MAN THE HARNESS MAKER
FOREWARD 

One statement of this book has been challenged..

Since the articles in the Sunday School Times, a Canadian reader has written to tell me that he knew fishermen in Ireland who bored holes in their boats and put plugs in the holes. Back on shore, the plug was pulled and any water in the boat was permitted to depart. Men I have fished with knew no better than to tilt the boat and rinse out slime, scales, and pieces of bait with pails of water. That took time, and we lost much of next day’s smells.

I have suggested to the cook that we put a hole and a plug in the dish-pan to save the labor of emptying it. I have offered to put a plug in the bottom of a neighbor’s coffee-pot to make it possible to remove the grounds without tilting the pot. If I were not known as a teetotaler, I would be under suspicion.

This cartoon might be framed and given to some Christian girl who is courted by a man who drinks, gambles, swears, and lies. I hope they do not cause those who have already taken vows, to feel sorry for themselves—that would make matters worse. To such I would say, Be such a friend of God that He feels sorrow for you. These cartoons were designed to show the folly of misusing our God-given opportunity of harnessing spiritual forces.

Harnessed forces may enslave and destroy nations; the charnel heaps of the world prove this. Some man of great repute has said, ‘‘Science is the twin sister of religion." The homeless starving of Europe must think this sister is promiscuous in her associations.

If men and monkeys are branches of the same family tree, how fortunate we are (or are we?) that the Santa Claus of evolution did not hang inventive genius on the simian limb, else the apes might be the ones that fight the wars, pay the taxes, take the headache pills, and insist on being our cousins. Some "scientist" has explained that man’s great progress was largely due to the fact that he had thumbs. I have seen apes with twice as many thumbs as the "scientist," so it seems that two thumbs help, but four thumbs hinder.

The paragraph below, was the editorial introduction when "Man, the Harness Maker" was printed in the Sunday School Times.

"If you read the announcement (Nov. 4) of this series by Dr. Shadduck, you may have wondered whether the high praise of his unique style was justified. But you will not read far in this first article of the series, which will extend over several issues, without meeting surprises, and without realizing that his writing is far from commonplace. In his unusual, humorous, clever, and heart-warming manner he shows how utterly foolish it is for man to suppose that he can get along without God, and how much better off all Christians would be if they would yield every last compartment of their lives to God and trust Him completely. Here is material to combat Evolutionism, and entertaining illustrations, ingenious parables, and convincing reasoning, all showing that man is happiest when he casts himself upon the infinite wisdom and love of God. The series will continue next week."

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When God made man He made a harness maker. How else could man be in the image of God who had every element and force in the universe geared with something else? How else could man accept the great commission to subdue the earth and have dominion over all living creatures?

Man was not physically equipped to subdue the mosquitoes, if there were any near Eden. Considering his size, he was the physical weakling of the earth and apparently least fitted of all the larger creatures to subdue the earth and dominate its life. He was no match for creatures with horns, fangs, claws, tusks, venom, or crushing power. Hundreds of creatures could run faster, climb higher, swim easier, dig better, jump farther, or strike harder. Other creatures had a covering of shell, a thicker hide, a coat of fur, a protective coloring, or a keener sense of smell. Other creatures were guided by a marvelous instinct. Some creatures were protected from attack by offensive odor, thorn-like surface, or deadly venom. Some could lose a limb and grow another. Some could be frozen stiff and suffer no harm; others could escape the rigors of winter by hibernation or migration.

If angels did not know that man was to be a harness maker and if they were ever surprised, they must have had such an experience when God commissioned a physical weakling to subdue the earth and have dominion over all other life.

Authorities say that a mother wolf may have as many as thirteen young in a litter. [sic.] Assuming that this number is twice the average, yet the potentialities of a wolf family are astounding. If a pair of wolves had been created when Adam was, their unhindered progeny might have numbered a billion when Cain was twenty-one years old. This fact argues that animal life needed to be dominated, and that man could not do it either by increase or by tooth and claw.

If any one of the larger animals is less equipped for offense and defense, than the others, it must be a sheep, and yet, in competition with a man who was not a harness maker, the advantages would be with the sheep. The sheep could eat dry grass, go through the winter without fire or garments, be almost wholly free from vermin and blood-sucking insects, and its progeny would mature sixteen tines as fast as humans. Indeed, a sheep with a man’s brain would be much more likely to survive than a man with a sheep’s brain. I hesitate to say this because a man with a really good sheep’s brain would not poke money into a gambling machine, be afraid of black cats, or get drunk the second time.

Yet God chose man to subdue the world. If there had been angels who were top-heavy with academic freedom, they must have doubted that God could bring to fulfillment His plans, even as now, in these days when military bullies seek to rule the world, it is difficult for many to believe that the meek shall inherit the earth—and they shall not, unless the prophecies of the Bible are true. It must be difficult just now to be modernistic and optimistic, yet you can do it if you have a differential in your mind. I remember how surprised I was when the rear end of my first car was hoisted on a jack and the two wheels could go in opposite directions at the same time. The mechanic said it was the differential that did it. They build some brains that way. The Head Mouse said to the group about him, "Cheer up. The world is getting better. Some day our brothers, the cats, will see how unsocial it is to annoy us."

The Harness Maker at Work

If man could not run as fast as the deer, he harnessed an arrow to a bow, under high tension, and the arrow went faster than the deer. If he could not strike a hard blow with his soft hand, he tied a stone on the end of a stick and with it crushed the skull of a bear.

If he could not move a heavy object, he contrived a lever and fulcrum and multiplied his power a hundredfold. If fruit was beyond his reach, he did not need to climb, as other creatures; he devised a ladder or used a long pole. What mattered if the ox were stronger? He harnessed the ox and used its strength. Not having a fang, he made a spear. Being no match for the best swimmers, he fashioned a canoe. Observing the action of the wind on floating objects, he fashioned a sail of skin or put a thick bush in the prow of his canoe. He dammed up the stream and forced the falling water to turn a wheel to saw his logs or grind his corn. In harnessing wind and water, he scarcely realized that he harnessed the sun that set these elements in motion.

Though all other creatures feared fire, he used it to clear his land, warm his cabin, cook his food, smelt his metals, light his path in the night, frighten away wild beasts, signal to distant hilltops, and later to drive his engines. He harnessed the tides before he knew that in reality he was harnessing the moon.

Harnessing the Moon

Some years ago a bridge builder found it necessary to pull up a great pipe line that had settled in the, mud of a river bottom near the sea. Without the removal of the pipe line he could not make a foundation for the piers of the bridge. With the help of a dredge, divers fastened a great chain about the submerged pipe and a crane mounted on a barge undertook the task of winding up the chain and lifting the pipe. The engine was started, and as the stretch of chain between the pipe line and the crane was shortened, it was soon evident that the strain would sink the barge rather than lift the pipe. All work was stopped, and a conference was called. The problem was, how to lift the pipe line without expending a great sum of money. Someone in the crowd of spectators called out, "Why don’t you hitch the moon to it?"

