 forward of Love Slaves. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Beth Thomas. Love Slaves by Samuel Logan Bregel. Forward by Bramwell Booth. The message of this book by Colonel Bregel has two elements of great value. It is an encouraging message, calculated to incite us to seek after the highest things. Perhaps it suffers somewhat, as such writings often suffer, by being more or less disconnected, having been written at different times and to meet varying conditions of thought and feeling. Yet through it all there runs the spirit of hope, unfailing, undaunted, imperishable. The promise of light and blessings and victories to come. Christ in us, the hope of glory. Side by side with this inspiring influence there goes the force and light of love. Colonel Bregel's previously published works, which have had a wide circulation, always seemed to me to mount up to the very sources of divine love. And now again in these pages, by whatever route he travels, or by whatever methods of thought he leads us forward, we find, if only we be ready to go with him, where truth and love may take us, that we have reached the same goal, and that we are helped to measure our experience by the same high and glorious standard. Love is the fulfilling of the law. Do not let anyone suppose that these pages are addressed to salvationists only. They have, I am persuaded, a wider message. They speak with that word of confidence and intimacy, and yet of power, which may be received by all who read them. For here are words to clear the thought, as well as to strengthen the will and guide the heart. Bramwell Booth, London, July 1923 End of forward Chapter 1 of Love Slaves This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Larry Wilson. Love Slaves by Samuel Logan Brinkel. Chapter 1 Love Slaves James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus. Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ. Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ. Paul and Timothyus, the servants of Jesus Christ. Paul, a servant of God. Thus boldly and proudly wrote James and Jude and Peter and Paul in an age when labor and service were a badge of inferiority and shame. The age with its false standards and corrupt glories was doomed and dying, and those early followers of Christ stood on threshold and were ushering in a new era in which service was to become a badge of royalty and a distinguishing mark of the sons of God and the citizens of heaven upon earth. The word servant, as used by them, meant a slave. They counted themselves slaves of God and of Christ. The word and the relationship seemed harsh and forbidding, but not so when we realize its meaning to the apostles. They were love slaves. The bondage that enthralled them was the unbreakable bondage of love. There was a law among the Hebrews that foresaw poverty or debt or crime. One might become the servant of another, but he could not be held in servitude beyond a certain period. At the end of six years he must be allowed to go free. Exodus 21, 1-6, Deuteronomy 15, 12-17. But if he loved his master and preferred to remain with him as his slave, then the master in the presence of judges was to place the man against the doorpost and bore a hole through his ear, and this was to be the mark that he was his master's servant forever. It was not the slavery of compulsion and law, but the willing and glad slavery of love. And this was the voluntary attitude of Paul and of Jude, of Peter and James. Jesus had won them by love. They had sat at the feet of the great servant of love, who came not to be served, but to serve, to minister to others, to give his life ransom for all. They had seen him giving himself to the poor, the weary, the heavy laden, the vile, the sinful, and the unthankful. They had seen his blessed life outpoured, like the rush of a river wasting its waters forever and ever amid burnt sands that reward and not the giver. They had seen him wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, chastised for our peace, and stricken that we might be healed, and their hearts had been bowed and broken by his great love. Henceforth they were his bond-slaves, no longer free to come and go as they pleased, but only as he willed, for the adamantine chains of love held them, and the burning passion of love constrained them. Such bondage and service became to them the most perfect liberty. Their only joy was to do those things that were pleasing in his sight. Set at liberty to do this, their freedom was complete, for he only is free who is permitted to do always that which pleases him. The love-slave has no pleasure like that of serving his master. This is his joy and his very crown of rejoicing. The love-slave is altogether at his master's service. He is all eyes for his master. He watches. He is all ears for his master. He listens. His mind is willing. His hands are ready. His feet are swift. To sit at the master's feet and look into his loved face. To listen to his voice and catch his words. To run on his errands. To do his bidding. To share his privations and sorrows. To watch at his door. To guard his honor. To praise his name. To defend his person. To seek and promote his interests. And if needs be to die for his dear sake. This is the joy of the slave of love. And this he counts his perfect freedom. A fine black fellow was placed on a slave block in an Egyptian slave market. His master was selling him. Men were bidding for him. A passing Englishman stopped, looked, listened, and began to bid. The slave saw him and knew that the Englishman was a world traveler. He thought that if the Englishman bought him, he would be taken from Egypt, from friends and loved ones, and that he would never see them anymore. So he cursed the Englishman, raving and swearing and tugging at his chain that he might reach and crush him. But the Englishman, unmoved at last, outbid all others. And the slave was sold to him. He paid the price, received the papers that made the slave his property, and then handed them to the black man. Take these papers. You are free, he said. I bought you that I might give you your freedom. The slave looked at his deliverer and his ravine ceased. Tears flooded his eyes, as falling at the Englishman's feet and embracing his knees he cried, Oh, sir, let me be your slave forever. Take me to the ends of the earth. Let me serve you till I die. Love had won his heart and now love constrained him and he felt there could be no joy like serving such a master. We see many illustrations of this bondage of love in our daily life. Surely it is the glory and joy of the true life. She would rather suffer hardship and poverty in a Kansas dugout with the husband she loves than live in a palace surrounded by every luxury with any other. And on her lover's arms she lent and round her way she felt at fold and far across the hills they went. In that new world which is the old and o'er the hills and far away beyond their utmost purple rim beyond the night across the day through all the worlds she followed him. This bondage of love is, at one and the same time, the slavery and the freedom of the true mother. Offer such a mother gold and honors and pleasure and she will spurn them all for the sacred joy of serving and sacrificing for her child. This also is the true freedom and service of the Christian. My yoke is easy and my burden is light, said Jesus. And this is his easy yoke and light burden. His yoke is the yoke of love and it is easy. Love makes it easy. His burden is the burden of love and it is light. Love makes it light. To the sinner the yoke looks intolerable. The burden looks unbearable. But to those who have entered into the secret of the master, his yoke is the badge of freedom and his burden gives wings to the soul. This is holiness. It is wholeness of consecration and devotion. It is singleness of eye. It is perfect love which casts out fear. The love slave does not fear the master for he joys in the master's will. Not my will but thine be done. Though he slay me yet will I trust him, says the slave of love. There can be no fear where there is such love. This is heart purity accomplished by the expulsive power of a new overmastering affection and purpose. Sin and selfishness are consumed in the hot fires of this great love. Hallelujah. This is religion made easy. This is God's kingdom come and his will done on earth as it is in heaven. For what more can the angels do than to serve God with this unselfishness and passionate love? The love slave is gentle and forbearant and kind to all the children of the household and to all the other slaves for the sake of his master. Are they not dear and valuable to the master? Then they are dear and valuable to him for the master's sake. And he is ready to lay down his life to serve them even as to serve the master. Such was the spirit of Paul when he wrote, Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice of service of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all. Philippians 2.17 And so likewise was it the spirit of the beautiful Queen Esther when in uttermost consecration for the salvation of her people she sent word to Mordecai. So will I go in unto the king which is not according to law and if I perish I perish. Esther 4.16 This slave of love counts not his life dear unto himself. Acts 20.24 He belongs to his master. The interests of the master are his interests. He has no other. He will have no other. He cannot be bribed by gold or honors. He would rather suffer and star for his master than feast at another's table. Like Ruth he says, entreat me not to leave thee or to return from following after thee for whither thou goest I will go and where thou lodgest I will lodge. Thy people shall be my people and thy God my God where thou diest I will die and there I will be buried. The Lord do so to me and more also if ought but death part thee and me. Ruth 1.16 and 17 Do you ask how shall I enter into the sweet and gentle yet all powerful bondage of love? I answer by your own choice and by God's revelation of himself to your soul. If your love to him now is a very poor and powerless thing it is because you do not know him and you do not draw near enough to see the beauty of him. My God, how beautiful thou art is the language of a soul which is learning to know him then comes to the realization thou hast duped to ask of me the love of my poor heart. To the men of this world he is not beautiful for they have not sought to see him. Let him show himself to you that you may fall in love with him. St. Paul had seen his glory and been blinded by it. The other apostles had lived with him and walked by his side. They loved him because they knew him so well. For this reason they could make the great decision. Like Moses they chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt. So you must choose the choice must be complete and it must be final then as a love slave you must wait upon the master if he is silent to you watch when he speaks to you listen what he says to you do his will is recorded in his word search the scriptures meditate therein day and night hide his word in your heart be not forgetful take time to seek his face think of a slave being too busy to wait on his master to find out his wishes take time find time make