1 Thessalonians 5

1 Thessalonians 5:1-20

FOR THE SECOND 1 Thessalonians 5:1-20IN concluding this study, from I Thessalonians, Paul logically follows his affirmations concerning the Return, the Resurrection and the Rapture, by a practical appeal. And that appeal may be considered under the suggestions, Anticipate the Appearance, Prepare for the Appearance, and Proceed under the Spirit. THE It will be sudden and unexpected!“But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. “For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. “For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape”. Everywhere in Scripture the Second Advent is prophesied as an event that will be sudden and unexpected. Jesus Himself confirms the idea, employing the identical figure here used by the Apostle Paul, namely, that of the thief who steals in unexpectedly at night; and He concludes, “Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh” (Matthew 24:44). Again in His parable of the wise and foolish virgins, after having recited how, while the foolish virgins went to buy oil, the bridegroom came, and “they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut”, so that afterward when the others came, he answered, “I know you not”, He concluded, “Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man cometh” (Matthew 25:13).Dr. W. L. Pettingill, formerly of the Philadelphia School of the Bible, tells how a friend came to him with three questions.

First, “Do you believe that Christ will come in six days?” Dr. Pettingill said, “I do not know when Christ will come!

That is a secret God has been pleased to reserve as His own.” The friend answered, “I know you do not know. I am not asking you what you know, but what you think? Do you expect that Christ will be here in six days, honestly, candidly?” Dr. Pettingill answered, “I see what you mean and I want to be perfectly honest and say that I doubt if He will; I think it probable that, in six days, things will continue as they are and that the earth-rulers will still be in places of power.”“What about six months?”“Well, if you want to know what I think, I think probably in six months things will still continue as they are.”“Well then, what about six years?”“To be honest, I think this age may not close in six years, but that things may continue much as they are now.”Thereat the friend remarked, “That is it; you brethren don’t believe what you teach.” To which Dr. Pettingill instantly answered, “Whether we do or not, does not adversely effect the Truth; in fact, it tends to confirm it.”“How so?” was the question.“That is exactly what Jesus says, ‘In such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh’.”This subject is not one to sleep over.“But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. “Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are Hot of the night, nor of darkness. “Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. “For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night” (1 Thessalonians 5:4-7). There are a great many questions and problems concerning which men are wont to say, “I would like to sleep over them!” Only yesterday I had a financial problem presented to me over long distance ‘phone, and I said to the gentleman making it, “Let me sleep over that and I will answer in two or three days. Let me take time to think it over, and by sleep that will refresh and clarify the mind, I will be the better able to clearly judge the matter.”But there are some subjects concerning which a man is not to sleep. There is a story told that seems to be likely, to the effect that a motorist, driving down the Pacific coast, thirty or forty miles north of Los Angeles, at three o’clock in the morning, passed a young man afoot. He was neatly dressed and in the light of the car, looked like a gentleman, and the motorist slowed down and waiting until the young man came along side, said, “Where are you going?”“To Los Angeles,” was the answer.“Could I give you a lift?”“No, thank you,” was the reply.“Why, man; it is more than thirty miles to Los Angeles. It will take you many hours to walk it. You are welcome to a seat in my car!”“Thank you,” said the young man, “I have a reason for walking.

I am engaging in a practice of keeping myself awake. I have an experience ahead of me that will require many hours of wakeful watching, an experience that will test my ability to the utmost, and I am in practice for the same!” The motorist was immediately interested and said, “What is your name?”The young man answered, “My name is Charles Lindberg.”A few days later the motorist learned that Lindberg was training himself for the trans-Atlantic flight, on the many hours and thousands of miles of which he dared not sleep for a moment.So on the subject of the Second Coming, the children of light are not to sleep, as do others, but to watch and be sober.“My soul, be on thy guard; Ten thousand foes arise; The hosts of sin are pressing hard To draw thee from the skies.” Our very salvation is at stake. “Let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. “For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, “Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him” (1 Thessalonians 5:8-10). We are not here affirming that the pre-millenarian position is essential to salvation, any more than we would affirm that a sound Scripture view of the Atonement was essential to salvation. But we are declaring that salvation is of the Lord, and that Christ, and Christ alone, is the Author of the same. And the only Christ who can save is the Christ of the Bible; an imaginary Christ can produce only imaginary effects. The real historical Christ is the Redeemer, if redemption is possible. He is the Christ of Old Testament prophecy; He is the Christ born of the Virgin Mary; He is the Christ who wrought the miracles recorded to His credit; He is the Christ who died on Calvary’s tree, a substitute for sin; He is the Christ who was buried in Joseph’s new tomb but who on the third day rose again; He is the Christ who ascended into Heaven; and He is the Christ who said, “I will come again”.There are people who imagine that they can eviserate the Gospel and retain Christianity; that they can deny Divine revelation and yet have left them a way of salvation.Such philosophies are not only false; they are foolish. God hath appointed salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we shall live together with Him.

And “there is none other name under Heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved”. The coming Christ is not only the Redeemer of the individual but the only hope of a wicked world.PREPARE FOR HIS Employ time in mutual edification.“Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do”. Christianity is something new under the sun. Until nineteen hundred years ago nothing akin to the same had ever been seen in the earth; and since that time it has had no competitor. It is a novel fraternity, a fraternity that rests not upon wealth, station, honorable birth, or any of the mere accidents of life; it rests in the spirit rather, an indwelling Christ makes men brethren and tends to abolish our paper walls of partition. In Christ there is neither rich nor poor, high nor low, Jew nor Greek, bond nor free. In Him men are made one. It is the only order on earth that can live on that basis.

Secret societies sometimes boast their equality with the Church of God, but there is no secret society in existence that could be continued indefinitely and yet utterly repudiate the paper walls of partition put up by man that separates the high from the humble, the rich from the poor, the learned from the ignorant, the men of high birth from the peasant. Such an endeavor would perish in swaddling clothes.The highest level that has been reached by such orders or organizations, or can be reached, is not a whit above that of mutual insurance societies.