This was taken as a joke and occasioned some laughter, but one of the engineers suspected that perhaps this was indeed the solution of the problem and he inquired "Who said that?"

A young man stepped forward and said, "If you will give me the material and help I need, I will hitch the moon to it." He explained his plan and they accepted it.

Two great barges were fastened together with great timbers holding them a few feet apart. These barges were anchored where the chain could be brought up between them and wrapped around the middle timbers at low tide. Then the engineers sat down to wait. You can’t hurry the tide; it depends on the moon. Nor will there be peace on earth while the world is at war with God.

When the tide came in, it was clear that the pipe line would be lifted, the barges would sink, or the chain would break; no one feared that the moon would let go. Silently they waited the outcome, and just before the water went over the sides of the barges, the pipe line let go and the moon went on unwearied with its task.

Harnessing the Force of Gravity

To a really consistent atheist, gravity is as impossible as God. It is unwearied, invisible, unreasonable, and so far as human observation goes, eternal. It exerts a pull between objects, though they are separated by thousands of miles. You may cut the cable by which one ship tows another, but the leash by which the earth keeps the circling moon tagging after it in its journeys about the sun is hidden in mystery. A sheet of black paper will cut the rays of light; a sheet of lead will cut off the emanation from radium, but gravity is balanced only by other forces equally mysterious.

There is a story of a fire that started in the shipping yards of a railroad. The pipes underneath a tank car of gasoline were leaking, and the under part of the car was wrapped in flames. The fire department had only a stream of water to fight the blaze and this seemed utterly useless. There was grave danger that the car would explode disastrously. It was then that a high school boy who applied his knowledge to the problems of life said to the chief, "Why don’t you open the tank at the top and put the water in the tank?"

"Because the fire is not in the tank," replied the chief.

"Water is heavier than gasoline," said the boy; "if you put the water in the tank it will leak water instead of gasoline."

If the brains of all the apes on earth were in one ape, how long would it take that ape to see what was immediately obvious to a thoughtful schoolboy? Man is the only creature on earth that really makes harness.

The spider uses a spinning equipment, but the Creator, not the spider, designed the spinneret. A beaver can cut down a tree, but the cutting equipment of a beaver is a part of the beaver. There are plants that fasten tiny balloons or parachutes to their seeds, but the arrangement is as much a part of the life cycle of the plant as are the roots and leaves. Birds, beasts and bugs have many items of equipment, but they invent nothing and do not need to. Man was created with many needs that could be met only by invention, and man was given the ability to invent. Unfortunately that gift has often been misused.

Evolutionists ought to thank whatever god or law they credit with supervising the evolution of creatures, that harness-making ability was withheld from the apes; else they might have made a cage before man did. Even so, I doubt if more intellectual apes would have gone so far as to claim kinship.

The First Law of the Harness

Before man can successfully harness the things and forces about him, he must discover and respect the WANT-TO in such things and forces.

I used the expression want-to in much the same sense that the Bible used the word listeth in the statement. "The wind bloweth where it listeth." I refer to the pulls and pushes, active or potential, in the material world, and the bent or urge or driving desire in the realm of life.

The Want-to in Matter

Oil will rise in the wick of a lamp, and sap in the stalk of a plant. Salt is hungry for water. Freezing water will burst an iron container, because of the urge of its particles to readjust themselves as ice. When the same particles of water are superheated in a boiler they became explosive in their efforts to get away from each other. The pull of the hot air is upward, at least it seemed so to the early pioneer when he kindled a fire, and he built a chimney for the smoke instead of piping it into his well. Even in "the horse and buggy days," careless thinkers knew better than to bore holes in the bottom of a boat to let the water out.

It is said that long before Darwin determined our caste level some man sat on the limb of a tree while he sawed it off. Well, what of it? I have known a Doctor of Theology to sit on the place after he sawed it off. Perhaps you have known a preacher who discredited the Bible and held his job as a professed disciple of its central figure.

A teacher of religion may be consistent and popular, but the man who builds a lopsided harness, or an engine with parts that do not fit each other, will have little success.

The Want-to in Living Creatures

As a, farmer boy, I learned to adjust my activities to fit the WANT-TO in the domestic animals and fowls. When the ducks were lost, I did not look for them on the hilltop. When eggs were to be hatched, I put them under what was called, in farm parlance, a "settin’ hen." I heard of a woman who tried quite another plan.

She was obsessed with the idea that all males were shirkers, and the burdens of life were carried by the females. She delighted in bees, because they killed their drones, but a peacock was to her an abomination. She lived on a small farm and made life miserable for the barnyard rooster. To her, he was the symbol of all that was selfish, lazy, bombastic, and masculine. She cut off the plume feathers of his tail and threw stones at him when he dared to crow within heaving distance. He was abashed in her presence, as she told herself a man would be if she had one.

One day it occurred to her that the rooster ought to take his turn at incubating eggs, giving each brooding hen an occasional vacation. Of course the rooster would not stay on a nest willingly, and she devised a plan for enforcing her will. She bored two holes through the bottom of the nest box, put his legs through the holes and tied them together underneath the box. The brooding hen was frantic in her desire to get back to her nest; the rooster exhausted himself in his struggles to get free; only the woman was happy, and her happiness abated somewhat when the eggs, that were not broken, failed to hatch.

Was the woman lacking in sagacity? Not more than the man who will compel his stomach, heart, brain, liver, and nerves to suffer from alcohol and other poisons that interfere with their normal functions. I have known a stomach to rebel as vehemently as the rooster did, and with better success.

Back in those days on the farm, we owned a horse of considerable potential value that had almost no market value. She was known as a "balky" horse. At times she had a negative want-to, or shall we say a "don’t-want-to?" She was given to me to drive, because, if anyone must wait for her change of mind it might as well be a boy. I never knew a horse more willing to work, but she wanted liberty to do her work without interference of the Official Board. What I mean is, that she didn’t want to be bossed too much by someone who did not help with the load. She wanted to go up a hill faster than she did on the level, and rest when she found rest needed. I did not use a whip, and by kindness convinced her that the Official Board was as necessary as her will to work, and she came to trust me. She never balked with me. Like a favorite grandma, I found out what she wanted to do and told her to do it, a split second before she did it. Eventually, I harnessed her temperament as well as her strong shoulders.

The Second Law of the Harness

The ability to make harness, if misused, may destroy the harness maker or his neighbors. Blessings may be turned into curses.

What men call science will work for a bad man in a bad cause as well as for a good man in a good cause. Dynamite will blow up a rocky obstruction or a tenement building. Serfdom, slavery, military conquest, tyranny, and the plundering of nations may result from the misuse of harnessed forces. When God put man in the garden of Eden "to dress it and to keep it," his task was no more burdensome than that of a woman tending her flowers. Then man sinned and became the sweat-wiper of the universe. Of all creatures on earth, man is the only one who really toils, excepting, of course, the domestic animals that are compelled to toil.