time to seek the Lord and he will be found a few he will reveal himself to your longing loving soul and you shall know the sweet compulsions of the slavery that is love higher than the highest heavens deeper than the deepest sea Lord thy love at last has conquered grant me now my spirits longing none a self and all of thee End of Chapter 1 Chapter 2 of Love Slaves this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Love Slaves by Samuel Logan Bringle Chapter 2 A Man in Christ I knew a man in Christ wrote Paul think of one writing I knew a man in Bonaparte in Buddha in Caesar and we shall see at once how striking how startling is this expression we should be not only startled but shocked to hear this of any but Christ Jesus but the Christian consciousness is not offended by hearing of a man in Christ it recognizes him as the home of the soul its hiding place and shelter from the storm its school its fortress and defense from every foe he is not simply the babe of Bethlehem the carpenter of Nazareth the first of the religious teachers of Palestine and victim of Jewish bigotry and Roman power he is the prince of peace the mighty God the everlasting father in whose bosom we nestle and in whose favor we find peace and comfort and salvation do you know any man or woman in Christ my brother, my sister how many soldiers in your core do you believe to be in Christ to live in him to walk in the unbroken fellowship that being in Christ must imply no twenty ten but let us not judge others Paul was not doing so he was very generous in his judgments of his brethren he addresses his letters as follows Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God to the saints which are at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus Paul and Timothy to Jesus Christ to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colossus he reckoned his brethren to be in Christ but this man whom he knew in Christ was not one of them but himself and there was no doubt about his being in Christ he wrote with complete assurance can you speak with such assurance my comrade do you know yourself to be in Christ or ever to have been in Christ what a profound fellowship and union but listen to Paul further I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago whether in the body or whether out of the body I cannot tell God knoweth such a one caught up to the third heaven and I knew such a man whether in the body or out of the body I cannot tell how he was caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable words which it is not lawful or possible for a man to utter did you ever have a moment or an hour in which you were lost in the fellowship with the Lord having no thought of time or space in which experiences were rotten you emotions swept through you purity and love and power and comfort and assurance were imparted to you that you have never been able fully to explain or express in words or which possibly be too sacred to try to tell or describe such was Paul's experience he was the man to whom the words make reference and many people who are in Christ possibly most or all who are in him have had some such moment just a moment or an hour long or short it may have been but indescribably sweet precious above gold or silver and memorable above any and all other experiences of life oh how invaluable is such an experience to a soul especially in a time of fierce temptation it sweeps away forever the intellectual and moral and spiritual fogs and uncertainties that be clouded the mind and heart it fixes a man's theology it settles for him the fact that he himself is a living soul morally and spiritually responsible to God he feels the breath of eternity in him wrapped in that wondrous fellowship he knows there is a heaven and to lose God he knows would be hell henceforth to him heaven and hell are realities as assured as light and darkness as truth and falsehood as right and wrong this experience establishes the God head of Christ he knows that Jesus is Lord not by what he has learned from his teacher from books and creeds but by revelation by the Holy Ghost if in hours of depression and temptation the enemy of his soul should suggest a doubt as to these great truths he can instantly route his foe by recalling the intimate revelations of that sacred experience which is not possible to utter there are two experiences mentioned by Paul in this portion of Scripture one is abiding the blessed but common everyday experience that is new every morning and fresh every evening that the dust and toil of the day nor the stillness and slumber do not break nor disturb it is the very life of the Christian the other is a transitory experience but for a moment comparatively I knew a man in Christ that is the abiding experience we are to live in Christ daily hourly moment we are to choose him as our master walk with him look unto him trust him obey him draw from him our strength wisdom courage purity every gift and grace needed for our soul's life the supply of all our need is in him our sap our life our leaf and fruit are from him cut off from him we wither in him we flourish we bring forth abundant fruit we have life forever more hallelujah I knew such a one writes Paul caught up to the third heaven into paradise and heard unspeakable words that is the transitory experience it passes in an hour and may possibly never in this life be repeated anymore than was the burning bush experience of moses repeated or the still small voice experience of Elijah or the jabek experience of Jacob or the transfiguration experience of Jesus those experiences were brief but their effects their revelations were for eternity they were not abiding experiences but windows opened to which earth glimpsed heaven the memory of that vision was imperishable though the vision passed the veil was withdrawn and for one awful rapturous moment the eyes of the soul saw the face of God and the spirit of a man had an unutterable fellowship with its father the man who has had such an experience will be changed and will be different from his former life and different from all other men who have had no such experience henceforth for him to live is Christ and the great values of life are not material financial social or political but moral and spiritual one of the poets illustrates this from Lazarus raised to newness of life after four days of death heaven opened to a soul while yet on earth earth forced on a soul's use while seeing heaven discourse to him a prodigious armaments assembled to besiege his city now and of the passing of a mule with gourds tis one should his child second unto death while look for scarce abatement of his cheerfulness or permission of the daily craft while a word gesture at play or in school or late asleep a false word an angry gesture evil glance that reveals moral wrong in the child will startle him to an agony of fear he feels that the child doth stretch forth blind hands and the trifle with a match over a mine of greek fire he holds on firmly to some thread of life which conscious of he must not enter yet the spiritual life around the earthly life the law of that is known to him as this his heart and brain move there his feet stay here and off the man's soul face and if he saw again and heard again his sage that made him rise and he did rise he knows God's secret while he holds the thread of life indeed the a special marking of the man is prone submission to the heavenly will seeing it what it is and why it is it pleads with him to live as long as God please and just how God please how beast said I this stolid carelessness suffice it thee when Rome is on her march to stamp out like a spark thy little town thy tribe thy crazy tale and thee at once he merely looked with his large eyes on me the man is apathetic and he loves contrary wise he loves both old and young able and weak affects the very brutes and birds the very flowers of the field as a wise workman recognized tools in a master's workshop loving what they make thus is the man as harmless as a lamb only impatient let him do his best and ignorance and carelessness and sin and indignation which is promptly curbed the march of armies the physical destruction of cities and overthrow of empires was nothing to this man whose eyes God has opened compared to sin in his child he was diligent in his daily business he loved everybody and for the rest he trusted God this is the march of the man who has seen God the man who has been caught up if only for a brief moment into that ineffable and paradaisical fellowship blessed be such a man if he be not disobedient to the heavenly vision if, like Mary who treasured in her heart the things spoken of her baby Jesus so he treasures up the sacred revelation given to him in the moment of vision we cannot command such moments they come to us come unexpectedly but they never come except to a man who is in Christ the man who day by day lives for Christ seeks his face meditates on his ways and word takes time to commune with him in prayer seeks to glorify him by good words and works and waits and longs for him more than they who through tedious hours of weary nights wait and long for the morning let no humble earnest officer be discouraged because he does not constantly live in such rapturous fellowship Paul did not remain in paradise it was a brief experience and was followed by the troublesome thorn in the flesh these glimpses of heaven these rapt moments of fellowship are given to confirm faith and fit the soul for the toil and plotting service of the love slaves of Jesus who fight and labor to help him in his vast travail to save a world of sinners from sin, from the devil's grip and from hell the common, every day abiding experience is a lowly patient loving life in Christ this may be ours unbrokenly and it should be if any man be in Christ he is a new creature or creation wrote Paul he breathes the atmosphere of heaven while plotting the dusty roads of earth with his toiling fellow men he diffuses peace he promotes joy he kindles love he quiets fear he comforts mourners he heals the broken heart in him Christ sees the travail of his soul and is satisfied Isaiah 53 11 in him the long stern, trial and discipline of Christ's incarnation and the bitter agony of his cross begin to bear their full ripe fruit and the master rejoices over him with joy rests in his love and joys over him with singing Zephaniah 3 17 in him the earnest expectation of the creation which waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God and which groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now begins to be fulfilled the long night of earth's shame and sorrow and sin is passing and the dawning day of the reign of peace and righteousness is breaking hallelujah I knew a father in Christ whose children said it is easy to be good when father is around not because they feared him and must be good but because goodness flourished in the sunshine of his Christ-like presence I knew a husband in Christ whose wife said he is like David who returned to bless his house his presence was a benediction to his home I knew a man who had been a hard, brutal drunkard but was now a salvation blacksmith in Christ one day another brought his mare to this blacksmith to have her shot and with her he