It must exist upon a basis of mutual admiration or mutual insurance, or on no basis at all; and they must give promise of some intellectual or social advantage if they are to receive patronage. The Church of God, the Body of Christ and the Body in Christ, exists upon a wholly different basis and (is animated by altogether another principle, namely, a fraternity born of a common experience with Christ. The experience of the soul’s salvation and its objective is not selfish but unselfish; it is not to get something, but to give. The only institution in existence that sends thousands and millions to people who have never been seen by it, and asks and expects no social, political, financial, or personal return, are the brethren in Christ.They give to East Indians that they know not; to Africans upon whose faces they will never look; to Chinamen with whom they have no acquaintance, and ask nothing in return, save the salvation of the recipient and the honor of Christ. And they are members of the Body which takes in the rich and the poor, the high and the low, the ignorant and the educated, and yet not only exists but marks progress until today it is the mightiest institution on the face of the earth. Mutual edification therefore, is a holy calling.In this institution leaders are held in esteem.“We beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; “And to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake”. Judaism and Christianity, the religions of revelation, have not only been characterized by outstanding leadership, but blessed under the guidance of the same. It was Moses who took a couple of million of slaves and so directed their destinies as to make of them a conquering nation. It was David who assembled in the wilderness the distressed and discouraged and needy, the social outcasts of the hour, and out of that company formed a kingdom of first importance. That leadership is the Divine method is abundantly illustrated in the Fourth Book of Moses, Numbers, where a marvelous organization was effected and where men were set over the great companies that constituted the same. Of the tribe of Reuben, Eleazar was the leader over 46,500; of the tribe of Simeon, Shelumiel was the leader over 59,300; of the tribe of Judah, Nahshon was the leader over 74,600; of the tribe of Issachar, Nethaneel was the leader over 44,400; of the tribe of Zebulun, Eliab was the leader over 57,400; of the tribe of Joseph, and of Ephraim, Elishama was the leader over 40,500; of the tribe of Manasseh, Kamaliel was the leader over 32,200; of the tribe of Benjamin, Abidan was the leader over 35,400; of the tribe of Dan, Ahiezer was the leader over 62,700; of the tribe of Asher, Pagiel was the leader over 62,700; of the tribe of Gad, Elisaph was the leader over 45,650; of the tribe of Naphtali, Ahira was the leader over 53,400.It will be remembered that this appointment effect in the history of Israel was not forgotten, for when we come to the end of the Divine Revelation, the Eternal City itself is described as having “a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the Children of Israel”; while the leadership of the New Testament is also celebrated in the same City for “the wall of the City had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb”.What marvelous honor God puts upon leadership and what unspeakable blessing has attended the same in the progress of the Church. Leadership accounts for success in every local body; and in proportion as the great Christian movements themselves come to victory, the explanation is found in Spirit-led leadership.Again, Seemly conduct should characterize the Christian’s behavior.“Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men. “See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men”. As we have emphasized in the previous discourse, the world, as such, does not read the Word of God. Its knowledge, therefore, of Christ comes through Christians. We are epistles known and read of them, and a Godly walk and conversation is the most effective Christian testimony.It is related that the Duke of Wellington, observing a British officer standing in a slouchy manner, asked, “Why do you stand in such an unbecoming attitude?” “Why not, Sir? I am not on duty!” To this the Iron Duke replied, “A British officer is never off duty. Resume your military standing.” It is a principle that applies to the professed Christian. We are under constant observation and the world will take its view of Him whom we profess to serve from our attitude and walk. Finally, and in further study of this chapterPROCEED UNDER THE SPIRIT The closing verses of this chapter have four or five expressions of such procedure.Serve the Lord with gladness.“Rejoice evermore” (1 Thessalonians 5:16). The cause of Christ often suffers from the lugubrious face and dyspeptic spirit of its professor. The one man who has the best right to be happy, even under adverse and most unfavorable conditions, is the Christian. In fact, it is doubtful if there are any circumstances under which he is justified in losing his joy. It is his privilege not only to be good but to be cheerful; not only to seek a holy life but to live a happy one.Ward Beecher said: “Of all the lights which you kindle in the face, joy will reach farthest out to sea, where troubled mariners are seeking the shore. Even in your deepest griefs, rejoice in God. As waves phosphoresce, let joys flash from the swing of the sorrows of your soul.”People often complain that they would be happy if conditions were better.

But as a matter of fact, joy is not the outcome of outward circumstances but of the inner spirit. In proof of that, take the instance of John Bradford of Newgate. The day before he was to be burned in Smithfield, he swung himself on the bedpost in veritable glee, saying, “Tomorrow is my wedding day.” Addressing one of his comrades in martyrdom, he further said, “Fine shining we will make tomorrow when the flame is kindled.” And when they led him out he went to his martyr’s crown laughing on the way. Charles Spurgeon, referring to that fact, said, “Was Bradford mad? Ah, no, but he had the peace of God which passeth all understanding.”Pray without ceasing.“Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:7). One may say, “We can’t; we are too busy!” But prayer is not the occupation of the hands; it is not the engagement of the feet; it is not even the wagging of the tongue. We are all free to follow whatever vocations demand our energies, for “prayer is the soul’s sincere desire” and is consonant with any occupation and can be carried on while at the same.There is a remarkable story told of James Gilmour, the pioneer missionary to Mongolia, that he never used a blotter in writing, preferring to take the time requiring the drying of the ink for prayer. But even that arrangement was not at all essential to the continuance of his petition; he could have prayed while he wrote. E. M. Bounds, in perhaps the best book on prayer that has yet been written, tells us a better way. Stonewall Jackson was a man of prayer, and Jackson declared, “I have so fixed the habit of prayer in my mind that I never raise a glass of water to my lips without asking God’s blessing; never seal a letter without putting a word of prayer under the seal; never take a letter from the post without a brief sending of my thoughts Heavenward; never change my classes in the lecture room without a moment’s petition for the cadets who go out and for those who come in. “Pray without ceasing-’.“A throne of grace! then let us go And offer up our prayer; A gracious God will mercy show To all that worship there. “A throne of grace! O at that throne Our knees have often bent, And God has showered His blessings down As often as we went. “A throne of grace! rejoice, ye saints; That throne is open still; To God unbosom your complaints, And then inquire His will. “A throne of grace, we yet shall need Long as we draw our breath; A Saviour, too, to intercede, Till we are changed by death.” In everything give thanks,“In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Here also is a need for Christian grace, the grace of thanksgiving. Like prayer, it should exist under all circumstances, and even flourish in the atmosphere of adversity. Few people know the history of our thanksgiving day. Dr. Franklin tells us the origin of that day. It was a time of great despondency among the first settlers of New England.