God made man a harness maker; sin has made him a harness wearer. Some sixty centuries have gone by since man, bored by the restraints of God, believed the lying promise that disobedience to God would procure a more abundant life; and now, most of the race is in some degree of bondage to alcohol, narcotics, vice debt, high tax, dictators, taskmasters, military service, racketeers, extortionists, caste barriers, race prejudice, or physical disability. Even the Christian who has been industrious, temperate, frugal, and law-abiding may reflect that nine-tenths of his taxes go to pay for someone’s bad behavior in the past, or to prevent someone’s bad behavior in the future. Sin is the worst enemy of liberty. How long will it take the nations to find it out?

Civilization without God is only a veneer, and when this is written (1942), that kind of civilization threatens to destroy itself and turn the world into ash heaps and rubble. Though modern destruction of women and children is far worse than that of Indian massacres, yet we have preserved some refinements of culture: the killers do not proudly display the scalps of their victims.

Self-Imposed Bondage

Man suffers not only from the bondage imposed by others; he enslaves himself by selling eternal opportunities to buy some hilarity for the dying shell of himself. The so-called "bum" who sleeps in a box car and begs from door to door is a slave or a symbol of liberty—it depends on your definitions. Of course, only a comparatively few people go so far with their "freedom," but eventually the hilarity-centered life loses its glamour, and then the next mistake is to blame unhappiness on the neighbors, the government, the selfishness of others, or bad luck. In some cases, folk wonder why God has not done better by them.

The Parable of the Hound and the Ram

I had a friend whose favorite sport was fox bunting. Being a man of some wealth, he longed for a hound that was better than dogs of other members of his clan. To get such a dog, he paid more money for a pup than it takes to keep a family in China for a year. This pup had a pedigree that was somewhat better than that of his master. My friend assured me that if the pup knew how well-bred he was, he would not associate with his master’s family. It was a pedigree that promised perfect behavior—and that is some pedigree.

When the pup was nearly full grown, my friend took him to train with other hounds on the trail of a fox. Very soon the young dog showed remarkable fox hunting ability, but to the dismay of his owner, he chased sheep. Every hunter knows that such a dog will make serious trouble for the hunters, and every woman who can read tea leaves could see an unhappy future for such a dog, if she knew it had wool between its teeth.

My friend wished very much to save his dog from death and he hired a teacher for his dog. He bargained with a farmer to furnish a hilltop and a very large ram to be the teacher. The ram was blindfolded, and a rope was fastened, one end to the sheep harness, the other end to the dog’s collar. When the proper adjustments were made, the dog was released and the blindfold removed from the ram. The ram ran down the hill with the dog in hot pursuit, testifying to his hilarity with yelps of joy. It was a great race, with the dog winning, until the ram went on one side of a brier patch and the dog on the other. When 200 pounds of ram, plunging downhill, dragged that dog through the briers, the yelps of joy turned to howls of terror. Thereafter the dog, quite against his will, went rolling and bouncing down the hill, over stones and through briers, till at the bottom of the hill the ram jumped the fence and the dog didn’t. They carried him home and it was two weeks before he fully recovered. He never more had a hankering for sheep, and if by chance the fox trail went through a sheep pasture, the dog made a detour.

Fortunate would it be for millions if when they harness sin for its thrills they found its thorns as speedily; but in most cases, by the time the sinner finds more thorns than thrills, he is convinced that something else is to blame.

"Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil." (Eccles. 8:11).

The Third Law of the Harness

When a man uses harness, he must be in some measure yoked with the thing harnessed. Man is eager to harness other things, but he resorts to many devices to escape the restraints and discomforts of sharing the harness.

Some years ago, I invited a dairyman to come to church. He replied: "Go to church? I can’t even go to a circus. I have sixty Holstein cows in the barn. I am janitor, butler, valet, waiter, doctor, and nurse. The neighbors think I own the cows; the cows think they own me. From four in the morning till ten at night, I leave the barn only to eat and take an afternoon nap on the couch."

So it is with other human contrivances. The driver of an automobile has meters, gauges, gadgets, road signs, and road conditions to watch. He must be a part of the ensemble or be a poor insurance risk. And then there are so many things to get out of order; manmade machines are not self-repairing as God’s creatures are. I have been using my heart for many years, and it has never had anything done to it; well, nothing more than some romantic adjustments, but a score of times I have had trouble with an automobile engine. How often I have been willing to be helped by an automobile and even more willing to escape doing anything disagreeable for it.

On a recent speaking tour, the transportation committee arranged for me to ride between "settlements" with a young woman who was a rural missionary. They accepted her offer to make the drive because I was to cross her field of labor, and she knew the roads. Now it seems that the cars of rural missionaries are not nearly so good as those of liquor dealers. I do not mean to speak disrespectfully of the car, but the missionary, who knew it better than I did, suggested that we engage in prayer before we started. The farther that car went that night, the more I was convinced that it was accustomed to being prayed for. Service stations were few and far between, and I said to the missionary, "What do you do when something goes wrong with the car, and there is no service station near?"

She replied, "When there is no man in the car, a woman driver only needs to get out and stand in the road looking as despondent as possible. Some passing motorist will always help her."

"But there is a man in the car," I said, "and I am wearing my very best clothes. Even if I had the garments of a mechanic, I am not a mechanic."

She agreed that if anything went wrong, I could get over the fence and hide in the bushes until the car was fixed. I have known pastors who would have fared better if they could have hidden some parishioners in the bushes, and sometimes it would work well the other way. How many nominal Christians in trouble would get help from God and perhaps the neighbors, but for hindering companionships? I have related this incident to lead up to the next phase of discussion.

The Harnessing of Material Forces is not Enough

A thousand times I have felt that I needed the help of one of whom His disciples said, "The winds and the sea obey him." In all ages men have found that harnessing material things and forces was not enough to meet the deeper needs of humanity. Man has a sense of the supernatural, and in times of danger, suffering, sorrow, and remorse, human contrivances are woefully inadequate.

It has been urged that if there is no God, there is urgent need to invent one. I am not so sure of that. Most of the invented gods are cruel swindles. The inventors cannot be trusted to impose disagreeable restraints on themselves, though they may victimize others. When a religion worships sacred monkeys and enslaves women you may be sure that either the monkeys or the men invented it. It is characteristic of ancient religions other than that of the Bible that women were put on the level of domestic animals or below. In some cases, a girl baby was considered a misfortune or at best a chattel. It would be difficult to name an ancient religion that required continuous decency on the part of the men. It is true that some more recent custom-built creeds imitate, in theory, Christian standards.

Plan Seeks to Harness the Supernatural

If man would harness the power of God, he must not ignore the laws of the harness. He must understand what God is for and against; he must fear the displeasure of God; he must seek to work with God.

