T Arrows

T Talents—to fee used. A tradesman who is prospering seldom has much money to show; it is all wanted in his business. Sometimes he can scarcely put his hand on a five-pound note, because his cash is all absorbed: his golden grain is all sown in the field of his trade. Speaking for myself, I cannot find any room for glorying in myself; for if I have either grace or strength, I certainly have none to spare. I have barely enough for the work in hand, and not enough for the service in prospect. Our pound is not to be hung on our watch chain, but to be traded with.

Temptations everywhere.

Men who live in London need not go across the street to meet the devil. The very atmosphere of a great city is close and hot with the reek of sin. As flies in summer, so will temptations torment you, go where you may. Men of business, you need not ask for temptations; they are thick in every trade; they multiply like gnats. They swarm in the factory, the counting house, the exchange, and the shop. The Christian man in public need not sigh for temptations; they will not be ashamed to solicit him in the open streets. This age tests the backbone of every Christian. A man need be a man at such an hour as this. We must not be dwarfs nor spiritual consumptives now. We have come into the very thick of the fight, and woe to that man who cannot endure temptation; but blessed is the man who can bear it even to the end.

Testimony—Personal.

I am sure I felt quite taken aback the other day when a flyman said to me, "You believe that the Lord directs the way of His people, don't you, sir?" I said, "That I do. Do you know anything about it?" "Why," he said, "yes. This morning I was praying the Lord to direct my way, and you engaged me: and I felt that it was a good beginning for the day." We began talking about the things of God directly. That flyman ought not to have been the first to speak: as a minister of the gospel, I ought to have had the first word. We have much to blame ourselves for in this respect. We hold our tongues because we do not know how a word might be received; but we might as well make the experiment. No harm could come of trying. Suppose you were to go into a place where persons were sick and dying, and you had medicine about you which would heal them; would you not be anxious to give them some of it? Would you say nothing about it because you could not tell how it might be received? How could you know how it would be received except by making the offer? Tell poor souls about Jesus. Tell them how His grace healed you, and perhaps they will answer, "You are the very person I need; you have brought me the news I have longed to hear."

Testing.

We all need testing, do we not? Would you like to cross a railway bridge if it was reported to you that it had never been tested by a train? When the first exhibition was built, I remember how they marched troops along the galleries to test them. Do you not desire to have your hope for eternity tested? The Lord draws near to us in ways which inspire our fears, because He would test us. What is the result of the test? Do you not feel your own weakness? Does not this drive you to the strong for strength? You feel your own sinfulness; and you fly to the Lord Jesus for righteousness. Testing has a practically good effect in slaying self-confidence, and driving you to put your confidence where God would have it rest. The infinite unattainable.

I am like the child which said to its mother, "Mother, I will bring the sea to thee," and the little one went down to the shore and filled its little palm with water, but before it reached its mother it had spilt ten times as much as it had carried, and if it had carried all it had taken up, it would only have brought a few drops, and left behind it the great and wide sea altogether undeminished. The law a looking-glass. The law is also very useful, because it shows us our defections and stains. It is like the looking-glass which my lady holds up to her face, that she may see if there be any spot on it. But she cannot wash her face with the looking-glass. When the mirror has done its utmost, then there are the same stains. It cannot take away a single spot, it can only show where one is. And the law, though it reveals our sin, our shortcomings, our transgressions, it cannot remove the sin or the transgression. It is weak for that purpose, because it was never intended to accomplish such an end. The Lord—A sight of. That holy man, Mr. Walsh, when the Lord revealed Himself to him, was obliged to cry, "Hold, Lord! remember I am but an earthen vessel; and if I have more of this delight I must die." One said he would like to die of that disease, and I am very much of his mind. They say, "See Naples and die "; but to improve on it, another said, "See Naples and live"; and truly this is the better sight of the two. I would fain see my Lord so as to live to His praise. Oh, for such a vision as should shape my life, my thought, my whole being, till I became like my Lord! The Lord a wall of fire. A Christian lady not long ago dreamed a dream which was not a dream, but fact. She saw herself as surrounded with God; encircled above, beneath, and all around, as with a blaze of light: Brilliance inconceivable made a pavilion for her; and while she stood in the midst of the glory she saw all her cares, and her troubles, and her temptations, and her sins, wandering about the outside of the wall of light, unable to reach her. Unless that light itself should open and make a way for them she was serenely secure, although she could see the perils which else would destroy her. Is not the Lord a wall of fire round about us, and the glory in the midst? The poor can become peers of heaven.