A long drought had produced the failure of crops and a solemn assembly was called for a day of fasting and prayer. One after another had related the hardships of the new life and had deplored the destructive drought. Finally an old farmer rose and spoke feelingly of how they had provoked Heaven with their complaints, and reviewed the mercies they had already enjoyed. He reminded them that they had not been as grateful as they should have been for the evidences of Divine favor; and finally moved that instead of appointing a day of fasting they should appoint a day of thanksgiving. This was done and it is claimed that our thanksgiving service is a continuation of that appointment.The man with whom the feeling of thanksgiving is will find a thousand occasions for the expression of the same.“Lord, it belongs not to my care Whether I die or live; To love and serve Thee is my share, And this Thy grace must give. “If life be long, I will be glad That I may long obey; If short, yet why should I be sad To soar to endless day? “Christ leads me through no darker rooms Than He went through before; No one into His Kingdom comes, But through His opened door. “Come, Lord, when grace has made me meet Thy blessed face to see; For if Thy work on earth be sweet, What will Thy glory be?” Finally, Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.“Prove all things; hold fast that which is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21). The Apostle tells us that to this we must “abstain from all appearance of evil”. But, knowing our inability, he reminds us that “the very God of peace” can “sanctify you wholly” and prays to God that the “whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”. And then, to further uplift, he says, “Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it”.The conclusion of this chapter involves a Greeting, a Charge, and a Prayer, and ends with a splendid Amen.First Thessalonians is one of the finest appeals, of even sacred Writ itself, to high and holy living— a clear and elaborate presentation of man’s obligation in view of Divine grace. Perhaps we could not finish this discourse in any finer way than to say that Christ looks to His disciples as the agents of His Gospel, yea, as the embodiment of the same, and their deportment will determine the progress of the Church.It is said that in the days of Tiberius it was counted a crime to carry a ring stamped with the name of Augustus to any mean or sordid place where it might be polluted. Our course of conduct and companionships of life prove our loyalty to our Lord.

1 Thessalonians 5:5

—GIVING WIDE BERTH TO SALOONS 1 Thessalonians 5:5 Sermon preached to men only. I AM to speak to you this afternoon on the subject of “Sobriety”, an essential to any success. You will consent that it is one of the most important to every man. Whether you are a total abstainer, a tippler, or intemperate, you know the wisdom of this counsel, “Let us watch and be sober”.There was an old preacher who used to introduce the marriage sermon with these words, “John, matrimony is a blessing to a few, a curse to many, and an uncertainty to all.”Seeing that truth, we ought to stand upon the platform which declares that total abstinence is a blessing to thousands, a curse to nobody and good for everybody.“Therefore, * * let us watch and be sober”. That heathen philosopher was wise who fashioned a goblet which he represented as filled with ruby wine. At its bottom he fixed a serpent coiled for a spring, a pair of gleaming eyes in its head, its mouth open, its fangs raised to strike, to be seen only when one had quaffed off the cup and had come down to the dregs; then, that dreadful head rose up, and those fangs were ready for their work.Solomon furnished the very suggestion from which such a conception might have come to the artist when he said, “Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder”.

And Solomon’s words are solemnly true. “Let us watch and be sober”. IS TO SUCCESS The reason why so many men fail is simply this, they do not let drink alone.The secret of poverty in this country is not the stringency of the times, it is the accursed alcohol. Enough money is put into that every year to give not only the comforts, but the luxuries to every poverty-stricken family in the land. Our whiskey bill in America, under the saloon, ran into billions of dollars, and the tobacco bill, hundreds of millions, annually.The major part of those bills is paid by the poor of the land, and very much of it by day laborers who, in the sweat of their brow, secure their beer. The tipplers and smokers and chewers put more into these unclean habits than the whole American family pays for bread and meat and woolen goods, and cotton goods, and boots and shoes, and sugar, and molasses and public education, and Christian missions combined; and yet we say, “The times are hard—this stringency is awful!” No! No! This drink business is the devil’s provision for poverty.

The aforetime saloon was the secret of suffering. Not once in twelve months do I have a man, who lets the liquor alone, ask me for assistance.

Scarce a day passes over my head but some patron of this hellish custom puts in at my study and makes a pitiful plea for board and lodging. Ah, truly of such Haggai wrote, when he said, “Now therefore; ** Consider your ways. Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes”.Down in the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts, years ago, they voted a local option which you know is local prohibition. The year before this was brought into effect, the total deposits in the savings banks of that city were $140,000; the first year after it went into effect the total deposits were $586,000. You see the secret of financial success. “Therefore, * * let us watch and be sober”.Business has no place today for the drinking man; society is coming less and less to receive him, and, in truth, if you propose to drink, there is no place for you. Your future is a failure.

Your financial status is settled already, and it is determined not so much by whether you drink yourself blind. The simple question is whether you drink at all.

Tippling is the devil’s doctrine of temperance; what the Apostle means here is total abstinence, and you know that is essential to the greatest financial success. IS TO There is such a thing as being stimulated into greater strength by the intoxicating cup, but the reaction follows; and by that very drink a greater weakness is fastening itself upon the flesh. When the saloon was here, one fifth of the men that you met were bloated. What did that mean? That a combustion was taking place in their flesh and, as a physician said to me, a little while ago, of a man who died of a liquor-liver, “He was burned out.”Did you ever notice what Solomon said on this point? Referring to those that drink, that wise man wrote, “thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast. They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not”.I guess most of you have been to sea, and know what seasickness is—all strength gone, stomach upside down; what brains you have left in a whirl, and every fibre of your flesh filled with nausea.I remember a story I heard of two men who were going to England together.

They had had a rough passage. The old vessel had tossed and plowed until she came near to the farther shore.

One of them was able to walk a bit and, looking out, he saw what seemed to be the lights of an English port, so he said to his sick companion, “Jack, can’t you just get up here and look out? I think I see the lights,” to which his friend replied, “Ugh! they’re coming next.”And when I pass the streets and see men that are so bowled up that they have to hang over a railing somewhere and let the very sickness empty them of alcohol, I am reminded of what Solomon said, “Thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast”.My father-in-law told me a story of one of these who had thrown up everything but his heels and was wiping his eyes when he looked down and saw among other things a poodle dog, who had suddenly appeared on the scene, and he said, “I know where I got the crackers; I know where I got the beer, and I know where I got the sausages, but blamed if I know where I got that dog.”Some of those who drink see worse sights than that by as much as serpents are worse than curs.But all this is only temporal sickness, the sort that passes away in a day or two. But the man who gives himself to the wine cup will soon find that chronic diseases are settling themselves upon him, and that he is really disabled.Some years ago, I was in the country, and when dinner time came on, we stopped at a farm-house and asked if we could get a lunch there, and they pointed down a little distance and said, “That is a hotel,” and we went. The reception room to this country hotel was a saloon, and, as the stove was located in that, we went in and sat down to warm. While there, three men, farmers from round about, came for beer, bloated, every one of them; blasted in body; as weakened at forty as men ought to be at seventy-five; strength gone and death drawing on. They were foolish enough to forget that in this country the saloon was then slaying 60,000 to 70,000 a year, and that they were set for destruction.

How soon that came no man can tell. If they were moderate, the dying process was the slower, none the less sure.