Because men are irked by restraint, bored by piety, or bent on a program of their own, they go shopping for gods. More people than suspect it, go after a bargain-counter religion or one that has been marked down. They want a religion that offers the most indulgence here, and the easiest readjustment hereafter. And so we find multitudes relying on everything from prayer wheels to totem poles; from medium to medicine man; from witch doctor to itch doctor (2 Tim. 4:3). Sin neutralizers and god fixers will not lack followers, if they offer indulgence here and some sort of pleasant surprise in the hereafter.

The Great Swindle

Millions of people have invested their time and eternity in the swindles of Baal, Dagon, Chemosh, Rimmon, Molech, Diana, or other gods that the Bible classifies as "abominations" (1 Kings 13:7). Far more people than are now living have been promised a celestial harem with angel-like wives, or have been terrorized with the fear that they might live again as bugs, or bats, or buzzards. If you think such conditions are possible only among the ignorant, it would amaze you to discover that widely divergent and bizarre religions can incubate in a university atmosphere. The Negro spiritual, "Everybody talkin’ ‘bout Heaven ain’t goin’ there," may not be grammatically correct, but the logic of its meaning is obvious.

There is only one God who fits all the facts of history, mathematics, unmistakable science, and human needs. There is only one God who has the same moral standards for both Heaven and earth, yet offers no compromise with anything that unfits humanity for either place. Nothing is clearer in the Bible than the eagerness of God to undertake for any one who will comply with the laws of the harness. "The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him" (2 Chron. 16:9). Why should people who accept that statement of the eagerness of God, insult Him and disgust the angels by seeking help from charms or spooks or gestures to insure good luck?

The eagerness of God is shared by the angels. Of them the Bible says, "Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?" (Heb. 1:14). Not only to minister to the heirs, but to do service for them. An angel touched Peter in prison, and his chains fell off. To that angel the iron gate of the prison opened, and Peter was free. Can you imagine Peter thereafter being interested in reading tea leaves or seeing the new moon over the wrong shoulder? An angel rolled back the stone from the sepulcher of Christ and sat upon it. "His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow: and for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men."

Are There Enough Angels?

If only we had enough angels! Do you entertain such a wish? The Bible speaks of one group of angels as "ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands" (Rev. 5:11). When I reflect that one angel will some day wrap a chain about the Devil and cast him into the pit, and when I read the words of the Lord Jesus, "Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?"—twelve legions and more, twelve legions more than were needed and more,

I conclude that humanity has not used a hundredth part of the available power of God, and yet men turn to everything from wishbones to wizards—anything that will save them from trouble and let them keep their favorite sins.

Before I turn to trouble doctors, that have failed these 6000 years, let me first be convinced that God and the angels are overworked and I am far down on the waiting list.

Power Unknown to Many

Some years ago the writer camped near a great hydroelectric powerhouse in Canada. The high tension wires stretching across the country from that powerhouse carried electric current that lighted cities and turned the wheels of industry a hundred miles away. Canada is pre-eminently the land of swallows, and I have seen thousands of them resting on those wires quite unaware that between their toes was passing force-enough to destroy the nations of the world, if they were lined up for electrocution. To those swallows the wires, were only wires; as for hidden power the swallows were, shall we say, agnostics. I am told that sometimes a larger bird with a long neck rests on the wire. It is also an unbeliever, until it stretches its neck and touches another wire, and then it somewhat resembles a puff of smoke. By the time the evidence is all in, the bird is all out.

To our finite minds it seems that most of the power of the material universe is unused. Not a billionth part of the rays of the sun is absorbed by the earth. If all the sunlight were focused on a million worlds, it would burn the surface of all to a crisp.

Back of the material forces is the spiritual world. God is a Spirit and by His word were the heavens called into existence. Instead of there being a shortage of power, "it is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed" (Lam. 3:22).

The Parable of the Power-House

"I answered thee in the secret place of thunder." Ps. 81:7.

I call it a parable, because it is only a story. However, there are no essential details of the story that I have not known something comparable. The setting of the story was a mining community of perhaps a hundred houses, and the surrounding hill country. In these hills there were a number of families that were reckoned more of a liability than an asset, and many of them were suspected of connection with the making and marketing of moonshine liquor. I would not leave the impression that lawlessness is peculiar to the hills, more than to the cities. My experience has been that predatory characters will be as bad as those charged with enforcement of law will permit, and they gravitate to localities where villainy is safest, just as fleas on a dog collect in the spots that are scratched the least.

This community was terrorized, and that means dominated, to some extent, by a company of outlaws known as Night Riders. Deeds of violence by these bullies were not numerous, because their threats of violence usually frightened people into compliance with their demands. A bundle of whips and a warning note left on a man’s doorstep could be depended on to frighten the man into leaving the community or obeying the demands made. Citizens were afraid to serve on a jury or give testimony in court if they had a hint that such actions would displease the Riders. Indeed, it was considered unsafe to make uncomplimentary remarks about these gangsters or know too much about their deeds. Occasionally this band rode forth at night to impress and overawe their neighbors; on such occasions, horses and rider’s had black coverings that served as masks.

To teach the village school a young man had been brought in from the outside and because he was a professed Christian and took his religion seriously, he organized a Sunday School. Few people object to a church or Sunday School until it brings someone’s sins into relief. I knew of one Sunday School that had a brewer’s agent for a superintendent, and the beer business was not annoyed—not even by the prayer that a little girl read each Sunday.

This young man was brave enough (some said foolhardy enough) to suggest that they ask the Governor to do something about the intimidations of the hooded thugs. Very soon a bundle of whips was left at his door, with a note that warned him to leave the community before night of a given date, or he would have an unpleasant visit from dissatisfied neighbors. It was signed, "Night Riders." There was sorrow in the village. The teacher was popular, and if the men had dared, there would have been organized resistance. It was generally believed that the sheriff’s force was either afraid of the Riders or in league with them. Those who gave advice, with one exception, urged the young man to go away. The exception was the company electrician who was somewhat of a wizard in finding ways to harness home-made lightning. His ideas were revealed only to the school master. He said, "Let them come. This gang can be ousted, and I know how to do it." The community was dismayed when the teacher announced that he would not leave.

He lived in a cottage on a knoll outside and apart from the cluster of houses that made up the village. The house was in a yard surrounded by a sturdy fence and outside the fence was a dense growth of briars that was anybody’s blackberry patch. In the basement of the house there was an electric pump and a pressure tank that made possible a modern bathroom. The electrician moved in with the teacher and together they plotted and worked. The work was done secretly at night while an alert watch dog was ready to announce the approach of prowlers.

