteress ;" but if the first husband be dead, then she is loosed from the law that hitherto bound her, and is no adulteress, though she be married to husband number two. Now, see the application: "Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter." But some one says: "Brother Hardeman, how do you know that Paul was talking about the law of Moses ?" Well, listen further: "What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet." The reason I know this is Moses' law is because Paul clearly says so, in that he quotes one statement found nowhere else in all God's book except in the law of Mosey Paul said: "We are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter." And, applying the principle thus demonstrated, here is the picture that you have: The law of Moses stood back there representative of the husband; the Jew stood as the wife. So long as the law of Moses was in existence, every Jew on earth was bound in strict allegiance and regard "hereunto; and while the law was still in existence, if a Jew had been married to some other law, he would have been likened unto the woman—guilty of spiritual adultery before God; but when the husband, the law, ceased to be, the law of the Spirit of life in Jesus Christ became husband 38 Hardeman's Tabernacle Sermons number two, unto which, with the middle wall of partition having been torn down, the enmity no longer existing, both Jew and Gentile are privileged to be married even unto him that is raised from the dead—not unto him that walked over the Judean hills, not to the character known as Jesus of Nazareth previous to his death, but married unto him. Unto what him? Unto him that is raised from the dead. And the man to-night that gives his church relationship and the marriage ceremony previous to the resurrection of Christ stands in violation of this plain, positive declaration of the word of God. Let it be remembered, brethren, that you and I, as Gentiles, descendants of Japheth, were never subjected to the law of Moses. It was never applicable unto us. Its promises were never ours, neither its threats nor punishments. Strange, is it not, therefore passingly so—that, notwithstanding two thousand years have passed since it was taken out of the way and nailed to the cross, there perhaps are people to-night, never included in it, that are blinded, deceived, and deluded by the thought that they are amenable to it? My friends, there is a better covenant, founded upon better promises, that is applicable to-night, not to Jew alone, not to Gentile alone, but to the sons and daughters of men wherever they chance to dwell upon earth; for in Christ Jesus there is neither Jew nor Gentile, there is neither bond nor free, male nor female—all are one. And if we be Christ's, then we transcend the limits of the law and are Abraham's seed according to the promise. Go back to the promise given by God to Abraham four hundred and thirty years before the law, and become heirs of God according to the promise made unto him in the long ago. Thus on the pages of God's word it is clearly declared that the law is blotted out, wiped away' stricken from existence, become dead, that we might serve in newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. But I must speak just a moment with respect to the second division and rapidly pass. The prophecies simply mean the foretelling or the prediction of events not yet come to pass. They are never destroyed, wiped away, or blotted out, but can only pass in every instance when they merge into history. Once for all, let it be said that every prophecy spoken by God has been fulfilled or is being fulfilled or will be ere time's knell shall be sounded and all the ransomed of earth gathered home. The Psalms constitute that part of the Old Testament written in metrical units that could be sung and accompanied by the lyre. They were expressive of the emotions, sentiments, joys, prayers, and raptures that thrilled the heart. They were counted and referred to by both Christ and the Jews as a part of the law. But may I pass over that now, in conclusion, and suggest this: that under the blood-stained banner of Jesus Christ our Lord we live to-night under a new law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, which is a regime and order that is heaven-born, that is world-wide, and that is blood-bought? Induction into the privileges and the rich benedictions thereof is laid down plainly in the book of God. Unto those of you that believe the gospel with all your hearts, that genuinely and truly are willing to repent of your sins, thus to resolve by the grace of God to forsake the wrong, to abandon sin and evil relationships in every form as much as in you lies, that will publicly confess your faith in the Lord and be buried in the name of the sacred three, with the avowed purpose to walk in newness of life, and then walk it until by and by God shall touch you with the finger of his love and bid you come home, I am glad to extend Heaven's invitation while we stand and sing. Rightly Dividing The Word Of Truth (Continued) The text for to-night is 2 Tim. 2:15: "Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." I shall spend just a moment in review of some things said last evening, that some of you who were not here may get the line of thought I endeavored to present. I called your attention to the fact that after the days of direct inspiration of the Spirit had passed, Paul gave instruction to his son, Timothy, and through him likewise to all the rest of us, to study God's word; that Paul told Timothy thus to study that he might show himself approved unto God—not only to show himself approved unto God, but "a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." I tried to emphasize the fact that, due to improper division, much of the confusion extant to-night can certainly be traced, and in the lack of the application of this text many of our differences have their origin. Without arguing the question at all, I presumed that no one denies the fact that the Bible is divided into two great parts—the Old Testament, given by Moses, and the New, that came by Christ. And then I raised the point further as to whether or not these had subdivisions. Such are learned from the Savior's own declaration in Luke 24: 44, where he said to the disciples: "These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses' and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me." I also stated, as you will recall, that at that time the New Testament Scriptures were not written, and we have no doubt but that the Savior referred to the Old Testament, with its thirty-nine volumes. When you commence, therefore, to read the Bible, as to just where you should turn and what part you should study depends altogether on what you want to know. If some one were to ask me with reference to the creation of the earth, the origin of things in general, I certainly would not refer him to Acts of Apostles, because he might read that, perchance, time and again and learn but very little of these matters. If you wanted to know something about the great baptismal flood, I would be far from referring you to Paul's letter to the Romans—not that it is not good scripture, understand, but it does not propose to talk about anything of that kind. If you wanted to know something of the new Jerusalem, "the city that bath foundations," I would never think of asking you to read the book of Numbers or of Leviticus. And so let us proceed with the same good sense that ought to characterize our investigation of any other matters, upon the principle that God understands our intelligences, and wrote this book not for his own guidance, but to serve as a directory for man in his journey through this life from the cradle to the grave, from time to eternity. I believe I raised the question as to whether or not there is anything in the term "law" that indicates its application, its universality, or the extent of its duration. I think there is not a person present who will not agree with me that no such attributes or characteristics are inherent in the very term itself, but these things must be learned from other sources. Then in passing still further, I suggested that this law of Moses was given unto the people that had come out of bondage in Egypt. "The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers," said Moses, "but with us, even us, who are all of us here [under sacred Sinai] alive this day." (Deut. 5: 3.) It was intended only to last until the seed should come unto whom the promise had been made. It was given because of transgression. The Lord's attitude toward it was not to violate nor to destroy it, but to fill it full; and this he did at the close of his eventful career, for while hanging suspended between heaven and earth, he bowed his head and said, "It is finished ;" and thus, having yielded up the ghost, the law of Moses was ended. When I raise the question as to what became of it, Paul frankly and flatly declares that Jesus Christ blotted it out, took it out of the way, nailed it to the cross, and tore down the middle wall of partition between us. The law, the Ten Commandments, contained in ordinances, was given only to the Jews, and not to the Gentiles. But the new law made of the twain, Jew and Gentile, one new man. Christ reconciled both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby. But some one raises a question after this sort: "What part of the law was thus nailed to the cross?" Do you know, ladies and gentlemen, that the Bible does not talk about parts of the law? When you hear such terms as "the judicial part," "the moral part," "the ceremonial part," just remember that that is not the book of God, but it came from the phraseology of some man who does not speak as the word of God directs. Paul said, "blotting out." Blotted out what? The law. What law, or what part of it? All of it, and nailed to the cross. These are the facts in the case, opinions to the contrary notwithstanding. "But," says one, "I want to file an objection. First, I want all of the Bible; and if that statement be true, that casts out a large percentage thereof." My friend, had you not better wait just a minute? Suppose I make the prediction to you Nashvillians that there is a tremendous flood coming to wipe out all humanity, and everything in whose nostrils is the breath of life, from the face of the earth; and I suggest that some of you go out into the forest and fell timber and begin preparation for the building of an ark, that will be launched upon the bosom of an ocean that has no shore, for the salvation of yourselves and your families. Some good brother says, "Brother Hardeman, that thing has already happened; I will not make preparation for anything of that sort"—thereby admitting that you do not want that part of the Bible. But you say, with reference to worship and serving God: "I want it all." Still, if that be true, my friends, we have no business with meetinghouses and places of worship in the city of Nashville; for all of us would have to take the train, go to some Eastern port, and then board a steamer and sail across the mighty Atlantic, and, reaching old Joppa, march up thirty-two miles to Jerusalem to worship God. But even then we are not ready; for after reaching that point, we would have to find a priest of the tribe of Levi, of the house of Aaron, to offer up our sacrifices unto God. You may say: "But this is past." Indeed so. We live under a system of government and religion to-night that knows no special place, that asks no sacrifice of animals, that demands no Jewish priest. Many there are who object to my declaration that the law of Moses, the basis of which was the Ten Commandments, has been obliterated and taken away. We fail to understand how such can be true. And yet we have no trouble in understanding other things parallel. Let me use as an illustration to-night our own beloved Tennessee. This State has had three separate and distinct Constitutions. The first one was when it was admitted into the Union—on the first day of June, 1796. Based upon this, the statutory laws were enacted, and for a number of years every good citizen respected and recognized and had due regard for the laws of the State. Then when the State grew, its resources developed, and the opportunities widened, the people said: "Our Constitution is inadequate to the growth of the State." So in 1834, under the administration of Governor Carroll, delegates were selected, a convention was called, and a second Constitution was adopted for the "Volunteer State." How do you think that delegation acted? They read very carefully Constitution number one. Every statement therein found that had proved a success, that was considered applicable, was adopted. They brought it over from Constitution number one and made it a part of Constitution number two. Some of the articles, however, were left out. From 1834 on down for thirty and six years the people observed the laws based upon the second Constitution, and not those resting upon the first that had been established and done away. But in the year 1870 the people, through their representatives, met again and inaugurated and adopted a third Constitution, taking parts of the first and second—those things ​that had proved worth while and made such a part of the Constitution under which we now live. Every law-abiding citizen within the borders of our State respects and observes and lives in accordance with the laws based upon Constitution number three. I observe and respect them tonight, not because they were founded in 1796, not because they were back in the Constitution of 1834, but because they are resting upon the Constitution that is now living, which proposes to exercise authority over us. Just so in the legislative dealing with humanity by Jehovah himself there have been three separate and distinct constitutions, or dispensations, prevailing upon the earth. The first one, known as the system of Patriarchy, lasted for twenty-five hundred years—from Eden to Sinai. Then God, having called his people out of bondage and having led them to the foot of Mount Sinai, drafted and inaugurated a second constitution. Many of the things found in the first were brought over and made a part of the second. And the Jews observed these principles. Why? Not because they found them back in Patriarchy, but because they had been made a part of Judaism that lasted for fifteen hundred years more from Sinai to Calvary. These were but preparatory, however, to the giving of that constitution that was unlimited and unrestricted. All those principles adapted to Christianity as found in the old were incorporated in the new and became effective from the day of Pentecost. Suffice it to say that of the original Ten Commandments, nine of them were accepted by the Savior, brought over, and made a part of the New Testament dispensation; and every law-abiding citizen under the flag of high Heaven tonight respects them and is living in obedience "hereunto. Other principles have been added, and hence we live under the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. But one of them—number four—which saith, "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy," was left out, with other records of the Jewish dispensation; and in its stead God has given us a day with sweeter memories, character ized especially by the triumphant resurrection of our Savior from the dead. This New Testament, dedicated, not by the blood of animals, but by the blood of Christ himself, likewise is divided. But before I pass to these I want to call your attention to the eighth chapter of the book of Hebrews: "Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man. For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer. For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law: who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern showed thee in the mount. But now bath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people and they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away." And then he said: "Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." (Heb. 10:9, 10.) Hence, there is granted and given us tonight a system, a covenant, based on better promises and offering greater rewards. Does this covenant, therefore, thus inaugurated, have its subdivisions? Naturally and quite easily understood, the New Testament is likewise divided into three parts, the first—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—properly called the Books of Evidence, or the books of Testimony, the specific purpose of which is to cause men and women to believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. In John 20: 30, 31 is the following, equally applicable unto the other books mentioned: "And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: but these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name." The second division of the New Testament is properly called the Book of Conversions—the acts and doings of the apostles, the record of thousands that rendered obedience to the gospel of Christ and were able to pass out of darkness into light by the acceptance of his word. The third part is the Epistles, addressed unto the churches, telling Christian people how to live, serve, and worship God that at last the crown may be won. If you, therefore, to-night be an alien and a stranger and disbeliever in the Lord Jesus Christ, and wanted that part of the book addressed to you, I would not direct you to the book of Jude nor Revelation nor the Colossian letter, but to the first part of the New Testament, dealing directly with the life, character, tragic death, and final announcement on the part of the Son of God. Just to illustrate: Let me imagine, with all kindness and courtesy to those of whom I speak, that a Jew to-night believes the Old Testament in tote, but denies the Sonship of the Lord Jesus Christ. Suppose that kind of a person would consent to make investigation and search the Scriptures. I fancy that I can see him as he turns to Matthew, first chapter, and there is greeted by a long line of genealogies, carrying him back to the days of Abraham and down to the birth of Jesus Christ. I doubt not but that he halts and says: "This is exactly like the record back in the Scriptures I call my own." He reads the second chapter, which gives the decree of Herod, of the flight into Egypt, the coming back to Nazareth that the Scriptures might be fulfilled. As he reads chapter number two, he knows every statement therein respecting the Child of Nazareth has been foretold in his own Scriptures. Then his interest is aroused, and, with encouragement, he continues throughout the book of Matthew the story of the wonderful deeds and miracles wrought by him and that he is proclaimed to be the Son of God. Still interested, he passes on to Mark, only to find the former statements corroborated and emphasized; and then on to Luke, still interested, still aroused, and reads of the mighty deeds of him, until at last, like old Nicodemus, he bursts forth: "No man can do these things, except God be with him." As that story is thus read, link after link, statement after statement, perfectly harmonious, absolutely corroborative, forming a chain of evidence complete, he is almost forced to admit that Jesus Christ is what he claims to be. He follows on until the arrest is made, the various trials are hurried through, sentences passed, and death comes, then the burial. He sees the tomb and the stone placed at the mouth thereof, and waits and watches to see the final outcome. He learns on the third day that the bars have been torn asunder and that Christ is risen indeed. He follows as the Savior leads the apostles into Galilee and gives unto them a commission that is world-wide in its scope, heaven-born in its origin, and bought with the priceless blood of the Son of God himself. He hears the Savior bid these twelve men to go to Jerusalem, and is interested to such an extent that he says: "Let me go with them." At last the spirit comes and fills the house wherein all are seated, and he hears the disciples speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. And then he listens to the first gospel sermon in the name of the risen King, when Peter explained the miracles and said: "Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain." And next he says: "Whom God bath raised up. Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God bath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ." No wonder, then, the record declares: "When they heard this, they were pricked in their heart." They were cut to the heart; conviction had been brought; faith had been engendered; and he had, together with the others, become a believer in the fact that Christ had tasted death, that he had been buried, and that he had risen again, and had brought salvation unto the sons and daughters of men. Hence, they all said: "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" Still further he waits, and hears the splendid response by the Apostle Peter, unto whom the keys had already been given; and as that multitude knocked for entrance, Peter injected the key, turned the bolt, and flung wide the door, saying unto those believers that were thus affected: "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children; and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation. Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls." The concluding verse (47) says: "The Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved." Follow through the book of Acts of Apostles, and you find the disciples starting at Jerusalem, spreading through Judea, then to Samaria, thence to Galilee, thence to the uttermost parts of the earth, and in which record there is the account of those that yielded obedience unto the gospel of the Son of God. Having, therefore, been led from a disbeliever into a faithful believer in the word of God, having been led from the believer's state into that of a child of God by further obedience, now what? Then comes the letters to the Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Thessolonians, addressed unto Christian men and women, unto sons and daughters of Abraham and of Sarah. My friends, there are just three classes of humanity, wherever you may chance to go. Unbelievers constitute one class, believers a second, and Christians represent a third. God's book, the New Testament, is applicable and adapted in a specific manner unto each class therein found. Unto the unbeliever I would say: Study the first four books thereof, that faith may be yours, that conviction of the truthfulness of the claims of the Son of God may be established in your heart, life, and conscience forever. I would bid him render perfect that faith in obedience to the gospel of God's Son by meeting every stipulation and requirement laid down in the book of Acts. After having done that, heaven is still not reached, and you have but been introduced into the straight and narrow path. Then take up your line of march; continue along the path already blazed out, until by and by all shall be well. May I suggest that all along this pathway in which humanity is to travel there are signposts on every side? Soon you come across one that suggests to you to add to your faith virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity. You find another just a little further on: "Pray without ceasing." It is impossible to live that kind of life, to travel that road, unless prayer flows forth from the innermost recesses of the soul. On another signpost I see: "Abstain from all appearance of evil." Mortify therefore your members which are learn the earth. "​On still another I see the sign in glittering terms bidding Christian people to practice and live the principles laid down in the Christian religion; and, still further on, the final admonition: "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." I appreciate the fact, as has been indicated and mentioned especially in the prayer of the evening, that the aged brethren are among us. They have borne the heat and burden of the day for these many years. Their forms, perchance, are already bending back toward Mother Earth. Upon their brows hoary hairs are found, and on their cheeks the finger of time has marked out furrows. I appreciate the fact, my friends, that they are nearing the goal, the eternal shore, and that sea upon which all of us by and by must launch out. But, let me tell you, if you will but place your hand in that of the Savior, with a firm resolve to submit to his will, be governed, guided, and directed by his authority, he will lead you gently along the pathway of time, down its gentle slopes to life's decline, until at last your feet begin to be bathed in the waters of death; and then, somewhat shocked thereby, you stop and say: "Master, what is this?" Christ says in response, "My child, be not afraid; follow me ;" and as you march still further on, you begin to recognize that the waves are soon to leap over your silvered locks; but Jesus says: "Be thou faithful; still hold fast thy hand in mine." And after a while, when the breakers burst about you and the whitecaps overleap your brow, Jesus, with a firmer grasp, initiates you into the grandeurs of our Father's home, into that "city that bath foundations," that blessed home of the soul across which the shadows never fall. Let me encourage you that have buckled on the armor of the Lord by suggesting that it is not in vain. I would to-night that I could cause every one that is not as yet a volunteer for service under the blood-stained banner of Prince Immanuel to buckle on the armor of the Lord and to fight bravely the battles of life, until by and by the great Captain of our salvation shall bid us to stack arms on the glad plains of a never-ending eternity, there to lay aside our battle-scarred armor and to hang our swords upon the jasper walls of that eternal city. Then, with psalms of victory and with crowns of glory, we will hymn his praises while eternity rolls her endless ages on. Therefore, if in this audience to-night there are any disposed in heart and in mind to accept the terms of salvation tendered in the New Testament, in that covenant sanctified by the blood of Christ, if you have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, if you repent of all your sins, if you publicly confess that faith before this splendid company to further your obedience in the name of the sacred three, I bid you come. The Power of God's WordIn