3.01 - "REMEMBERING"

"REMEMBERING"

Ladies and gentlemen, my brethren and friends, it is, indeed, a great inspiration and a genuine pleasure to be greeted by such a magnificent audience, prompted, as I believe you are, by the holiest desires to spread abroad the principles of the kingdom of Christ, to render proper thanksgiving unto Him from whom all blessings flow, and to show forth the praise of Him who hath called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. Through the guidance of a kindly providence, we are here again to mix and mingle in Christian association and to declare once more the counsel of God to dying men.

It is not at all rare for great assemblies to come together. Sometimes political conventions call forth thousands. Matters of entertainment, things that pertain to the affairs of men here, are such as to bring together the multiplied throngs, but when people come together for the purpose of reverencing Jehovah, and showing respect to his truth, it is a great encouragement, and especially in this age in which we now live.

I want all of you to enjoy every service of this series. I want you to feel that it is your meeting, and that the responsibility of its success rests very largely upon you as individuals. I count myself exceedingly fortunate to stand in your midst and have a part in your efforts. I shall never forget six years ago when first I came to you as a stranger, and received such a gracious welcome at your hands. It is a pleasure today to meet you again and especially to be surrounded by kindred hearts and congenial Spirit?. It is both all inspiration and a pleasure to be surrounded by these hoary heads who have borne the heat and burden of the day. Their sacrifices and continued labors have made possible gatherings like this in the name of the Lord.

I congratulate the congregations who have been responsible for working out this program, and now I feel as if you are amply rewarded in the results thus far attained. While I look with pleasure and appreciation upon those of you here assembled, I am not forgetful of faces once familiar, conspicuous now by their absence. They have slipped away and have passed to the realm of the boundless beyond. I do not doubt but that from that spirit land their eyes are turned toward this auditorium, and they joy and rejoice with us in this service. Their having gone comes as a forcible reminder of the fact that all of us are beating solemn marches to the tomb.

"The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power And all that beauty, all that wealth ere gave Await alike the inevitable hour, The paths of glory lead but to the grave!"

"All flesh is as grass, and the glory of man as the flower of the grass, the grass withereth, and the flower thereof faileth, but the Word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the Word which, by the gospel, is preached unto you." Death, decay and passing away are written upon the wings of time and timely things, and out of all that you and I behold in our journey from this to the other shore, God’s Word alone stands Gibraltar-like against the elements of time.

I am especially grateful again for the courtesy shown by the daily papers of your city which have so kindly contributed to the success that was attained in former meetings, and that have been a very potent factor in bringing to pass the gathering of these thousands here today. I want to express further a genuine thanksgiving for the courtesies of their promises already announced. And to the merchants and business men who have kindly come to our noon-day services, I am not unmindful of a spirit of gratitude. I believe that every employer will be glad for those under him to come to our services. I think the Mayor, the Chief of Police and other officials of this city would rejoice and be glad to know that those over whom they exercise authority have respect enough for things sacred to want to attend our services, both day and night. To all, therefore, who have in any way had a part in our success, and who maintain that disposition to further the same, we owe a debt of gratitude which, perhaps, neither I nor my brethren will ever be able to pay. The Bible, friends, is the most universally read and studied book of all the earth. For it there is a high regard, and by its wonderful teaching men have been moved and made to think as from the perusal of no other book ever penned upon this earth. Its opening sentence is, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." The falsity of that statement can never be proved. To the real or pseudo-scientist there is ample time for his multiplied millions and billions and trillions of years, for God says, "In the beginning Jehovah created the heavens and the earth." That Book before us now gives the only sensible account of our existence upon the earth, and I, for one, do not address the ape or the chimpanzee as my grandfather, neither do I count the monkey as all elder brother, but I believe the story of Holy Writ, and have no apology to make to any man for my faith in God’s Word.

Upon the pages of that Book is revealed our duty, not only to ourselves and to our fellow-man, but to Jehovah as well, and when the curtain is drawn aside the destiny of the human family is boldly proclaimed to all mankind. From the first pair in Paradise there are ten generations down to the flood, at which time sin and wickedness had become so great upon this earth that God decreed that everything in whose nostrils was the breath of life should be banished from the face of the earth. Therefore this mighty flood, this wonderful ocean o’ertopping the highest hills and the loftiest mountains, this boundless expanse, without a single shore, was heaven’s means of purifying the earth and making it a better dwelling place for humanity. By means of the flood, eight souls, having entered into the ark, were transferred from the old corrupted, sin cursed world into the new.