The pressure tank was disconnected from the bathroom and into the tank was poured a gallon nor more of some concoction. The electrician explained, "this will make ‘em shied tears of regret maybe repentance." Next the pipe was capped, the tank was pumped to the desired pressure, and the pump disconnected. Next the tank was insulated from all contacts except two coils of rubber hose and some electrical equipment that the electrician had brought in. He explained, "I don’t want to kill a horse. I only want to put that gang of outlaws out of business to stay put." One string of hose was laid to where it would be available at the front door; the other was laid across the yard under the surface of the sod and ended in a coal house outside the yard and opposite to the door. This made it possible to direct two streams of water against any visitors, striking them front and rear. A few yards from the coal house, a wooden box filled with explosives was buried under a pile of brush. This was connected to the coal house with a wire and could be exploded by touching the wire with the nozzle of the hose. The purpose of this was to startle the horses and confuse the riders until they were struck with the streams of water that carried all the electric current the equipment permitted. (I am not an electrician; I only know it has been done).

One day an office holder called and offered to get the teacher a better job in another county if he would leave and thus save the county from the scandal that would surely follow if he persisted in being stubborn. The visitor was assured that the teacher greatly admired the martyrs and was convinced that if he lost his life there would be a great funeral and no doubt the state authorities would investigate. When the visitor persisted, he was dismissed with this request, "You tell that ‘Dirty Dozen’ that if there is to be any backing down, they will do it." The next visitor was a deputy sheriff.

He said it was his duty to prevent blood-shed. He was assured that no one at the cottage had the slightest idea of shedding blood, "Indeed," said the teacher, "The sight of blood makes me shudder." "The sheriff will protect you," said the deputy, "If you will go to the county seat where we can guard you, we will give you free entertainment in a good hotel until excitement has abated."

"Seems to me that someone is getting cold feet," said the teacher.

"If you refuse our offer to protect you, how do you expect to defend yourself?" asked the deputy.

"We had an electrifying prayer meeting one night this week. Didn’t get to bed ‘till 2 o’-clock," said the teacher.

"You’re batty," said the deputy as he turned away muttering words that must be censored.

The teacher called after him, "Tell those fellows I will be at this house on the day and time appointed. Any other hour may not find me here. Tell them to be on time so I can get to bed early."

"These visitors are in cahoots with them," said the electrician, "We don’t want them to back down. I want to dampen their ardors. We must threaten them with public derision. Gunmen think of themselves as heroes if they are feared; they are enraged if they are laughed at. We must laugh at them.

Next day a placard was posted at a crossroads, with this message,

FACE-HIDERS

YOUR OFFERS REFUSED

YOU ARE YELLOW

The Teacher

News of this taunt traveled fast. Excitement was near the breaking point. It was obvious that the bullies must make good their thrust or be hunted down as men hunt a wolf that leaves a blood trail in the snow. No one knew that better than they did. They must visit the teacher at the time appointed.

There was but one narrow road by which the riders could reach the cottage. When the fateful hour arrived there was a fire burning by this road some distance from the house. This was to make the calvacade visible a few moments before arrival. There was another fire outside the fence, to light up the scene and, by contrast, make invisible the crowd watching in the darkness. When the horses appeared, the electrician slipped into the coal house and the teacher stood within his door. The agreement was that when the bomb exploded, both men were to turn a stream of water and home-made lightning on the startled group.

Presently, eleven horses and ten men galloped into yard, each man carrying a gun. They drew up at the door and the leader shouted, "Come out schoolmaster, with your hands up!" The bomb exploded; the door opened; and two streams of water hit horses and riders—front and rear. The horses in front fell or reared back to be met by those that were plunging forward. One horse fell over the fence with his rider underneath. Another jumped the fence, dragging the rider, whose foot was caught in the stirrup, through the briars till the saddle girth broke. In ten seconds not a rider was on a horse, but there were some horses on the riders.

The streams were shut off, lest someone in the pile of horses and men might be killed. When it was over, not one man was uninjured. There were some broken bones, mostly ribs. The masks had been torn off and every man was identified. In the midst of the praying, cursing heap was the deputy sheriff. There was, of course, a moral and political upheaval. The Grand Jury returned indictments, but many of the scoundrels had left for parts unknown.

What is the Christian Parallel?

There was a power-house. There is one for Christians.

The heroes did not generate electricity, they released it. Pentecost was not the result of pep talks. Our Lord said, "If ye, .... know how to give good gifts unto your children; how much more shall your ‘heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" Is it as simple as merely asking? No power-house will furnish current to a house that is not insulated—that is a part of the asking. A believer’s life may be so tapped and sapped by worldliness that it can claim no Spirit filling. Insulation was necessary in the story.

In young manhood, I heard a song that recited the miraculous exploits of Bible characters. There was one verse about Daniel and the lions. The refrain was, "The God who lived in Daniel’s time is just the same today." Readers will miss the point it they do not realize that not all manifestations of God’s power are spectacular. Of course it would be thrilling if one could go about releasing miracles, but the power to triumph over sin and death is as needful as denting a giant’s head with a big pebble.

Sermons, exhortations, testimonies, prayers, may have in them a current that comes from the power-house of God. "He covereth His hands with the lightning, and giveth it a charge that it strike the mark." (Job 36:32 R. V.). Sin-haters make good conductors. Sin-lovers must, sooner or later, be targets. What of the multitudes who want sin enough to make life spicy and hope to sprinkle in enough sanctity to merit the tolerance and indulgence of God?

Unharnessed Power

When the power of God is not harnessed to human needs, it cannot be because God is unwilling. In Isaiah 27:5, He said, "Let him take hold of my strength." The God "from whose face the earth and the heaven" shall flee away will undertake for you, if you will obey the laws of the harness. The Lord Jesus said of Himself, "The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister." That He did not minister unto Jerusalem as He would have done is explained in His own words, "How often would I . . . and ye would not!" (Luke 13:24)

This Religious World

Man craves the help of the "supernatural," but he doesn’t want his "natural" meddled with too much. He wants to go to some sort of heaven, if that place is less disagreeable than the other place, but he doesn’t want to behave here as the Bible indicates he must behave there. I have known many men to recite publicly, "Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven," who would be bored by the heavenly type of hilarity.

This is a religious world, but religion may include reverence for a cow or a temple monkey. India leads the world in the number of its gods, sacred places, animals, "holy men," and a spectacular devotion; and what has the rabble of gods done for India? It is fair to test gods by what happens to nations that are devoted to them. It is fair to test God by what happens to nations that disobey Him. Millions of Mohammedans pray five times a day, and what has their religion done for them? A similar question would apply to nations that worship ancestors, and the tribes dominated by witch doctors. If I were to suggest five places that are good places to come away from, three of them would be North Pole, South Pole, and Sahara desert; the other two would be where they "honor the God of forces," and the land where the chief national shrine is a corpse. There is a worse place farther down the same road, but where would its guests go if they left it?

What About Christianity?

Has Christianity failed? The answer depends on two definitions. What is Christianity? What is failure? It was Christ who said, "Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" One may violate or disregard every commandment God ever gave, in spirit at least, and be a member in good standing of some group called Christian. If Peter, James, John, and Paul came back to earth unrecognized and preached as they did when on earth, they would be unwelcome in some churches named for them.