If immoderate, a short period finished the work.One of the most beautiful men I have ever known, dear to me as a brother, a man who, at the age of thirty was beginning to have a national reputation, died at thirty-two because, in the sprees to which he was subject, he drank one day too much and lay insensible for 72 hours when life went out. “At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder”, and the adder’s sting is physical destruction. IS TO MENTAL BALANCE And I am almost disposed to say that mental balance is essential to sobriety, for certainly the man who is fool enough to be intemperate must have some weakness of mind.You remember the story of the tipsy old Scotchman to whom a friend said one day, “Man James, I am sorry to see you taking to the cup to rob you of your sense.” The Scotchman answered with a hiccough, “You make a big mistake. It is nae the drink that takes away the sense! Nae, nae; a mon’s sense hae gone before he takes the drink!” But it is absolutely certain that if he is sane before he takes the drink, he cannot remain as sane, when he fails to be sober.There are men upon whom rest heavy mental strain, that are brought by the devil to imagine that drink brightens their minds. They have a case to plead in court, a political speech to make, some document to write, upon which a vast deal depends; and, not satisfied with what mental power God has provided, they seek to increase their stock by a stimulant. It works well and the devil tells them that they cannot afford to do without it. A second time it succeeds, and a third, and a fourth, and a fortieth, but every time a reaction has come.

The tone of the mind has been lowered, and the stimulant is the more a necessity until by and by it takes a quart to arouse the laggard brain; and, even then, the aroused brain is but a poor instrument of thought, for it has been burned out. How long shall Satan work this deception upon man?

Are we not able to see in the rags about us what comes of it, and do not the sober men who think longest and think to best effect, who prove to be the only brilliant men of the land, teach us nothing?Perhaps no man in this country has done such severe thinking, with as little sleep, and with such prodigious results as Thomas A. Edison, the inventor.Years since Frances Willard asked Edison if he were a total abstainer, and when he replied in the affirmative, she inquired, “What made you so? Was it home influence?” To which Edison made answer in his blunt way, “No, madam, it was because I always felt I had better use for my brains.”In 1859 when that noblest candidate for president, Mr. Lincoln, was campaigning at Leavenworth, Kansas, a reception was given in his honor, but was disgraced by the wine cup. The abolitionist declined to taste in spite of the persuasions of his host, and the example of his associates. The next morning;, when about to leave, the great man took the hand of young Captain Fitch tenderly into his own, and looking eagerly into his eyes, said, “My young friend; I noticed you tasted the cup yesterday.

Don’t put an enemy into your mouth to steal away your brains.”Years ago in Minneapolis, at the Young Men’s Democratic Club, punch was served. When Mr.

Bryan sat down and saw his wine glass, not waiting for it to be filled with any sort of drink, he deliberately turned it upside down. Doubtless he knew that he had better use for his brains, and I do not believe that he could have made as many speeches and as brilliant ones, as he delivered in his great public ministry, had he been accustomed to touch, even, the intoxicating cup.At a public dinner given to General Harrison, when he was a candidate for the office of president, one of the guests drank to his health. The General pledged his toast by drinking water. Another gentleman was indiscreet enough to say, at the conclusion of his toast, “General Harrison, will you favor me by drinking a glass of wine?” to which that noble man answered in a most kindly way, “I beg to be excused.” But a chorus of voices urged him to join in a glass of wine. Then he rose from his seat and said in a most dignified manner, but with much feeling, “I have twice refused to drink the wine cup; though you press the matter ever so much, I will not drink. I made a resolve when I started in life that I would avoid it.

That vow I have never broken. I am one in a class of 17 young men who graduated in college together.

Sixteen already fill drunkard’s graves. I owe my health, my happiness and my prosperity to the resolution I have made and kept. It is useless for you to urge me now to take to the intoxicating cup.”He understood what every man ought to see, that sobriety is essential to mental balance.IT IS ALSO TO MORAL You know that the fact of the stimulant in the intoxicating cup is lust of thought, if not lechery in act. When, with certain gentlemen elsewhere referred to, I went through the slums of the city of Chicago, I was impressed with the means employed by fallen women to secure associates in sin. The first request made was, “Let us drink”. They understood, as you know, that the man who is stimulated by liquor is no longer master of himself, but a subject for the seduction of those whose sins are scarlet. A few years ago you could go into any city of this country and see the alliances between the saloon and the houses of scarlet women. In Chicago, in half the cases, they were in the same building; saloon on the first floor, brothels on the floors above, or in the building at the side connected by doors.

Some of you are praying to be delivered from the sins of lust. Your prayers are folly unless you first have the mastery at the point of strong drink; and that means that you shall let Jesus Christ save you from the sin that suggests both. IS TO One of the first blots of drinking moderately, or to excess, is seen in degenerate children. Dr. Henderson, in his book, “The Social Spirit in America”, has quoted from one of the most thorough and impartial students of sociology these words, “The poisonous drinks and drugs, which are consumed by modern people, destroy vitality, arouse and stimulate selfish passions, loose dangerous beasts that make their lair in every human being, and turn home into purgatory. From such degenerate descendants come those who, if they remain exposed to the same influences, rapidly descend to the lowest degrees of degeneracy, dwarfishness, and idiocy.”I think the saddest result I have ever seen from an intemperate life was an insane child. The bloat of the father’s body was in the functional structure of the daughter’s brain, and when I saw her last she was raving mad.Pauperism, the result of strong drink, renders domestic happiness impossible. How can a home be happy, when the mother is pinched and starved, the children hungry and cold?I went, one day, into a home in Chicago where there lay a sick wife and a dead baby, and the disconsolate woman said to me, as I talked to her, “This child could have lived had not my husband been drunk when it was born.

But his abuse of me in the hour of labor effected its death, and as I look upon its cold, white face, I wish that I might be at peace with it.”Good woman she was; but her poverty her stricken house, her disturbed mind, her sick body, all her unhappy surroundings came as an offering from the neighboring saloon, and I said to myself, “It were better to sleep in death.”It seems to me that men who drink and know the distress of home experience in such results, might learn something from the story of him of whom I read a while ago. He was accustomed to drink and on one occasion went away with a number of his associates to fish, and of course they loaded their wagon with many kinds of kegs and bottles.