Ten generations more go by, and we are introduced to him who became the friend of God and the father of all them that believe. Wonderful promises are announced, both of a physical, and likewise of a spiritual nature. From our introduction to Abraham on to the close of Revelation, the story is but the story of one family through whom the promises had come, and from whom the Christ can trace his ancestry with unbroken line. The descendants of Abraham, with the passing of years, drifted down into Egyptian bondage, about seventy and five souls in number. There they were subjected to the hardest tasks and to the most rigorous labor of which there is a’ record. The years go by, and God at last heard their cries. Under the leadership of Moses they marched across the Red Sea, and on the other shore sang the song of glad redemption and of sweet deliverance.

Two and a half months thereafter they came to the foot of shaking Sinai, towering six and a half thousand feet above the level of the sea. Here they stayed for all entire year, and during that time four prominent events took place: first, the giving of the law; second, the infidelity on the part of Aaron, the worship of the golden calf, and the punishment; third, the building of that house of gold upon a foundation of silver; and fourth, the numbering and the organization of the people. At the end of another year they were found at Kadesh-Barnea, from which place the spies were sent to view the promised land, and because of the evil report on the part of ten, a decree went forth that for thirty and eight years longer they should wander up and down the beds of those streams, across the parched sands of that great and terrible wilderness, until, in the providence of God, they were permitted finally to enter the land of promise. The experiences of those forty years were just about such as come to humanity even today. There were murmurings, rebellions, fault findings, criticism, back-bitings, organizations against their leaders, and longings to go back to the flesh-pots of Egypt. The patience of Moses, and the bearing of their burdens to the Lord in prayer are fine examples to every leader who is devoted loyally and unflinchingly to the service of God. When forty years had passed they were in the plains of Moab, just beyond the Jordan, opposite the historic city of Jericho. Before the death of their matchless leader, two great battles had been fought. Old Sihon had been slain down at Jahaz, and Og in the battle of Edrei. The Amorites were dispersed, and the tribes of Reuben, Gad and half of Manasseh were settled on the Eastern tablelands. It was just at this time, or if you want it specifically, it was in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, and on the first day of the month, when Moses spoke to the people the words that you find in the book of Deuteronomy, some of which I read to you at the beginning. That which I have in mind to try to impress upon you is this, "Thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in shine heart, whether thou wouldst keep his commandments, or no." My friends, proper equipment in life demands a good memory, likewise the ability to forget. All of the blunders, the murmurings and the fault findings unjustly made ought to be forgotten, but the fear of this great leader and captain was that they might forget the God who had led them all the way, who had fed them with manna which neither they nor their fathers knew, who had caused their garments not to wax old, nor their feet to swell. At that time Israel was facing a great future. Moses wanted to mortise their feet in the past. He knew that they were its product, and that they were standing on sacred soil, ready to cross the River Jordan, drive out the various nations, and come into the full possession of their own. He knew man’s disposition, and the nature of his people. Moses said, in substance, "Brethren, beware lest when you come into goodly cities and dwell therein, and drink of wells which you did not dig, and eat fruit of vineyards which you never planted, when you become greatly multiplied in your flocks and herds, when your silver and your gold and all that you have has been multiplied, that ye forget the God that brought thee out of the land of Egypt, and from the house of bondage. Remember it is God that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he swore unto thy fathers." Their further story is to me interesting. About forty years more went by and the nine and a half tribes were planted in the promised land. They soon forgot the past, and thus they grew haughty, puffed up and were filled with pride. In order to bring them to penitence, and make them to recognize that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, he sold them again into subjection, and a series of oppressions, seven in number, came one by one upon them. When they came to themselves, time and again, and called unto the Lord, a suitable leader was raised to meet the exigencies of the hour. Hence we have a series of judges, all the way from Othniel to Samuel, fifteen in number, during a period of about 450 years. Thus God’s government was inaugurated to meet their demands. But as has always been true, they grew impatient with Jehovah’s way, and became ungrateful. They failed to remember how that one time the Lord took them up, led them about, kept them as the very apple of his eye, and gave them such abundance of the good things of the earth.