brought straps and tackled the strapper up for she was so fearful or so savage that no one could chew her otherwise but the blacksmith in Christ said let me get acquainted with her he walked around her stroked her gently and spoke to her kindly and softly while she rubbed her rough nose against him smelled his garments and got acquainted with him she seemed to make a discovery that this was a new creature a kind she had never met before especially in a blacksmith shop everything about him seemed to say to her fear not and she was not afraid he lifted her foot and took off a shoe and from that day forth she thought strapped or tackled while she stood in perfect quiet and unconcern poor horse she had waited all her lifetime to see one of the sons of God and when she saw him she was not afraid and the whole earth is waiting for the unveiling the revealing the manifestation of the sons of God waiting for the men and women and girls who live in Christ and in whom Christ lives when the world is filled with such men or controlled by them then and only then will strikes and wars and bitter rivalries and insane hatreds and disgusting and hellish evil cease and the promise and purpose of Christ's coming be fulfilled Chapter 2 One of America's soundest and clearest thinkers said to me a generation ago let the churches banish from their pulpits the preaching of hell for a hundred years and it will come back again for the doctrine is in the Bible and in the nature of things and he said in his great lecture on the final permanence of moral character the laws by which we attain supreme bliss or the laws by which we descend to supreme woe in the ladder up and the ladder down in the universe the rugs are in the same side pieces the self propagating power of sin and the self propagating power of holiness are one law the law of judicial blindness is one with that law by which to pure in heart say God there is but one law that can save me from the law of sin and death that is the law of the spirit of life in Jesus Christ if I refuse to submit to that law I abide eternally under the law of sin and death and endure eternally its dread penalties every sinner must be either pardoned or punished I once heard these words uttered by the army finder in the midst of an impassioned appeal to men to make their peace with God and they have remained in my memory always representing a tremendous truth from which we can never get away the atonement opens wide the door of pardon of uttermost salvation and of bliss eternal to every penitent sinner he will believe on Christ and follow him while it sweeps away every excuse from the impenitent sinner he will not trust and obey him the atonement justifies God in all his ways with sinful men the holiest beings in the universe can never feel that God is indifferent to sin when he pardons a believing sinner and introduces him to the glories and blessedness of heaven because Christ has died for him on the other hand the sinner who has lost and banished the outer darkness cannot blame God nor charge him with indifference to his misery since Christ, by tasting death for him flung wide open the gateway of escape that he definitely refused to enter in will be clear in his memory forever and will leave him without his gifts we do not often encounter now the old fashioned universalist who believe that all men whether righteous or wicked enter into a state of blessedness the moment they die but others with errors even more dangerous because seemingly more agreeable to natural reason and to men's inborn sense of justice have come to take his place and weaken men's faith in the tremendous penalties of God's holy law in fact there seems to be a widespread existence of hell and the endless punishment of the wicked a theory often advanced is the annihilation or extermination of the wicked it is said that there is no eternal hell and that the wicked do not enter into a state of punishment after death but are immediately or eventually blood out of existence then there is the doctrine of eternal hope this asserts that the wicked will be punished after death possibly for ages but that in the end they will all be restored to the blessing and the bliss of the holy the words of our Lord to the traitor appear to be an unanswerable refutation of this doctrine if all are to be saved at last would Jesus have said of Judas it had been good for that man if he had not been born for what are ages of suffering when compared to the blessedness and rapture of those who finally see God's face in peace and enjoy his favour to all eternity there is something so awful about the old doctrine of endless punishment and such a seeming show of fairness about these new doctrines that the latter appealed very strongly to the human heart and enlist on their behalf all the sympathies and powerful impulses of the carnal mind which is enmity against God and which is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can be informing our opinions on this subject we should stick to the Bible all we know about the future state that God has revealed and left on record in the law and the testimony and if they speak not according to this word it is because there is no light in them human reason as well as human experience fails us here and we can put no confidence in the so-called revelations of spiritualism nor can the dreams of sects we pretend to be able to prove the secrets of eternity if the Bible does not settle the question for us it cannot be settled the Bible teaches that there is punishment for the wicked after death and that of this punishment they are conscious in the record of the rich man on Lazarus Jesus says the rich man also died and in hell he lift up his eyes being in torments and saith Abraham afar off on Lazarus in his bosom and he cried and said send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and call my tongue for I am tormented in this flame some labor hard to strip this scripture of its evident meaning and to rob it of its point and power by declaring that it is only a parable on the contrary the savior statements are given as facts but even though we admit they account to be a parable what then a parable teaches either what is or what may be and in that case these words lose none of their force but stand out as a bold word picture of the terrible dim of the wicked over and over Jesus speaks of the wicked being cast into outer darkness where there shall be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth three times in one chapter he speaks of the worm that died not and the fire that is not quenched Paul says indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish shall come upon the wicked and John in the revelation says they are in torment what can all this mean but conscious punishment let a man who never before saw the bible read these words for the first time and he would at once declare that the bible teaches the conscious suffering of the wicked after death he might not believe the teaching but he would never think of denying that such was the teaching of the bible the punishment mentioned in the bible must be felt must be conscious otherwise it is not torment, tribulation and anguish the second death the death of the soul must be something other than the destruction of its conscious existence Jesus has defined for us eternal life as the knowledge of God this is life eternal that they might know they the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sinned John chapter 17 verse 3 if then this blessed knowledge constitutes eternal life what is the death which sin imposes but just the absence of this knowledge with consequent wretchedness and misery to lose God to sink into outer darkness to lose all fellowship with pure and loving souls to be an outcast forever this is the second death this is torment and anguish this is hell and this is the wages of sin the bible further teaches that the punishment of the wicked after death will be endless there are distinguished teachers and preachers who have declared that the bible does not teach the eternity of sin and of punishment but if we examine for ourselves we find this teaching as clear as human language can make it in the revised version we read whosoever shall blaspheme against the Holy Spirit hath never forgiveness but is guilty of an eternal sin and eternal sin will surely be followed by eternal woe while sin lasts misery lasts the strongest terms that can be used to teach eternal punishment when we say a thing will last forever we have put it strongly but when we duplicate the phrase and say it will last forever and forever we cannot add to this strength we have said all that can be said this is just what the bible does in speaking of the punishment of the wicked the phrase forever and ever is the strongest term by which the idea of eternity is expressed in the bible it is the phrase used to express the eternal life and glory of the righteous and they shall reign forever and ever Paul used these words when he prayed for the continuance of God's glory to him be glory forever and ever Galatians chapter 1 verse 5 see also Philippians chapter 4 verse 20 2 Timothy chapter 4 verse 18 and Hebrews chapter 13 verse 21 it is also the very phrase used to assert the eternal existence of God himself who liveth forever and ever Revelation chapter 4 verse 9 and 10 chapter 10 verse 6 and chapter 15 verse 7 this phrase which is used to declare the endless life and glory of the righteous and the existence of God himself is also used to declare the endless punishment of Satan the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever Revelation chapter 20 verse 10 in verse 15 we are told that the wicked are to share the punishment of the devil himself Jesus in foretelling the sentence of the wicked at the judgment day declares then shall he also say to them on the left hand depart from me cursed into everlasting fire prepare for the devil and his angels thus showing that the wicked are to share the punishment of the devil which is forever and ever did not Jesus mean to teach endless punishment when three times in six short verses he warned his hearers in the most solemn manner to cut off hands and feed them pluck out eyes rather than to go into hell into the fire that never shall be quenched where their warm dieth not and the fire is not quenched Mark chapter 9 verses 43 to 48 is not endless punishment implied in the parable of the cruel and unforgiving servant who owing 10,000 talents or 1,875,000 pounds with nothing with which to pay was delivered to the tormenters still he should pay all that was due does not Jesus mean to teach that his debt was beyond his power to cancel and that since he proved wickedly unworthy of mercy and forgiveness he was buried forever beneath the burden on torment of his vast debt and this parable but pictures the moral and spiritual debt of the sinner illimitable and ever increasing unless impenitence and obedient faith he finds release through the blood of Christ for the final sentence when the judgment is passed and the prison gates have closed upon him we learn from Chasifus the Jewish historian that the Jews believed in endless punishment and when the Son of God came into the world to teach him in the truth he did not deny in combat that