Heb. 4: 12 you will find this statement: "The word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." The Revised Version suggests this: "The word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword." I am sure that in this statement there is a wonderful truth that possibly we do not fully accept or appreciate be cause of the fact that our attention has not been fixed upon it. We live in a land that might just as appropriately be styled "the land of the dying" as it is frequently called "the land of the living." Death and decay and passing away are written upon the wings of time and timely things. In view of the fact that all things are transient and ephemeral in their nature, Paul boldly declares an exception to that general statement: "The word of God is living, and active." Is it not strange, therefore, that of all things beheld by mortal man upon which the forces of corruption have fastened themselves, there is one within our midst unaffected by the passing of time? The Bible has been pursued from century to century by bitter and relentless foes, but it has survived all the efforts of its enemies and the corroding influences of time. It is still "quick, and powerful." I had occasion to speak to you this noon from the statement found in the first verse of the first chapter of this same book, where the same writer declares that God has spoken unto men. I tried to emphasize the fact that God has spoken by his Son. Since God has spoken, I ask: Is there any power, force, or effect in what he has said? Is what the Lord said vital to the salvation of the sons and daughters of men, or has it passed according to all timely things? Shall we assume that it is still living and active in our midst? There has always been a disposition on the part of humanity to minimize the word of the Lord. For some rear son not fully known to me, we seem to want some extraordinary experience. I recall that when Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was affected by that loathsome disease of leprosy, and when he was told in plain, simple language to go down to the River Jordan and dip himself seven times, that such procedure was not according to Naaman's fancy. He had it all thoroughly fixed in his mind and said: "Behold, I thought the man of God would come to me and strike his hand upon me, and perhaps say some word, or some peculiar miraculous event would come to pass, and I would be rid of the leprosy." When it did not happen according to his opinion, he was reminded by his servants that he had better go and do what the Lord had said. Not only have men upon earth tried to discredit the word of God, but even in hell men have sought to set aside the sacred oracles. In the sixteenth chapter of the book of Luke there is a record and story of what is called "the rich man and Lazarus," both of whom, as you know, died. One of them was buried, and in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torment. Then began that conversation in which he asked Father Abraham to send Lazarus to dip his finger in water and cool his tongue. When the negative answer was given and all hope of himself had been abandoned, he then said to Abraham: "Send Lazarus back to my father's house, for I have five brothers still alive, and I want you to have him warn them, lest they also come to this place of torment." But Abraham said: "They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them." The rich man wanted God to set aside his word and in its stead perform a miracle. But Abraham insisted: "They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them." The rich man continued to argue the question, and said: "Nay, Father Abraham; but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent." He seemed to understand the nature of his brothers. The word of God had but little effect upon them. He seemed to think they would pay very little attention to Moses and the prophets, and insisted that if one went from the dead—something out of the ordinary—they would repent. Then Abraham said: "If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead." If there was ever a time for God to answer the feeble and humble petition of a soul writhing in agony and set aside the regular plan, this seemed to be the occasion; but his spiritual law is no less immutable than his natural law. So long as the law of Moses was in force, every soul was amenable and accountable to it. This should impress all men with the fact that when they reject the word of God, all hope is gone. We have tonight not only Moses and the prophets, but, in addition, Christ and the apostles as they were guided into all truth. The word of the Lord thoroughly furnishes the man of God unto every good work. He has given unto us all things that pertain to life and godliness. In view of all this, is it not strange that there are persons upon the earth seeking and expecting something separate and distinct from the word of God? There are those in our land that acknowledge the Divine origin of the Bible and pose as its friends, but whose claims tend to set aside God's word in the most vital concerns of life. If men now speak as the Spirit guides them and if revelations have been made since the visions to John on Patmos isle, then the Bible is no longer our standard and complete guide; and unless you and I can uphold God's book to the world and let it be known that we propose to be governed and guided solely by it, we had just as well acknowledge that it is a book of fallacious teachings, of myths, and of old wives' tales. It is a square issue. Either God's word is our guide, either it must be respected and manifestly obeyed, or else every man can launch his boat out on the great ocean of life and let it drift whithersoever the tide of circumstances may carry it. As for me and mine, I believe with all my heart that the word of God is living and active and powerful, which means it is full of power and adapted to the purpose intended— namely, the bringing of conviction and conversion to the sons and daughters of men. In one of the plainest and easiest of all the Savior's parables—named, that of the sower—we have this statement: "The seed is the word of God." I know quite well, in common with you, that in every seed there must be the germ of life; that life is perpetuated, made possible, by virtue of the liveliness and the vitality that lies within the grain of corn, wheat, or whatever it may be. And it makes no difference how long that seed may have been garnered. If it came from a crop of a thousand years ago and has been preserved, wherever and whenever it may chance to be planted, regardless of who does the dropping or sowing thereof, it will produce fruit like unto the original kind; for God said in the book of Genesis that "of everything created, let it bring forth fruit after its sort and after its kind." If, for instance, there had not been a church of God upon the earth, after the New Testament order, for the last nineteen hundred years; if all the congregations and Christian people had been blotted out and wiped off the map, but God's word still survived and you people to-night were to read, understand, and obey it, it would make of you exactly what it made on that memorable Pentecost of the long ago. It would make of you Christians only, and would cause you, by obedience to its teachings, to be members of the church of which it speaks. Sometimes we are told, just in this connection, that of course while Jesus Christ was upon earth there was power in what he had to say, that his spoken word was effective, that it carried conviction, power, and vitality; but they tell me that all we have now is the written word, and sometimes it is spoken of in a way that tends to discredit and minimize it. I want to raise the question: Does the mere fact that God's word has been written rather than forevermore spoken by his Son--does that tend to reduce the force or the effect or the influence thereof? Is that the principle upon which we act in our relationship one to another—namely, do we regard our oral words more sacred and binding than we do our written documents? Is it a fact that all our deeds, our mortgages, our government bonds, securities, etc.—are they rendered valueless because of the fact that they have been written? Had we better destroy our county court clerk's office, our recorder's office, and do our business by word of mouth to give force and power thereto ? If I were buying a piece of real estate within your city limits, and from one of your best citizens, would I want to make only an oral contract? Just somehow or other I would prefer that we reduce that thing to writing and that you subscribe your name "hereunto. I am more particular than this, for I would rather have it written down the second time here at the courthouse and certified by the recorder of the good county of Davidson on the ground that we believe a written document is more forceful and effective than any oral contract or agreement. Now, to those who think there is more force and effect and power in oral statements than in the written word I want to say: I hardly think the devil himself would agree with you on a proposition of that kind. I think, by sad experience in his mighty conflict with the Son of God, that he has learned what all of us should know—viz., that "the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword." The Savior understood full well that there is power in the word of God. If there be sufficient power and energy back of it to withstand the enemy of our race, to make possible the opening of the gates of paradise and give us an insight to the tree of life and all things that bloom in beauty and grandeur over there, it ought to be considered by you to-night as having enough power and force for the accomplishment of that which God intended—namely, the salvation of the souls of men. In the ninth chapter of the book of John there is a very fine story told, illustrative again of the force and power of the voice of God. A young man was born blind, and the disciples came to the Savior and said: "Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus answered: "Neither bath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." Having said this, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and anointed the eyes of the young man with the clay, and then said unto him: "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent)." The young man went and washed, and I have thought that perhaps he came back singing: "Amazing grace—how sweet the sound!— That saved a wretch like me! I once was lost [to the beauties of this world], but now am found; Was blind, but now I see." Do you think tonight that there was virtue in the anointing of clay? Do you think there was virtue and power in the waters of the pool of Siloam? Absolutely not. This young man did not give praise and honor to the anointing of the clay. He never, so far as history shows, looked back to the pool of Siloam as his savior, but he gave honor to whom honor was due. He recognized that the power rested in the Son of God Divine, and he had only but to speak the word, and eyes that had never seen opened to behold the grandeur and glory and brilliancy of the light of God's day. In the eleventh chapter of this same book there is another splendid story. About two miles east of Jerusalem, beyond the garden of Gethsemane, behind the Mount of Olives, was the little town of Bethany, where lived Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. With these Jesus was wont to stay. These he loved, and with them he associated. It came to pass that the brother in that home became sick. Word was sent to the Savior with reference to the same. Jesus replied: "This sickness is not unto death." Then it was that he tarried for two days, and said to his disciples gathered about him: "Lazareth sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep." The disciples misunderstood him, and said: "If he sleep, he shall do well." They understood that his sleep was that of rest. Then Jesus said plainly; "Lazarus is dead." As he approached that humble home, Martha went out to meet him, perhaps with tears streaming down her cheeks, and said: "If thou hadst been here, my brother had not died." Jesus said: "Thy brother shall rise again." Then she replied: "I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day." Jesus said: "I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live." In the course of time, Mary, who had lingered behind, likewise came, and, as she approached the Savior, fell down at his feet, saying: "Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died." When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews which also wept with her, "he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled." Then the sweetest verse of the story is: "Jesus wept." Some of the people said: "Cannot this man that bath opened the eyes of the blind—cannot he even now speak the word, and bring Lazarus back?" Lazarus was buried in a cave, and a stone lay upon it. Jesus said: "Take ye away the stone." Martha cried out: "Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days." But the Savior, groaning in agony, cried with a loud voice and said: "Lazarus, come forth." And Lazarus came forth in his graveclothes, with the napkin round his face, and the Savior said to those standing by: "Loose him and let him go." My friends, the power that can speak the word and cause the grave to give up its dead is the power that belongs to the word of God to-night. It is that which Paul says is living and active and effective for the purpose intended. Do you know that but for the fact that there is power in the word of God, man would have no prospect or possibility of the resurrection from the dead ? Ofttimes to the little city of the dead wherein those whom I loved and those who loved me He sleeping to-night I have frequently gone and beheld the sacred mound, and often I have called their names and tried to commune with them in fancy's vision; but they were disturbed not from their solemn silence. All the people of Nashville might go out to your cemetery and call to loved ones sleeping, but it would avail nothing. But, thank God, there is an assurance given by the Savior, as announced in John 5: 28, when he said: "Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and 59 shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." But for the fact that in the word of God there is wonderful power—a power that defies the Hadean world and that is able to burst the bars thereof—this world would have no hope beyond the sunset's radiant glow. God's word is the power by which man is the be converted. It is the power by which he should be directed and guided in his journey through life. It is the power that will at last cause death and Hades to deliver up their dead. Our hope of immortality rests upon the power of God's word. But that is not all. In the fourth chapter of the book of Mark there is another story illustrative of the same idea. After Jesus had spent quite a busy day in giving a series of parables to those on the western shore of Galilee, he said: "Let us pass over unto the other side." This he did that he might have occasion to rest from the multitude. The record says that he went into the rear part of the ship, and there he lay upon a pillow, bidding them to sail across the nine-mile stretch to the further shore. While the Savior slept, a mighty storm swept down upon them. The lightnings flashed, the thunders roared, and the waves became so great that they overleaped the bow and filled the ship. The mariners and those on board became frightened, and, coming to awake the Savior, said: "Master, caress thou not that we perish ?" Do you know that here is a picture true to life? While all things are running smoothly, while everything is lovely and the sky is clear, and while all is calm, we rarely ever think of an appeal to the Power supreme. When all things go according to our own fancy, we rather become puffed up and inflated, wonderfully egotistic, independent; we care for but the things of earth. But when we lose our bearing and our station among men; when the stalwart form is touched and made to feel the infirm nature; when the clouds begin to lower round us; when we look out and become conscious of the fact that life is, at best, but a brittle thread, we then begin to cry: "Lord save me. I am conscious that I am nearing the other shore, that death and destruction are apparently just ahead. Won't you pick me up and bear me safely across to the other shore?" While the storm king raged and the winds blew, while the tempests rolled high, they went back and said: "Master, caress thou not that we perish ?" And then it was the Savior rose and rebuked the wind and simply said: "Peace, be still." You know the result. The record says: "The wind ceased, and there was a great calm. Fear came upon those passengers, and they said one to another: "What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him ?" My friends, the power that can calm the tempest and allay the storm king's rage, that can make the ship to ride upon the bosom of the mighty deep, that can stop the winds, that can bid defiance to the physical forces of nature, is the power that characterizes the word of God. It is the power by which the world must be saved, if saved at all. Forget it not, ye that live, two thousand years have passed, twenty centuries have smiled upon us, since the valedictory of God's book was written; yet it is just as powerful tonight as it was when fresh from the pen of inspiration. But that it not all. I remember that in the text of the forenoon (Heb. 1:3) Paul said that Jesus Christ is the upholder of all things. How, then, does he uphold? "By the word of his power." There are a number of things that well illustrate this principle. I am not accustomed, may I suggest, to being in cities. I came from the country, away back close to the Tennessee River, where the train is not, and where society's ways are unknown. It is, indeed, attractive to me when I see your skyscrapers towering heavenward. I have seen the preparation for these buildings being made. I have seen men dig down into the bosom of Mother Earth to lay a safe and secure foundation. For what ? That it may uphold the twenty or the thirty or the forty stories that must rest upon it. And when I see this, I am made to think that Jesus Christ is the upholder of all things—not by columns of stone, not by piers of brick, but simply "by the word of his power." At the city of Memphis I have viewed, time and again, both the Frisco and the Harahan bridge. I saw the construction of the latter in two or three phases of its development. The waters were parted, a solid foundation was reached, and those mighty piers were erected. What for? That they might uphold that great mass of steel that spans the "Father of Waters" from the "Volunteer State" to the soil of Arkansas. There those mighty columns stand, bidding defiance to the immense volumes of water that sweep down the Mississippi Valley. On this bridge the trains pass back and forth, richly laden with human freight and human lives. The safety of it all depends upon the stability and the power of those gigantic piers that underneath it stand. I have gazed upon your splendid bridge at the foot of Broadway, and also this one down at another part of the city, and noted the construction thereof. Wonderful in deed are the feats performed by men. But Jesus Christ, according to Holy Writ, has but to speak the word and all things are beheld. It is by the power of God's word that this old earth occupies its place and revolves around the sun at the enormous rate of eighteen miles a second; at the same time it rotates upon its axis at the rate of a thousand miles per hour. And you may leave this terrestrial sphere and go out to the respective sister planets of Mars and Jupiter and Saturn and Uranus, and then far beyond Neptune to all the myriads of worlds that float in space about us, even to the twinkling stars, and all are upheld by the word of God Divine. Are we an appreciative people? Do we feel grateful for the fact that God has spoken to us? Can we treat lightly and pass indifferently the message and the declaration of Him who has thus spoken unto mortal man in the plainest, simplest, easiest terms? He has announced the law of pardon to the alien sinner, to the foreigner, to the stranger He has made known the terms of adoption, the laws of our naturalization, by means of which we may be born into God's family. We may be translated out of darkness into light, out of the kingdom of His Satanic Majesty into the kingdom of God's dear Son. But in order that the rich provisions of heaven and the benedictions thereof may be made ours, God announces we must hear his word; not only that, but we must believe his word with all our hearts. And, in addition to that, God has suggested in that same powerful word that we must repent of all our sins—that is, resolve by the grace of God to abandon the wrong, to turn our backs upon the former career that was enmity toward God, to change about, and let that firm resolve result in a reformation of life. Short of that, any repentance is not acceptable unto the Lord. That same word, in its wonderful power and its living activity, bids us to acknowledge the Son of God before our fellows. And, again, that same wonderful word assures us of the fact that if we thus do, and live faithful "hereunto, heaven will be pleased to gladly confess US as children Of God, precious in the sight of Jehovah. I need not stop to tell you, more than merely to call your attention to it, that in the same word, for reasons known to him, Jehovah has ordained it the duty of all nations to be baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. That, my friends, is in the same word of God, coordinate and in perfect harmony with the obligation on your part and mine to believe and to repent. Just why the world rebels at that, I do not know. Just why man should interpose his opinion and partially accept God's way, I never have understood. Why the prejudices against my duplicating the burial and resurrection of my Savior, I cannot. understand. All men, every character in your splendid city, will tell you that God commanded people to be baptized. It is not the authority of Hardeman. It is not of my brethren. It is not an ordinance of your city. It is not a law enacted on Capitol Hill. Neither is it a proclamation from the President at Washington. But it comes from the King of kings, the Lord of lords—Him who speaks as man never spake. It is from Him that has authority and to whom all power in heaven and earth has been granted. And as you and I stand on the plains of that eternal judgment, that same solemn declaration—to believe the gospel, to repent of our sins, and confess our faith to be baptized in His name will face us. If we refuse it here, ten thousand worlds would be gladly given for one opportunity like this to-night. While truth instructs and mercy lingers, while angels look out from their heavenly regions and anxiously wait for those that may come to acknowledge the Christ, it is our pleasure once again to extend to you the invitation and pray for your response. The Power of God's Word Continued...The presence of an audience like this on Saturday evening is indeed an inspiration to me, and I rejoice to know of your interest in these lessons that have to do with things eternal. I want to get before you Paul's charge to Timothy as found in 2 Tim. 3:14-17 and 4:1-8: “But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; and that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing." At the time Paul wrote this he was a prisoner at Rome, not knowing as yet what would be the verdict of the higher court, to which he had appealed.​Paul penned, perhaps, two-thirds of the New Testament; but out of that there are just four personal letters addressed—viz., a very short message unto Philemon, another short letter unto Titus, while two are directed to Timothy. This of itself shows the apostle's interest in this young man. Here is a rather unique picture presented. As a rule, both men and women select for their associates and companions those of similar years; but in this case there is presented an aged apostle, his hair frosted by the passage of the years, bearing in his body the dying of the Lord Jesus, and also his most trusted friend, closest associate, a young man just budding, blooming, and blossoming into the full power of manhood. In writing unto the Philippians, Paul said: "But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort, when I know your state. For I have no man like-minded, who will naturally care for your state. For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's. But ye know the proof of him, that, as a son with the father, he hath served with me in the gospel. Him therefore I hope to send presently, so soon as I shall see how it will go with me." (Phil. 2: 19-23.)