After the first day or two this fellow was unconscious, so drunk that he understood nothing, and his associates thought it would be a good joke to hitch up the wagon and drive to town and let him come to himself, and see that he was alone, and after a little counsel they set about it.The wife heard of their return and knew that her husband had not come with them, so she set out to find him, if possible. At the break of the morn she sat beside the stupid man she had sworn to love. When he opened his eyes he was astonished at her presence and said, “Wife, where am I? How came you here?” She told him. “How long have I been drunk?” “Two or three days.” “I am thirsty, will you bring me a drink?” She took an old cup and went to a spring hard by and brought some sparkling water. When he had quaffed it, he passed it back and said, “Wife, I drank your tears then. I saw them fall into the water as you held it there; and I have been drinking your tears for a long time, and by what little manhood is left, and by the grace of that God who has promised to help, I will drink your tears no more while I live.” He was true to his pledge, and that house which had been a hell was in twelve months like a little Heaven.Is it not time that some of you ceased drinking the tears of your wives, your children, your firmest friends? IS TO THE OF THE SOUL Mr. Moody said, “There are men who are selling out Heaven for strong drink.” Of course they are, for men who drink at all are doing so at the expense of their souls, and the Scriptures were never more explicit upon any point than this. The drunkard shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. If you propose to have your cups, you cannot keep your character. If you propose to remain with your strong drinks, you lose your soul. You understand that, and you need not be excusing yourself by saying, “We are not drunkards as yet. We are temperate,” for has it never occurred to you that the drinking of the temperate man is much more a sin in God’s sight than the drinking of a drunkard. The temperate man professes to be able to control himself, the drunkard has lost self-control.

He cannot quit if he will, and God may pity him, but how can we expect a sympathy from God when we deliberately do that which we could easily let alone.One day a man entered a barroom of a village tavern and asked for drink. “No,” said the barkeeper, “you have had delirium tremens once, and I cannot sell you any.” Instantly two young men took his place and the barkeeper poured out the accursed cup. Then the first, flushed with the indignation he felt, faced the landlord, said, “Do not that devil’s work. Six years ago at the age of these fellows, I stood where they now are. I was but 22 years old then, but never youth had fairer prospects. Now at 28 I am a wreck, bloated in body, unbalanced in mind, and destroyed in soul. In this room I formed the habit that has wrought this ruin.

Oh, sell me a few glasses more and let me finish the work and be gone! For me there is no hope, so to sell me liquor is not so much of a sin, but these young men can be saved, and you have no right to destroy them.

I plead with you, in God’s Name, that you do not that which will cost them their soul and bring you to further condemnation by the righteous Judge!”Yes, sir, I think it would be unquestionably a greater sin for me to drink than for the worst drunkard in this town; for I can control myself, and I would be a fool as well as a vicious sinner in God’s sight to accept Satan’s suggestion, when I am strong enough to withstand it. And so I say to you, this afternoon, unless you are willing to lose your soul, you must give wide berth to saloons! And I say unto you this afternoon, if you will, you can be saved, whether you are degraded by drink, or just beginning to yield to that devilish temptation. Christ is able. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”.One Sunday night in the service here a man stood up, who was a physical, mental and spiritual wreck, and he said to God’s people, “Pray for me.” He had the courage of his convictions and remained for further conversation and prayer. That night he was saved. Two weeks later he came back and gave his testimony to the glory of God, four weeks after his family returned to him and this afternoon he is present, a man of honorable employment.

His mind is coming back to its perfect poise, his body is recovering the bloat, and his soul is safe for time, and hopes in the promise of eternity.One Christmas night in the Union Mission, I went down and spoke to a man half drunk. Rum had reduced his clothing to rags.

The bottle had bloated his body. Strong drink had largely destroyed his moral sensibilities, and though he was but half sober, I said, “If you will, Christ can save tonight.” He answered, “I will.” A week later on a Sunday afternoon, when the sermon was finished, I went to my room, and who should I see but that same man, but so transformed that I scarcely knew him, and he said, “By the grace of God, Mr. Riley, I have not even desired to drink since that Saturday night, and though I have not steady employment, I have been able every day since to make an honest living.” Oh, young man, just commencing this evil course, won’t you come to Christ this afternoon and cease from it for ever? Oh, men degraded by drink, out of whose hearts every hope is well-nigh destroyed; men who cannot so much as lift themselves up to seek the Son of God, won’t you listen to the Gospel and learn that the Son of Man is come to seek and to save you. And your part is what Peter did when perishing, simply to say, “Lord, save me!” He will respond, and this Sunday afternoon shall be a happy day, a day to be for ever remembered as the blessed one when you were born again, and born from above.When the steamer, “Central America”, went down in New York, the greatest excitement reigned in that city. Many were drowned, some few were hanging to floating spars, and the life-saving vessels were out in search.A second day after she sank, one of these life-savers was seen coming to shore, and the eager watchers waited until the captain stood in the bowsprit and shouted, “Three men saved.” That is not the message I want to go up to Heaven this afternoon to be repeated in the celestial streets. This is the message I want the Heavenly host to hear, “Fifty more saved; a hundred,” if there be present so many, who know not the salvation of the Son of God.

1 Thessalonians 5:21-23

CRIME AND THE KU KLUX KLAN 1 Thessalonians 5:21-23 Preached in the State Theater, Minneapolis, in 1924 when the Ku Klux Klan was at its height. WE have secured this theater for three consecutive mornings in order to present to the public three burning questions: first, “Is the Theory of Evolution to be Longer Tolerated in our State Schools” (See “Inspiration or Evolution”, page 113); second, “Shall We join a Ku Klux Klan to Abate Crime?” and third, “Does the Rage of Crime Justify the Return to Capital Punishment?” (See Author’s Vol. on Romans 13:1-5.) One might imagine that these were unrelated subjects. On the contrary, they are of closest kin. The theory of evolution, with its cognate ideas, the “struggle for existence” and “the survival of the fittest”, is not only bestial in all its claims and godlessly materialistic in its philosophy, but denying as it does all external authority human and Divine, it paves the way for crime, and has already produced the social tragedy of all centuries, the baptism of blood of 1914-1918.The sudden rise and rapid development of the Ku Klux Klan indicates, to say the least, that there must be abuses of law and order that demand, in the judgment of multitudes, more speedy and adequate attention. The rage of crime characterizing every country in the world and particularly jeopardizing our own commonwealth of Minnesota, compels thought on the question, “Must we return to capital punishment?”The Bible is the universal Book. There is no subject of human concern to which it does not address itself, and its language is usually both apt and adequate. As applied to the Ku Klux Klan, witness this text: “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.

Abstain from all appearance of evil. And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and 1 pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:21-23).Let us give ourselves to its suggestions.THE PROOF OF GOOD “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good”. This sentence, like every other one of Scripture, is capable of multiplied applications, but it certainly involves some great principles of thought and conduct. For instance, it opposes easy credulity; it demands careful study; it looks to eventual stability.It opposes easy credulity. “Prove all things”. Don’t be mentally or morally imposed upon. Don’t believe everything you hear. Don’t accept as settled everything said to you. Don’t conclude that the daily newspaper is infallible or even that public opinion is the voice of God. Practice the text, “Prove all things”.This principle has a special application to the subject of the Ku Klux Klan. I am not a secret order man.