belief but spoke fearfully plain words which would conform and strengthen it well does one writer say they who deny that any of the words used of future punishment in holy scripture express eternity to consider whether there is any in which Almighty God could have expressed it which they would have accepted as meaning it God did not trifle when he inspired those dreadful warnings take heed then that you do not trifle when you read them but rather fear and tremble at the word of the Lord for just in proportion as you in the secret of your own heart doubt the endless punishment of the wicked in that proportion you will lose power to resist sin and desire to save your own soul or that of others around you two powerful motives which the Holy Ghost uses to lead men to accept the saviour and renounce all sin are the hope of everlasting blessedness and the fear of eternal woe these motives may, in time in the heart of a Christian be swallowed up in a higher motive of love and loyalty to God but they always remain as a framework no preacher through all the ages has appealed so simply, so constantly so powerfully and with such even balance to these motives as did the saviour the whole of Matthew 25 is an illustration of his method of appeal eternity furnishes these motives they balance each other like the two wings of a bird the two wheels of a carriage right and left upper and lower right and wrong and this balance is never lost but it evenly held throughout the Bible from the blessing and cursing of me chapter 30 verse 19 to the final fixateness of moral character as filthy in our holy in Revelation chapter 22 verse 11 deny one of them and your strength against sin is gone you may live a life most beautiful in its outward morality but those secret girdings of the will which in the past impelled you to resist sin upon death will weaken and you will find yourself making secret compromises with sin you will lose your power to discern the exceeding symphonies of sin you will be ensnared by Satan as an angel of light and someday you will become a servant of sin the sinner is not alarmed by the thought that death ends all he will say let us eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die it is not death he fears but that which follows death nor does he care for punishment after death if he can only believe it will end sometime he will still harden himself and send him on God but preach to him the faithful word of God until the awful fact of endless punishment set over against the endless blessedness of God's approval and favour pierces his gilly conscience and takes possession of the soul and he will go mournfully all his days until he finds Jesus the Savior such has always been the effect of the doctrine when proclaimed in power and pity and love with the fire-touched lips of holy men and women but let men in their folly imagine themselves wiser and more pitiful and just than God and so begin to tune down this doctrine, then conviction for sin ceases the instantaneous and powerful conversion of souls is laughed at the supernatural element in religion is called fanaticism the holy ghost is forgotten and the work of God comes to a standstill but someone objects not just to punish a man forever for the sins he commits in the short period of a lifetime and thus speaking he thinks of certain acts of sin such as lying, cheating, swearing, murder or adultery but it is not for these sins that men are sent to hell, God has pardoned multitudes who are guilty of all these sins and has taken them home to heaven, men are sent to hell by the weight and pull of their self-chosen evil and discordant nature and character because they will not repent from sin to God but choose to remain filled with unbelief which begets pride and self-will consequently they are out of harmony with and or in antagonism to God and all his humble obedient servants they will not come to Jesus that they may be saved from sin and receive a new heart and life they are dead in trespasses and sins and they refuse the life-giver Jesus says you will not come unto me that you might receive life and again he says this is the condemnation that light is coming to the world and men love darkness rather than light if sinners would come to Christ and receive the gracious loving life he offers and allow him to roll over them God would not impute their trespasses to them but would forgive all their iniquities and their sins would drop off as the autumn leaves from the trees in the field but men will not come they will not hear his voice they turn away from his words they remain indifferent to his entreaties they laugh or mock at his warnings they walk in disobedience and rebellion they trample on his holy commandments they choose darkness instead of light they prefer sin to holiness their own way to God's way they resist the Holy Spirit they neglect and reject Christ crucified for them and for this they are punished all this stubborn resistance to God's invitations and purposes may be linked to a life of external correctness and even apparent religiousness not until all his judgments and warnings his entreaties and dying love have failed to lead sinners to repentance and acceptance of the Savior and not until they have utterly refused the eternal blessedness of the Holy does God cease to strive with sinners and to follow them with tender mercies by obstinate persistence in sin to hate the thing that God loves and to love the thing that God hates thus they become as dead to God's will to holiness and to his plans for them as the child destroyed by smallpox or diphtheria is dead to the hopes and plans of its mourning father and mother and as such parents in sorrow put away the pestilence breeding body of their dead child so God puts sinners spiritual corruption away from his holy presence and from the glory of his power how could God more fully show his estimate of sin together with his love and pity and long desire to save the sinner and by dying for simple man God and Christ Jesus has done that bless his holy name but the sinner tramples on Christ's blood rejects his infinite mercy resists his infinite love and so hardens himself into an eternal sinner hence he deserves eternal punishment which will follow sin as surely as night follows day is sin only a mild infirmity that we need not fear and that will yield to gentle reproof was the son of God only playing at being a savior when he came down and died for us or is sin an awful crime against God and all his creatures that can only be remitted by the shedding of blood is it a crime for which men are responsible and of which they ought to repent is it a crime that tends to perpetuate itself by hardening men in evil and that culminates in eternal guilt when men finally resist a holy ghost and totally and forever turn from Jesus the crucified rejecting him as their savior and lord if sin is such a crime and the Bible teaches it is then God as moral governor of the universe having provided a perfect way and having done all he could to persuade men to turn from sin is under obligation if he meets only with determined resistance to place sinners under sentence of punishment to oppose them and put them away forevermore from his holy presence and from the society of holy men and the angels where they can no more breed moral and spiritual pestilence nor disturb the moral harmony of God's government and people and when God does so my conscience takes God's part against my sensibilities and against the guilty world and pronounces him just and holy we live in a stern universe where fire will not only bless us but burn us where water will both refresh and drown us where gravitation will either protect or destroy us we must not look at things sentimentally if we love God and serve him all things will work for our good but if we despise or neglect him we shall find all things working and doing in misery God does not send people to hell who are fit for heaven the standard of fitness is made plain in the bible and God's tender and pitying love has provided for every sinner pardon for past sins through the death of Jesus and purity power and abundant help for the present and future through the gift of the holy spirit so that there will be a excuse for none if one whom I love commits some terrible crime violating all the righteous and gracious laws of God's society and consequently is cast into prison my sorrow if I myself am the right kind of a man will spring not from the fact that he is in prison but rather from the fact that his character makes him unfit to be out of prison and if he should go to hell my sorrow would be due not to the fact that he was in hell but rather to the fact that he soon neglected and despised infinite love and mercy that he was unfit for heaven such a person would possibly be more unhappy in heaven than in hell just as a man who has terribly inflamed eyes is more unhappy in the light of broad day than in the darkness of midnight finally for a man to say I believe in heaven but I do not believe in hell as much as though he should say I believe in mountains but not in valleys and heights but not in depths we cannot have mountains without valleys we cannot have heights without depths and we cannot have moral and spiritual heights without the awful possibility of moral and spiritual depths and the depths are always equal to the heights the high mountains are set over against the deep seas and so heaven is set over against hell if heaven is topless hell is bottomless every road leads two ways the road which leads from New York to Boston also leads from Boston to New York a man can go either way as he chooses so with the roadway of life the man who chooses things loves the things God loves and hates the things God hates and who with obedient faith takes up his cross and follows Jesus and will go to the heights of God's holiness and happiness and heaven but the man who goes the other way will land in the dark bottomless abysses of hell every man chooses his own way once to every man the nation comes the moment to decide in the strife of truth with falsehood for the good or evil side some great cause God's name Messiah offering each the bloom or blight parts the goats upon the left hand and the sheep upon the right hand and the choice goes by forever twix that darkness and that light Joseph Cook closed his address at the Chicago Parliament of Religions on the certainties of religion with these words I bought a book full of the songs of aggressive evangelical religion and I found in this little book words which may be bitter indeed when eaten but which when fully assimilated will be sweet as honey I summarise my whole scheme of religion in these words which you may put on my tombstone Choose I must and soon must choose holiness or heaven less if what heaven loves I hate sharp for me is heaven scared and the sin means endless will into and the sin I go if my soul from reason rent takes from sin its final bend and the streams its channel grooves and within that channel moves so does habit's deepest tide groove its bed and thereby light obeyed increases light light resisted bringeth night who shall give me will I choose if the love of light I lose speed my soul this instant yield let the light accept our will while thy God