​The most solemn charge ever delivered to mortal man or clothed in human words was announced by Paul to Timothy when he said: "I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; preach the word." I have attended some courts in the country where I chance to live, and have heard the charges of the judge delivered to the jury and to the gentlemen of the audience at large. Many of them were impressive and attractive; but when I think of this one, delivered by the peerless apostle, in which he called to witness both God, the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, the Judge of the living and the dead, I can but be impressed with its weight and importance. "I bid you preach the word." I am sure that Paul yearned for Timothy's greatest possible success; that he earnestly desired that his life should be spent in that which would bring him the highest joys possible and render him of the greatest service to his fellows. There are many activities of life that are attractive. There are many positions in which wonderful good can be done. The world needs its men in business affairs; likewise those that till Mother Earth, thereby supplying the needs of life. There is a place for the honorable, the upright, professional man of the world; but, according to the apostle's idea, it appears that to dedicate and consecrate one's life to the proclamation of the word of God is the highest type of men's affairs upon the earth. The one who faithfully, loyally, and earnestly devotes the best of his powers "hereunto has not made a failure. I am especially conscious of the responsibility that I assume when I rise in the presence of dying humanity. I must give an account to God for my deeds, my acts, and for the effort I make in your presence to-night. Therefore, the solemn, serious obligation of preaching the word. O, there is much preaching in the country every day, every week throughout the year. Unfortunately, sometimes men that claim to be preachers are attracted by the exciting things of the earth—things which appeal to sentiment and to popularity. Men fail to recognize that the gospel is God's power unto salvation, and sometimes drift into the discussion of those things that are foreign to God's word. But I want to say to you, ladies and gentlemen, that the business of living, the matter of passing along through life, fulfilling the mission that God intended, is no child's play. Preaching is not a matter of mere entertainment; it is not a matter of passing away the time; but it is a solemn, serious obligation. I do appreciate the fact that there is a disposition on your part to patiently, earnestly and encouragingly listen to what may be said just along this line. But when Paul said to Timothy, "Preach the word," I have often wondered and studied just what is meant thereby. Three short terms, monosyllables, in the charge; and yet how much is comprehended therein I Will you go with me upon a little survey of the word of God to find out just what that means, if possible? After the stoning of Stephen, the Bible says the disciples at Jerusalem, except the' apostles, were scattered abroad and went everywhere preaching the word. This account is found in Acts 8: 1-4 That is the very thing that Paul told Timothy to preach but I have learned nothing especially as to what it means be that quotation; but in verse 5, immediately following, the writer of the book of Acts takes up the story and says "Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, anc preached Christ unto them." Did Philip preach something different from the rest of them, guided as he was by the same spirit? We do not believe that there was a difference in their preaching; so we have learned that when the apostle said, "Preach the word," it is equivalent to saying "Preach Christ." But after Philip reached the city of Samaria, the record says in verse 12: "When they [the Samaritans] believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ." Now, what were they all doing? All were preaching the word Philip, what are you doing? "I am preaching Christ. I am preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ." In conclusion, these three things, therefore, are inter. changeably used to express the very same idea. But presently the angel of the Lord appeared and bade Philip go down southward from Jerusalem to Gaza, which is desert. He arose and went, and came in contact with a man anxiously trying to learn his duty. In verse 35, therefore, the record says that "Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus." Hence, there are four terms—"preach the word," "preach Christ," "preach the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Christ," and "preach Jesus." But that is not all. Paul said in 1 Cor. 9: 16: "Woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!, Hence, the five expressions, characterizing identically the same thought when he said to his beloved son: "Preach the word." Well, he might have said, "preach Christ," or "preach the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Christ," or "preach Jesus," or "preach the gospel"—all of which is the embodiment of that upon which the salvation of the souls of men depend. I would suggest to you that out of the multiplicity of sermons proclaimed by various ones, there was not a single contradiction or discrepancy regarding any of the statements thus made. The reason therefor is the fact that all were guided by the spirit of God. They spake the same things and were of one mind and one heart. If you will let me say it, I think there is no more productive field of infidelity in all the world to-night than the fact that sometimes professed preachers of the gospel proclaim doctrines that are contradictory, one arguing for one point and the other denying the same, and both of them claiming to be governed and guided directly by the Spirit of God. Make me believe that God is back of that contradiction, and I am ready to raise the black flag of infidelity and blight the hopes of mankind the rest of my days. God is not the God of confusion, but his word runs in parallel lines. It is the truth. One statement therein never contradicts another. But Paul said: "Preach the word." I raise, perhaps, the most important query of the night. I want to ask: Why did Paul thus charge his son, Timothy? Why spend the days of the long life that was promised in preaching the word? If there be no power, no force, or no effect to be accomplished thereby; if in the matter of conviction and conversion men and women are saved independent of the gospel of Christ, then I raise the question: Why did Paul thus charge Timothy? Why not say: "Timothy, engage in some other line of activity. Spend the rest of your days in other fields, and let the preaching of the gospel take care of itself; and in God's own time and manner, separate and apart from the gospel, men and women will be saved ?" Well, as a matter of fact, under the commission that was given by Christ to the twelve, the record fails to make mention of a single case of conversion in all their dealings unless in connection with said conversion God's word was there proclaimed as his power unto salvation. I know that sometimes men now—thoughtlessly, perhaps, claim to have been converted before they ever heard of the gospel, before they knew anything about the gospel. Just put it down, once for all, that such a case of conversion is unlike those recorded in the book of God. But when I ask, "Why preach the word?" I am ready to make before this splendid audience this statement as a matter of challenging your investigation (hear it): There is not a single step that man is called upon to take, from the time he leaves the world of sin and wickedness and woe until at last he sweeps through the gates that stand ajar to receive the golden crown, but that said step in affected either directly or indirectly by the word of God. I will be in your city for several days yet. If any man should find an exception to that, it would be a favor rendered to let me know it, because, if I know my heart, I have but one supreme intent, and that is to be true in the proclamation of the word of God. I cannot afford to speak other than those things which careful study and prayerful investigation have led me to believe to be true. I know that in this audience and in the world at large there are differences among people that ought to be one. While that is true, there are some things of common interest and general acceptation agreed upon by every man that professes to love the word of God. I want to speak to you, therefore, plainly about some vital questions that you and I have to answer. I do it with the greatest degree of kindness and with the earnest hope that the truth may be seen and that all may speak the same thing. Ladies and gentlemen, all of us believe that before a man can enter the kingdom of heaven he must be begotten preparatory to a new birth, without which the Savior said he cannot see the kingdom of heaven. As a matter of fact, no person accountable unto Jehovah has ever been saved on earth under the reign of the gospel that has not been begotten and born again. Nobody questions that statement. People of all religious faiths grant the truthfulness of that sublime statement. Is it not strange that when I raise the next question, confusion results and opinions prevail? But it must be put. How is a sinner begotten? ​There are, doubtless, sinners in this congregation who will grant that, according to the Bible, they must be begotten. I am here as your friend, trying to fulfill that which I believe God would have me do—viz., to assist you in finding out heaven's manner of accomplishing that thing. I would do you no good if I were simply to try to impress upon you the necessity of your being begotten, and yet leave you without information as to how the thing is done. And I want to say to you in advance: I propose not to give my opinion nor my interpretation nor my comment upon the word of God, but simply and plainly to repeat the passages, believing that God means what he says and says what he means. How is a man begotten? In Heb. 4:12 there is a passage that indicates some characteristics of this question. Paul said: "For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." But that does not tell how man is begotten. That just gives a particular feature of the word of God. Well, let's try again. This time I call your attention to 1 Cor. 4:15. Paul said: "Though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel." My friends, that is what I believe about it. Why? Because that is what Paul said. How is it? "Though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel." How? "Through the gospel." But let me ask James what he has to say on the same thing. James (1:18) says: "Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth." I can now begin to see why Paul wanted Timothy to preach the word. It is that by which men are begotten. But in 1 Pet. 1:23 there is this statement: "Being born again." How? "Not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever." "And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you." (Verse 25.) How is a man begotten? Paul says, "Through the gospel;" James says, "With the word of truth;" Peter says, "By the word of God." And so I pass that question as settled to all that believe God's word and know that these passages are correctly quoted. But, in addition to that, a man is dead in trespasses and in sin, and before he will ever pass to the golden glories of the by and by he must be quickened into a new and holy and higher life. Without making the matter long, I simply call your attention to Ps. 119:50, in which David said: "This is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word bath quickened me." Then in verse 93 he says: "I will never forget thy precepts: for with them thou hast quickened me." But not only must a man be begotten and be quickened, but the Bible says in Heb. 11:6 that "without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." A question of vital importance, then, is: How do men and women get faith? Paul says in Rom. 10:13-17: "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? and how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who bath believed our report? So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." "Timothy, I charge you to preach the word, for it is that by which men are begotten; it is that by which men are quickened; it is that from which we get our faith." But, in addition to this, Peter said in Acts 16:7: "Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe." Not only that, but man must have a pure heart: for said the Savior in Matt. 5: 8: "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God." You ask: "How is that accomplished?" In Acts 15: 9 Peter said that God "put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith." That faith comes by the hearing of God's word. Not only so, but man must have a pure soul as well as a pure heart. Peter said (1 Pet. 1: 22): "Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently." Not only must the soul be thus made pure, but I suggest to you that the soul must be converted. I but speak that which you already grant. How is it done? When David marched out under the bending blue of heaven's vast expanse, he said (Ps. 19: 7): "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul." Timothy, "preach the word." And that is not all. Every man that expects to walk the streets of that celestial city must be sanctified. How is it done ? In John 17:17 we have an account of the last prayer our Savior ever prayed before his arrest, in which he said to the Father: "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth." If you, as sinners, expect to be clean, Jesus has told how; for he said in John 15:3: "Now ye are clean." How ? "Through the word which I have spoken unto you." In James 1: 21-25 God said: "Lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: for he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whosoever looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed."​This is not all. After man, by the word of God directed, has been begotten, has been quickened, faith engendered, and thus the steps all along the line continue, at last becoming a child of God, a newborn babe, God's law and heaven's order is that he shall grow and develop and unfold larger and larger unto the perfect man and stature that God intends. You ask: "What is the process?" Let me call your attention to 1 Pet. 2:1: "Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby." "Timothy, the young Christian will need food, he will need strength and support. Preach the word in season and out of season; continue to reprove, to rebuke and exhort; for, be it remembered, the time will come when men will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned into fables. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. Continue to preach the word, regardless of the ways of men." But, my friends, we are on the journey toward the pilgrims' home above. God knows that humanity needs a guide and a light along the path by which their weary footsteps may be safely directed to reach the goal intended in the Divine plan. David said (Ps. 119: 105): "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." Back in the country from whence I came they used to go to meeting at early candle light, and brethren and citizens in general carried their old lanterns. After the services were over, I have seen them go out the front door, strike a match and light up; and as they held the lantern up to view, because it did not threw the light all the way home at a single flash, they did not throw it to the ground and despise it. They understood how that was. Each one said: "I will light it; and as I start across the hollow and over the hill and through the skirt of woods yonder, if I will but hold on to the lantern, it will by and by show me every pitfall along the way, every gully, every stump, every rut in which I might fall. If I will but do that, at last I will have reached my humble home ready to pillow my head for the slumbers of the night." Will you not, with that illustration, get an insight into God's word? When I become a child of God and rise to walk in newness of life, God's word does not picture all the pathway before me. There are many tempestuous scenes through which I must go that are not then portrayed; but I rejoice to know that if I will take God's word in my hand, and, as I start to march down the darkened aisles of time, if I will but hold fast "hereunto, it will guide my footsteps Bright, keep me ever off the barriers and from falling over the precipices that are along life's way. May I climb the steps of life's ladder at last, cautioned and guided by God's word, until it fades away into the superior grandeur and luster and brilliancy of the perfect day in our Father's house above. "Preach the word." It is that which is adequate to man's begetting. It is that by which he is quickened. It is that from which he gets his faith. It is that by which his heart is made pure. It is that by which he is sanctified. It is the food of the Christian. But, finally, we all realize that life has its sorrows and its sighs, its tears and its joys, its sunshine and its shadows. I recognize that in every life some rain must fall, some days must be dark and dreary. Regardless of who we are, the burdens of life and the difficulties are certain to fall heavily along our pathway. And when troubles come, we are so constituted that we love comfort and consolation to sweeten the bitter experience by which we are made to taste the disappointments characteristic of the lives of men. It may be, perchance, that into some home a precious babe has been born, and for some reason or other it is snatched from its mother's bosom to blossom on the other shore. When it is torn away, friends may rise up to comfort her; husband and sisters, father and mother, may offer words of consolation; but all these words are inadequate to the demands of the mother's heart. Then what? She can turn to the book of God Divine and hear our Savior say in Matt. 19: 14, for instance: "Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven." And with that glad announcement and splendid promise, like a halo of light flashed across life's pathway, hope springs eternal in the human heart. It may be, my friends, that an older one, a companion, a father or mother, falls by the wayside. We carry their remains out to the silent city of the dead, and tears unbidden flow down our cheeks because of the grief and sorrow we feel. Friends try to comfort, but they largely fail. But God's word says: "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them." Such splendid promises enable us to walk out to the silent city and there deposit the beloved form of one that is nearest and dearest and still realize that behind the darkened cloud the sunlight of God forever shines. It is because of such that we can bury a father, a mother, a brother, or a sister, and erect the sacred mound. God's word is the source of the sweetest joys that earth can give and a foretaste of the bliss that lies beyond. I want again tonight to commend that splendid message and that word of truth Divine to this audience. I wish that I had the ability to impress upon you the necessity of respecting, in a practical way, the word of God Almighty. You ought to be in humble subjection to God's authority, to Heaven's will, to say with all your heart, "I believe it;" earnestly declare that from your sins you will turn away; have the courage to march down the aisles and extend your hand and publicly confess your faith in the crucified One; be buried in the name of the sacred Three, and then rise to walk in newness of life; and walk in it, my friends, until by and by God's finger will touch you and angels will gather and encamp around you to bear your spirit home to glory, to nestle in the bosom of God's love, while eternity rolls its endless ages on. If there are any here tonight who have that disposition to render obedience to the gospel call, it is a pleasure once more and evermore to grant that privilege. Now, while we stand and sing, won't you come? Federalists and Anti-FederalistsI express to you, ladies and gentlemen, the gratitude of my heart for such a splendid audience thus assembled. I regret that all cannot be seated, and appreciate the fact that you have a disposition to stand while I speak. I trust that the service may be so pleasant and so interesting as to pass the time away very rapidly. I shall not censure you, however, in case any of you become somewhat tired. In the announcement of the theme for to-night—viz., "Federalists and Antifederalists"—I would not have you think I am transcending propriety in one who proposes to preach the gospel and launch out upon fields of governmental discussion, but because of the fact that I think in these two terms and the principles for which they stand there is a matter involved that may help us in our bearing and attitude toward the word of God. I have tried during the entire week to give a connected series of talks with one point in view, and that is, to get into the minds of those who have so kindly attended the absolute and all-sufficiency of the word of God and to take that as our standard by which we are to be governed in our journey across the pathway of time. In the year 1774, when patience could no longer withstand the tyrannical hand that was bearing down upon the American colonists, they began to devise ways and means to rid themselves of the yoke of oppression that was upon them. Right soon thereafter they set forth a declaration over in North Carolina in which the first announcement was made that finally burst forth throughout the realms of the colonies and culminated in that wonderful document known as the Declaration of Independence. After that we entered into the mighty conflict with the mother country, and, as a result of several years' fighting, in 1781, at old Yorktown, freedom from the yoke of England was gained. It had, indeed, been bought at a wonderful price. The entire land was seemingly drenched and baptized in the precious blood of our sires. Two years more rolled on until the Treaty of Peace was formally fixed and signed, and after that, upon their own responsibilities, these colonies set out to direct their own course of action. They had a system known as the Articles of Confederation, which was lacking in that it had no executive department of government. They could make whatsoever laws they wished and could pass upon their violation, but there was no power behind the throne to carry into effect the executive part thereof, and hence failure was the result. In the year 1787 the people sent their respective delegates to a general convention, the object of which was to revise the Articles of Confederation and make them adequate to the demands of the colonies in general. After quite a deal of discussion, as is told in history, some very wise character made this splendid suggestion: that since these articles cannot be made adequate to our needs, let's wipe out the whole thing, clean the slate, and, commencing at the foundation, let us adopt a Constitution for the United States of America. Four months were spent in discussion, investigation, and deliberation. Naturally there were many different sentiments regarding the Constitution, but they gradually narrowed down until there were just two contending forces, arguing back and forth. One idea of government was championed by Alexander Hamilton, and the other by Thomas Jefferson. The difference was after this fashion: Mr. Hamilton's conception was that the States should sacrifice their powers and form a strong federal government. Mr. Jefferson said: "We have just fought, bled, and died in order to get rid of a monarchial form of government. Let the States retain their powers. Let the doctrine of States' rights prevail, not yielding too much to the central government and not giving too much authority to the machinery at our capital city." These two ideas having been thoroughly discussed and various compromises suggested, finally, on the seventeenth day of September of that year, the constitution was adopted. Then they started out to elect a President, a chief executive of the nation. It was unanimously conceded that Washington should be the President. John Adams was elected the Vice President. Every one regarded the Constitution as the supreme law of the land. As soon as Mr. Washington was inaugurated, in 1789, he looked around to select the cabinet members, which at that time were four in number. Political enmity and party spirit had not yet developed into the intensity of modern times. At the head of the Treasury Department, Washington selected Alexander Hamilton, who was a federalist of the deepest dye. As Secretary of Foreign Affairs, now called Secretary of State, he appointed Thomas Jefferson. So these two gigantic minds occupied prominent places. Mr. Henry Knox was made Secretary of War, and Mr. Edmund Randolph was made Attorney-General. Thus the great ship of state was launched out upon the mighty sea before it. Soon after the machinery had been set in motion it was understood and generally known that the country was deeply and woefully in debt. Alexander Hamilton had a master mind along that line. He secured the passage in Congress of a bill assuming all the State debts and all the debts incurred by the war. It was his chief ambition to start the nation solvent and paying its way. He devised ways and means in harmony with the Constitution. He put a tariff (and this was the beginning of that muchdiscussed question ) on foreign articles, on spirituous liquors, and things of that sort. By and by streams of revenue began to flow into the treasury; and, as Daniel Webster so eloquently said of him in later years: "He struck the rock of internal resources, and abundant streams of revenue gushed forth; he touched the dead corpse of public credit, and it sprang to its feet." Thus the government was launched under the flag and under the policy of "Pay your debts and assume your obligations." Just after that step had been taken there was another matter that was by him proposed, and that was that the government go into the banking business. Hamilton insisted that the government establish a national bank, in which it should be the chief stockholder. Just at that point Thomas Jefferson, the Secretary of State, interposed objections, and the first great fight in the new government began, with these two champions on either side. Now, I want you to get the arguments put forth by these great leaders. "Upon what ground, Mr. Jefferson, do you object to a national bank and to the government's going into the banking business?" Well, it is plain and easy, as every schoolboy knows. Jefferson said that the Constitution is the supreme law of the land; and while, indeed, it is not an infallible document, as is admitted by provision being made for its amendment, yet if we launch our ship of state on the Constitution we have adopted, we cannot establish a national bank, because there is no provision for it. On the other hand, Mr. Hamilton said: "There is nothing in the Constitution prohibiting the establishment of a national bank. The Constitution says not a single word about a national bank. There is not a line in it that says: 'Thou shalt not have the government engage in the banking business.' " These two ideas laid the foundation for the two great political parties, which were known as the Federalists and Antifederalists. But as time went on, other names characterized these parties. Mr. Hamilton's party came to be known as "loose constructionists"—that is, to construe loosely the Constitution, on the ground that we are at liberty to do anything that it does not specifically prohibit. Jefferson's party was known as "strict constructionists"— that is, they proposed to be governed strictly by what "was written," and declared there was danger in "going beyond." In the heated discussions that grew out of these great differences the question became: "Shall we be governed by what the Constitution and the law of the land says, or shall we be at liberty to provide any measure, inaugurate any system, or engage in any kind of business, just so the Constitution does not specifically forbid it ?"