I belong to two institutions and two only—I belong to my family and am a member of the First Baptist Church of Minneapolis, and in those two relations of life I live and move and have my being. I expect it to so remain. I have no intention whatever of joining the Ku Klux Klan, and hereby serve notice that my solicitation for membership would be in vain. But I do believe in fair play.A few months ago I read a series of articles on the Ku Klux Klan, and was led, from that series, to believe that the Klan was practically a criminal organization, brought into being with an attempt, as others put it, to “disrupt national unity; undermine the morals of American youth; destroy patriotism, overthrow the principles of government; encourage disrespect for courts; engage in mob violence, sabotage and every form of lawlessness.” My further study of the subject has profoundly impressed me that that was an utterly partisan and prejudiced judgment, animated doubtless by foreign residents in these United States—men whose selfish interests were endangered, whose political aspirations were imperiled, or whose religious prejudices were excited.I am not yet able to accept the perfectly roseate description of the Klan presented and defended by its Imperial Klokard. As is usual, the truth probably lies somewhere between, and whether one has any intention whatever of uniting with this movement or of joining his fellows for the purpose of putting it out of commission, he is duty bound to know the truth about it, to seek the proof of its virtues and vices, and judge righteously.Dr. Fowler, a Baptist minister who was in this city a few weeks since, is a member of the Klan, and a man of reputable standing in the Southland.

He declares, “The Klansman believes that a dual government is impossible, that no individual or body of men within the bounds of our government can justly or in any other way take the law into their own hands. A Klansman will not take the life of a traitor or of traitors by mob law.

A Klansman cannot violate the law. He is oath bound to support constitutional laws. He will help prosecute and will cause to be prosecuted any man who violates the law, and will cause to be punished any man who is a traitor to his country. The government can depend upon Klansmen.” I see the same claim officially put forth by a number of the men who head this movement, and in proof of the fact that such must be the law of the organization, a Texas Klan was recently disfellowshipped and expelled because there seemed to be evidence of its participation in mob violence.Before I finish this address I shall speak of secrecy charged to the organization and of objections that may be waged against it, but for the present will only repeat, “Know at firsthand.”Such knowledge demands study. Study is more than reading. It involves careful observation and judicious reading, impartial and unprejudiced reading.

The great difficulty with modern theology seems to be the fact that its advocates have come to read but one side of a subject. Prof.

Leander S. Keyser, of Springfield, Ohio, in his great volume, “Contending for the Faith”, shows there is absolutely no evidence in the writings of these men that they ever gave a moment to what is thought and spoken by conservatives. Having deliberately determined to be liberals, they will not impede their progress in rationalism by considering the Other side of the question. In this they are at one with so-called Christian Scientists. Years since I pled with a young woman, a member of my church, to come into a Bible class for six months’ study, saying to her, “If at the end of such a study you can go on with Mrs. Eddy, we will offer no objection.” To this she answered, “I could not consent to such a thing.

That sort of study would confuse my thinking.” Doubtless!There are many men who do not propose to be confused in their thinking. Having accepted their party lines, they do not want to be perturbed, but prefer to believe what they want to believe rather than what is true.Take the lines along which the Ku Klux Klan works.

They are lines of almost universal prejudice. The question of foreign and native born! Men are either for immigration or against it. Few are willing to carefully consider it and clearly discern between desirable and undesirable immigration. Take the question of race and color. For fifty years it has followed partisan lines. The majority of those north of the Mason-Dixon Line have censured the South and stood, if not for black supremacy, for at least equality. Those south of the Mason-Dixon Line for the most part have stood for the supremacy of the white, and have utterly repudiated every suggestion of social equality.

But the Mason-Dixon Line is crumbling. Increasingly, men north of the line are giving intelligent consideration to this subject, and are beginning to realize the great problem with which the South has been burdened from the days of the Civil War, and men south of the Line are more and more considering the subject, and have begun to realize increasingly that to accord black men the rights and privileges that are in the constitution of our government is the wisest course, even for their own sakes.Thirty years ago I was a young pastor in Indiana. I had in my official Board a deacon who was at once the bane and blessing of my life. His knowledge of the Scriptures was a marvel. When first I heard him pray, alarm took possession of me. For ten minutes he stood before the congregation and prayed, and every single word was a direct quotation from the Book.

My own knowledge of the Word suffered by comparison and I wondered how I could ever minister to him. I learned shortly, however, that he was a sweet and humble soul, perfectly willing to sit at my feet.

There was one point on which we were not in accord—the race problem. He seldom spoke without bitterness. His criticism of my own people in the South, was difficult to bear, and I was not always silent. Finally age and ill health sent him to Florida for his winter seasons. After two or three of these vacations, our controversy was at an end. He came to be a stalwart defender of the southern white man and entered into a keen appreciation of Dixie’s great problem.Personally, I have never been able to entertain the prejudice against the colored man that certain people both north and south of the Mason-Dixon Line indulge.

As a lad I entered into sharp controversy with my seniors over the circumstance that the negroes attending our church were not organized into a Sunday School class and taught, but left instead to sit in the gallery and pick up the crumbs from the white man’s Bible table.But the philosophy of social equality is not desired by the negro, himself, and is a vain philosophy when preached by the white man. Thomas Dixon, Jr. in “The Leopard’s Spots” showed the absurdity of that position by his illustration of the Boston millionaire who preached the doctrine but was outraged and enraged when the colored man he was housing, fell in love with his daughter and approached him to request her hand at the altar.At any rate, why should we insist today that this is purely a color question.

The very law of the Jew forbids him to marry a Gentile. That is not at all an injustice to the Gentile. Any people and race have a right to determine who shall be their social friends and what shall be their family life and character.The Japanese and the Chinese are not black, and yet intermarriage with the Caucasian only occasionally occurs and always with social protest. If one would study Old Testament prophecy, he will find that from the very beginning there were laws of God which opposed the coalition of the descendants of Shem, Ham and Japheth, and prophecies and promises as to their separate and somewhat exclusive existence. True, the Bible itself teaches that “God * * hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth”, but the same Bible is just as explicit in opposing intermarriage of the races.Science has spoken with Scripture in this matter and you will not find the descendants of utterly diverse races healthy, happy and prosperous. Disease smites them, moral and social disorders make easy headway among them; and the mongrel man, like the mongrel beast, finds it difficult to make his way in the world.Personally I believe the Christian position is to have no prejudice against a man because of birth, color or condition; to see in every human soul one for whom Christ died, and by that fact he becomes a brother, potentially or actually.