Yonder poor girl lies in a garret, where the stars look between the tiles, and the moon gleams on the ragged hangings of the pallet where she bravely suffers, and without a murmur, gradually dissolves unto death. However obscure and unknown she may be, she has been kept from the great transgression; tempted sorely she has yet held fast her purity and integrity; her prayers, unheard by others, have gone up before the Lord, and she dies in the Lord, saved through Jesus Christ. None will preach her funeral sermon, but she shall not miss that voice from heaven saying, "Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord." The Word a key.

Never was there a lack of soul trouble yet but what there was a key to open it in the Word of God. For our pain, here is an anodyne; for our darkness, a lamp; for our loneliness, a friend. It is like the Garden of Eden: a double river of peace glideth through it.

Trouble—God thanked for.

I was reading today of old Mr. Dodd, who is a person the Puritans are always quoting—a man who did not write books, but he seems to have said things with which other people made their books attractive. This old Mr. Dodd, it is said, had a great trouble, a bodily complaint I will not mention, but it is one of the most painful a man can suffer from; and when he was told that this had come upon him, and that it was incurable, the old man shed a few natural tears at the great and excruciating pain; but at last he said, "This is evidently from God, and God never sent me anything but it was for my good, therefore let us kneel down together, and thank God for this." It was well said of the old man, and it was well done of him that he thanked God most heartily. Oh yes, let us kneel down together, and thank God for our trouble!

Troubles. A Scotch saint said that when they met in the moss, or by the hillside, and were harried by Claverhouse and his dragoons, Christ was present at the sacraments in the heather much more than He ever was afterwards when they got into the kirk, and sat down quietly. Our worst days are often our best days, and in the dark we see stars that we never saw in the light. So we will not care a pin what it is that may befall us here, so long as God is with us, and our faith in Him is genuine. Christian people, I am not going to condole with you, but I congratulute you upon your troubles, for the cross of Christ is precious.

Troubles met one by one.—Take life and death just as they come, bit by bit. You know how the Spartans endeavored to keep back the Persians. They took possession of the pass of Thermopylae, and there the brave two hundred stood and held the way against myriads. The enemy could only advance one by one. Now, do not think of all the armies of your troubles that are coming in the future, but meet them one by one. "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."

Troubles—our glory.

There is no glory in being a feather-bed soldier, a man bedecked with gorgeous regimentals, but never beautified by a scar, or ennobled by a wound. All that you ever hear of such a soldier is that his spurs jingle on the pavement as he walks. There is no history for this carpet knight. He is just a dandy. He never smelt gunpowder in his life; or if he did, he fetched out a smelling bottle, to kill the offensive odor. Well, that will not make much show in the story of nations. If we could have our choice, and we were as wise as the Lord Himself, we should choose the troubles He has appointed us, and we should not spare ourselves a single pang.

Trust—child-like. A blind child was in his father's arms, and a stranger came into the room and took him right away from his father. Yet he did not cry or complain. His father said unto him, "Johnny are you afraid? You do not know the person who has got hold of you." "No, father," he said, "I do not know who he is, but you do."

Trust—false.

I have heard of one who, on his death bed, laid bags of money to his heart, but he was forced to put them away and cry, "These will not do! these will not do!" It will be a sorry business if we have been trusting in our temper, our charity, our patriotism, our courage, or our honesty; and when we come to die, we shall be made to feel that these cannot satisfy the claims of divine justice, or give us a passport to the skies.

Trust in a living Savior.

Some years ago, someone wishing to mock our holy faith, brought out a handbill, which was plastered everywhere—" Can you trust in a dead man?" Our answer would have been, "No, nobody can trust in a man who is dead!" But it was known by those who printed the bill that they were misrepresenting our faith. Jesus is no longer dead. He rose again the third day. We have sure and infallible proofs of it. It is an historical fact, better proved than almost any other, which is commonly received as historical, that He did really rise again from the grave. He arose no more to die. He has gone out of the land of tears and death. He has gone to the region of immortality. He sits at the right hand of God, even the Father, and He reigns there forever. We love Him who died, but we rejoice that He who died is not dead, but ever liveth to make intercession for us.

Trust in Providence.