​At first Mr. Hamilton's idea prevailed; and when they came to the naming of the second President, John Adams, a Federalist, was elected. But Mr. Jefferson continued to preach the doctrine of respect for the Constitution and to hammer it into the people that we would not be correctly guided unless we regarded the supreme law of the land, unless we gave respect to our great Magna Charta, our Constitution. So when the election for the third President rolled around, Jefferson, an Antifederalist, was elected. But I have made a political speech now long enough. I want to pass from that to this: I think, my friends, what I have said is an honest, fair, unbiased, and unprejudiced discussion of a difference that exists to-night between many of us with respect to the word of God. Jesus, the Christ, has legislated and announced to the world a great constitution—God's word—and has given it unto mortal man. It, unlike the Constitution adopted by our fathers, is not subject to amendment. It, unlike the one by them accepted, is an infallible constitution—one that needs no general assembly, no convention, no conferences, no delegation of people to add "hereunto or to say imperfection characterizes it. I believe this gets at the very vitals and gist of the matter, and that all of our differences have sprung from the attitudes we have assumed to God's constitution. Friends, what shall be my conception of the word of God Almighty? Do I look upon it as a law granting me the liberty to do anything not specifically forbidden therein? Or, on the other hand, have I accepted God's constitution and do I propose to be governed by what it says rather than by what it does not say? We have drifted into this kind of an idea, and it has generally come into popularity—namely, that the Bible is a book of broad, general principles that in the main ought to be respected just as a kind of general proposition and guide. But with reference to details—with reference to the establishment of the "banking business," or the organization of any kind of a society or corporation not specifically forbidden—we are at liberty to be guided by our "sanctified common sense." Well, it is just a question as to how we shall construe God's book and heaven's constitution. How do I view the Bible? Does God want me to be a "loose constructionist," or does God want me to be a "strict constructionist?" That will settle, ladies and gentlemen, all of our petty and minor discussions. It was not a question with Hamilton and Jefferson as to whether there was anything wrong in a national bank or the establishment thereof. I presume Mr. Jefferson would have said there was no harm in it. That was not the issue. But the question was: Are we going to respect the Constitution or not ? That was, and is, the issue. And all down the line of our political history, instead of our statesmen and politicians discussing the vital principles of government upon which rest the hopes of our republic, they have too often just skimmed the surface, without a thought of the principles back of it. Just so in matters of religion. We have wandered away on far-off discussions of petty differences. What is the principle? Go back of all these, and it resolves itself in this: "Shall I construe God's word strictly, shall I be governed by what God says, or shall I be privileged to do anything under heaven just so God, in so many words, does not declare: 'Hardeman, thou shalt not.' " I wonder, in passing down the years of time, how God dealt with humanity under the patriarchal dispensation. The first pair born on the earth was commanded of God to offer an animal sacrifice unto the Lord—a bloody sacrifice. That was God's command as given in Gen. 4 and referred to in Heb. 11: 4. Abel, by faith (and faith comes by hearing God's word), brought unto God a sacrifice—one of the flock—and offered it unto Jehovah. Likewise, Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground. Unto the former God had respect, but unto the latter God had not respect. On what principle ? Is there anything wrong in offering a sheaf of oats or wheat unto God? O. no! Well, what is wrong? Had God ever said: "Thou shalt not offer the fruit of the ground ?" O. no ! Well, what is wrong? Just this: It is the question back of it all: Which are we going to do? Are we going to do what God says and walk by faith, or do what seems good unto men and walk by sight?​When God told Noah to build the ark three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high, with a window and a door; to pitch the same inside and outside with pitch; to make it with first, second, and third stories, he meant that the ark should be made exactly that way. These were not general directions, but definite and exact specifications, and were so understood. "Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he." (Gen. 6: 22.) But, overlooking numbers of illustrations, I pass rapidly to the time when God, by the hand of Moses, led that host of people out of Egypt and brought them to the foot of Mount Sinai. It was there that God gave unto them a constitution, a decalogue, a principle of government that was to last the next fifteen hundred years. And at the very beginning thereof he said: "Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish aught from it." A frowning sentinel was placed on guard to uphold and maintain respect for God's word. Well, there were Federalists and Antifederalists in Moses' day. It was not long until Nadab and Abihu took each his censer and offered strange fire unto God, which he had not ordained. They construed the constitution after this fashion—viz.:. "Our hearts are right; we have the spirit of worship, and we want to worship the Lord; and we see no harm in what we have done." But God sent out a fire, and they died as a warning to others that God's constitution and heaven's order must be respected. When God told Saul to go down and utterly destroy the Amalekites, to kill men and women, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass, Saul acted on the general broad-gauged idea, and thought surely he had interpreted and construed the constitution rightly, and that certainly if he obeyed the spirit of the command, all would be well. But God placed his condemnation upon the king because of the fact that he did not respect in the absolute the command of his word. Even Moses, unto whom God said in the wilderness of Zin, "Speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water," called unto the people and said: "Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock?" And he smote it, thus violating God's decree, doing that which had not been ordained; and, as a result, this grand old man of one hundred and twenty summers was never privileged to enter into the land that flowed with milk and honey. God at last took Moses to Mount Nebo's height and from its summit permitted him to take a view of the promised land. I have often tried to think of the splendor and grandeur of that attractive scene. I doubt not but that he could see far to the north the hoary heights of old Hermon, on which the Savior was transfigured. He could look beyond the river Jordan westward and see the smiling plains, the beautiful valleys, and the silvery streams. But Moses' work was ended and his crossing of the Jordan denied because of the fact that he had disobeyed God's voice and God's word. Jehovah dug his grave, and there buried Moses, with none, save perhaps an angel, to drop a tear of sorrow and grief upon the sacred mound. Not only that, but I recall the fact that a man on the Sabbath day started out to pick up sticks--quite an unusual thing for a man to do; but he reasoned about it and said: "I have no disposition to disobey God, and there is no harm in picking up sticks." And if I had been there, my friends, I would have said: "My dear sir, I see no harm in picking up sticks on the Sabbath day." But we must remember God's law. Because this man simply undertook to pick up sticks on the Sabbath day God Almighty had him put in prison that night and commanded the people to lay aside their robes and stone him to death. Why? Because he had not respected heaven's constitution. Well, does God's law state that you must not pick up sticks? O. no! And I presume that he could have taken Moses' own law and asked him to show where God said, "Thou shalt not pick up sticks," and Moses could not have shown it, because it was not there, which is evidence of the fact, ladies and gentlemen, that we are to be governed by what he says and not privileged to do that which he does not say. "You shall not, as heretofore," said Moses, "do every man that which is right in his own eyes." But I come down to the New Testament just a moment. In Heb. 2:1-3 Paul said: "We ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward; how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?" I think the principle of our lesson is shown clearly in the temptation of the Savior and in his escape and victory. When the devil came and said, "If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread," I want to ask you, what is wrong in the suggestion therein made? Sometimes I have heard preachers say that the wrong would have been in listening to the voice of the devil. I think that is not true; for if the devil can make a good suggestion, I want it, and it is not wrong just simply because he said it. "Lord, are you hungry?" "Indeed so." "Are the pangs of hunger gnawing at the very vitals of your being?" "Yes, sir." "Do you see anything wrong in bread?" "O. no!" "Has God ever said: 'Thou shalt not turn stones into bread?' " "No." "Will you not soon convert water into wine?" "Yes, sir." "Well, didn't you have bread back in your home?" "Yes, sir." "Has God ever prohibited it ?" "No, sir." Then, my friends, the devil made the argument and asked: "Why not do it?" God does not prohibit it. Mark you, if there is no harm in it, if you like it and it strikes your fancy, then what? Are you at liberty to do it just because God has not specifically forbidden it? Christ lays down the principle. He says: "It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." That is to say this: "I am not my own. Not my will, but shine, be done. I am in the custody, under the guidance, of God Almighty; and if God wants stones turned to bread, he will say so; and when he so announces, that will be time enough. In the absence, therefore, of such commands and of such authority, I still endure the pangs of hunger, because I propose to be governed by what God's word says rather than by my own personal preference and peculiar fancy." I submit to you, ladies and gentlemen, this fact: that back under the Mosaic reign the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night was the sole guide. If the cloud moved, the people likewise moved; but when the cloud stood for two days or two weeks or two months, the host of Israel broke not their camp. They were governed by what the cloud did. Where it moved, they moved; and where it stood, they stood. God's word is the guide and the cloud unto the people of to-day. It is time enough, my brethren, when he says do a thing for us to act. "Where it speaks, we speak; where it is silent, we are silent." Let us not, therefore, be wise above that which is written. Possibly this will help us to understand 2 John 1:9, which says: "Whosoever transgretheth, and abideth not in the doctrine [or teaching] of Christ, bath not God." God forbid that I should be led by my own lusts, my own appetites, and my own pleasures to transgress, or go beyond, the authority of the book of God. My obligation, therefore, toward the Bible is the obligation that Mr. Jefferson felt toward the Constitution—viz., it is the supreme law of the land; I must do what the Constitution says, and not presume to go beyond it. The only safe course in life for you and for me is this—viz., take God at his word, believe what he says, become and be just what God requires; and then, his word still our guide, let us live as he directs, worship according to his decree, and practice those things, and those only, for which there is authority in his word. If we do so, I feel certain that when the storms of life are all over, when we shuffle off this mortality, we will be privileged to march home to glory, into the paradise of God for evermore. I want, therefore, before this magnificent audience to say this: I do not claim infallibility. I am not so set in my own ways that I could not be changed; and if any man, I care not from whence he comes, will point out to me, or to my brethren, for whom I think I can speak, anything commended by God, authorized by the Scriptures, that we do not preach and practice, I pledge you, to the very best that lieth within me, we will introduce it just as early as it is possible for us to do so. On the other hand, if there is one single thing preached or practiced by that brotherhood with whom I stand identified to-night that is not authorized by the word of God, I stand individually pledged to give up that thing before the morrow's sun shall rise. Why? Because I expect to meet God in the by and by. I do not want to be responsible for sowing seeds of discord or division outside of that which God commanded. And I do hope, my brethren, from the depth of my being, that our conception of the word of God and attitude toward it may be such that all lines may move in convergent ways, and that the time is not far distant until a once happy, honest, earnest brotherhood throughout the length and breadth of this land can clasp hands again on the old Book and earnestly contend once for all for the faith that was delivered unto us. I also hope we will not be ashamed to stand up before dying men and tell the story of the cross, regardless of opinions contrary; that we will preach the gospel straight from the shoulder, unswerving, uncompromising, unyielding, because if there are any people under heaven to-night that have right and reason to rejoice, I think I stand with that company. We have no creed, no discipline, no confession of faith, no church manual, no ritual, except the Bible, the book of God Divine. We have no leader, no head, except the immaculate Child of Mary. We claim to be nothing under the shining realm except Christians—Christians only. We stand pledged to the idea of speaking where the Bible speaks and keeping silent where God's book is silent. This gives the only possible basis for Christian unity, and for its accomplishment, under the blood-stained banner of Prince Immanuel, our earnest prayers are constantly ascending toward the throne of God. I ask, in conclusion, tonight, if there are those in this splendid company, who have given such fine attention and have evidenced such splendid interest, that want to become Christians, and only that. I want you to join no organization, no body, no party unknown to the book of God. I want you to wear no name other than the name "Christian." I want you to accept no creed other than the Bible, which is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. It is my good pleasure once more to extend to you the gospel call. Conversion The subject I want to discuss tonight has been announced already, and it is the simple theme of conversion; and as I enter upon the investigation of it, I am sure I have the assistance in thought of this entire audience. As a text, I call your attention to Acts 3:19, in which Peter said, concluding the sermon in the temple: "Repent ye therefore, and be converted [or turn again], that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord." I need not tell you that Peter had gone up to the temple, prompted perhaps by a natural desire to tell the story, and also in obedience to Heaven's command to go into all the world. The very fact that he had wrought a miracle upon a lame man above forty years of age had increased the interest and doubtless gave him a better attention, a more riveted attention, than otherwise he might have had; and, concluding the wonderful discourse in which the primary facts of the gospel were emphasized, Peter said: "Repent ye therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord." This verse, if there were no others in the Bible, emphasizes the necessity of conversion. Why repent? Why turn again ? Note the necessity, the objective, and the reason— that your sins may be blotted out. It emphasizes, in this connection, that man is a sinful creature. It carries in the very announcement that he is condemned and unfitted to stand approved at the last great day. Therefore, with the conversion, this condition may be overcome; you may be rid of that which subjects you to wreck and ruin. Here is the suggestion: "Repent and turn away, that your sins may be blotted out." The blotting out of our sins is preparatory to the chief aim—the attainment of the eternal happiness of man. Another scripture emphasizes the necessity of conversion. It is in Matt. 18:1-3, where the disciples came to the Savior and said: "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, and said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." Now, I think it would be hard to frame in any language a law more emphatic, more forcible, more prohibitive in its possibilities, than that which is therein said: "Except a man repent, and be converted, and become as a little child, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven." Now, if God says you cannot, I have never been able to figure out how you can. Of course, if I had said this, I would try to devise some way to set it aside; but God just puts it in a plain, simple, positive way and declares: "Except a man be converted and become as a little child, he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven." Let no man, therefore, deceive himself by thinking that in some mysterious manner as yet unknown to him God will take him home to glory regardless of his being converted. That will not happen, because God said it must be otherwise. You must be converted and become as a little child. It does not look very consistent with the Savior's declaration, "Of such is the kingdom of heaven," that said child is conceived in sin, with a heart as black as midnight. Such is not characteristic of a little child. When Jesus made this comparison, he could not find a purer, holier, more spotless character; so he said to his disciples: "Except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." Now, it makes no difference how much money we may have, it makes no difference how much learning may be ours, it does not matter what political office we may hold, we must be converted. God is no respecter of persons, classes, or castes of humanity. He simply puts the emphatic negation that absolutely no man can be saved except he be converted unto the gospel of the Son of God. I have not attempted to address you upon any theme about which there are more differences than this one I have for study to-night. A very popular theory in many parts of the land and country is that conversion is wholly an act of God Almighty, that it is purely the Maker's transaction, and some scriptures are used in that connection as demonstrative of that idea. For instance, I have heard John 3:8 explained by suggesting that conversion is like the wind that "bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit." You just know it happened, but don't know how or anything about it. Well, there are others. I will have more to say on that as the meeting progresses; but suffice it to say now that if conversion were altogether a work of God, reducing man to nothing more than a mere machine, acted upon, with nothing to do concerning this, no will power, no effort of his own; if conversion be purely an act of Jehovah on man, and if God is no respecter of persons, he is under obligation to convert every man and woman on the face of the earth. Nothing would be consistent with the characteristics of Jehovah except universal salvation. To illustrate: If God Almighty, independent of a man's will and not consulting his intelligence and power, comes in a mysterious way and converts one man, why should he pass another up and not likewise convert him? "But man has nothing to do with it." "O. no!" Then, why did he take the one and refuse the other, since he is no respecter of persons? Ladies and gentlemen, that thought does not stand up in the light of common reasoning or ordinary consistency. On the other hand, we are disposed to swing like a pendulum from one extreme to another. There may be such conception as this abroad in some other quarters: that God has nothing to do with it at all, that it is altogether man's work—wholly in his own hands. Why, friends, this is just as foreign to the truth as was the former. Such would be dishonoring to God and would be refusing to admit the power and efficacy that rest alone in him with reference to the cleansing of the souls of men. But, as in general, the truth lies betwixt the two—namely, in conversion, God has his hand in it all; likewise man has a part; and as Paul said, in 1 Cor. 3:9, in this matter of salvation, "We are laborers together with God." There is nothing in a conversion unless it was begun, carried out, executed, and consummated as a result of God Almighty having a hand therein. On the other hand, there has never been a genuine conversion unless man had a part in it. In John 3: 16, all three of the parties concerned in the case of conversion are represented. Now watch: "For God so loved the world [that is God's part], that he gave his only begotten Son [hence the Son has a part], that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life [that is man's part in it]." But in another passage (Eph. 2:8, 9), wherein the two elements are brought to view—God's side, the Divine side, and the human side- Paul said: "By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast." Salvation is the thought proclaimed. God had a part in perfecting, in revealing, in making it known; and hence it was prompted purely by his love, his mercy, and his grace; but man, standing as he was at the foot of the cross, must accept God's terms; and hence, on man's part, it is a matter of faith. It is by the grace of God and by the faith of man, and thus you have the principles of salvation in which both heaven and earth are equally interested and likewise have a part. But let me suggest to you this thought in order that discouragement may never be ours. In the days of the Savior, and likewise in the days of the apostles, there were people who absolutely refused to be converted, for the Savior said in Matt. 13: 15: "This people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them " They refused when the matchless Son of God himself preached unto men and women by the thousands wherever audiences could be had, and beckoned unto the people time and again, and said unto them as he did to Jerusalem (Matt. 23: 37): "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!" And unto the Jews he said (John 5:40): "And ye will not come unto me, that ye might have life." My friends, if it should come to pass that at the last great day you and I should be turned away from the beautiful gate into the blackness of despair and the darkness that awaits, it will not be by virtue of the fact that God would not accept us, but because of the fact that we would not respond unto Heaven's call—that we would not turn and be converted, that God might blot out our sins and initiate us into the family of the First-born. Now, with these statements, I call your attention to the next thought. The confusion, as it occurs to me, that exists in the world tonight is due to a failure to analyze the process by which such is to be brought about. There are three things characteristic of man that the subject of conversion contemplates. First, I need to have my heart converted unto God. I tried to tell you yesterday afternoon just what the Bible had to say regarding that. That part of my nature that thinks, that reasons, that understands, that believes I need to have that converted so that instead of thinking in the wrong direction, instead of believing the wrong thing, instead of reasoning about the lustful affairs of the earth—I need that converted to believe in the Lord, to reason correctly with God in the right philosophy of life; and hence that part of my heart needs to be converted. But my willpower likewise needs to be changed from the downward way, with my purposes, plans, designs, and schemes turned about and faced toward the higher and nobler, better and grander things of the earth. I need my affection, love, desire, confidence, trust—all of them changed and centered upon the right ideal and the proper conception of life and duty. In addition to the change of heart, I must have my life, in its purpose, in its plan, in its intentions, in its tasks, also changed. I must abandon my former career wherein soever wrong and reverse the matter and let such a change result in a reformation of life. In addition to that, I must have my state or relationship or attitude unto the government of God changed and be naturalized or adopted into God's family. I think, with these suggestions, you can appreciate better the facts of the gospel as well as the commandments thereof. Suppose tonight, as a matter of illustration, that a citizen of a foreign country has learned of the beauties, advantages, and opportunities of our splendid land of America; that after having learned of such, after having gained by testimony, convicting and convincing, evidence of the superiority thereof, he decides and purposes in his heart to become an American citizen. The very fact that his resolution is formed, that his purpose is planned and centered—that does not of itself make him a citizen of the American country; but, in addition to that, he must renounce his allegiance unto the country in which he was and submit unto the law of naturalization; and not until the entire process is consummated has he the right to claim the protection of the "Stars and Stripes" and have "Old Glory" wave over him in defiance of all opposition. Another illustration. A young woman thinks of one day being married to a young man. What is the first process therein ? It is first a change of affections from former surroundings and centering them upon him whose wife she expects to be. And when she has thus learned to love and believe him and put her trust and confidence in him, that does not mean she is his wife. There is another step. She must form a resolution to turn her back upon home, upon father and mother if need be. She will forsake the palatial residence and go with him to live in a log cabin if the circumstances demand such. That is her purpose and intention; and when she thus resolves to turn, she is not married; and were the young man to die, she would not be a beneficiary in his estate. Then, if she has that love, that faith, that trust, that confidence, and that determination to forsake all others, what next? There is one thing that must be said before the great State of Tennessee will recognize the marriage, and that is, there must be a ceremony by proper authorities; and until that, let come whatsoever may, there is no marriage, no wife, no beneficiary in the estate of the intended husband and no right to wear his name. Now, all of us understand that. We are a unit with respect "hereunto. Did you know that in the Bible, under the figure of marriage, the idea of conversion is presented? Jesus Christ, the Bridegroom, came to earth and courted and wooed and sought the love, the confidence, the trust, and the esteem of lost and ruined humanity. Having appealed to them in the tenderest strains, he persuaded many of the sons and daughters of men to center their affections upon him. But that does not mean marriage to Christ yet. That is simply the first step, the first process. Then these same characters decide to abandon all else, to turn their backs upon the world. But the mere fact that they so decide does not make them children of God or the bride of Christ. After this, prompted by love, affection, trust, and confidence, God says you must march out under the bending blue, where orange blossoms indeed kiss the brow of beauty, and let the ceremony contained in the great commission (Matt. 28: 19) be said that changes your state or relationship and makes you a beneficiary of his will and gives you a right to wear his name. If the marriage relationship pictured in the Bible is not like the one thus described, then it is a misfit, and it is an illustration that fails to illustrate. I need not tell you that in the gospel plan of salvation there are three things that correspond to those parts. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is that by which a man's heart is converted to-night. Repentance is that by which a man's life is changed; and, short of repentance, no salvation, no conversion. Short of the fact that a man's faith leads him to change his life, there is no hope for him. Just as, therefore, faith comes to purify and change the heart, as repentance comes to purify and change the life, there is a marriage ceremony, given just one time in the Bible, in the name—not of Tennessee, though great is our State; nor in the name of Solomon, David, Abraham, Moses, John the Baptist, Paul, or Peter; but in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—to change the state. When that ceremony is completed, then, indeed, is one a beneficiary of His estate. Then the man has a change, not only of heart, but of life and of relationship, and has a right to claim a part of heaven's inheritance and the right to take upon himself the name of Him whose he has become; and if he will thereafter live as a faithful, consecrated wife ought to, at last, when heaven's home is adorned and all things made ready, Christ will come to touch his bride and bid her come home to joys and bliss eternal. But there are different kinds of conversions. That word does not carry with it any special way or direction in which the matter is to be done. No man was ever converted to one thing but that at the same time he was compelled to turn from the other. I cannot go toward this side of the auditorium but that I turn from that side, and vice versa; and hence, if it were not for the fact that man had gone away from God, there would be no need of talking about a man's being converted back to God. If a man had never turned in the wrong direction, there would be no occasion for suggesting that he turn and face about in the opposite direction. I call your attention to the first pair in God's paradise of the long ago, as Grandfather Adam and Grandmother Eve stood in their innocent state and guiltless condition on the plane of justification. They were fit company for Divine association, and with them God loved to mix and mingle. Now, as a matter of fact, all of us are aware that in the course of time they became subjected unto death and to consequences that took them out of the paradise of God, with the door barred behind them. They were made to grope their way down the darkened aisles of time, and, so far as they knew, without one ray of hope even in the distant future to chine upon them or to give them encouragement. Now, what were the steps taken in man's fall? In man's conversion from God, just what happened? Well, first of all, I suggest to you that there appeared a preacher on the scene; and, therefore, you can eliminate from your mind the idea that he was converted from God by direct process. That was not the fact in the case. But the first thing that happened in man's downward course was that a preacher, "galvanized into respectability," appeared upon the scene in the form of a serpent—the devil, if you please there in the garden of Eden, with the grandmother of mankind. What was the first thing that was done? As a matter of fact, that character commenced to preach unto her a doctrine and proclaim a message unto that woman that by and by allured her, caught her ear, and gained her attention. But what did he preach? If you will allow me to say it as it is, he preached unto her a He. But be it remembered that a He preached and believed has exactly the same effect upon one's feelings as if it were the truth. He merely said unto her: "In the day that you eat of the fruit of a certain tree you shall not die. God has said that you shall, but that is not so; you shall not." Well, all right. Now what? The next step was, very unfortunately, that Grandmother Eve believed what the preacher said, and thus yielded assent and recognition unto the truthfulness thereof. But the very minute that she believed that statement God did not damn her. He did not drive her out of his presence upon the doctrine of faith and faith only. But what then? In addition to her having believed a He, then what? The Bible says that she put forth her hand and ate of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and gave also unto her husband, and he did eat; and as she (1) heard, (2) believed, and (3) obeyed, she became guilty in God's sight and was disinherited and driven out; and that is the process. Watch that just here with these steps. Step No. 1, she believed a He; step No. 2, she obeyed a He; step No. 3, she became guilty; step No. 4, God drove her out and closed the gates of paradise behind her and put a flaming sword there as a signal and a guard, lest man should put forth his hand, eat of the tree of life, and live forever. And now, as a result of disobedience, death universally reigns upon all the posterity of that accursed pair; and, as Paul declared in Eph. 2: 12: "At that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world." And that is the condition, my friends, that prevails tonight with reference to every man that has put forth his hand and violated the commands of Almighty God. By virtue of our own sin, our own iniquity, we have separated between us and our God and he has hid his face from us. And it is said: "If ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins ;" and: "Ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins: whither I go, ye cannot come." Hence, man must be converted—turn again, reverse the steps. Starting now, as he does, not on the plane of justification, but on the plane of condemnation, what is the natural, the simple, and the reasonable manner? Just simple to retrace your steps. It is just as far back up the line as it was down. There are as many steps back to the plane from whence they came as there were down to condemnation, wreck and ruin. But the process must be reversed; and hence, commencing now just where Adam by transgression landed, and taking man as he is, meeting conditions and circumstances, not as they might be, but as they are, let us retrace our path, assured of the fact that man must be converted or there is no heaven for him. Now what? God provides the scheme of salvation, and orders the apostles, prompted by love, to commence with man as he is and lead him back to the state or the plane from which he fell. What is the first step? Exactly like that one up yonder—preach or teach. Hence, the Savior said: "They shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and bath learned of the Father, cometh unto me'" But what to preach? The devil commenced by preaching a lie. Let gospel preachers now begin by preaching the truth, for it is the truth that makes us free and that makes us stand in the presence of God justified. But that is not all. Just as they back there believed the He, just so men now must take the first step and believe the truth. Hence, he is marching backward and upward toward the plane from which the first pair descended; and remember that the very minute that Grandmother Eve believed, she was not driven out of the garden. Upon what basis, then, do you think that the Lord commanded that the sinner retrace the steps, believing that God will open wide the gates and bid him step back into the garden of Eden? It took more than faith to damn him. It takes more than faith to save him—a faith perfected by obedience. Therefore, in addition to man's believing the truth, God says: "Sir, I want you to obey the truth." Hence the second thought of the gospel plan of salvation. Take that. Then what? After you have believed the truth and obeyed it, God says: "I will pardon your sins." When the first pair believed and obeyed it, they became guilty. When we reverse the steps, believe and obey it, God Almighty pardons us. The next step is, they became guilty in God's sight and were driven out. We accept the terms of salvation in the reverse, in the conversion, the turning again, and are adopted into the family of God, from which the first pair wandered in the long ago. Ladies and gentlemen, mark you, a change of heart, or a conversion of heart, and pardon of sin do not have their origin in the same place. Repentance of all sins and the remission of sins occur in two different places. Change of heart takes place in the mind of man here upon earth; pardon takes place in the mind of God above, in heaven. Repentance and turning are acts of the individual; blotting out of sins, an act of God. I doubt not in the penitentiary of our State there are those that really have had a change of heart. They would give ten thousand worlds, they honestly think to-night, for another opportunity of liberty. They have shed tears over their wretched state and mad act accomplished; they have bowed down in repentance. But that is not forgiveness out yonder eight or ten miles west of the city; pardon takes place up here on Capitol Hill, in the mind of an entirely different person altogether, and there is no earthly way for that prisoner yonder to know by what takes place within himself what is in the mind of Governor Taylor. He cannot prove by the way he feels just how Governor Taylor is feeling on the proposition. There is repentance yonder, there must be a change of heart, there must be submission, but on Capitol Hill is the place of forgiveness. And what evidence can that man that is pardoned have except by Governor Taylor communicating the information ? And when the note or the runner is brought, it is a matter of faith in the Governor that he has really been pardoned. He passes into liberty and freedom, walking by faith. Just so I believe the gospel here in Nashville tonight, I repent of my sins, I walk down into the water, and in the name of the sacred Three, I am buried like unto that of the Son of God, arising fully resolved to walk in newness of life. Then what? I have God's word for it that from the courts of glory, from the realms of bliss Divine, he has pardoned my sins. Hence I walk by faith, not by sight. I walk by faith, not by feeling, because my feelings are deceptive and God's word fails not. The heavens may pass away, the rocks may become a molten mass, but the word of God endureth forever and forever. The foundation of God, therefore, stands sure. And when thus I submit to heaven's terms and become converted to God, to Christ, I know as much as it is humanly possible that all my sins have been wiped out; and if I will but continue faithful, at last God will be pleased to lead me up the glittering strand and into the sunlight of his matchless presence. I ask to-night, as in a moment we will stand and sing, are there those of you that will be converted? Do you believe the gospel with your whole heart? If so, I would not have you change that otherwise. Are you fully persuaded to reform your way of living and direct your life in harmony with the commands and the principles of the word of Jesus Christ? Will you submit to his terms? If so, there will be a complete conversion on your part and you will be able to read your title clear to mansions in the skies. The Great CommissionIt has already been announced from this platform, and also from the papers, that the subject for discussion tonight is "The Great Commission." In order that you may get the facts in your mind at the very outset, I want to quote to you just what the Bible has to say, and thus in just as simple a manner as I possibly can, I want to analyze the statements therein found, believing as I firmly do that you are properly prepared in heart and mind for this study. In Matt. 28:19, 20 there is this story: Jesus Christ, speaking unto the apostles, said: "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." As reported in Mark 16:15, 16, it is after this fashion: "And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned." As given in Luke 24:46, 47, it is as follows: "And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." Now, if you will hold these passages thoroughly in mind, I want to analyze with you honestly and thoughtfully and if possible to get not only the truth, but the whole truth as incorporated in these three accounts. But before I do that, I think that you may be better prepared to appreciate it by a little bit of review of the things that preceded. Religion is of Divine origin, and let us remember that the first religion ever established on earth was purely of a family sort and type, there being just a few people back in the early morning of time. God Almighty saw fit to inaugurate a system wherein the father of the family was ordained as a priest in the home; and wherever they chanced to go, he could stop and erect an altar where they could offer sacrifices, assured that it would meet with Heaven's approval. Thus the matter continued down the line for twenty-five hundred years, until Jehovah saw fit to call his people out from bondage in Egypt and lead them by the hand of Moses across the Red Sea and bring them to the foot of Mount Sinai. While Moses and Joshua were on the summit thereof, God instituted a national religion. Instead of building an altar wherever man chanced to be, God suggested: "I will build for the people a tabernacle, a house of God, builded upon a silver foundation. I will record my name, and those of you that wish to worship Jehovah will have a certain place to which you may go." That, ladies and gentlemen, was the inauguration of that system known as Judaism, that lasted from Mount Sinai down to bleeding Calvary, a period of fifteen hundred years. In the year 1095 B.C. there was a kingdom established, gratifying very largely the desires of Israel. Saul became the first king. Forty years from that date David became king of Israel and reigned another forty years, followed by his son, Solomon, for still another forty years, at the expiration of which time 975 B.C.—very unfortunately, as we view it, the kingdom was divided. Ten tribes went down to Bethel, following the leadership of Jeroboam. The other two tribes—Judah and Benjamin—led by Rehoboam, remained faithful to God's order, worshiping at Jerusalem. The ten tribes, under a reign of nineteen kings, continued until B.C. 721, when they were swallowed up by the Assyrian nation, like unto whom, in their idolatrous ways, they had become. But the two tribes lasted until the year 606 B.C., when the greatest battle of all history back there was fought, when old Nebuchadnezzar, of the east, king of Babylon, met Pharaoh-necho, then king of Egypt, at Carchemish, near the Euphrates, and there the battle raged as to which one of these two monarchs should sway the scepter of authority over mankind.​The victory was gained by the eastern king, after which he swept down upon Jerusalem in the reign of Jehoiakim and held them in subjection for nineteen years, at the close of which time, Zedekiah, the last of the house of David, rebelled. King Nebuchadnezzar had the old gentleman's eyes put out, desecrated the temple, and carried away the sacred vessels therein, together with the most of the people, into Babylon, to finish out a period of captivity of seventy years—fifty-one years longer than they had hitherto been in subjection. At that time the house or the tabernacle of David fell down and passed into ruins. Time rolled on, and in the year 536, by the decree of old Cyrus, the Jews came back from Babylon and began rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem under the splendid leadership of Nehemiah. Another five hundred years go by, during which time the Jews are subject to various nations, when, in the providence of God, John the Baptist, forerunner of Christ, the one who was sent to bear witness of the true Light, appeared, announcing a message unto the people then living, calling their attention to their indulgences, to their selfish gratifications, begging them to repent and reform from such, for he declared that the kingdom of God was at hand. Soon after he was put in prison, our Lord himself, having been, if you please, acknowledged by the God of the universe, likewise took up the work laid down by John, and began to preach unto the people: "Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." He selected twelve and sent them out upon a mission that was restricted and narrowed in its application: "Go not into the way of the Gentiles, nor into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand." Then he sent the seventy and likewise bade them to tell the people that God's kingdom was come nigh. All of this was but preparatory for the transition out of a national and into an international and world-wide religion. When at last the Savior died on the cross, he blotted out the handwriting of ordinances that was contrary and against them and took it out of the way. He tore down the middle wall of partition between Jew and Gentile, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of the commandments contained in ordinances, that he might make thereby in himself of the twain—Jew and Gentile—one new man, so making peace, and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby. Having spent three days and nights in Joseph's new tomb, he burst the doors thereof on the third day and came forth triumphant over the powers of the Hadean world, disclosing his identity to those round about, until at the end of forty days he led his apostles out to the heights of Galilee and there announced unto them a system of religion that was not narrowed down to a family nor even limited by national ties, but that was world-wide, that was heavenborn, that had been bought by the precious blood of the Son of God himself. The twelve having been selected, he gave them the most sacred charge ever couched in human words or delivered to mortal man. The salvation of the souls of men is the objective toward which all things are bound and toward which everything is converging. The one supreme object to be accomplished is the remission of sins, the saving of men and women, and the increasing of the kingdom of God and his Son, Jesus Christ. Hence, as is recorded by Matthew, he is declared to have said: "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." There are some things in this commission, as a secondary matter, addressed unto them who at first obedience became members of his body, that do not properly come into the discussion to-night, and so I pass that by for the time being. I must suggest to you the fundamental things therein as I conceive to be applicable to an alien sinner. The first obligation that rests upon the church of God to-night and upon every Christian is that we are to go; and let me drop this thought, that a body of religious people that is not missionary in heart, in sentiment, in theory, in practice, is not the body after the New Testament fashion. But, in addition to that, Christ said: "Go ye therefore, and teach." I submit to you, ladies and gentlemen, that the religion of the Bible is a taught religion; that the Christianity of the book called the "book of God" is a taught Christianity—that is, a thing men learn. Hence, Paul said to Timothy: "Continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them." Any system of religion, therefore, that is not based on elementary teaching is unlike the one mentioned and referred to in this connection. Man stands absolutely unable to direct his own steps. He is launched out upon the great ocean of time, unable by his own inherent powers to steer his bark safe to the harbor. God says, therefore: "I want you apostles, when the Holy Spirit shall have come upon you, to go and teach; for it is written, They shall all be taught of God. Every man, therefore, the hath heard and bath learned of the Father cometh unto me." But I know quite well that you cannot teach very much unless you have somebody to whom the teaching is addressed, and the commission furnishes the answer unto that demand: "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations." Go, teach all the races and classes of humanity everywhere. But, Matthew, what do you want us to teach? And you know, my friends, that Matthew did not tell. He did not say whether to preach or teach Democracy or Republicanism, and for that reason I leave a blank here and pass on. But Matthew did not suggest whether people ought to believe or disbelieve it—simply made no mention thereof; and so another blank. Neither did Matthew say one word on earth about whether people ought to turn toward him and repent of their sins; and so I leave a third blank, and pass to the next declaration, anxious to find out just what is said. Note: "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations." Then what? Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." Well, Matthew, what for? Why baptize them? Matthew did not tell, nor will I—just yet. Well, Matthew, where shall we begin—at Nashville, Knoxville, Chattanooga, or where? Matthew is as silent as the stars above regarding that specification. The point I want to get before you is this: Just to have and to hold in your minds if possible the various items and stipulations by each of these characters mentioned, and at the close of the investigation I want to strike a line and make a summary of what each of the witnesses shall have to say. I think that is about the way our lawyers proceed in a suit pending. If they have some two or three witnesses, they call them in and have them duly sworn and then placed upon the witness stand. They make note of each point therein mentioned and each item to which they give evidence; and when this one is through, they bid him to stand aside and bring in No. 2; and then they bring up items of a like nature as we do in the schoolroom in compound numbers, until the entire list is finished, and at the close thereof the lawyer rises and says: "Gentlemen of the jury, here is the truth, the whole truth, as told by these witnesses." And upon that he makes his pleadings and expects a verdict according to the evidence and law presented. Just so to-night may I have, if possible, Matthew, Mark, and Luke after the same fashion? Matthew declares they were to teach, and that all nations are to be subjects thereof. Not only so, but the taught were to be baptized. In what name? In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. But he did not declare for what purpose, he did not announce where it was to begin; and, furthermore, regarding the things applicable to a sinner this deponent saith not. Well, will you help me to study that just a little further? It seems to me to be absolutely plain. I know that I know what it says. I know that you know without any question whatever. I presume there are thousands of people in this audience to-night that could quote what Matthew declared. But we are a wonderful people in trying to explain things according to our peculiar fancy. There are those that say: "Of course Matthew thus testified, but the baptism mentioned by him is not the baptism that is practiced in this country in a pool of water, or it is not water baptism at all, but that has reference to Holy Ghost baptism." Well, maybe you might be mistaken about that. Perhaps there is some room for doubt, if not positive proof and genuine evidence to the contrary. I think I can say to you truly to-night that, while there are thousands of things I do not know, I believe there is one thing I do know—namely, that the baptism spoken of by Matthew in the commission is not a baptism of the Holy Spirit. Why do I thus speak so positively? First of all, it is the baptism that is rendered in the name of the Holy Spirit and by his authority; but I think that is not conclusive. I want to call your attention to the fact that the baptism mentioned in this commission was a baptism to be administered by man. The same apostles that were to do the going were likewise to do the teaching, and the same ones that God commanded to teach he likewise commanded to do the baptizing; and if I were in the schoolroom, I would just ask the boys and girls to designate the subjects of these words: "Go." Who? "Ye." Who, "ye?" "Ye apostles—go and teach." Who teach? "Ye apostles—and baptize." Who baptize? "Ye apostles." But you say: "That is perfectly true; but what has that to do with it?" My friends, it settles the question beyond a shadow of a doubt; for no man that ever did or ever will live ever administered Holy Ghost Baptism. Since it is true that the baptism of the commission was to be administered by man, it follows, as the night follows the day, that it was not a baptism of the Holy Spirit; for, notwithstanding the fact that John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother's womb, he says: "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire." Since this baptism in the commission was administered by man, it is evidence beyond a shadow of a doubt that it is not the baptism of the Holy Spirit. But I have had people to suggest another thing to me, and I always appreciate the kindly suggestions of anybody, regardless of how much we might differ. As a matter of fact, I think it rather a reflection upon us that we cannot even differ in political, social, or religious matters without becoming offended. Some of the best friends I have do not believe as I do on certain questions, but I appreciate their honesty and sincerity. But here is the objection sometimes raised: "I have been told that baptism is a duty that belongs to Christian people and is not a duty obligatory upon the sinner." Well, I want to ask a question or two right here. Can you think, ladies and gentlemen, of a single, solitary Christian duty on earth that a man can perform just one time and get a clear receipt from future obligation? Is prayer a Christian duty? Certainly. Can I pray one time and settle up my account along that line? "O. no," somebody says; "that recurs." Well, is the Lord's Supper a Christian duty ? "Yes." Do we do that just one time only? O. no. Is giving of my means a Christian duty? It is. Well, can I write my check for one hundred dollars or five hundred dollars, and do you think the Lord would give me a receipt in full of all accounts? I think not. If baptism is a Christian duty, therefore, you must acknowledge one fact—namely, that it stands in a class absolutely by itself, and there is not another single Christian duty under heaven that a man has to perform but one time. The truth is, it is applicable to an alien in becoming a child of God. Now, will you let Matthew stand aside for a moment and let me present Mark in the witness chair for your study? "Mark, what have you to say about it?" He says: "Hardeman, my deposition has been taken, and you will find it upon the files of heaven's chancery; and as I said then, so say I now, and of what I then declared I bid you go and see." Well, now, carefully and quietly let's study. Mark said that the Savior said unto the apostles: "Go ye into all the world." What did Matthew say? "And teach all nations." Matthew said, "Teach ;" but Mark said, "Preach ;" but they mean one and the same thing. Any man that rises in your midst and expects your careful consideration and courtesy ought to be able to teach something; and if he can teach nothing, he possibly has answered the wrong call and responded to the wrong demand. "Go ye therefore, and preach." Matthew did not say what, but Mark says: "Preach the gospel unto every creature, wherever they chance to be found." That is why I am glad to-night that this section on the left is occupied by the colored race and the rest of the sections by others, for I have never found in God's book where the gospel is limited to any race, country, or clime. Now that much was obligatory upon the twelve. After you shall have preached the gospel unto every creature, "he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." If that were anything else except a matter of religion, there never would be a single question as to the significance and meaning thereof. What did the Lord say? It is not what I might think it ought to be; it is not a question of what I would have him say or of what my great-great-grandmother might have thought regarding it. That is not the question. What did God say about it? "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." Now, to be just a little bit critical along that line, I call your attention to this statement. This is what we call in grammar a "complex declarative sentence," the principal statements of which is this: "He shall be saved." Now, what "he?" If the Lord had put no modifying thought therein, I would suggest just any "he," wherever you might find him, a universal salvation everywhere—"he shall be saved." But that is modified, if you please, by what we call a "limiting" or a "restrictive" clause, and it is a certain "he." Out of all the sons and daughters of men on earth, Jesus Christ picked out one class, accurately described, variously detailed, and made the declaration that "he shall be saved." What "he?" The "he" that believeth and is baptized. "Lord, did you say, 'He that believeth shall be saved?' " "No." "Did you say, 'He that is baptized shall be saved ?' " "No." "Well what did you say?" "I said, 'He that believeth and is baptized.' That is the man that shall be saved." Now, Christ was not talking about an innocent babe. He had not in mind an irresponsible idiot. He did not include in that an untaught heathen. He had in mind a man that was accountable to God, a man that heard the truth, a man that could understand and appreciate the truth, and announced the terms of salvation unto the man in the language that is mentioned. "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." There are two thoughts equally joined, coordinately so, joined together as a supplement the one to the other, indicative of additional ideas. Let me make to you this statement: that whenever and wherever salvation is promised unto man on certain named conditions, while there may be more conditions implied, there can never be less than those stipulated. Jesus Christ bound together faith in the Son of God and baptism in his name. I did not write that, none of my brethren, nor any general assembly or legislative body on the face of the earth. That declaration came from the Son of God Divine, and I must meet it at the everlasting judgment. Sometimes when I am called upon to perform a marriage ceremony, I wind up the matter with this kind of a statement, "What God hath joined together, let no man put asunder;" and that is well taken, too. All right; let's try it. "He that believeth [item No. 1] and is baptized [item No. 2] shall be saved [item No. 3]." What did God join together? Faith and baptism. And now let me repeat the final part of the marriage ceremony: "What God, therefore, bath joined together, let not man put asunder." Heaven has never authorized the divorce or the parting of those two statements, and as long as time shall last that statement will be in God's book exactly as it is therein put. Now, will you watch the statement? "He that believeth [the first point] and is baptized [the second point] shall be saved." Just allow me to say this: If you will take away the word "salvation" and put a thousand dollars in its place, we would have some baptizing in Nashville, just as sure as you are here. Suppose the passage read: "He that believeth and is baptized shall receive a thousand dollars." I think, ladies and gentlemen, I know enough about humanity to know just what would happen in this splendid city. Why not, my friends, with equal thought and equal analysis and reasoning, understand that God Almighty has placed salvation at the end of obedience to his will? But, Mark, where shall we commence? Now, Mark didn't say, and so I pass it again. But let me introduce to you Luke as the third witness. Luke says: "Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." I have learned two things additional to the evidence of Matthew or Mark. What they said can be absolutely true, and yet Luke's supplement "hereunto. Luke injects into the commission as given by the Savior the item of repentance; and, therefore, a gospel sermon to-night that leaves repentance out is a sermon and a gospel that is mutilated. A sermon to-night with faith left is not the gospel commanded by Christ to be preached unto all the world and to every creature. Where begin, Luke? "At Jerusalem." Hence, after Jesus Christ had given the commission, I am not surprised that he said: "Go to Jerusalem, and there tarry until you be endued with power from on high." There is too much at stake for it to be left to men unguided and unaided by inspiration. Hence, go and wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. They went to Jerusalem and waited for the coming of the Holy Spirit; and when Jesus wended his way back to glory and had dispatched the Spirit from heaven to earth to consummate the work of redemption by him begun, the apostles began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit of God gave them utterance. And having explained unto the multitudes assembled the miraculous doings of the day, Peter said: "Ye men of Israel, hear these words." I want you to know, my friends, how Peter understood and applied that commission; and be it remembered also that it was a fine occasion for its beginning, for these were Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven, that had there assembled. So Peter said: "Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain." What is Peter doing? Preaching the gospel of the Son of God, announcing the first fact therein—they had killed the Christ and with wicked hands had crucified the Savior of the world. He next speaks of the fact that he has been buried, but that it was not possible that he should be holden of death; therefore God hath raised him up. What for? For to sit on David's throne--David's tabernacle rebuilded, which from the days of Zedekiah had lain in waste; but, indeed, of the seed of David, God had raised up his Christ to sit on his throne and sway the scepter of authority over the entire realm of mortal man. Hence, he finally concludes by saying: "Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne. . . . This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God bath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ." Thus Peter preached the gospel, guided by inspiration; and when it went home to the hearts of the people, they were pierced, they were pricked, they were cut to their hearts, and said unto Peter and the rest of the apostles; "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" Now, note that Peter said unto them: "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all them that are afar oh, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation. Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers." And so on. The last verse suggests that God added unto the church day by day such as were being saved. Thus, ladies and gentlemen, have I tried to present to you the full statement as recorded by each of the characters, respecting the wonderful commission given by God to men. With the same old gospel preached tonight, with the Savior's love, with God's mercy, with heaven's interest, with the Spirit pleading, I beg of you in this presence to believe on the Lord with all your heart, to renounce that stubborn will, to turn your back upon the past, to confess with the mouth that which I trust you believe in your heart, and then to walk down into the water and there be buried, and rise determined to walk in newness of life. I bid you come to-night and give me your hand, give God your heart, and start out toward "the city which hath foundations" while all things are well. The Conversion Of A Civil Officer I am exceedingly grateful, ladies and gentlemen, both to you and to Almighty God for that disposition that characterizes this splendid audience in manifesting its desire to hear proclaimed, not the opinions of men nor fancy's stories that might be related, but the sound, sober, and sane announcement recorded by inspiration. I rejoice that I have been able to present to you the unvarnished truths of the word of God. I believe that I have from time to time before me an audience made up of honest, earnest, sincere, unprejudiced, and unbiased people. I think I can read in your very countenances and expressions that anxiety for the truth which alone can make us free and which only will be worth while when time and timely things shall have passed away. I want to get before you to-night the story of a conversion under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and I want all of you to listen very carefully to the recitation thereof. From the eighth chapter of the book of Acts, commencing with verse 26, I read. But before I give you that reading I want you to see the geography of the places about which I expect to read. There was the city of Jerusalem, which if this table here were to represent it, the town of Samaria, thirty-six miles north, would be just about the center of the gallery; then coming down from Jerusalem in a southwest direction, there was a road down to the seacoast unto the old town of the Philistines by the name of Gaza. After the stoning of Stephen and the persecutions following, the members of the church, save the apostles, "were scattered abroad" and "went everywhere preaching the word.,' Then Philip— not Philip the apostle, but Philip an inspired deacon and an evangelist—governed and guided and directed by the Holy Spirit, went down to the city of Samaria. He there preached Christ unto them, and a number of both men and women were baptized.​I begin now the story: "And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert." Now, he was very specific about that. There are in the geography and history two towns on the coast by the same name "Gaza." One of them was the old town that had been deserted, and the other was the newer town and the one in which the people then lived. Now, the angel said: "Philip, you arise at Samaria and go down toward the south unto the road that goes down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, that is desert, or deserted." "And he arose and went: and, behold a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship, was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet. Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot. And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him. The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth: in his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth. And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man? Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus. And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what cloth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, If thou believes" with all shine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of Clod And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him And when they were come un out of the water the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing." Most of the revivals of modern times consist, ladies and gentlemen, of the recitation of various cases of conversion that have come under the vision and definite experience of the preacher of the hour. Now, they are told for two purposes—viz., first, that by the recitation of the certain cases sinners may see just how the matter is done; and, second, that by concrete examples sinners will be encouraged to "go thou and do likewise." While I grant you there is a wonderful power in example, I want to say to you that the Lord found that out a long time before the preacher did, because when he went to have the New Testament written he said to the holy spirit: "Let us just take one book itself and devote that particularly unto the reciting of various and sundry cases of conversion." And, out of all the multiplied thousands that were converted by the apostles as they were thus guided, Luke, the writer of the book of Acts, selected quite a number for our example and pattern. As a matter of fact, I think you and I ought to congratulate ourselves in this respect. There are two classes of conversions and two classes of examples from which to make a selection. Now, we can select a modern case of conversion or we can have the privilege of selecting a Bible case. Then it is just a question as to which one we prefer. But be it remembered that those in the Bible practically have passed twice under the supervision and vigilance of the Holy Spirit. At the time they were being enacted the preacher of the occasion was guided by the Spirit of God direct; and, again, when Luke went to write the record and given us the story, the Holy Spirit governed and guided him there. I have no hesitancy in announcing that those in the Bible are genuine, cannot possibly be frauds; and any one in this splendid audience who can say truthfully, as we study this or any other case, that the essential features thereof are identical with his, ought to rejoice and be glad. I want to call your attention to another fact and a precaution God has taken in this important matter of conversion. In the schoolroom we have our textbooks written in the very best possible way, and I recall what I think is a good illustration just here that might help to get the point before us. In some of the rather difficult and complicated matters and problems there is this procedure in, for instance, "Partial Payments." On one page there is a recitation of Chancellor Kent's United States rule for computing the interest in a partial-payment problem—item No. 1, then item No. 2, then item No. 3, and so on down the line just what to do until the end is reached. Then on the other page the author solves a problem for you, gives all the facts unto you, and works it all out. Many a time I have read the rule and, in the words of the schoolboy, "kinder gotten balled up" on it. Now, do you know what I did? I went back and saw how he applied this part of the rule to his problem; and then when I got the problem, I went back and read the rule again. By having both the rule and the example, we can thoroughly master any problem. Now, I want to say to you that the rule of salvation with us is just as simple and just as easy. God gave a plan of salvation as presented last night. We studied the great rule of conversion as laid down by the master Teacher upon the pages of the Bible. And now to-night God proposes to solve a problem by this rule. If any here tonight do not understand the rule, let us go and see how it was applied by inspiration; and if we get somewhat confused in the problem, let us go back and read the rule again. Now, then, I think it but just and right before further proceeding to ask these questions: Who was this man about whose conversion I read? Where did he live? In what condition or state was he? What-was done for him? What was said to him ? What intelligence or obligation was communicated? In the next place, what did he do? And by tracing all the steps carefully it looks to me like we ought to be able to see the plain truth as intended. We cannot afford to be otherwise than strictly honest and earnest about it, because, as I have said before, it is not a trivial matter. I am not taming about frivolous and light affairs. It is no child's play in which we are engaged. I am not simply dealing with the emotions and passions of men, but am trying to address myself unto that part of you that is cool, calm, and deliberate, that recognizes responsibility, and that is accountable to God for not only the deeds of tonight, but of every day; and I am conscious that I must give an account not only for the way I must live and my attitude toward Heaven's truth, but my proclamation of that truth tonight. Well, the Bible is specific along this line. The record says that there was a man of Ethiopia. Now, just what his name was the Bible does not say, but it does tell the position he occupied and the condition of the man. He had charge of the treasury under Queen Candace's government, corresponding, if you please, unto the position of Secretary of the Treasury held by Mr. Mellon in the American government, and which, if offered many people of this good State, would not be turned down with a frown, but most of us would be glad to have the privilege of serving in a capacity like unto that. Now, I mention that, not because of the fact that a treasurer is more appreciated in the sight of heaven than any other man, but because of the fact that sometimes I have heard it said in ridicule that he was only an Ethiopian, just as though that rendered him less favorable in the sight of God. But here is a man occupying a prominent place; whether he be a Jew or a proselyte, I do not know; but be it said to his credit that by his faithfulness and his business ability he had gained the confidence of the queen of one of the richest and most influential countries of the age; and when the time had come for the make-up of the cabinet, for the selection of those men in whom she proposed to trust the wealth of her land, to have charge of all her treasure, this man stood out prominently and received the appointment at her hand. Now, further, the record says that this man had gone to Jerusalem "for to worship." That is why I knew he was either a Jew or a proselyte under the Jewish religion; and I think, just in passing, those of us who claim to be Christians ought to get a lesson here. You figure out how far he would have to go—a distance of about a thousand miles. By what means of transportation ? No locomotives, no cars, no automobiles, no flying through the air—nothing of that sort. The Bible states that he was riding along in his chariot, perhaps at the rate of about three, four, or five miles an hour. But the point I want to make is this: He had his heart set upon worshiping God after the law of Moses and according to the Jewish idea that then prevailed; and he found time he took time—to absent himself from his business so that he could go and worship God according to the light that then shone about him. Let me tell you: The person, ladies and gentlemen, that makes his business first and his religion second, I have an idea, is just about as near heaven as he will be when Gabriel sounds the last trumpet. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness." I sometimes get ashamed, therefore, if perchance I happen to miss the meeting of the saints on the first day of the week and put up some kind of a trivial, shameful, and ungodly plea to let it pose as an excuse for not attending to the obligation binding upon me. Here is a man whose business in every way is more weighty than ours and upon whom more responsibility rests than perhaps any man in the city of Nashville; and yet, notwithstanding the fact that he had charge of the treasury department, his convictions toward duty and toward God came first. I want to say to you that wherever there is a man of that sort that is honest and in earnest and interested in his soul's salvation, you can just put it down that the hand of the Lord it not far from him, and a way will be provided in the providence of God for that man to be translated out of the darkness into the marvelous light of the Son of God. Well, now what? This man had been to Jerusalem "for to worship," and was returning. I have indicated to you that God was interested in the conversion of a man of that sort, and I know this is true because of the feet that God moved toward that very aim, and you note the process. God sent from heaven one whose business it was to minister unto those who shall be heirs of salvation. But he did not send the angel unto this man that was to be converted, but, thirty-six miles away, God sent the angel down to the city of Samaria; and the angel appeared unto Philip, a preacher, an earthen vessel, to whom had been committed the terms of reconciliation, and the angel said unto Philip: "Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert." Now, I presume Philip had to leave Samaria before the officer left Jerusalem; but to show you the accuracy of Heaven's calculations, just as Philip came to the very road in which the officer was traveling, there was the chariot before him. And as Philip thus approached the road, he had done all the Lord told him to do. He just simply stood there and heard this man read from the prophet Isaiah. Then what? Why, the Holy Spirit wants this man converted because there never was a conversion under the reign of Christ Jesus our Lord but that it was begun and carried on and consummated as a result of the Holy Spirit's working to bring about the end in view. \ So the Spirit has a part in this; but I call particular attention to the fact that instead of the Holy Spirit's coming to the man to be converted, like the angel, the Holy Spirit went to the preacher. How unlike these modern days! God's angel and God's Spirit working for the salvation of an honest man; and yet instead of going to him, both the angel and the Spirit go unto the preacher and both of them give this kind of suggestion "hereunto: "Go near, and join thyself to this chariot." And Philip ran thereafter, and heard the man reading. That throws a little further light upon the matter. That man was reading aloud, because the Bible said that Philip heard him. I am sure that he had learned what a great many of us have learned in our time that you can better center your attention upon a printed page by reading aloud than you can in silence. But there is another statement also. In passing up and down the country on the public thoroughfares and round about, it is not uncommon for us to find people reading. I never think anything about that. But what are they reading? Some of our splendid secular papers. The good ladies on the journey are reading, perhaps, a magazine or various articles, and we think nothing about it. There are some of you who have lived here in Davidson County quite a while. Have you ever seen a man riding along some of your splendid roads reading from the word of God? You never saw that. It is a little embarrassing to get on the train and begin to read the Bible. It is such an unusual thing that all the eyes are staring and some one will say: "You must be a preacher." Why? Because it is not common to see folks reading the Bible. If you were to open up a paper on the sport page and begin reading about Babe Ruth's home runs, that would be all right; but if you read about Isaiah, the prophet, that is a different thing. Here this man had not learned modern affairs, and he did not know any better, and did not have any better judgment than to be interested in his soul's salvation, and the strange part of it is that he was reading