It is not the purpose of this discussion to discredit, by classification, anyone who believes in Christ; rather, it is my desire to help those who have any faith, into the exercise of a triumphant faith. If I call attention to the failures of believers, it is that we may see their need and help them to happier relations with God.

It is obvious to all, that a wilderness guide may be charged with failure if those who obey him, and follow no other guide, go in circles. It must be apparent to careful thinkers that the guide is discredited if those who disregard his warnings, and go in forbidden paths, do not need rescue. Christianity is blamed because it has not stopped the miseries of the world. Why not blame sin? The world is slow to see it, but Christianity would indeed be a failure if nations or individuals could disregard its warnings and defy its ultimatums and not come to grief.

Unanswered Prayer Recitals

Three times in my life there have been nation-wide prayers for a wounded President or a kidnapped child. In the case of the child, public interest was so keen that a prizefight was delayed while public prayer was offered. The prayers availed no more than the prophets of Baal twenty-eight hundred years ago. When a nation prays and gets no answer, why does not the nation take the hint that either it has the wrong god or God has the wrong nation?

Several times in Old Testament times, God notified the prophets that He would not hear the prayers of the nation; He even forbade prayers in their behalf for good, as in Jeremiah 14:11, "Pray not for this people for their good." If individual prayers are not answered, the hindrance may be indicated in Psalm 66:18, "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me."

No knowledge on earth is more needful than to be sure of your God, and if He will not hear your prayer, "the wires may be down."

Another Parable

When I was a lad of about twelve I often watched the older men of the community when they met on winter evenings to play checkers. A cousin, who was the champion checker player of the county, sometimes attended these gatherings. No one cared to play with him because of his ability. One night in a spirit of mischief, the champion communed with me privately and induced me to be a necessary partner in a plot to humble the older men. Forthwith, I challenged one of the best players to a game. It was agreed that because I was a boy, I might make trial moves and change my mind if I did not lift my fingers from the checker. I was a most deliberate player. It was remarked that they had never seen a player who so thoughtfully considered every possible move. I won the game, and the next and the next. The secret of my astounding success was due to the fact that when it was my turn to move, I made trial moves and withdrew them until the champion kicked my foot.

I could have done the best I knew; I could have obeyed some fancied inner light; I could have given free rein to self-expression and lost the game.

Young folks are sometimes advised, "Hear all sides and then make up your mind." Victory for me depended on who kicked me. A dog stepping on my foot might have defeated me. Kicks from two directions would have left me utterly confused.

Young people, you are playing in the tournament of life for eternal stakes. Satan will play against you. Many friends will offer advice, and it may be good advice, but you had better be sure that it comes from the direction of God. Even when the human mind is not warped by sin, self-interest, or wrong training, it cannot function safely if the brain cells are too old or too young, too hot or too cold, or the blood pressure too high or too low. The prophets of God never offered opinions; their utterances were prefaced by such words as "Thus saith the Lord thy God."

The Great Divide

To my countrymen, "The Great Divide" is a snow-covered range of mountains that determine whether a falling snowflake shall respond to the call from the eastern or western sea. There is a Great Divide that will determine whether you go with God, who yearns with pity for a suffering world, or go in the broad way with His foes.

I have seen houses and barns floating on the floodwaters of a great river when elsewhere cattle and crops were dying for water. I have known work horses to die from unusual heat, though there was ice enough in Greenland to chill all America; yet, it is easier to pipe the Mississippi River to Arizona or move Arctic ice fields to the tropics, than to pray God into a non-aggression pact with the Devil.

Powerless Church Groups

What about the groups that have candle-lighting services, consecration meetings, and in a dignified and abbreviated manner re-enact Pentecost—at least a modernized substitute for it? If God takes them seriously, they need no one to apologize for them.

If a man enlists in the army, all the activities of life are adjusted to fit the limitations of a soldier. If a man dedicates himself to a dictator and then hob-nobs with the enemy, the firing squad will have work to do. After a cocktail party a couple may marry and regret it when sober, but it takes court action to free them. In some religious groups a solemn consecration lasts only about as long as a nickel in a parking meeter. I have known young people to stay out very late Saturday night, sleep too late for service Sunday morning, go to a movie in the afternoon, and attend a consecration service at the church at night where they carried lighted candles through the aisles of the church, singing

Lead on, 0 King Eeternal,

The day of march has come;

‘Henceforth in fields of conquest

Thy tents shall be our home.

Following their consecration, they retired to a play-room and sang such songs as, "Old McDonald had a farm." The "fields of conquest" were no more real to them than "McDonald’s farm."

I have never participated in a mock wedding; it would be ceremonial profanity to me. I have rehearsed with a couple a wedding ceremony—on the day before the wedding—I never needed to, after the wedding. I remember a "speaking meeting" when an optimistic brother was exhorting the backsliders. He said, "Don’t you backsliders get discouraged; I have been converted nineteen times." Jesus said, "Joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth." Could it be that this man furnished heaven with nineteen times as much joy as a sinner whose repentance "stays put?"

It is not my purpose to make light of well-meaning young people, rather I lament the tragedy that religious leaders can swindle them into believing that they can take consecration as a periodical tonic, as the pioneers took sulphur and molasses. Many times I have heard congregations sing, "Jesus, I my cross have taken, all to leave and follow Thee," and not one in ten had any definite idea what cross they would take up, what they would leave behind, and where their following the Lord would take them. The hidden disaster in this make-believe consecration is in the fact that some of them could have been flaming evangels, and all of them could have been partners with God. In happy contrast to such performances, I have witnessed many services where God met men in eternal covenant.

Consider again the first law of the harness. What is the motive of God? God hates sin. He hates the sin of bondage so much that God spared not His own Son that man might be delivered from it. He hates the sin of rebellion so much that the Bible offers no hope to those who persist in it. If you love some bondage sin, if you delight in some willful sin, the first step toward God is to hate sin. Another word for this is REPENT. Rites, symbols, ceremonies, and rituals may help you to focus your will, and good deeds may testify to repentance, but they can never be a substitute.

God believes in the Holy Scriptures. If this is read by anyone who does not, then it would be logical to find a god or piece together one that is going in your direction, if you know what direction it is. You may be sure that the clever men who discredit the Holy Scriptures have never yet agreed how much to discredit or where they are going, other than the grave.

Going in the Right Direction

In the "horse and buggy days" the respectable speed limit was six miles an hour for the buggy. Country lads who wished to go faster thought it great sport to ride freight trains. So far as my experience went, trainmen regarded, country boys as friends and never made them get off. A young man was not considered proficient in this sport unless he could swing himself aboard a caboose going 15 miles an hour. To do this, it was necessary to stand near the moving train until the caboose was near, then, running at utmost speed in the direction the train was going, grasp the hand iron of the caboose as it passed, and let go of the world. I never knew a country lad so mentally stunted that he ran in the opposite direction. If you have an inexperienced friend who wishes to "thumb" a ride with a passing automobile, tell him to signal a driver going in the same direction as this thumb, or it may be taken as a gesture of farewell. Prayer can never be effective unless you want to go in the same direction God is going.