prolongs his grace haste thee to his holy face how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation whatsoever a man so with that shall he also reap end of chapter 3 chapter 4 of love slaves this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Bruce Kachuk Love Slaves by Samuel Logan Brangle chapter 4 I Counted and I Count the apostle Paul in his young and fiery manhood was on the way to Damascus breathing out threatening and slaughter against the disciples when Jesus met him and won his heart and from that day Paul counted all things loss for Christ he made an unconditional surrender and found such loveliness and grace in Jesus that he lost his heart to him and from that day consecrated and devoted his whole life to the master long years afterwards he wrote what things were gained to me those I counted loss for Christ youth this a time for the steps that shape all future life the man who does not make such a consecration in youth is not likely to make it at all ages prudent cautious and often times timid and fearful youth is generous and hopeful courageous daring unentangled willing to take risks and unafraid youth is not held back by prudence and caution youth sees visions and is prepared to make sacrifices to realize the vision to transform it into something substantial that can be touched handled and used but by and by age approaches with its cares and infirmities and wariness and insomnia it's deferred hopes and unfulfilled ambitions it's large knowledge of the complex and massed and seemingly invincible forces of evil and with age comes the temptation to slow down to compromise to question the wisdom of having burned all the bridges behind to draw back or to hold back part of the price no doubt paul was so tempted but it is also certain that he met the temptation squarely and in the open for he declared to the philippians and to the ages I counted and I count he counted the cost in the past and he continued to count as he began I counted and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge Christ Jesus my lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but refuse that I may win Christ and be found in him he obeyed the word of Jesus remember lots wife he had put his hand to the plow and he never looked back it was here that wise king Solomon failed in his youth he had visions he was humble he sought he walked in his way he obtained promises and was prospered but in his age he went astray his consecration failed the vision was dim the glory departed and great and sad was his fall it was at this point that Ananias and Sapphira failed they had given themselves to the Lord but later they conspired to hold back part of the price and perished in their hypocritical falsehood the withdrawal of this kind and the part of Dimas that so hurt the heart of Paul when he wrote Dimas hath forsaken me having loved this present world it is only a consecration like Paul's unconditional, complete and sustained to the end that will satisfy a man's own soul meet the infinite claims of Jesus and answer the awful needs of a world weltering in pride and lust and covetousness then one men sink to what is low mean and devilish but they can never themselves be satisfied with such things a man may be gratified with that which is base but he can be satisfied only by the highest thou, O God, hast made us for thyself and we are restless till we rest in thee Saint Augustine William Booth as a boy might have sold himself to sinful pleasures and enjoyed them to the full but he would not have been satisfied he might have engaged in business and become a money-getter he might have built up a fortune and rolled in wealth but he would not have been satisfied he might have entered the navy or army and become a great military leader and hero or he might have plunged into politics and risen to the premiership and guided the destinies of the British empire but he would not have been so satisfied by Jesus to save the lost and turn them to a pardoning God he too counted all things lost for Christ and continued so to count them to the end of his long and laborious life it was only by such complete and sustained consecration that he could be satisfied with himself a man's own soul demands this his soul will not be trifled with nor put off with paltry excuses when he sits alone with his conscience one day he surely must I sat alone with my conscience in a place where time had ceased and we talked of my former living in the land where the years increased and I felt I should have to answer the questions it put to me and to face the question and answer throughout an eternity the ghosts of forgotten actions came floating before my sight and things that I thought had perished were alive with a terrible might and the vision of life's dark record was an awful thing to face alone with my conscience sitting in that solemnly silent place too it is only by such uttermost and sustained consecration that we can satisfy the imperious claims of Jesus claims not of an arbitrary will but of infinite love he does not compel us to follow him he invites us to do so with the understanding that if we choose to follow we must gird ourselves for lifelong service and uttermost devotion and sacrifice there is no discharge in that war Jesus says if any man will come after me let him deny himself take up his cross and follow me think not that I am come to send peace on the earth but a sword for I am come to set a man at variance against his father and the daughter against her mother and the daughter in law against her mother in law and a man's foes shall be they of his own household he that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me and he that taketh not his cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me he that findeth his life shall looseth and he that looseth his life for my sake shall find it no power compel us to follow Jesus in this way but we can follow him no other way we deceive ourselves if we think we can follow him in any other spirit than these passages describe I may stand at a distance and admire him and protest that I am his and that I love him but I do not follow him unless I take up my cross and bear it to the end this is his own standard for those who wish to serve him there are so called Christians who think a mere formal recognition of him while their hearts are set upon money getting or ambitions of their own sufficient but he demands soldiers willing he is a man of war as well as the prince of peace and no world conqueror ever required of his followers such absolute heart loyalty as does Jesus and he must require this for he is the way and since there is no other way we must follow him or perish no one compels another to become an aviator but once a man chooses himself to become an aviator of aviation or fail and perish Jesus is the truth and truth is utterly rigorous and imperious in its claims we cannot juggle with the truth of the multiplication table we either follow it or we do not there is no middle ground call it arbitrary if you will get angry and vex your soul over it if you will but the multiplication table changes not it is truth we must adjust yourself to it it cannot bend to you so Jesus is the truth he changes not and we must adjust ourselves to him consecrate ourselves utterly to him and abide in him or we are none of his Jesus is the life and life must not be trifled with lest it be lost it can be lost and its loss is irreparable we must lose Jesus and we shall lose him if we prove unfaithful to him if after having put our hand to the plow we turn back 3 finally it is only by an utter and sustained consecration that we can meet the needs of the world about us ye are the salt of the earth said Jesus salt saves from corruption true Christians alone but if our consecration fail we lose our savor our saltness and society falls into rottenness who can estimate the harm that is done to Christianity by half-hearted Christians the world looks on at selfish, ignoble lives spent by those who claim to know Christ and says we see nothing in it these people are just like ourselves no man said that of Paul for they saw always in him a man who felt that Christ was worth leaving the whole world to gain ye are the light of the world said Jesus men would stumble and grope in unutterable darkness but for the light of the cross womanhood is despised childhood is neglected manhood is depraved terrifying superstitions reign horrible cruelties abound wherever Jesus is not known and followed and the man who having come to him and taken up his cross to follow him now turns back or fails in his consecration not only sins against God and wrongs his own soul but he commits a crime against humanity against the children who are growing up and the generations yet unborn the soldier must be faithful unto death otherwise he will dishonor himself and betray his country for more so must the Christian be true for he is the light bearer of eternal things and if his light goes out if his consecration fails he will stumble on the dark mountains and at last fall into a bottomless pit of outer darkness and others will stumble and fall with him Paul did not fail he never swerved in his onward course he never looked back he rejoiced in his sufferings for Jesus' sake and for the sake of his fellow men and oh how glad he must have been how his heart must have exalted at the end when he cried out I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness Lord the righteous judge shall give me at that day and now my reader does all this seem hard well that is because I have written about man side only and have said nothing about how the Lord will help and bless and comfort and inwardly strengthen you if you are wholly his and continue so to the end he who met Paul on the Damascus road will meet you and give you light he who stood by Paul in prison and in shipwreck will stand by you he will show you what he wants you to do and empower you to overcome every difficulty if you will say to him Lord what wilt thou have me to do and then at the end of the way there is the crown of life the unspeakable rapture this presence and love the reunion with loved ones gone before the triumph over every foe the holy and exalted fellowship with those who have been faithful throughout the ages it will be worthwhile to see and be associated with all the numberless saints who have overcome having washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb what shame and remorse to be banished with the other crowd of traitors and cowards of proud, unclean selfish, faithless ones in order to avoid that lot let us like Paul count and continue to count all things but loss for Christ end of chapter 4 I counted and I count chapter 5 of Love Slaves this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Devorah Allen Love Slaves by Samuel Logan Bringle chapter 5 The Angel's Song of Peace heavenly beings always put the things of heaven first our Lord Jesus placed ever the thought of unseen and eternal glory before the trifles of earth I have been much impressed with the order of the prayer which Jesus gave his disciples before teaching them to ask for daily bread or the forgiveness of sins or deliverance from evil or protection in time of temptation he taught them to pray that