the Bible. Well, I have often thought about how Philip introduced himself to him. He just simply followed after him, and said: "Sir, do you understand what you are reading ?" Now, think of that just a moment. If I were sitting in the hotel reading an article and a rank stranger came up to me and said, "Sir, do you understand what you are reading?" don't you think that I would take it as a little offense? And I would say: "Certainly I do. Do you mean to insult me by imagining I would be reading something I don't understand?" Now, I do not know why Philip "butted" in that way. He cut loose from all formality. He did not say, "Excuse me, please I" or, "I beg your pardon ;" or any of the little courtesies we have now; but he just said: "Sir do you understand what you are reading?" It may be that he could tell from the tone of the man's voice and the expression on his face that he was troubled. Time and time again I have been able, I think, to detect that. I have seen students down over their books delving and doing their very best, and I would not hesitate to say this to them: "Do you understand what you are reading?" How did I see that they did not understand? By some kind of an expression they had. The very way they bowed over it was indicative of the idea that they were puzzled, bothered. "Do you understand it?" This man, without taking the least offense, said: "How can I, except some man should guide me?" And he just slipped over and said: "Philip, I want you to sit with me." He perhaps thought from the countenance that was presented by Philip he might secure aid. "Maybe you can help me, and I want help, I want light, and I want the truth, regardless of the source from which it comes." Now, Philip got up into the chariot and started in on the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah as now marked off in our English Bible. The passage is as follows: "He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth: in his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth." And he said: "Sir, of whom does the prophet thus speak? Was Isaiah talking about himself or of some other man?" Now, do you want to reflect upon that treasurer's intelligence by saying: "Certainly he ought to have known to whom that refers?" I submit to you to-night that but for the fact that we have the revelation of Christ Jesus our Lord, there is not a man in this audience but that would be in the same condition as was that officer. Let me say in all kindness and with absolute respect (hear it): There is not an unbelieving Jew on the face of the earth to-night that can explain Isa. 53. "Philip preached unto him Jesus." I wonder what that means. What is implied in preaching Jesus unto the officer? If I were to preach unto you to-night some other man, I think I would begin after this fashion—to make a concrete example of it, let me say this: If I were to preach to you of some splendid, great, good man, like John Wesley, whose memory I respect and whose work I appreciate to the fullest, I would give a review of his career and teaching and influence. I regard him as one of the great men of his age; and if I were to tell you and to preach unto you John Wesley, I would go back unto his old grandfather, Bartholomew Wesley, who was born about 1600. I would tell you something of his ancestry and of the line from which he came. I would tell you still further of his father, Samuel Wesley, whose determination and persistency should encourage every boy, and of his mother, Susannah, who guided her children in honorable PATHS. I would tell you about his purpose and the desire that he had to reform and to revive the church that was characterized by the cold, formal sort of religion that then prevailed. I would tell you how, in company with three others, he started a society that by and by spread in prominence and influence until at last the result swept across the Atlantic and aroused the land of America, especially the land of Dixie, from the center thereof to the outermost parts. I would tell you of the wonderful influence of John Wesley, of the life that he lived and the death that he died in 1791, and of his last statements. If I had done that correctly, I would feel like I had preached unto you John Wesley. Now, my friends, how would Philip preach Jesus unto that man? I have no doubt in the least but that he went way back in the line and began in the ancestry of our Savior to show how he came according to the prophetic declarations—how that by and by he was born of the Virgin Mary in a stable and cradled in a manger; how, to evade the edict of old Herod, his father and mother took their flight into the land of Egypt, and there stayed until Herod had died; and how at last they came to dwell in Nazareth. I would tell you how he came from Galilee, skipping over the hills and across the plains, until he came to the rolling waters of the river Jordan unto John, his forerunner, and demanded to be baptized; and when John forbade him, Christ said: "Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness." My friends, if the Savior thought that to be baptized was becoming in him, what right have you or I to think or fancy that it is unbecoming in us? "Then he [John] suffered him." In telling that story further, I would tell you that Jesus, when he was baptized, came up out of the water, the heavens opened, and God's Spirit descended in the form of a dove alighted upon him, and a voice from the eternal worlds said: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." In further telling about that wonderful life, I would tell how he was taken into yonder mountain height, where he wrestled with the archfiend of humanity, and at last wrested the power of authority and caused the angels looking out over the battlements of heaven to rejoice because of the victory won. I would tell of his wonderful deeds, of the miracles wrought by him—how he called about him a few of the humble fishermen and illiterates of earth and schooled them for about three years, and at last, when the greatest opposition had been aroused, false witnesses were brought one after another; how his enemies carried him from court to court until they stood in the presence of old Pontius Pilate, the governor, who, after three different trials, rendered a verdict of "not guilty." But that bloodthirsty crowd was hell-bent upon setting aside that judgment passed in his favor while he stood humiliated. O. don't get it into your mind that Christ lost his balance! It doesn't mean that Christ's reasoning powers fled away, but that that judgment that Pontius Pilate declared in his favor was taken away, and in its stead there was the judgment of the multitude substituted in that they said: "Away with him! He is not fit to live upon earth." I would tell you still further, as perhaps Philip did in riding along that day, how he was buried in a borrowed tomb; but by the power of God Almighty he burst the bars and came forth triumphant, and then led the disciples out and said unto them: "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." "Preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." "Repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." The Bible says that when Philip preached unto him Jesus, as they went along on their way, they came to a certain water, and the officer said: "See, here is water; what cloth hinder me to be baptized ?" I want to ask you, my friends, how came the man to think of asking a question like that? He had never heard a gospel sermon in all of his life. He had never heard of the Savior nor of his commandments until this occasion. How did he come to ask: "What cloth hinder me to be baptized?" There is but one sensible answer, and that is this: He had heard Philip preach unto him Jesus. Sometimes there are friends of mine that tell me they like to hear me speak, and often suggest to me: "Brother Hardeman, why don't you go out into the world and just preach Christ and say nothing about baptism—just hold up the Christ idea, preach Christ, and leave the other out?" Well, do you know that as much as I would like to do the will of my friends, I would be wonderfully handicapped by trying to heed a suggestion like that? Why, I could not even get Christ introduced into the world, because the very first announcement regarding his public career was that he was baptized at the hands of John. I would have to leave off the beginning place. And then, further, if I were to just simply preach Christ and leave out baptism, I could not tell you his valedictory unto the apostles, because the last thing that he ever said was: "Go, . . . teach all nations, baptizing them." I would have to cut short the story at both ends of the line. Let me tell you in all candor, in all frankness, in the presence of God Almighty, before whom I must stand at the judgment day, the man that preaches Christ and leaves out baptism preaches a gospel other than that recorded in the New Testament. Talk about preaching Christ and leaving out baptism! Impossible thus to do. Talk about preaching Christ and leaving out faith! It is a mutilated gospel if you do that, and you are untrue unto the authority of God. Talk about believing the gospel and preaching Christ and never saying anything about baptism! "I would be ashamed to be afraid and afraid to be ashamed" not to tell the whole story—not to declare God's entire counsel.​But as they went on their way the demand was made: "What doth hinder me to be baptized?" Philip said: "If thou believes" with all shine heart, thou mayest." Get the response. That man said: "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." Having so done, he commanded the chariot to stand still. The Bible said (mark it): "And they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him." My friends, we have an example to-night given by inspiration. Does it correspond with your conversion ? Was Jesus Christ proclaimed ? You say: "Yes." When you were converted, did you believe on the Lord ? You answer: "Yes." When you were converted, did both you and the preacher go down into the water? If not, you just put it down that your case was unlike this one; but if you did that, you can put your finger upon this passage in God's word and say: "This is exactly like I did." But, again. Going down into the water is not baptism; that is getting ready for it. Coming up out of the water is not baptism; that is the return therefrom. But after they went down into the water and before they came up out of the water, there was an act that transpired that God calls "baptism." "We are buried with him in baptism." Then what? They came up out of the water; the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, and the eunuch saw him no more, and he went on his way rejoicing. Now I am ready to make to this splendid audience tonight this statement, and I do so conscious of the fact that Nashville represents the intelligence of our State, that you have the most enlightened citizenship, possibly, along Bible lines, of most of our cities in this land; but I am ready to make this statement (hear it): Under the commission of the Lord Jesus Christ no man ever rejoiced on account of sins forgiven until after he was baptized. Find it and get busy in the search. I repeat it After Christ Jesus gave the commission, until the book of Revelation was written, there is not a single case on record where any man ever rejoiced on account of sins forgiven until after he was baptized. Now, my friends, this is either so or it is not so; and (hear it) if you will show me that it is not true, I will make public acknowledgment of my mistake before an audience five time this big, if you will get it together; but I will be here a week or so longer, and I am not the least bit uneasy about anybody's finding the man. It is not there--absolutely not. But let us view this from another angle. As this eunuch went on his way rejoicing, suppose you had met him down the road; and there he was, with his face aglow, with the sunbeam of hope radiant in his every expression and in his very countenance, and you say: "Why, sir, what on earth seems to be the matter ?" Possibly he hadn't changed clothes, and the inquirer looks up and says: "Why, it has not been raining, has it?" "No." "Well, did you fall in the creek ?" "No." "Well, sir, explain yourself. Tell what has happened. I want to know." Now, where would this officer begin to tell his experience? Would he commence by telling about the angel? O. no! The angel had a hand in his conversion, but the man knew nothing about it. Would he commence by telling him about the Spirit? The Spirit had a prominent part in the man's conversion, but he would not begin there. If I may repeat the story, it would be like unto this: He would commence in explanation and say: "I live in Ethiopia. I had been up to Jerusalem for to worship, not knowing that the system of Judaism had passed away and Christianity had been inaugurated. And as I was returning, reading along in the Bible, presently I met a man who asked me if I understood what I was reading. I told him I did not, and asked him to get up and sit with me, and he did so; and he commenced right at the very passage where I was reading, and he preached unto me Jesus. He preached and I listened. As we drove on down the road, we came unto a certain water, and I said: 'See, here is water; what cloth hinder me to be baptized?' And that man said if I believed with all my heart I could, and I told him that I believed that Jesus Christ was the Son of God; and he commanded the chariot to stand still, and both of us, both the preacher and I, went down into the water, and there he baptized me; and we came up out of the water, and he went somewhere, I don't know where; and I am on my way home, just as happy as can be." Now, do you think that I have misrepresented that eunuch's experience? I am glad to say to you tonight, ladies and gentlemen, that in every essential feature thereof that corresponds unto that conversion upon which my hopes are founded. I heard the gospel, I believed it, I repented of all my sins "hitherto committed, I acknowledged the Christ in the same terms as he did, and then Brother R. P. Meeks and I went down into the water, both of us, and he baptized me. We came up out of the water, and I rejoiced because of the faith that I had in God, who said: "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." I had done that. I believed God's statement. And as that man went on his way, it is interesting to mention a thought or two further just by way of suggestion. What was he? Yonder he goes down toward his home in Ethiopia. What is he? Of what church was he a member? I bid you think on these things. Now, there is another feature to which I want to call your attention. Had he been like some of us, he would doubtless have said: "Well, Philip, I must say that that is a good sermon. I never heard anything like it in my life. It looks like it has sense in it; I am impressed with it; and I will tell you. I live down in Ethiopia, and next year I will be back up to Jerusalem, and I am going to think about this; and if I happen to see any of your sort, I may accept that preaching." O. my friends, that is not the kind of a man he was! The man that is God-approved, that is not far from the hand that bestows the blessing, is the man that responds to his duty when he is convinced of its correctness. He never even stopped to think about what the folks back home would say. It is now. Now is the accepted time. I see the truth. What cloth hinder me from walking therein? I come to you tonight, ladies and gentlemen, once more with this concrete illustration, taken from the pages of God's word. I want to ask that you duplicate that man's conversion in your own experience. Believe the gospel with all your heart. From all your sins be resolved to turn away. Confess the Christ as he did, and go down into the water, and there be buried as he was, arising to walk in newness of life, and be assured that God has forgiven your sins. If you will do that, it will make of you nothing under heaven except a Christian; that is all. It will make of you nothing in the world except a member of the body of Jesus Christ, the church of the living God. It is a pleasure to extend unto you who have listened so patiently and so earnestly the gospel call again. The Conversion Of A Military Officer I must congratulate myself to-night for having the privilege of addressing such a fine audience as this assembled. One of the most encouraging things to me I have ever experienced is the close attention and the very earnest and intelligent hearing that you are giving while I try to present to you that which I believe to be the book of God. I think that you will grant my earnestness, sincerity, and honesty, however much you may chance to differ with me regarding the subject-matter presented; for I assure you I have no motive in coming to your city but to preach the Bible as best I am able to read and learn the will of the Lord therefrom. I want to say to you now, as in the beginning, that the gospel of the Son of God is universal in its application, including all races, classes, and conditions of humanity. The gospel of the Lord is intended to reach down to the lowest depths of degradation and despair and provide salvation unto the soul that is thus steeped in sin and bowed down under the evils of the earth. It is also intended for the very best man that the country affords, as viewed from a moral point of consideration. Last night's study was the conversion of a prominent official in the country known as Ethiopia. I am glad to call your attention to-night to another very prominent man, known throughout the country in which he lived and against whom very few things could have been filed as a criticism or objection. I want to repeat to you the story in brief, not in detail, as found in the tenth chapter of the book of Acts, that you may get a general idea of the case under consideration. The record says there was a man in Caesarea called "Cornelius," a centurion of the Italian band, a devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people and prayed to God always. He saw in a vision, evidently about the ninth hour of the day, an angel of the Lord coming in to him, and saying: "Cornelius ;" and when he looked upon him, he was afraid, and said: "What is it, Lord?" The response was made in these words: "Thy prayers and shine alms are come up for a memorial before God. And now send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter: he lodgeth with one Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the seaside: he shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do." Now, after having received such intelligence, Cornelius called unto him two of the servants and a devout soldier that waited on him continually and repeated what the angel had announced. He then sent them down to the seacoast, a distance of thirty miles, to inquire for Peter. While they were coming, Peter had gone upon the housetop to pray; and there, while praying, he fell into a trance, and this is what he saw: The heavens opened and a certain vessel descending unto him like a great sheet, knit at the four corners and let down to the earth, wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and fowls of the air. Accompanying the vision, there was a voice unto Peter, saying: "Arise, Peter; kill and eat." But Peter said: "Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean." The voice answered: "What God bath cleansed, that call not thou common." Now, this was done three times. The vessel was received up again into heaven. And while Peter was thinking what that meant, behold, three men were down at the gate hallooing: "Hello! Is this where Simon, the tanner, lives?" While this discussion was going on, the Holy Spirit said unto Peter: "Arise therefore, and get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing: for I have sent them." On the morrow they started back toward Caesarea, and during the time Cornelius was busy getting ready for the meeting. He had gone out and gathered his friends and family, so that when Peter came he found that many had come together. HE said to Cornelius at the very start: 'fir am treading on dangerous ground, for I know that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company or come into one of another nation; but God has showed me that I should not call any man common or unclean. Therefore, I am come unto thee as soon as thou hast sent for me." Then Cornelius repeated the story. "Thou hast well done that thou hast come. Now, we are all present here before God to hear whatsoever things are commanded thee of God." Now, Peter began and preached unto them the story of the cross. As he began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on all them that heard the word, and they began to speak with other tongues and magnify God. Then said Peter: "Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days." This is practically the tenth chapter of the book of Acts. I have gone into detail to get that matter before you in its concrete form that you might appreciate all things the better that I may say regarding it. In the study of this man's conversion I do not know better how to proceed than after a sort of an inquiry raised on last evening. First of all, I want to find out who this man is of whom the record is thus given; next, what was done for him, and what was said to him, and what he said, and what he did, thus tracing the line from the very first announcement unto the very last, when we find him standing as a child of God, his sins forgiven. Now, if we can do that successfully to-night, I think perhaps we may be able to appreciate the plan of salvation as never before. Unto a great many people that fail to handle aright, it occurs to me, the word of God, the conversion of Cornelius adds confusion and perplexity unto an otherwise simple story; but I think we ought to concede at once that in the conversions of the Bible there cannot be inconsistency or discrepancy regarding any two thereof. Now, be it remembered that circumstances connected with different men's conversions have differed on various occasions; but the items of obedience to the gospel of the cross must once and forevermore remain the same. If, therefore, we can eliminate all the circumstances and show the difference between them and the acts of obedience, it will greatly clarify the whole matter. Who was Cornelius? The record says there was a man of Caesarea called "Cornelius." Now, be it remembered that this story is in the land of Palestine, fortyseven miles northwest from Jerusalem. Cesarea was the political capital of that part of the country, to which various officers were dispatched from headquarters at Rome. Cornelius was a military man. The record tells us he was a "centurion," corresponding in our modern military machinery to a captain. Therefore he was called a "centurion of the Italian band." In addition to that, there was a rather strange feature mentioned. The record says that he was a devout man, and I think that it is not amiss to say that this is not generally true of the military officers throughout our land or any other land. To say the least of it, it is not generally true of captains, colonels, or officials of the army and navy that they are known far and wide as devout men—sincere, worshiping, prayerful men. But here is one that was a devout man—one that feared God; and not only himself, but he was not indifferent to the rearing and training and impressions of his family, even including his soldiers and servants, because the record says he was a devout man—one that feared God with all his house, who gave much alms to the people, and who prayed to God always. And, in addition to that, this man saw an angel of God coming unto him about the ninth hour (that is, about three o'clock in the afternoon), and said unto him, "Thy prayers and shine alms are come up for a memorial before God"—in memory of a promise made nineteen hundred years before unto Abraham, when he said, "In thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed ;" hence, as a memorial of the world-wide promise that is now for the first time about to find its fulfillment: "Thy prayers and shine alms are come up for a memorial before God." Now, I doubt not but that some of this audience are wondering: "Why did a man like that need anything further?" As a matter of fact, the story thus far repeated, the character of Cornelius thus outlined, would put to shame many of us that go about under the appellation of a member of the church or a professed follower of the Lord. The Bible says also that he was a just man—one of good report among all the people. Now, you ask: "Does that man need to be converted?" Indeed so. I want to make this declaration: that because a man is good, upright, honest, just, prayerful, does not argue that he is a child of God; and I wish all of you people that are really relying upon your uprightness of character, upon your sobriety of life, upon the fact of your devotion to the members of your family and your relationship to your fellows—mark it, you are no better nor can you present a finer record than did Cornelius. Stand up by the side of him and let your portrait be made, and I will obligate myself to show that Cornelius will stand above any of the citizenship of this or any other city in the borders of our beloved State. He was a good man, a moral man, a just man, a prayerful man, a devout man, a philanthropic man—one that looked after not only himself, but the rest of his household, including the servants and the soldiers; and yet he needed to be converted unto God. No man has ever yet been saved on account of his intrinsic worth or inherent value; and if any one is ever saved, it will be by virtue of the fact that he has been washed in that fountain filled with the precious blood of Christ. On account of my goodness I cannot merit nor buy nor place Heaven under obligation to save my soul at last. Above and beyond all of my deeds and my doings, I must render obedience to the will of God. It is by Christ that the world must be saved; and hence Cornelius, notwithstanding the superior type of man that he was, stood in need of salvation. Therefore the angel said: "Send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter: he lodgeth with one Simon a tanner, whose house is by the seaside: he shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do." Now, may I raise this inquiry? Why did