They looked about and saw the nations marshaling their forces on the fields of battle with their glittering swords and their rich-colored uniforms, and said, one to another, "Let us make unto ourselves a king, that we may be like the nations around us." Samuel warned them against such a departure from the way of God, but in their evil disposition, stubborn and rebellious nature) they answered back, "Nay, but we expect to have a king." God gave them a king in his wrath, and for 120 years all the tribes were united under the kingship of Saul, of David, and of Solomon. But that seems to be as long as people can easily march together, and hence division springs up in their midst. Ten tribes went after Jeroboam down to Bethel, and there began a system of worship unheard of by the God of Heaven. Two small tribes remained under Rehoboam in the city of Jerusalem, and tried to carry on according to heaven’s commands.

I want you, in this historic review, to think of principles and of lessons that might be enlarged upon, possibly, to our profit. Only 254 years passed from the division of the kingdom until the ten tribes had so far forgotten the Lord and had departed so much from the path of God’s government, that they were literally swallowed up and absorbed by the great Assyrian nation. That marked the death knell and sounded the doom of the ten tribes of Israel. The two tribes continued on for 134 years, when they were sold into Babylonian captivity. The seventy years pass, and their unfortunate experiences are traceable to the fact that they did not observe that which Moses urged upon them just before his departure, namely, "Thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee."

Friends, there may be a parallel in various ways to this wonderful bit of history. Our beloved land, America, has by some been called a child of Providence. I am not here to deny that possibly a guiding hand has had a part in the history of this, the greatest country on earth. I think it unfortunate for any nation, or for any man not to remember the kindly hand of a superior power. Unfortunate is that nation or man across whose path no guardian angel has ever been known to fly and in whose affairs there are no readings and no discernments of providential care and favors bestowed.

I think the year 1620 marks the real beginning of that splendid land wherein we chance to dwell. I know that previous to that year the Spanish had their settlement at old At. Augustine in the land of flowers, but if the Spaniards had been successful, all effete monarchial government would have crushed the possible liberties of the new world. Already the English had settled at Jamestown, but had they been successful it would have meant the transferring of the old principles of government upon the new world. And the industrious Dutch had, previous to that good year, established their trading posts on Manhattan Island, but if they had been left undisturbed this country would have been great only as a wonderful commercial nation.

I think it was the coming of the Pilgrim Fathers in the historic Mayflower that brought and introduced into this country the supreme idea of God Almighty. It is said in history that every resolution and every undertaking on their part was with the idea that God should walk together with them. Their posterity settled the thirteen sturdy, self-reliant colonies which, in the course of years, drafted that, immortal document, the Declaration of Independence. Six years of bloody warfare followed to make good that decree. Finally, with the loss of thousands of their kind, and their little country almost literally baptized in the blood of their sires, they were recognized as a nation among the sister nations of the world. That religious and civil liberty for which they had fought and died was then confined between the Atlantic on the east and the Alleghenies on the west. But its star was not to be held in such narrow bounds. The frontiers were pushed across the crest of the Alleghenies and the light of that star swept on to the mighty waters of the great Mississippi. And it wasn’t content then. Beyond the bosom of the river the same light of religious privileges and of respect for God was carried, across the great staked plains, and its western boundary became the snow-capped regions of the wonderful Rockies. The wisest statesmen and the greatest philosophers said, "Ne plus ultra"—beyond this thou shalt not go—but in that pronouncement and prophecy they were doomed to disappointment, for by and by the light of that guiding star overtopped the summit of the snow-clad Rockies and mingled its silvery beams with the golden glories of the Sunset coast. Thus our great country, springing up from a foundation like that mentioned, extended from ocean to ocean, and from the Lakes to the Gulf. It has grown, multiplied, made progress, and advancement, until, as you know, it stands the greatest nation on the face of the earth. Our leaders have had but to touch our wonderful national resources and abundant streams of revenue have come forth —possibly to bless, maybe to curse, a splendid land.