But even that does not decide questions of marriage, nor settle social and political standing.The Jap has had a hard time on the Pacific Coast, not because he is dishonest, not because he lacks in frugality, not because he is black, but solely because he belongs to another race. White people who discuss the race question, thinking it involves no one except the Caucasian and African, are needlessly agitating and creating false impressions upon the minds of our black brothers, an impression liable to breed danger and difficulty.

In Texas the race question is not black and white, it is Mexican and American. In California, it is not black and white, but Oriental and American. In Alaska it is not black and white, but Indian and American. In New York it is not a question of black and white, but a question of Gentile and Jew, or of Protestant and Catholic, race and religion.The man, therefore, who talks on the race problem and means only the social problem of black and white, needlessly narrows his discussion and ignorantly agitates a question which requires placation. The one thing that holds in check today the strained relations between the black and white man is the fact that the former has in his midst some great Christian leaders who see this subject in its true light, and the noblest among the whites approach it after the same manner, and in such leaders only we have our safety.Turning to our text again, It looks to stability of conviction. The sorest need of the Twentieth Century is that of men who can come to conclusions and stay by them.

I am not at all ready to accept all for which the Ku Klux Klan stands. If I were, I might join them.

Concerning the things which I cannot accept I shall speak later, but for the present let me go with you through their declaration of faith.We magnify the Bible—as the basis of our Constitution, the foundation of our government, the source of our laws, the sheet-anchor of our liberties, the most practical guide of right living, and the source of all true wisdom. We teach the worship of God, having in mind the Divine command, “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God”. We honor the Christ, as the Klansman’s only criterion of character, and seek at His hands that cleansing from sin and impurity, which only He can give. We believe that the highest expression of life is in service and in sacrifice for that which is right; that selfishness can have no place in a true Klansman’s life and character; but that he must be moved by unselfish motives, such as characterized our Lord the Christ and moved Him to the highest service and the supreme sacrifice for that which was right. If I had to choose between joining the Ku Klux Klan and the liberal wing of the Baptist denomination, I would unite with the Klan. Count me with the people who “magnify the Bible as the basis of our Constitution, the foundation of our government, the source of our laws, the sheet-anchor of our liberties, the most practical guide of right living, and the source of all true wisdom”. Higher critics deny the Deity of Jesus Christ; if I interpret the Klansman’s faith correctly, he affirms it. Here again I can give him fraternal handclasp. “We honor the Christ—as the Klansman’s only Criterion of character, and seek at His hands that cleansing from sin and impurity which only He can give.”In my judgment men who would take Christ away from the world are the enemies of God, good government, and the peace of the whole people.There are certain secret orders which believe in God, but never hint whether they believe in Jesus Christ or not. It would be impossible for me to unite with any such. Secret-order Unitarianism makes no more appeal to me than does the Unitarian Society.

The circle that rules Christ out or that even treats Him with silent neglect, is not the circle for a Christian man.If I have read the history of my country intelligently, its every single superiority is the direct product of Christian influence. Any movement that dishonors the Head of the Church and discredits loyalty to the ritual of revealed religion as found in the Word of God, is inimical, dangerous, deadly!But I must not dwell too long upon our first point.THE OF EVIL Here again the text is clear and, its application to the subject in hand, patent. “Abstain from all appearance of evil”. Let me urge now some objections to the Ku Klux Klan. In my judgment the most serious one is that its members go abroad with covered faces, hooded, disguised. I know in this they are not alone, as all men know. The “Lutheran Witness”, after having paid proper compliment to the “Philadelphia Ledger” for an expose of the Klan, says, “Still we cannot help but ask, Why single out the Klan for an expose while the country is infested with other gangs, or klans, just as dangerous and pernicious? Why Fail about the blood-curdling oaths while other societies are bound and tied, fettered and shackled by oaths every bit as blood-curdling?

Why complain of the Klan’s blasphemous ritual, which parodies Christian Baptism, while the rituals of all the other secret organizations either expunge Christ Himself, or, if using His Name, blasphemously deny His Divinity and redemptive work, putting Him on the same level with pagan teachers of morality? Why accuse only the Klan of fostering religious and racial hatred?

Are not the Knights of Columbus Klan and the Klan of the Junior Order of American Mechanics doing the self-same thing, the former excluding and combatting all Protestants, and the latter all Catholics and foreigners? Why poke fun at the silly titles of the Klan’s officers, while the officers of all other sworn secret societies strut about with titles such as ‘Worshipful Master’, ‘Illustrious Potentate’, and so forth, titles so foolish and silly and ridiculous that even a brass monkey would be convulsed with laughter if he were able to exercise his brain, or his sense of humor, a bit more than the average lodge-member who takes himself seriously? Why hint at the danger of the Klan’s secrecy while millions of lodge-members in this country are just as secretive, allowing admittance to their meetings only by password, assembling behind locked doors, and shunning the light of publicity, and so forth.” In fact, this discussion of the “Lutheran Witness” condemns the Klan where it should be condemned, but shows itself a discerner of spirits by including with it many other secret orders open to the exact same criticisms.Secrecy itself is open to criticism, criticism of the severest sort. Christianity certainly has little in common with it. Of Christ’s whole ministry it was said, “This thing was not done in a corner”. He and His disciples moved in broad day light; and when their night meetings occurred, they were not for planning or plotting, but for praying.

In the street, in the synagogue, everywhere, He went with unveiled face. His entire life was as open as the pages of a book; and when finally His enemies went into the Garden—His secret trysting place with God—to take Him captive, and accord Him criminal treatment, He shamed them by His question, “Are ye come out as against a thief with swords and staves for to take Me?

I sat daily with you teaching in the Temple, and ye laid no hold on Me”. His was an open life.My candid judgment is that the world would be better off with the abolition of every secret order. But if there exist secret orders in the Papacy; if there exist secret orders among the colored people and the Jews, there is no possible opinion or power that will keep Protestants from meeting order with order, or Whites and Gentiles from doing the same. I have no doubt there will be many go out from this place grieved, and perhaps disgruntled, because I have declared against secrecy. But the same men will admit that the very secret orders against which they are now organizing their own, imperil the Nation. It is currently reported that a great Papist order in this city have their commands from their highest authority as to whom they should vote for at the poles the coming week.

If that be true, we know their oath-bound allegiance and we may expect to see in the headlines, the political success of this secret society candidate for the Judge’s bench.Secrecy has more than the appearance of evil, it expresses evil itself.It makes an open way also for hypocrites and pretenders. If every Klansman of the Ku Klux Klan could keep absolutely their just and righteous law, to abstain from all violence and refrain from all mobs, other men can easily don the same disguise and do evil deeds to the discredit of the organization, to over-throw of law, and the injury of society.