the father's name should be hallowed that the kingdom of God might come and that his will might be done on earth he put heavenly things first God was the center of his thought and desire and God's glory his chief concern and it was this that he would teach his disciples what Jesus taught his disciples that he himself practiced as we learn from his prayer in John 17 alone, deserted on the eve of the denial of Peter and the great betrayal his thought was for the glory of the father he asked that while men put him to utter shame the father would glorify him but only that he might in turn glorify the father when the captain of God's host appeared to Joshua his first and only word was not the outlining of an attack upon the enemy but this loose thy shoe from off thy foot for the place where on thou standest is holy he would impress Joshua with the importance of holy and heavenly things and so with the heavenly host which appeared over the plain of Bethlehem the first note of their song was glory to God in the highest they put heavenly things first God was foremost in their thought then his glory afterwards they sang peace on earth and goodwill toward men the law and the gospel are but the law and the spirit of heaven projecting themselves into this world they are introduced among men for their salvation for their guidance and for the direction of their lives their desires, their aspirations all who seek to keep God's law and who embrace the gospel are introduced into the life and spirit of heaven and become citizens of heaven as heavenly beings therefore they must put heavenly things first they must live the life of heaven upon earth in the light of these truths the Christmas song of the angels sung over the sleepy little town of Bethlehem becomes a guide to us in these days our chief business is to give glory to God to put him first in our lives to have a divine jealousy for his honor the spirit of seeking God's glory first will make us fight sin we shall hate sin because it robs God of his own of his right and his glory in man one who has this spirit will either die than commit sin because he loves to honor God God is supreme in his thought God is first in his love all his affections embrace God and his heart mourns and sobs and breaks or waxes hot with holy indignation when he sees God dishonored rejected and unloved this spirit will lead us out to warfare for God he who possesses it cannot sit still while the devil has his own way and while God is robbed and wronged it leads him to go out and plead with men exhort men command men compel men to turn from their evil ways to give up sin to yield their hearts to God and to love and serve him this spirit also leads us to meditate to plan to take counsel with our own hearts and in every way possible to find out the best means by which we can win men over to God's side and turn them into sins for God's glory and turn them into warriors for his army this spirit makes sacrifice a joy and service a delight everything that man with the spirit has is at God's disposal he gives his whole life for the glory of his Lord he only wishes that he had a thousand lives and could live a thousand years to fight God's battles oh blessed is the man that is so filled with this spirit of heaven that he puts heavenly things first and sings on earth while the angels sing in heaven glory to God in the highest it is only in proportion as this spirit possesses men and takes possession of the earth that the second note of the Christmas song of the angels becomes possible peace on earth and goodwill toward men we live in an age when the brotherhood of man is much spoken about both in exhortation and in literature but there can be no brotherhood where there is no fatherhood brothers must have a common father and brothers who disown or neglect their father have not the spirit which will make it possible long to live at peace with or show goodwill towards each other we shall have peace on earth and goodwill among men and we shall have it universally when everywhere men recognize God's fatherhood and give God the glory which is his due oh how peacefully men live together and how they love one another when they get right with God how a revival in which souls get truly converted settles old grudges and local quarrels and family disputes and other wranglings and strivings of men love to God will be get tender love to men, true love love that is patient long suffering for bearing and unsuspicious love that leads to just and righteous dealings to truth and reliability to good word and action and these are essential to true peace and goodwill amongst men the bible declares that there is a good time coming when men will learn war no more when they will be ashamed to attack one another in war when war colleges will be done away with may that day hasten but it will hasten only as heavenly things are put first we may talk about the brutalities of war about the widows and orphans and their beloved slain about the young men that are shattered and torn by shot and shell and about the utter waste of property but it is only as holy men prevail over unholy men by winning the world to love God that the glad time foretold by the prophet will be brought about Solomon said only by pride cometh contention at the heart of every quarrel in the confusion of every brawl and in the hate and theory of every war pride will be found pride of opinion of wit or wisdom of physical strength of position of reputation or of power truly humble men never begin strife they speak softly they are willing to make concessions they are swift to hear slow to speak slow to wrath they seek peace and pursue it as far as in them lies if such people do get mixed up in a contention they may fight manfully but it is for the sake of righteous and ordered peace and not from pride of self they are peacemakers not strife makers they follow peace with all men and they do this because their lives their desires, their affections their ambitions and activities are all guided and ruled by one glad glorious purpose the glory of God that purpose consumes pride human pride and pomp and the glory which man can give look utterly contemptible to the one whose eye is single to the glory of God and this desire for God's glory makes peacemakers of men they love their fellows because they are dear to the heart of God a tender feeling of sympathy and love and brotherhood steals into their hearts takes captive all their affections with the love of God's will banishes hatred disarms suspicion and establishes within them God's kingdom of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost it is this spirit that has made our slum officers mightier than police officials in the dark alleys and feted cellars in garrets of London and New York it was this that gave William Penn and David Brainerd such heavenly power over the wild Indians of New Jersey and Pennsylvania enabled John Gibson Patton to work such miracles of salvation in the southern islands of the Pacific Ocean unless influenced by this spirit the nations will go on building dreadnoughts while their proud hearts are quaking with nameless dread they will cast great guns and invent submarines and airships for the destruction of men but let every humble lover of Jesus Christ catch the spirit and sing the Christmas song of the angels on the side of the men of peace who love him and seek his glory and have hearts which brim over with good will our God is the God of peace let us wait on him in fervent prayer and faith for the fulfillment of the angels song and put away hate and suspicion and strife forever from our hearts that as far as in us lies his will may be done on earth as it is done in heaven he has made the nations of one blood may they become of one spirit it is our mission to make them so how shall we do this how can I, a poor, weak short-sighted, single-handed man help to fill the world with peace and good will in the first place by keeping my own heart with all diligence and letting the peace of God rule in it to this end if anyone wrongs me I must beware of harboring ill will toward him and of thinking how I can get even with him I must remember how much worse Jesus was treated and how he prayed for his enemies for the men who were doing him to death and mocking him in his agony I must be filled with his blessed, loving, meek, forgiving spirit it is no sin to be tempted to be angry and revengeful but it is a sin if I yield in my heart to this temptation I must also be a man of peace in my own family and community in my core or church I must seek to soothe instead of irritate the people about me remembering that a soft answer turneth away wrath but grievous words stir up anger also and greatest most important work of all though I cannot enter into the councils of kings and presidents and warlords and in such high places work for peace among the nations I can enter into my closet and pray for these great men with their heavy burdens of care and responsibility asking God to guide and help them to rule the world in peace indeed we are exhorted to do this here is blessed and important knee-work for every humble salvation soldier in which he may mightily help to prevent war and maintain the peace of the world listen to Paul I exhort therefore that first of all supplications, prayers, intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men for kings and for all that are in authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty God does not set us to pray in vain and if salvationists in the states and Britain and Germany and France and other countries will pray and love and faith they can help to establish the peace of Europe and of the world blessed be God let us exalt our calling to be men of peace peacemakers of faith and great gladness and God will hear and give us peace and when he giveth quietness who then can make trouble End of Chapter 5 Chapter 6 of Love Slaves This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Devora Allen Love Slaves by Samuel Logan Bringle Chapter 6 Misrepresenting God I read recently of a speaker who preached on the mercy of God until it seemed there was nothing in God but mercy but I fear he misrepresented God Such misrepresentation is easy and to people who do not think deeply and who do not want to take life seriously it is pleasant but it is unspeakably dangerous If we are to win souls and save our own we must not distort the picture of God's character which we hold up to view It is life eternal to know God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent John 17.3 But it must be the true and holy God as he is and not some false God who conforms to our poor little warped human desires and opinions Some religious teachers misrepresent God by making him utterly savage and cruel and they gloat over unutterably horrid pictures of hell where they imagine God delighting in the most exquisite tortures of the damned and thus men are embittered against God until they feel there is no hope of his mercy Others misrepresent God by making him appear as a sort of goody-goody God who fawns upon sinners with mockish sympathy and looks upon worldlings and triflers and lukewarm professors with weak, sentimental, old womanish pity Nothing can be further from the truth concerning