Many nominal Christians can say truthfully, "I do not know the likes and dislikes of God." A doctor who has not studied medical books is called a "quack." A lawyer who has not studied law books is a "shyster." A schoolteacher not familiar with schoolbooks is a curiosity. But, with a Christian it is different. It is amazing how little one needs to know of the Bible, and be cocksure of one’s theories of right and wrong. God is very patient with all who really want to do His will. "If any man willeth to do his will, he shall know of the teaching..." (John 7:17, R. V.)

The Second Law

If you apply this law, you will fear to displease God. God cannot love the world and be gentle with those who willfully add to its misery. People who think of God’s love as submissive tolerance of disobedience may be surprised to read in Leviticus 26-23, 24, "And if ye . . . will walk contrary unto me; then will I also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you yet seven times for your sins."

Some who profess to believe that they live as predetermined, and die when their time comes, may be surprised to read in Ecclesiastes 7:17, "Why shouldest thou die before thy time?"

The Third Law

Man’s eagerness, to harness the power of God is often frustrated by man’s aversion to being harnessed. God wants to enter into covenant relations with man. He wants your name on His books and His name on your books. Multitudes recite, "The Lord is my Shepherd," though they have no least desire to be sheep. Sheep are meek, easily guided, nonresisting, and the shepherd gets the wool.

The Parable of the Ducks

God is not mocked, but many earth-creatures are. Next to humans, I have found that hens are most easily humbugged. The shabbiest joke on the farm is to put duck’s eggs under a brooding hen. When the ducks are hatched it is a tragedy for the hen and a comedy for the bystanders. The ducklings go where they please, utterly indifferent to the hen’s frantic clucking and cackled alarm. They do not understand the hen’s language, and she does not know whether they are happy or suffer pain. They eat what she forbids and refuse what she recommends. They never follow her; she always follows them, at least to the edge of the mud puddles where they stand on their heads in the water and she threatens a nervous breakdown. When they become waterlogged and sticky with mud, they dry themselves against her breast. It is a one-way relationship; she is compelled to be a mother of ducks, but they never even approximate the chickens of a hen. Even so, there are multitudes who take for granted that by the laws of the universe, God is bound to be their father, but they need not be His children. Somewhere between them and God there is a "missing link." The Good Shepherd must accept everything in the pasture—even the romping jack rabbits.

It is neither useful nor kind to scold at defeated believers, but only by lamentable facts may we hope to find the way to victory.

The Yoke of Christ

The Lord Jesus said, "Take my yoke upon you." Some regard this as an exhortation to accept bondage. Others see in it an ultimatum meaning, be unhappy here or hereafter. Why not see in it an invitation to share the power of Christ?

For an ox, a yoke means loss of freedom; but it guarantees food, shelter, and protection. When a man shares the yoke of Christ, is the man working for Christ, is Christ working for the man, or are their interests merged? The answer determines whether it is freedom or bondage. For most humans, a yoke is the symbol of added burdens, and are we not already overburdened? In stained glass windows we have crosses, crowns, anchors, lilies, grapes, lambs, doves and sheaves of wheat; I have never seen a yoke used as a church ornament.

Many people find their necks are too short for the yokes they already have. Taxes, rents, bills, dues, assessments, contributions, replacements, interest charges, and the time given to clubs, societies, lodges, associations, and social groups have pre-empted all available necks, and they are looking for more necks. It is said that there are over two hundred nationally known organizations in our country looking for joiners. Already some people are budgeting their necks, that is, one yoke for Monday, another for Tuesday, and so on leaving Sabbath for a good nap.

When the Master said, "Take my yoke," He meant something permanent, not something like pearl studs to be worn only at functions, or a jacket to go on and off with a zipper.

The yoke of Christ is for two necks. Where one goes the other goes. You can hardly visualize a yokemate of Christ romping with the world and reporting once a week for adoration. It is argued that individual freedom encourages initiative. So it does, and so would a one-man army; but when the load is too heavy or the enemy too strong, initiative is not so important as triumph. If you share His yoke, He must pull you through the hard places or Himself be stalled.

The Parable of the Automobile

When I owned my first automobile, I traveled much over dirt roads, and wet dirt is mud. In those days, no country pastor thought of mud roads as a means of grace. The car I drove was known as a "Lizzie," which was a contraction of the name "Road Lizzard." One night through fog and rain my car was climbing a long hill when I saw through the darkness a mechanical monster conning down the hill in the middle of the road. It was some kind of iron dragon, belching sparks of fire, and it made no move to give half the road to a preacher, as dragons should. Any notion of claiming my rights as an American citizen deserted me then and there. I drove into the ditch and let the leviathan pass. It was a great traction engine with a threshing machine and water tank behind it. My car stalled, and I was as deep in gloom as the car was in mire.

Two miles away a congregation would wait for me a while and then go home. The Bible directs us to pray for those who mistreat us. It is surprising how many other things one can think of at such a time. A good Samaritan with a donkey could only have offered kind words, and what I needed was power. The traction engine stopped and the driver came back. I hoped he would not seek to comfort me with some observation that trouble is only a blessing in disguise. Not even a vested choir singing, "Some day we’ll understand," would have cheered me. No committee with flowers could have relieved my distress. I wanted power to get out of the ditch. This man was an orator. The eloquence of his words thrilled me. He said, "Wait till I hitch the traction engine to your car." I could have protested that it would interfere with my initiative and jeopardize my independence, but I didn’t. I knew that engine would take the car out of the ditch and not exert a thirtieth of its power.

This man was not a relative; he was not bound by any covenant to help me; and he had only the imprisoned forces of boiling water to share with me. How much more may we claim from a covenant keeping Father, "who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the, dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a. balance" (Isa. 40:12).

Infinite Power

There is power with His yoke. He said, "All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth." But, faith loves crutches. We hanker for the spectacular. It would be so thrilling to sit and send, as Elisha did when he rebuked the king, directed General Naaman to the river Jordan for cleansing, and put Naaman’s leprosy on Gehazi (2 Kings 5). Faith could easily shake off its fringe of doubts if we could visualize the mountain full of horses and chariots of fire (2 Kings 6:17), and pray blindness on a troop of soldiers, as Elisha did, but such events were no more a manifestation of the power of God than the breaking of sin shackles in countless thousands of lives. To careful thinkers it is not so wonderful that an earthquake can split a mountain as it is that the unheeded words of a prophet of God can reach across the gap of centuries and topple empires to their doom. Charged with the power of God, Samson wrecked a temple; filled with the Spirit of God, the first martyr was triumphant before his prosecutors with a face "as it had been in the face of an angel."