The “Literary Digest” for August 27, 1922, had an extensive article on “The Reign of the Tar Bucket” in which it stated, quoting from the Houston Dispatch, that there were forty-three tar and feather parties in the first six months of the year, and in one instance a white woman was the victim. In another case the initials K K K were branded on a negro’s face. In Missouri a sixty-year-old farmer was whipped by a mob, and in Florida an arch-deacon of the English Episcopal Church was both whipped and tarred and feathered. The majority of these crimes are credited to the recognized Ku Klux Klan. “Anarchy is terrifying the State with a bucket of tar and a sack of feathers.” According to; the Springfield Republican no discrimination is made as to race, color, sex, or nationality.That some of these mob outrages were committed by the Ku Klux Klan seems fairly likely, since the charter of the Bonham, Texas Klan was revoked by His Majesty of the Imperial Wizard, Emperor of the Invisible Empire of the Ku Klux Klan. But what assurance can people have that the expulsion will end this conduct since as one man said, “No man up in Atlanta can keep us from putting sheets over our heads and taking the law into our own hands if we desire to.” Certainly not! That is what disorganized the old Ku Klux Klan.

When they saw that they were being imitated, and their organization was being abused, they did the wise thing of going out of existence, thus throwing the blame of such conduct upon men that were guilty of it. The very form of disguise is one that takes deep hold upon the superstitious fears, native to many people.

On that very account it is easily copied and readily abused. Let the text speak: “Abstain from all appearance of evil”.But there is a deeper point yet in the text—Such abstinence tends to safe-guard the soul. The appearance of evil is a near approach to evil itself. I heard some years since a story that I was quite ready to believe. In the great Passion Play of Oberammergau, a man had been chosen two or three successive times to play the part of Judas.He was a Christian and all his soul revolted at the very thought, but having taken a pledge with his brethren to accept whatever was assigned him, he went through the rehearsals, revealing matchless talent, and impersonated Judas to perfection. For the fourth time, if I remember correctly, they were selecting the actors and once more the lot of playing the Judas part fell upon him.

Bowing his face in his arms he burst into tears, the whole building resounded to his sobs, as he said, “How can I, again, seem to be the enemy of my Lord?” Human experience, as a rule, runs in the opposite direction; the man who appears to be what he is not, finally becomes what he appears. In my judgment, the most remarkable book published in recent years was that of Robert Louis Stevenson, “Dr.

Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”—a book that illustrated perfectly a great fact of human experience, namely, that character and conduct will finally come together; appearances and experiences are eventually united, and if in a hooded company a man, riding the -country over, appearing dangerous and terrible, be long continued, both danger and terror become the result. To the text then, “Abstain from all appearance of evil”.But finally, to our third pointTHE “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”. These warnings reveal the Apostle’s interest. Had he not been writing to men he loved he would have said less to them. His warnings would have been of a less ardent character. There may be those who will go out from this room to-day seriously resenting my indictment of secrecy, and hidden faces, and terrifying appearance and mob acts; but if so, they will be shallow and thoughtless.I believe in the race to which I belong. I believe in it profoundly and love it with an ardent affection. In spite of my name there is not a drop of Papal blood in my veins, nor can I trace my ancestors far enough back to find one drop in the veins of any of them.

Five generations ago Henry Riley came from Protestant North of Ireland to Culpepper Co., Va., and in that State and its adjacent one, Kentucky, my fore-fathers lived and wrought, Protestant to the core. They were Baptists and Methodists and Presbyterians and Christian Church men, and on my mother’s side, they were Quakers.

But only in one or two single instances, resulting from putting orphan children into Papist schools, have I ever known them to be Catholic.I believe in Americanism, and yet I would not join the Klan wholly at this point. There are a great many men, born on other shores, that I prefer to fraternize with rather than with some of them born in this land. I heard a Scandinavian say a few days since, “When an American twits me, I answer, ‘You came to this country because you could not help yourself. I came to it from choice, having admired it beyond my own fatherland.”‘ And when I am charged with having come to it a mere immigrant and in rags, I answer, “That was far better than the condition in which you came; for when you came you did not have a rag upon your back.” I am inclined to think that Ward Beecher, when he would “throw wide open the gates” made mistake. I believe every alien opposed to American government ought to be deported; but I would go further yet, and take the native-born rebel and assign him to some island of the northern seas. I cannot say with the Klan, “America for American born,” but I do stand for Americans in spirit; and I hold that this is the proof of the love of my land.But our text makes a most Christian appeal. “The very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless”.

This is a Biblical phrase but involves a sound philosophy. Man, like God, is threefold in nature, body, soul, spirit.

In the sight of God, and in the sight of his fellows, the entire man should be preserved. The body was made to be a temple of God and should for ever be held sacred on that account. That means it should have the proper physical attention; that means it should have the proper moral environment; that means that it should be indwelt by the Spirit Himself. The soul of man—that is, his intellect—is not worthy of worship (as we so well heard from Mr. Bryan two weeks ago this morning), but worthy of culture, capable of development, matchless in its outreach, deserving of the deepest concern. Spirit— that is the immortal part—that is the God-breathed feature of human life, that is the life of God Himself in the soul, that is man at his best; the body, the soul in excelsis, let it all be preserved blameless.But to conclude, the Apostle touches upon another theme:He plainly declares the re-appearing of Christ.“Unto the Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”.

Paul, then, was a premillennialist! Certainly!

How any company of men who believe God and His Book could be otherwise is past my comprehension. God’s plan looked not to the first appearance of Christ only, the substitute for sin, but to a Second Appearance of Christ as well, the world’s Saviour, the Prince of Glory, the Coming King.The Klansmen have said, “We honor Christ as the Klansman’s only criterion of character, and seek at His hands that cleansing from sin which He alone can give.” And the Book teaches that “once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He Appear the second time without sin unto salvation”. To honor the Christ truly is to entertain that hope.Dr. I. M.

Haldeman, New York’s matchless minister, recently said, “No man can faithfully preach the Second Coming and neglect any doctrine of the Word. No man who believes in the imminent Coming of the Lord, and knows how to preach it, will ever be guilty of denying the inspiration of that Word, the resurrection of the body, of the glory and necessity of the atonement.

If any of the fundamental doctrines are neglected, as it is charged in ‘modern preaching,’ the neglect will not be found crouching at the door of him who preaches the Coming of the Lord.”We conclude, therefore, with the words with which we began, inspired words, worthy of your serious thought—“Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil. And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”.