God We find God himself bitterly rebuking those who living in sin thought he did not disapprove of their ways He sets before them a list of their sins Psalm 117-20 and then says These things hast thou done and I kept silence Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as thyself but I will reprove thee and set them in order before thine eyes Now consider this, ye that forget God lest I tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver Verses 21 and 22 The truth lies between these extremes There is mercy in God but it is mingled with severity There is wrath in God but it is tempered with mercy The great soul-winners from Bible times till now have recognized this They have held an even balance between the goodness and the severity of God because the Bible does so and the Bible of all the innumerable books written is the only one which gives us an authoritative representation of God The Book of Nature reveals to us the goodness and the severity of God Fire will not only bake our food and bless us but it will also burn us Water will not only quench our thirst and refresh us but if we trifle with it it will drown us If we recognize God's ways of working in nature and take heed and obey we shall find nature's laws most kind and helpful but if we neglect or refuse to obey we shall find them most terrible and destructive but if we want to know God and all the richness of his character and all the fullness of his self-revelation we must study the Bible and compare Scripture with Scripture The Bible tells us of God's seek sinners in mercy but his righteousness requires of the sinner penitence, faith, separation from evil and obedience to his will Various Bible descriptions show how God holds an even balance between his mercy and his judgments Behold the goodness and severity of God, writes Paul on them which fell severity but toward the goodness if thou continue in his goodness Otherwise he says showing that God's goodness does not destroy his severity thou also shall be cut off we must beware then he adds a touch of tenderness making clear how even in his severity God waits to show mercy and they also though they have been cut off if they abide not still in unbelief shall be grafted in for God is able to graft them in again Romans 11 22 and 23 Again Paul writes I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation for everyone that believeth for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith as it is written the just shall live by faith and then he adds for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness Romans 1 16 through 18 and again he writes despise as thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance but after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God who will render to every man according to his deeds to them who by patient continuance and well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life but unto them that are contentious and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doeth evil but glory, honor, and peace to every man that worketh good to the Jew first and also to the Gentile for there is no respect of persons with God Romans 2 4 through 11 the saving mercy of God revealed in the scriptures is reasonably set over against the wrath of God as the great mountains are set over against the deep seas the writer to the Hebrews says of Jesus he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him Hebrews 7 25 while Paul writes of some upon whom wrath is come to the uttermost 1 Thessalonians 2 16 there is then an uttermost salvation for all who trust and obey and an uttermost woe for all who go on in selfish unbelief and worldliness and sin truly God is not mocked and he is a God of judgment again we find Jesus keeping this even balance when he says that those who hear his sayings and do them are like those who build upon a rock against which rain and floods and winds cannot prevail while those who hear and do not obey are like those who build upon sand which will be swept away by rain and floods and wind Matthew 7 24 27 and again he says that the wicked shall go away into everlasting punishment but the righteous into life eternal Matthew 25 46 again he tells of the shut door at the marriage with some on the inside with their Lord and some on the outside rejected and unknown of the joy of their Lord into which good and faithful servants enter and the outer darkness into which the wicked and slothful are cast of the great fixed gulf which is impassable with some on the right side in the bosom of comfort and security and peace and some on the wrong side in the bitter woe of fierce remorse and torment we find John the Baptist faithful to this great truth he cries out he that believeth God hath everlasting life and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him John 3 36 likewise all through the Old Testament this even balance is maintained wash you, make you clean put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes cease to do evil, learn to do well seek judgment, relieve the oppressed judge the fatherless lead for the widow come now and let us reason together sayeth the Lord though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow though they be red like crimson they shall be as wool if ye be willing and obedient ye shall eat the good of the land but and here is the unfailing alternative but if ye refuse and rebel ye shall be devoured by the sword Isaiah 1 16 through 20 these Bible word pictures show us that no one word not even the sweet word mercy will sum up the rich and manifold character of God the Bible says God is love but it also says our God is a consuming fire to penitent hearts who trust in Jesus God will be found to be rich in mercy but he will defend the moral and spiritual order of his universe by uttermost penalties against those who go on proudly careless or wickedly in their own ways when Dr. Johnson lay dying he was much concerned about his soul a friend said to him sir you seem to forget the merits of the redeemer no replied Dr. Johnson I do not forget the merits of the redeemer but I remember that he said that he would place some on his right hand and some on his left our only hope is in the wounds of Jesus and the shelter of his blood there and only there shall we find mercy since we have sin but there mercy is boundless and free hallelujah end of chapter 6 chapter 7 of love slaves this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Bruce Kechuk Love Slaves by Samuel Logan Brangle chapter 7 Confessing Other People's Sins asked thou, eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou should not eat asked the lord of Adam in the garden of Eden and Adam replied gave us to be with me she gave me of the tree and I did eat and the lord God said unto the woman what is this that thou hast done and the woman said the serpent beguiled me and I did eat thus they confessed the sins of others and ignored their own and the curse fell upon them instead of blessing nothing more surely makes manifest a man's spiritual blindness and deadness a hardness of heart and this hiding behind others and confessing their faults instead of his own and nothing will more surely confirm him in his blindness and sin it is a deadly kind of hypocrisy it is an endeavor to shift on to others responsibility for a man's own evil heart and life and it can meet only with God's displeasure he that covereth his sins shall not prosper said Solomon confesseth and forsakeeth them shall have mercy and there is no more dangerous way of trying to cover one's sins than by blaming somebody else and calling attention to his faults instead of humbly confessing our own an incident in the life of King Saul makes us plain Samuel said unto Saul thus saith the lord of hosts I remember that which Amalek did to Israel I remember that which Amalek and utterly destroy all that they have and spare them not but slay both men and women infant and suckling ox and sheep and ass but Saul and the people spared Agag the king and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fattlings and the lambs and all that was good and would not utterly destroy them then came the word of the lord unto Samuel saying it repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king for he is turned back from following me and hath not performed my commandments and Saul said I have performed the commandment of the lord and Samuel said what meaneth then this bleeding of the sheep in my nears and the lowing of the oxen which I hear and Saul said I have obeyed the voice of the lord I have gone the way which the lord sent me but the people took of the spoil sheep and oxen the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed thus Saul tried to cover his own sin by confessing the sins of others but Samuel answered him thou hast rejected the word of the lord and the lord hath rejected thee from being king so Saul lost his kingdom and men still lose their crown of peace salvation and God's favor by sinning by disobeying and by confessing the sins of others instead of their own confess your faults to one another wrote James if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness wrote John I have sinned cried David and again he said I acknowledge my transgressions sin is ever before me we can hear the sob of a broken and penitent heart through the open and humble confession and God put away his sin God be merciful to me a sinner prayed the publican and this man went down to his house justified are you saved I asked a little woman in one of our prayer meetings no I am not she replied with emphasis ever saved I asked yes I was and what did Jesus do that you turned your back on him and started for hell I questioned a man who called himself a Christian slapped my husband in the face said she but she did not tell me the fact which I learned later that the man confessed is wrong and apologized well that was too bad I replied but you shouldn't have turned your back on Jesus for that but Jesus in the face they smote him with the palms of their hands and she opened wide her eyes and looked at me and you know they spat in his face also and not content with that they crushed a crown of thorns on his head but that did not satisfy them so they bared his back and tied his hands to his feet and whipped his poor bear back till it was all cut and torn and bleeding that was the way the Roman soldiers the pilot scourged him and then they smote him on the head and mocked him but not content with that then they placed a great cross on his shoulders and it must have pressed heavily upon the poor wounded back but he carried it and there on Calvary they crucified him they drove great nails through his hands and feet and lifting the cross they let it fall heavily into its place this must have rent and torn his hands and feet very terribly but he prayed Father forgive them and there he hung in agony and pain while they robbed him of his only suit of clothes and gave him gall and vinegar to drink and wagged their heads and mocked him then he bowed his head and died and this he suffered for you my sister but you turned your back upon him because someone ill treated your husband and as I talked she saw Jesus the sin of the other man faded from her sight and her own sin grew big before her eyes until