When a lad of thirteen, I went with my uncle, in the early morning hours, to a Fourth-of-July celebration. The men of the town had secured a cannon, but they needed a man who knew how to use it. Fortunately for me, my uncle had been an artilleryman and he was immediately chosen as captain of the one-gun battery. As I was a member of his staff, I was appointed sergeant of sods. It was my job to tear up sods to be rammed into the muzzle of the cannon and fired at the brick walls of a burned building. It was a great day in my life. I imagined the walls were pirates, outlaws, or redskins. That was as far as my imagination went, as there were no crooners in those days.

Later in the day, another lad offered to share his firecrackers with me, and I replied, "I am not interested." Firecrackers have never thrilled are since that day. Five years later, within a few rods of the scene of that military triumph, I was an actor in a far greater event that occasioned joy in Heaven. I kneeled at an altar of prayer, and a great burden was lifted from my heart; so that I could say to a robin singing in the March wind, "Hush up! You have nothing to sing about as I have." Since I met Christ as a Saviour, the heroes of earth have seemed commonplace.

Many years ago, my little daughter had a birthday party. For guests, we invited, all the little girls of a near-by orphanage. Night and morning these children had been taught to pray, "Lord send me a papa and a mama and a home." Children are so practical that they try to help God answer their prayers. After some hours of hilarity and refreshment, they were directed to get their wraps and dress for the return to the orphanage. Looking for my wife, I found her cornered in the kitchen. Three little girls were clinging to her skirts and she was wiping tears from her eyes. Being a cautious man, I decided to escape while yet there was time, but I had delayed too long. A little hand tugged at my coat and I looked down into blue eyes and a wistful face framed in yellow curls. Then the maiden spoke. It was a proposal. She said, "Mister, you can have me." It was a fervent prayer and it seemed almost brutal to smother the hopes of a child, but I had no choice.

As a boy in school, I believed the assurance of relatives and friends that I would go far in life. At the age of eighteen, I heard a sermon that convinced me that I was treating God worse than anyone was ever likely to treat me, and I saw myself as a lost soul, reckoned in the company of the enemies of God. Broken in spirit, I could not say, "Oh, God, you can have me;" I had nothing to give to Him but my burden. Not one of my close relatives or friends was a Christian. My father was hostile, and insisted that I had brought shame on the family. I left home to face the world alone. All my dream castles had crashed in ruins; all whom I had relied upon had failed me. When I would have despaired, my inner soul heard the whisper of One who can rebuke "the raging waters," and call back the dead. And He said, as He had said to millions of others willing to forsake His rivals, "You can have me." Giving to God is not over-emphasized, but God as a gift is often overlooked.

AN APPEAL TO YOUNG PEOPLE
"I SPEAK AS A FOOL"-2 Cor. 11:23

When I was a young man, a dyspeptic old man who was a multi-millionaire, offered a million dollars for a new stomach. Now I needed money and had a stomach as good as new. The fact that made me hesitate was that selling a stomach was like selling one of the mechanical units of an automobile—I would be unable to use the balance of my excellent equipment. If I sold my stomach, I might just as well sell all the other organs. If only there had been a convention of ailing millionaires, and I could have sold heart, lungs, eyes, ears,--all of me--for spare parts, I might have brought a hundred million dollars, which would have been an enormous profit on MY investment. It would be enough to buy a strong box to put the money in and hire someone to watch it for a hundred years. Of course, it is now too late for any young man to realize such a profit, because the government would take most of it as income tax.

Foolish as this may seem, I have known hundreds of young people to utterly ruin one or more of the organs of the body for the trifling return of the pleasure of some indulgence.

Young man or woman, you have a body made up of many millions of cells and they are as much subject to your will as the conquered nations are at the mercy of a dictator. They are your subjects, and if it pleases you to force diluted alcohol or some other thinned-out poison upon them, there is apparently no one to stop you. But, be sure of one thing, sooner or later you will have insurrection as all dictators, who mistreat, their subjects, do. The boon of personal liberty that so many are willing to fight for may backfire and sentence you to a wheel chair or a hospital cot.

What I am about to relate never happened. It is just more foolishness, unless you can see a parable in it. A man owned a fine new automobile, but in the exercise of his personal liberty he put fine sand in the bearings and crankcase. His neighbors offered protest, but he said, "This is my automobile and what I do with it is nobody’s business. My fathers died for liberty and no one can decide for me what I must do with what belongs to me." In a few weeks the car was more a liability than an asset and the man complained of his hard luck. He said to his neighbors, "if you showed a really Christian spirit, you would get me a new car. Your Bible commands you to help all who are in distress." Now as surprising as it may seem, the government provided free transportation, because he was in need.

I once heard a young man say, "My body belongs to me. What my personal habits are is nobody’s business." If he is yet living, he is likely cared for by his relatives or is kept at the expense of the taxpayers. I have often wondered that a government will profit from State Liquor stores, as my state does, and then spend ten times as much as the revenue from the stores to take care of the best customers after ten or twenty years. Humanity is not yet top-heavy with good sense.

Young people, take good care of the multiplied millions of cells in your body, as a good king or queen would be concerned for the citizens of the kingdom. Those cells are the microscopic citizens of your personal kingdom. You have them harnessed to do your bidding within limits. If you mistreat them, the difference between you and the tyrant dictators of the world is the difference between what is visible to the naked eye and that which requires a microscope. If you will not treat your subjects fairly, how can you pray with assurance that God will give His angels charge concerning you?

Even so, if you take care of the cells that make up the body, you may not thereby get above the level of a turtle. They have no damaging habits and live to a very old age. A turtle needing Alka-Seltzer would mean that it was getting civilized. You have a mind capable of great development, but to have a sound body and a sick or atrophied mind would be an eternal disaster. What goes into the make-up of your mind? The great Teacher said, "Take heed what ye hear." I think if He had spoken in this generation He would have added, "Take heed what you see." That would include what you read and what you see as entertainment.

I recently saw the advertisement of a popular moving picture show. The announcement said, "It is the boldest romance ever portrayed on the screen." They meant the reader to understand that they risked prosecution for displaying obscenity. Make a list of the world’s great heroes and heroines and imagine, it you can, what civilization would be like if their youth had been surrounded by the printed and pictured filth prepared for the minds, of young people today.

In my youth I was somewhat given to mischief—mischief that really damaged no one. On one occasion I was invited to join a group of young ladies whose mother had just taken from the oven some loaves of home-made bread, If you have never eaten hot homemade bread spread with butter you will not understand how eagerly

I joined in the feast. While the butter was being put on the bread,

I was busy at the window trying to remove a fly from that well kept house. I was rebuked for meddling with a fly when they were about to eat. I went into the pantry and secured a coffee berry and with my buttered bread went back to the window. There I delivered a brief discourse about the folly of being squeamish, and before their eyes, I pressed the coffee berry into the butter on my bread and with a ceremonial flourish, put it in my mouth. Six ladies ceased eating then and there. The tide of my popularity ebbed, and I mean ebbed. Explanations availed nothing—the feast was spoiled. I have often reflected since that if people were as careful about filth taken into the mind as they are about a speck of dirt in their food, God would not seem so far away at prayer time.