not the angel announce the terms of salvation and save a journey of sixty miles, round trip? Why didn't the angel, while in direct contact with Cornelius, tell him words whereby he could be saved, and not postpone the same for seventy and two hours ? Well, there is a reason for that, of course. I learned in the case of the eunuch that there was the interference of an angel; but instead of the angel having gone to the man to be converted to tell him the plan of salvation, in that case the angel went to the preacher. But tonight the angel comes to the man to be converted; but you note there is a specific purpose for so doing. The angel said: "Send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter: he lodgeth with one Simon a tanner, whose house is by the seaside: he shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do." Angel, why not you tell ? Mark it! When Jesus Christ gave the commission, he had delivered the gospel, God's power to save, into the hands of earthen vessels; and from that hour until this neither an angel nor the Spirit nor Jesus Christ himself direct has ever dared to tell men and women what to do, but always they have directed the inquirer and the man to be converted to some man on earth unto whom the gospel of the Son of God had been committed. Therefore, the purpose of the angel and the purpose of miracle No. 1 was to inform this man to be converted where the preacher was from whom the information could be had. So he bade Cornelius good-by, and possibly went to tell some other honest man where he could find out what he had to do to be saved. But be it remembered, further, that Peter, the preacher of the occasion, likewise needs to have his vision cleared; for as yet it had never been announced that the middle wall of partition had been broken down. As yet the Jews did not understand that the gospel was world-wide and intended for the Gentiles. They had been so prejudiced and so biased that they had refrained from preaching the gospel unto one of a foreign nation; and so, in order to fit Peter for the occasion, while these men are coming down to Joppa, a trip of thirty miles, God appears unto Peter on the housetop in a vision. There was a great sheet let down from heaven, in which were all manner of four-footed beasts and fowls of the air and creeping things, and there was a voice that said: "Arise, Peter; kill and eat." But Peter answered: "Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean." While he thus thought on what the vision signified, these men were standing at the gate, asking if Simon Peter was there. Then it was that the Spirit unveiled the matter, and said: "Arise therefore, and get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing: for I have sent them." Hence, miracle No. 2. The vision was for none other purpose than to convince him that he ought to go and preach the gospel unto the Gentiles. It was to convince the apostle Peter that no longer should he be bound by racial ties and limited by former practice; but, as a matter of fact, the gospel was to go unto all the world and be preached to every creature. He had never had such an understanding before in his career. But as a matter of precaution, while Peter thus started with these messengers, he took six Jewish brethren with him to be witnesses in case something unusual or out of the ordinary should happen, for as yet a little skepticism dwelt in the mind of Peter as to the course that he should pursue. Thus they went on their way back to the house of Cornelius; and the record says that as they went thus to the house, Cornelius came out and was ready to fall down and to worship Peter; but Peter said unto him: "O. no, Cornelius; don't do that! Stand up, for I also am a man." And as he went in, he found that many were come together. Now, to understand the matter still further, he said: "Gentlemen, you know that it is unlawful for a man that is a Jew, like unto me, to come unto one of another nation, or even keep company therewith; and but for the fact that God bath shown me on the housetop that I must call no man common or unclean, I would not be here." Cornelius said: "Peter, thou hast well said. Now, therefore, are we all present before God to hear whatsoever things are commanded thee of God." With that kind of an introduction, Peter opened his mouth and began the proclamation of the gospel of Christ. He said: "Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: but in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him. The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all:) that word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached; how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him. And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree: him God raised up the third day, and showed him openly; not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead. And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead. To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins." Go back to the very first and come down the line of prophetic declaration, and unto Jesus Christ they all testified that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive the remission of sins. But there is another thing going on at the same time. As Peter thus began and spoke, the Bible says that the Holy Spirit fell on them as it did on the Jews at the very beginning. Now, mark you, Cornelius is to be saved by hearing the words that Peter spoke unto him. But let it be understood that he received the Holy Spirit before the words were proclaimed; wherefore a great many people jump at the conclusion that before a man can be saved he must be baptized with the Holy Ghost. Many honest, upright, and quite intelligent people believe a statement like unto that. Hence, it is worthy of consideration as to just why the Holy Spirit came on this occasion. Let me ask the same class of people: If you expect to have a Holy Ghost baptism preparatory to your soul's salvation, why not go a step further and expect an angel to come and to announce a message unto you as it did to him? One of them is no more important or significant than the other. One of them is no more miraculous than the other is, nor is the salvation of the soul of Cornelius any more important than that of any other man. Now, why was the Holy Ghost thus given? I think that it is well worth our while to ask some specific questions with reference to a matter of that sort. Was it in order that Cornelius might be begotten preparatory to the new birth, without which, said the Savior, no man can enter the kingdom of heaven? Well, if that is it, God knows I want it and all of us ought to yearn for it; but I do not find that the Bible declares anywhere that men are begotten by the Holy Spirit directly, but it does declare in 1 Cor. 4: 15: "For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel." Hence, it is not by the baptism of the Holy Spirit. But some one says: "Brother Hardeman, he had to have the Holy Ghost baptism in order to give him faith, because without faith no man can be saved." Now, if that be the way of it, I have no disposition on earth to be antagonistic thereto; but I remember that Peter talked about this very point in Acts 16: 7: "Men and brethren, . . . God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe." Now, Peter said that, instead of the baptism of the Holy Ghost being to produce faith, faith came by hearing words spoken by his mouth. Others suggest, perhaps, that they must have the Holy Spirit in order that their sins might be remitted—that they might be washed and made whiter than snow. But that is not true, for the simple reason that Peter said on the day of Pentecost, `'Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins," and the gift of the Holy Ghost would follow. Was it in order that Cornelius might be saved? O. no! For James (1: 21) said: "Lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls." My friends, take the matter home. For what purpose was the Holy Spirit sent? If you shall answer that it was for any such thing as those mentioned above, I obligate myself to turn to the word of God and put my finger upon the very book, chapter, and verse that shows that thing is done in some other way. Now, the fact is this: The reception of the Holy Spirit in its miraculous form does not prove that the possessor thereof is a child of God. Other people than Christians have had the Spirit in its miraculous manifestations. I remember that Balaam's ass spoke by the Spirit of God, but that does not prove that he was God's child or a leader of the church. I remember that old Caiaphas, speaking by the Spirit of the Lord, prophesied that one should die for the sins of the people. Certainly no church would claim him as a member. But there is a specific reason why the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the house of Cornelius why he was able to speak in tongues and magnify God. You learn, my friends, the use of things by seeing what is done with them and what purpose may be served. Suppose I had never seen an automobile. I get in by the side of the chauffeur, and I am wondering what a couple of levers are there for. I see them, but I understand not the purpose. If I will just be quiet for a few minutes and begin to see what he does with them, I will arrive at a pretty fair conclusion as to their purpose and intent. I see him pull one back, and the car begins to move out; and then he shifts forward to the right, and a little further, and then back again; and without ever asking a single question, but jut seeing what is done therewith, I catch on to the purpose of the same. When he stops the car, I see him take hold of the other lever and pull it back. Then the thing is locked. You don't have to tell me the last was a check or a brake. Now, let us follow with the same attention, after the same fashion, and find out just what was the use of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the occasion that is referred to. After the conversion of Cornelius was over, which happened like all other men's (for when Peter preached the gospel unto him, the record says he commanded him to be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus) after that, when Peter, together with the Jews, had gone back to Jerusalem, he was called in question regarding his visit among the Gentiles. When, therefore, Peter arose before his brethren assembled at Jerusalem, the record says, in the first part of Acts 11, that he commenced at the beginning and explained the matter unto them by order. Then what? He said unto them: "Brethren, when I saw that God gave unto them the like gift as he did unto us in the beginning, and unto us who believed on the Lord, what was I, that I could withstand God?" Then the Jews held their peace and glorified Jehovah, saying: "Truly, then, bath God granted unto the Gentiles repentance unto life." Why did the Jews concede that? Because of the fact that they saw a like demonstration made unto the Gentiles as was made unto them some eight or ten years before. What evidence did they have that they were an acceptable people to the Lord ? They had heard them speak in tongues and magnify God. And what are tongues for? What has that to do in substantiation of the fact ? In 1 Cor. 14: 22 Paul said: "Wherefore tongues are for a sign." A sign unto whom? Not unto the believer, but unto the unbeliever. Hence, where any man has ever in all the Bible spoken in tongues, it was not for the benefit of those already believers, but it was for the benefit of the unbeliever. Thus it was at Pentecost; thus it was at the house of Cornelius. On the first occasion the Bible says that when the apostles were filled with the Holy Ghost they began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. The unbelievers constituted that thronging mass that gathered on that memorable occasion. But at the house of Cornelius, who are the unbelievers? The six Jewish brethren that accompanied Peter on that eventful trip. What is the evidence to remove that prejudice and that bias? Just, Lord, grant unto them the same things that you did unto us, and then we will have no more to say. And from that hour unto this, no Jew that accepts the gospel of Christ ever has doubted that the Gentiles likewise are privileged to the enjoyment of the provisions of the gospel plan of salvation. Now, then, eliminate miracle No. 1, the angel to Corny lies, the purpose of which was to get him and the preacher in direct contact. Eliminate miracle No. 2, the vision of Peter on the housetop, the purpose of which was to convince him that he ought to arise and go unto a foreign nation. Eliminate the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the purpose of which was to convince the Jewish world that the Gentiles were acceptable, and Cornelius' conversion stands out exactly like that of every other man that has been converted, from the reign of the authority of Christ until this good hour. What happened? Cornelius heard the gospel; Cornelius believed the gospel; Cornelius repented of his sins; Cornelius was baptized. Hence, he fulfilled the items stipulated in that world-wide commission, the great rule and the law of pardon announced unto sinful man. I think there are many people all through this country that are good, upright, honest, moral, of good report, just, fair, and square, and yet deceived on the ground that God will save them because of their goodness. I, therefore, repeat the proposition made at the start. No man has ever yet been or ever will be saved on account of his goodness. That is not the terms of salvation. But the items of acceptability demand that good men do God's will. There are people, doubtless, in this splendid audience to-night that all they need to do is to recognize the fact that they must do God's will in order to become citizens of the kingdom of God, that they must be baptized, as the Lord Jesus Christ has commanded the taught of all nations. After we have obeyed his commandments, God Almighty will wipe out every sin and initiate us into the grandeurs and glories of his family upon the earth and at last into the paradise of heaven beyond. And now, my friends, in conclusion of this talk to-night, if there be those in this good company that are willing to follow in the footsteps of Cornelius, do the things commanded by God, do the things that he did—that is, hear, believe, and obey the gospel—it will make of you a child of God, a member of heaven's family, while on earth you dwell. Let me insist upon this fact: that if you wait for the coming of an angel, eternity will find you still unprepared. Angels no longer come, for we have God's will completed and his word revealed. If you wait tonight for the baptism of the Holy Spirit, you will die absolutely disappointed, for there have never been but two cases in the world's history—one of them at Pentecost and the other at the household of Cornelius. They had their specific purpose, which has been fulfilled and passed away; and we are saved to-night upon obedience to God's will, and not by the appearing of an angel, not by the baptism of the Holy Spirit, not by wonderful, miraculous performances, but by humble, loving, trusting, penitent obedience unto the authority of God Almighty and of his Son, Jesus Christ. And now, while we sing a song, I am glad once more to bid you come and give these brethren your hand, give God your heart, and give the world your better services, and start out toward "the city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." God's Immutable LawsI want to speak to you this noon on the immutability of God's law. I preface this address by suggesting that in the make-up of every man there are two natures that might be properly called the "created nature" and the "breathed into" nature; for in Gen. 2: 7 it is said that God created man of the dust of the earth, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and he became a living soul. It is right, therefore, to talk about God's being the Creator of our bodies and the Giver and Father of our Spirit?. When these two natures are blended together, we call such "life;" but in the course of time, when these two natures are separated the one from the other, we style it "death." Hence, Solomon said (Eccles. 12: 7): "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it." These statements lead up to the conclusion that we are citizens of two worlds. That we are linked with the natural world, no one can doubt; that we are likewise made to partake of the Divine nature is equally obvious unto those who are really thoughtful. For the government and control of man in this dual nature two systems are necessary. One of them is adapted to our material relationships; the other, to our spiritual relationships. These two laws, while not antagonistic to each other, operate in entirely different fields. Paul said, in Rom. B: 7: "The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." My animal nature, passions, and lusts are not subject to God's spiritual law any more than that of any other animal. So, then, the law that governs man's animal nature is wholly impotent with regard to his spirituality, and vice versa. In the natural things with which I have to do and in my material relationships I do not especially need the Bible. *For the outline and matter of this sermon I am very largely indebted to Brother E. C. Fuqua, of Los Angeles, Cal.​This I say thoughtfully. I derive no special benefits direct from it. An infant born into the world soon learns the first law of self-preservation, and it does not have to go to the Bible to get it. We soon become acquainted with the laws governing material things with which we have to do. All of our advancement, our progress and scientific development, is but the discovery of the natural law governing those things. This very largely explains why, in every age of the world and in every country, scientists and inventors have either been irreligious or the rankest skeptics of earth. They have gained the mastery over the material laws of the universe. They understand the workings of these laws and have lost sight of the fact that there is another part of man's nature that is not subject to the law governing material things. I submit to you that from our experience we have learned this: that when we disregard any of the laws of the universe in which we live, our purposes and plans are always defeated. It is a law, for instance, of electricity that there must be double wires on which the current is to run if lights are made possible. If any man would try to wire this building with a single wire, his effort would be a failure. Why? Simply because nature's law demands to the contrary, and no man has the power to change or alter it in the least. It is a law that by atmospheric pressure water will rise to a height of about thirty feet. The different kinds of pumps used in this country are made with due regard to this law, and any effort to change or disregard it results in failure. It is a law of a chemical element called "phosphorus" that if it be subjected to the air, spontaneous combustion will result. Hence, to prevent this, it must be kept under water. According to another law, metallic sodium must be kept under some kind of an oil to keep it from igniting. Now, we understand those things and are governed in strict accord therewith. I submit to you, further, that in the law of the material world God is no respecter of persons. The rich and the poor are brought to defeat just alike when they violate the law governing material affairs. There may be the basest criminal on earth, prompted by suicidal intent; and then right by him there may be an innocent babe. If both get hold of a bottle of poison and drink it, death is the result. The fact that one is a criminal and the other a spotless babe does not affect the immutability of God's natural law. We ought to learn some lessons from these simple examples. If the wealthiest man in all our land and the most learned that has ever lived were to violate one of nature's laws, the penalty therefor would be as certain to follow as the night follows the day. Ignorance of this natural law renders no excuse, nor does it save the violator from the penalty. When we come face to face with some law of the universe and transgress it and the penalty is meted out, we never think of putting up the excuse that we did not know certain results would follow. They came just the same. The fact that the penalty is always meted out is evidence beyond question that the Executor of these laws still lives and sees to it day by day that every transgression and disobedience receives the punishment therefor. So long as I live upon the earth I must adjust myself to the laws of nature. I cannot go contrary with impunity. Suffering will come upon me and punishment will be inflicted so long as I remain out of line with God's law. I may fail to plant a crop during the spring, and for a short time feel no effects therefrom; but when the cold, bleak, dreary days of winter rush upon me, my suffering begins, and will continue until I decide to fall in line with nature's laws for the support of my physical being. No doubt but that many of the ailments of our being are due to the fact that some sort of our machinery fails to function in harmony with the laws governing our bodies. Suffering will continue until an adjustment is made. All things are held together by virtue of the immutability and unchangeableness of nature's wonderful law. Suppose that electricity should leave the wires in the city of Nashville and spread out into space; wreck and ruin would be the result. Every apparatus in this city would be rendered useless. It would be dangerous to pass along the streets and avenues. But as it is, I am not afraid to walk about your city. Why? Because I believe that the great electrical current will run true to God's law and will stay confined to the wires. Suppose that gravitation should cease Do you not know that everything upon the earth would at once be plunged into the fathomless depths of unbounded space? The world would stop and cease to rotate. Everything on the face of the earth next to the sun would soon become red hot, while everything on the opposite side would freeze to immense depths. As a result, every particle and every phase of life that now moves would be destroyed. But these things will not happen, for God has given unto us a perfect law, carrying with it the absolute assurance unto all those who have studied such matters. The astronomer can sit down to-day and figure out exactly, even to the ten-thousandth part of a second, just when there will be an eclipse a hundred years hence. He can tell what will come to pass with respect to the heavenly bodies in the year 2000 just as well as he can tell what will happen one month from today. How can these things be? Not that he is a prophet, but because of two things first, the immutability of nature's law, and, second, the fact that "figures do not He." Now, to put these two things together—God's law, absolutely perfect, unchangeable, immutable, eternal, and the further fact that "figures do not He"—and men can make the calculations that prove true. That is a wonderful benediction, a rich provision of high Heaven unto mortal man while upon the earth we dwell. God's laws are absolutely dependable. You need not be afraid that there will ever be an exception. Step out into the line of mechanics; and if you get the right philosophy and understand nature's law, you can make a machine that will operate, and it is not a matter of experiment. It is not a question of whether a thing will work or not; if you have confided in and conformed unto God's material laws, that thing is as certain to prove a success as the heavens are above us today. My friends, but for that, life would be fraught with dangers on every hand. The apothecary in your drug store today can compound and fill a prescription that will fit a man up in Canada of whom he never heard, and the same thing will be applicable to a man in Europe. Now, why? It will produce the same effect upon one man as the other; and, therefore, the apothecary is not afraid; he knows the immutability, the unchangeableness, of the laws of God in the material world wherein we live. Now, another thing. It is the Law of the material world that like begets like. We never have an exception to that. For instance, there is a book written by Mr. Alexander Patterson, the name of which is "The Other Side of Evolution." In that he declares that from the historic rocks there have been found more than a hundred species of vertebrate animals, about fifty of which are still in existence. And during all the ages that have characterized the fossilized state there has never been a single exception to the fact that everything has brought forth after its kind and after its fashion. We act upon that principle. Some of you ladies, perhaps, have already seen about planting your gardens. You want to have some butter beans after a while, and you don't think about planting squash seed. Why don't you? Because you have confidence in God's law that if you plant butter beans you expect to reap them. If you want potatoes, you would not think about planting pop corn; and if you want tomatoes you would not plant muskmelon seed. Why not? Because of the immutability of God's law. It is owing to what you want as to the kind of seed you ought to plant anywhere. If you want to make Mormons, for instance, of course you would not plant Republican seed; if you want Democrats, you would not plant the seed of Bolshevists; and so on through life's affairs. Now, I want to state another principle. All I expect to do to-day is to get this principle before you: that in the natural world all life must be confined to the law governing the same; and outside of that law, which knows no exception, life does not exist and cannot be enjoyed. When God, by miraculous power, created the animals of earth, he definitely fixed and specifically located the life of each, either in the air or in the water. If any species thereof ever enjoys that life, it must get into that sphere where such is​ located and there remain. An animal with lungs and nostrils cannot live in a vacuum; an animal with gills cannot live outside of water. Why? God's immutable law has so decreed, and no exceptions can exist. In conclusion, if there are any of you who know God's spiritual law and have a disposition to obey it, will you do so now while we stand and sing?