she was in tears then rising she rushed sobbing to the penitent form to confess her own sin to the Lord and I trust to be restored once more to his favor when a man gets this vision of Jesus he ceases to blame other man and looks only at his own sin which he can no longer excuse he blames himself pleads guilty and confesses his wrongdoing with a broken and contrite heart then looking into the pitying face of his suffering savior he trusts, receives pardon enters into peace and becomes a new creature in Christ Jesus this is the vision and faith that's love to the savior that produces obedience in the heart that saves from all sin and that gives love and skill to save others also oh my brother my sister let me beg of you to take your eyes off other people and fix them upon yourself and upon Jesus then you will get the beam out of your own eye and see clearly how to get the moat out of your brother's eye and you that have to deal with people who are always confessing other people's sins let me beg of you to deal with them very tenderly though very firmly lest you forget the whole of the pit when ye are digged and lest you become severe with your brother for a fault from which you may think yourself delivered but are not entirely free remember Paul's words brethren if a man be overtaken in a fault ye which are spiritual restore such and one in the spirit of meekness considering thyself lest thou also be tempted I have seen men fall themselves through failing to be gentle with those who have fallen remember the words of Jesus learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart how hard is that sweet lesson of meekness and lowliness of heart but that is the first lesson Jesus sets us to learn end of chapter 7 confessing other people's sins chapter 8 of love slaves this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Bruce Kachuk Love Slaves by Samuel Logan Brangel chapter 8 The dangers of middle age we read and hear much about the dangers of youth and they are very many and often very deadly but how little do we hear about the dangers of the middle aged and yet they too are very many very deadly I was vividly reminded of this only recently when a man considerably past 50 years of age stopped me on the street and sought an interview after a rather close examination in which I sought to locate and diagnose his spiritual disease he told me of his sins and temptations he had been a Christian but had fallen he was becoming more and more entangled in a network of evil and was sinking deeper and deeper and his sins were sins of the flesh what most amazed me some years ago when I began to consider this subject was the fact that the middle aged are not altogether safe from the awful corruption and blasting sin which lies lurking in the lusts of the flesh Joseph, when but a young man in Egypt fully and grandly overcame this danger he kept himself pure and set an example for the ages David and Solomon his son with all their light and wisdom fell grievously and wallowed in sin and shame thus bringing reproach to this day upon God's people and God's cause stirring up the enemies of the Lord to mock and blaspheme and doubtless encouraging others by their example to fall into like sins but we do not have to go back to ancient history nor to the ranks of those who make no profession of religion the sins of the flesh overthrow middle aged men if they do not watch and pray and walk softly with the Lord I shall never forget the shock and chill that went through the hearts of American Christian some years ago when an evangelist with silvering hair the author of a number of books of great spiritual insight and power and one of the mightiest preachers it has ever been my lot to hear fell into sin and shame oh it was pitiful it was heart breaking for his influence to be ruined his good name blackened his reputation gone his family put to shame God's cause mocked and for a soul whom he should have shepherded to be dragged to the mouth of hell to gratify his passing pleasure and there are a number of others whom I have known who had great opportunities of usefulness whose influence was widespread and who walked in a broad day of spiritual light but who sank into a black night of corruption, sin and shame so let not only young men but matured men as well take heed lest they fall let them watch for and guard themselves against the beginnings of sin the unclean thought the lascivious look the impure imagination the unholy desire let them hate even the garment spotted by the flesh let them beware of selling for a mess of potage their good name their sphere of usefulness their place among God's people the friendships of years the honour of their children the happiness of their home the smile and favour of God and their hope of heaven let them look diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God and thereby many be defiled lest there be any fornicator or profane person who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright Hebrews 12 verses 15 and 16 but the more constant spiritual danger of the middle age is the loss of the freshness of their early experience the dew of their spiritual mourning their first love when they were holiness unto the Lord and when they ran after Jesus in the wilderness Jeremiah 2 verses 2 and 3 there is nothing in the world so wonderful so beautiful and so delightful as the constant renewal of spiritual youth in the midst of the increasing cares and burdens the infirmities and losses and disappointments of middle life and old age and there is nothing so sad as the gradual loss of fervour of simplicity of heart devotion of unfaithful faith of triumphing hope spiritual youth the Psalmist called upon his soul to bless the Lord who satisfied his mouth with good things so that his youth his soul's youth was renewed like the eagles Psalm 103 verses 1 through 5 but multitudes instead of thus being renewed fall into decay they lose the bloom and blessedness of their early experience and become like Ephraim prophet said strangers have devoured his strength and he knoweth it not yea gray hairs are here and there upon him yet he knoweth it not Hosea chapter 7 verse 9 this loss may steal upon us like a creeping paralysis if we do not watch and pray 1 it may come through a widening experience of the weakness and fickleness of man we are continually tempted to lean upon men rather than upon God and his word and when men fail and fall we feel as though the foundations were swept away at such times the tempter will whisper what is the use of your trying to live a holy life there is none good no, not one then if we do not at once flee to and hide ourselves in Jesus and lift our eyes to God and stir up our faith towards him a chill of discouragement and doubt and fear will sweep over us lukewarmness will take the place of the warm, throbbing experience of youth and a half skeptical half cynical spirit will fill the heart that once overflowed with glad, simple faith and abounding hope it is this loss that often makes old officers and soldiers look so coldly upon the return of backsliders and that so unfits them to help encourage young converts there was nothing that filled me with greater admiration for the founder than his mourning like freshness his perennial youth his springing hope his unfailing faith in God and man in spite of all the shameful failures and desertions and backslidings which wounded him to the heart and pierced him through with many sorrows and where he led shall we not follow instead of looking at those who have fallen shall we not look at those who have stood instead of losing heart and faith because of those who have thrown down the sword and fled from the field shall we not shout for joy and emulate those who were faithful unto death who came up out of great tribulation with robes washed in the blood of the lamb why not shout for joy and triumph with Joseph in his victory to be near and lose faith in God and man and thus suffered defeat with David in his fall why not look at the beloved John and rejoice rather than at the traitor Judas and despair why not consider Jesus who endured such contradiction of sinners against himself if we do we shall not be wearied and faint in our minds Hebrews chapter 12 verse 3 again this loss may come through thronging cares and responsibilities youth and old age are largely free from responsibility which comes pressing hard and insistently upon the middle aged there are business cares, family cares, responsibility for the army the church, the city and state the wide open hungry mouths of the children must be fed their restless destructive feet must be shod, their health must be guarded, their tempers and dispositions must be corrected and disciplined their eager wayward unformed minds must be trained and educated and their souls must be found and saved and all these cares which swarm about like bees must be met again and again and that often when we are worn and weary and full of pain no wonder that when Jesus spoke of the thorny ground hearers the cares of life as among the weeds which choke the word and make it unfruitful but no true man or woman will run away from these cares here again there is victory for those who are determined to have victory Moses was thronged with care the care of a vast untrained stiff-necked hungry multitude in a barren wilderness but he walked with God wore a shining face but one brief loss of patience for which he duly suffered he got victory and God and angels conducted his funeral Daniel superintendent a huge empire with 120 provinces but he found time to pray and give thanks three times a day and was more than conqueror added to his whippings stonings and imprisonments his shipwrecks and perils his hunger, cold and nakedness Paul had pressing upon him the care of all the churches but he rejoiced and prayed and gave thanks and did not murmur or faint neither did he turn back and God made him to triumph hallelujah a distinguished writer has beautifully said comradeship with God is a secret not only of joy and peace but of efficiency in that comradeship rest not from our work but in our work when Christ says come unto me, O ye that labour and our heavy laden and I will give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn of me he does not invite us to lay aside our work he offers us rest in our work the invitation is to those who are laboring and bearing burdens and how to bear their burdens so as not to be worried by them it is not a couch which he offers us but a yoke and a yoke is an instrument for the accomplishment of work but a yoke is not only an implement of industry it is a symbol of comradeship the yoke binds two together to take Christ's yoke upon us is to be yoked to Christ work with me says Christ and your work will be easy and your burden will be light and this comradeship with the Lord Jesus is a secret of victory all along the way and over every obstacle and every foe here, O my brother my sister tempted and tried and almost overcome at the noon of life here, in fellowship with Jesus the flesh loses its subtle power the charms of the world are discovered to be but painted mockery the devil is outwitted and while life is a warfare it is also a victory glory to God end of chapter 8 the dangers of middle age