Part 8 (2/2)

The man started, and said: ”If you think so, I wish you would tell him.”

But the mother could not tell her boy. The father went to the sick room, and he saw that death was feeling for the cords of life, and he said:

”My son, do you know you are not going to live?”

The little fellow looked up and said: ”No; is this death that I feel stealing over me? Will I die to-day?”

”Yes, my son, you cannot live the day out.”

And the little fellow smiled and said: ”Well, father, I shall be with Jesus tonight, shan't I?”

”Yes, you will spend the night with the Lord,” and the father broke down and wept.

The little fellow saw the tears, and said: ”Don't weep for me. I will go to Jesus and tell Him that ever since I can remember you have prayed for me.”

I have three children, and if G.o.d should take them from me, I would rather have them take such a message home to Him than to have the wealth of the whole world. Oh! would to G.o.d I could say something to stir you, fathers and mothers, to get your children into the ark.

HUMILITY.

”Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart.”--Matthew 11:29.

There is no harder lesson to learn than the lesson of humility. It is not taught in the schools of men, only in the school of Christ. It is the rarest of all the gifts. Very rarely do we find a man or woman who is following closely the footsteps of the Master in meekness and in humility. I believe that it is the hardest lesson which Jesus Christ had to teach His disciples while He was here upon earth. It almost looked at first as though He had failed to teach it to the twelve men who had been with Him almost constantly for three years.

I believe that if we are humble enough we shall be sure to get a great blessing. After all, I think that more depends upon us than upon the Lord, because He is always ready to give a blessing and give it freely, but we are not always in a position to receive it. He always blesses the humble, and, if we can get down in the dust before Him, no one will go away disappointed. It was Mary at the feet of Jesus, who had chosen the ”better part.”

Did you ever notice the reason Christ gave for learning of Him? He might have said: ”Learn of me, because I am the most advanced thinker of the age. I have performed miracles that no man else has performed.

I have shown my supernatural power in a thousand ways.” But no: the reason He gave was that He was ”meek, and lowly in heart.”

We read of the three men in Scripture whose faces shone, and all three were noted for their meekness and humility. We are told that the face of Christ shone at His transfiguration; Moses, after he had been in the mount for forty days, came down from his communion with G.o.d with a s.h.i.+ning face; and when Stephen stood before the Sanhedrim on the day of his death, his face was lighted up with glory. If our faces are to s.h.i.+ne we must get into the valley of humility; we must go down in the dust before G.o.d.

Bunyan says that it is hard to get down into the valley of humiliation, the descent into it is steep and rugged; but that it is very fruitful and fertile and beautiful when once we get there. I think that no one will dispute that; almost every man, even the unG.o.dly, admires meekness.

Someone asked Augustine, what was the first of the religious graces, and he said, ”Humility.” They asked him what was the second, and he replied, ”Humility.” They asked him the third, and he said, ”Humility.” I think that if we are humble, we have all the graces.

Some years ago I saw what is called a sensitive plant. I happened to breathe on it, and suddenly it drooped its head; I touched it, and it withered away. Humility is as sensitive as that; it cannot safely be brought out on exhibition. A man who is flattering himself that he is humble and is walking close to the Master, is self-deceived. It consists not in thinking meanly of ourselves, but in not thinking of ourselves at all. Moses wist not that his face shone. If humility speaks of itself, it is gone.

Someone has said that the gra.s.s is an ill.u.s.tration of this lowly grace. It was created for the lowliest service. Cut it, and it springs up again. The cattle feed upon it, and yet how beautiful it is.

The showers fall upon the mountain peaks, and very often leave them barren because they rush down into the meadows and valleys and make the lowly places fertile. If a man is proud and lifted up, rivers of grace may flow over him and yet leave him barren and unfruitful, while they bring blessing to the man who has been brought low by the grace of G.o.d.

A man can counterfeit love, he can counterfeit faith, he can counterfeit hope and all the other graces, but it is very difficult to counterfeit humility. You soon detect mock humility. They have a saying in the East among the Arabs, that as the tares and the wheat grow they show which G.o.d has blessed. The ears that G.o.d has blessed bow their heads and acknowledge every grain, and the more fruitful they are the lower their heads are bowed. The tares which G.o.d has sent as a curse, lift up their heads erect, high above the wheat, but they are only fruitful of evil. I have a pear tree on my farm which is very beautiful; it appears to be one of the most beautiful trees on my place. Every branch seems to be reaching up to the light and stands almost like a wax candle, but I never get any fruit from it. I have another tree, which was so full of fruit last year that the branches almost touched the ground. If we only get down low enough, my friends, G.o.d will use every one of us to His glory.

”As the lark that soars the highest builds her nest the lowest; as the nightingale that sings so sweetly, sings in the shade when all things rest; as the branches that are most laden with fruit, bend lowest; as the s.h.i.+p most laden, sinks deepest in the water;--so the holiest Christians are the humblest.”

The _London Times_ some years ago told the story of a pet.i.tion that was being circulated for signatures. It was a time of great excitement, and this pet.i.tion was intended to have great influence in the House of Lords; but there was one word left out. Instead of reading, ”We humbly beseech thee,” it read, ”We beseech thee.” So it was ruled out. My friends, if we want to make an appeal to the G.o.d of Heaven, we must humble ourselves; and if we do humble ourselves before the Lord, we shall not be disappointed.

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