I was going through these streets one day, driven by a friend in a four wheeled chase, and he, being a good driver, must needs drive into narrow places, where it seemed to me we must be crushed by the vans and omnibuses. I shrank back, in my timidity, and expressed my unwise alarms so freely, that he with a smile laid the reins in my hand and said, "If you cannot trust me, would you like to drive yourself?" From that ambition I was wholly free, and I assured him that he might drive as he liked, rather than make me the charioteer. Surely the great God might well put the same proposal to those who are complaining of His providence. If we cannot trust Him, could we manage better ourselves?

Trust—Simple.

I once lived where my neighbor's garden was only divided from mine by a very imperfect hedge. He kept a dog, and his dog was a shockingly bad gardener, and did not improve my beds. So one evening, while I walked alone, I saw this dog doing mischief, and being a long way off I threw a stick at him, with some earnest advice as to his going home. The dog, instead of going home, picked up my stick and came to me with it in his mouth, wagging his tail. He dropped the stick at my feet, and looked up to me most kindly. What could I do but pat him and call him a good dog, and regret that I had ever spoken roughly to him? Why, it brings tears into my eyes as I talk about it! The dog mastered me by his trust in me. The illustration is to the point. If thou wilt trust God as the dog trusted me, thou wilt overcome. God will be held by thy trust in such a way that He could not smite thee, but must accept thee for Jesus' sake. If thou dost trust Him, thou hast the key of His heart, the key of His house, the key of His heaven. If thou canst trust thy God in Jesus Christ, thou hast become a son of God. I see a philosophy in the choice of faith.

Truth. That you have not perceived spiritual things is true; but it is no proof that there are none to perceive. The whole case is like that of the Irishman who tried to upset evidence by non-evidence. Four witnesses saw him commit a murder. He pleaded that he was not guilty, and wished to establish his innocence by producing forty persons who did not see him do it. Of what use would that have been? So, if forty people declare that there is no power of the Holy Ghost going with the Word, this only proves that the forty people do not know what others do know. If there are four of us who do know it—well, we shall not cease our witness. We receive God's Word as the word of God, because it comes to us with that power which effectually worketh in them that believe.

Truth Divinely applied.

Bbfore I came to London, a man met me one Sunday in a dreadful state of rage. He vowed he would horsewhip me for bullying him from the pulpit. "What have I said?" I asked. "What have you said? You looked me in the face, and said, 'What more can God do for you? Shall He give you a good wife? You have had one: you have killed her by bad treatment: you have just got another, and you are likely to do the same by her.'" "Well," I said, "did you kill your first wife by your bad treatment?" "They say so; but I was married on Saturday," said he; "did you not know it?" "No, I did not, I assure you," I replied. The cap fitted him.

Truth—Fidelity to the. As the Roman sentinel in Pompeii stood to his post even when the city was destroyed, so do I stand to the truth of the atonement though the Church is being buried beneath the boiling mud-showers of modern heresy. Everything else can wait, but this one truth must be proclaimed with a voice of thunder. Others may preach as they will, but as for this pulpit, it shall always resound with the substitution of Christ. "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." Some may continually preach Christ as an example, and others may perpetually discourse upon His coming to glory: we also preach both of these, but mainly we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block, and to the Greeks foolishness; but to them that are saved Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.

Truth—spread of the.

Dr. Valpy, the author of a great many class books, wrote the following simple lines as his confession of faith:—

"In peace let me resign my breath, And Thy salvation see; My sins deserve eternal death, But Jesus died for me."

Valpy is dead and gone; but he gave those lines to dear old Dr. Marsh, the Rector of Beckenham, who put them over his study mantel-shelf. The Earl of Roden came in, and read them. "Will you give me a copy of those lines?" said the good earl. "I shall be glad," said Dr. Marsh, and he copied them. Lord Roden took them home, and put them over his mantel-shelf. General Taylor, a Waterloo hero, came into the room and noticed them. He read them over and over again, while staying with Earl Roden, till his lordship remarked, "I say, friend Taylor, I should think you know those lines by heart." He answered, "I do know them by heart; indeed, my very heart has grasped their meaning." He was brought to Christ by that humble rhyme. General Taylor handed those lines to an officer in the army, who was going out to the Crimean War. He came home to die; and when Dr. Marsh went to see him, the poor soul in his weakness said, "Good sir, do you know this verse which General Taylor gave to me. It brought me to my Savior, and I die in peace." To Dr. Marsh's surprise, he repeated the lines:—

"In peace let me resign my breath, And Thy salvation see; My sins deserve eternal death, But Jesus died for me."