I think you and I today ought to remember how that possibly Jehovah has kept all eye upon us as a people in our civil and likewise our religious privileges. We have come to be exceedingly great. We are feasting upon the very fat of the land. Our wealth is unlimited. Our powers likewise cannot be measured. The eyes of the entire world have for some time looked toward America, not only as the money center and the trade center, but for that religious life which some day, I trust, may encircle the globe, and make all darkness to vanish, and the marvelous light of heaven itself to shine upon the denizens of earth.

We do big things. We cross the ocean in five or six days. Lindbergh needs but thirty hours. The Mayflower was five or six months. We build greater cities, do bigger things in every way. I wonder, friends, if we alight from our barks to greater tasks than did those of the past. Are we rearing greater men, are we developing a better citizenship to adorn the doctrine of God Almighty, and likewise to be a blessing to humanity?

I regret to have to say today that, as a nation, we have largely lost confidence in our fellow man; the old-time elements of honesty, uprightness, downright truthfulness are below par on the market of the world. The blackest crimes, the most gruesome deeds, and the most atrocious acts that ever stained the pages of history He at our very door. The slimiest creatures that ever cursed the face of the earth have sat in high seats in our government, with a conscience seared as with a hot iron, until public sentiment had to drive them away. The alarming thing is that we have tolerated such conditions so long. We have allowed these venomous beasts to hang on until our selfreproach is largely gone.

We have got to rise up in self-defense and recognize that our success in life is not material, but that it is moral and spiritual in its nature. Our lofty skyscrapers cannot rest upon a foundation purely materialistic in nature. And there has got to come a time ere long when we must reverse our gear and hark back to the principles that actuated our fathers in days gone by.

We have drifted away from God. We have turned aside from His Book, and unless there is a halt, this country will be turned into hell at last with all the nations that forget God.

We are standing upon the past. We are its products. The land on which we stand this afternoon is made land. The soil in which we are to sow our seeds is a prepared soil. Let us not forget that unto Him, who is the Father of our Spirit?, there is all obligation and a duty that must be paid.

But, friends, that is not all. The church of the Lord Jesus Christ was established twenty centuries ago. Through the passing of the years there was a general state of apostasy, and beneath the rubbish of humanism and of superstition, the cause for which Jesus died lay buried during the long spell of the dark ages. Finally there was the hand of Providence to show forth the rays of light that opened up the great reformation, the culmination of which was the coming of another Mayflower bringing those who had vision, regard, and appreciation of Jehovah to clear the clouds and banish the darkness, and to cause the light of another star to cast a glimmer o’er this earth.

We stand today, from the point of religious consideration, upon the ground prepared by others. I am in no sense responsible for the possibility of such a great throng of people, Christian in name, assembled. More than forty different congregations, together with friends and kindred who have come, are responsible for it. I cannot but gladly share the result of the labors of those who have gone before. I recognize that I am standing upon the foundation prepared by others. I am, during this meeting, to try to sow the seeds of the kingdom into soil very largely prepared. I would be untrue to myself and all ingrate, unless I harked back now to give honor to whom honor is due. I remember that God Almighty and good men have labored and served and sacrificed to make possible the glories and the pleasures and the joys that you and I today share.

I call to mind such old brethren as Phillip S. Fall, Tolbert Fanning, David Lipscomb, a number of the Sewells, F. D. Srygley, J. C. McQuiddy, Jas. E. Scobey, and, not least among the number, the lamented J. A. Harding, together with a host of others, who are responsible for the pleasure that is mine now. And as we hymn His praises, and the melody from six or eight thousand hearts present wings its way to the great throne of heaven itself, let us remember all the way how that God’s hand had been in it all.

I have come, my friends, to try to beget within those who have it not as yet, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and to kindle within your hearts a lively hope, by announcement of the resurrection of our leader from the confines of the tomb. I trust that I may be able to appeal to your finer senses, and better elements, and cause you to respond to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I want you, friends, to become members of the body of Christ, of the household of faith, and to pledge the remnant of your days unto the most pleasant service possible to mankind, and then at last, when Life’s dream is over, I want you to share the pleasures that pass understanding.

If there are any of you in His presence even at this initial service who understand the will of the Lord and have a heart and mind to accept it, I am glad, even now, to extend the gospel invitation, while together we stand and join in the singing.