Only think of the good which four simple lines may do. Be encouraged all of you who know the healing power of the wounds of Jesus. Spread this truth by all means.

Truth—strong. When Mohammed commenced his enterprise he announced that Paradise was to be found beneath the shadow of swords, and numbers of brave men rushed to the battle; they swept everything before them, and stained continents with blood: they carried the name of Allah and Mohammed over Asia and Northern Africa, and seemed intent on conquering Europe: and yet the work done will not endure. The prophet and his caliphs did indeed strive, and cry, and cause their voices to be heard in the street: but Christ's system is the very reverse of that: His weapons are not carnal. Behold His battle axe and weapons of war! Truth divinely strong, with no human force at the back of it but that of holiness and love, a gospel full of gentleness and mercy to men, proclaimed not by the silver trumpets of kings, but by the plain voices of lowly men.

Truth—very personal.

These went a man out of this place one evening who was spoken to by one of our friends, who happened to know him in trade, and held him in good repute. "What! have you been to hear our minister tonight?" The good man answered, "Yes, I am sorry to say I have." "But," said our friend, "why are you sorry?" "Why," he said, "he has turned me inside out, and spoiled my idea of myself. When I went into the Tabernacle I thought I was the best man in Newington, but now I feel that my righteousness is worthless." "Oh," said the friend, "that is all right; you will come again, I am sure. The Word has come home to you, and shown you the truth: you will get comfort soon." That friend did come again, and he is here tonight: he takes pleasure in that very truth which turned him inside out; and he comes on purpose that the Word of the Lord may search him, and try him, and be to him as a refiner's fire.

Take Christ to be the sole Savior of your soul.

Take no rest from prayer, and give Him no rest.

Temporal things are as the mirage in the desert. The accent of conviction is indispensable if you would convince. The approbation of God is more than the admiration of nations. The arrows of calamity are aimed at your sins. The believer has abiding arguments for abiding consolation. The Bible in the memory is better than the Bible in the bookcase. The Bible is the treasury of heavenly knowledge, the cyclopedia of divine science. The Bible is, to many a man, God's unopened letter. The blank of nothingness stood not in God's way when He came to create. ' The Constable of the Tower of London stands in relationship to it, and is concerned for its preservation. Now the Lord is not only the keeper and guarantor of my mercy, but the God of it. The Cross is the last argument of God. The cure for vain glory is true glory. The devil's bread is all bran. The divine blesses the human, or the human could not bless the divine. The door of repentance opens into the halls of joy. The doorstep of the palace of wisdom is a humble sense of ignorance. The good Bible student has lips like a springing well. The great loaves of wisdom must be broken and crumbed into a basin of milk for the children. The high road of truth to the heart runs through the ear. The "ipse dixit" of the Son of God suffices us. The lance with which we reach the hearts of men is that same lance which pierced the Savior's heart. The line of truth is narrow as a razor's edge. The little things of God are more precious than the great things of man. The Lord gives unlimited credit at the Bank of Faith. The Lord is never voiceless except to the earless soul. The Lord loves adverbs as much as adjectives. The Lord loves to use tools which are not rusted with self-conceit. The mercy seat is no place for the exhibition of your abilities. The novelties of "modern thought" are a Dead Sea, but our gospel is an ocean of living water. The path to Heaven lies by the dens of the leopards, and the haunts of the young lions. The privileges of the gospel are the stumbling blocks of legalists. The rankness of sin destroys the sweet odors of this world. The real eloquence of prayer is a believing desire. The safest truth is the simplest. The simple gospel which saves sinners also feeds saints. The star of to-day will be the sun of tomorrow. The thing we glory in, though it be a dear child, may turn out to be a scourge for our backs, a Cain and not a consolation. The treasury of heaven lies open to faith.

There is a November of fogs in the year of most men.

There is music without words: and there is prayer without words.

There is no hewing stones without hard blows.

There is no monotony in real joy.

There is no sin-killer like the Word of God.

There is something to be made out of a man who has enough stuff in him to be opposed to the gospel. A good sword will make a good ploughshare. Out of persecutors God can make apostles.

Think well of Him who thinks so graciously of you. To do right is better than to prosper.

True religion is no new thing.

Trust in the precious blood, that is the great sin killer.