with the fire, and set the place in a blaze. When the youngest of the two saw what she had done she went into a little cupboard and fastened herself in. The remaining child went to the door and knocked, crying to her to open the door and let her take her out of the burning building, but she was too frightened to do it. It seems to me as if this was the way with hundreds and thousands in this city. He stands and knocks, but they've got their hearts barred and bolted, because they don't know that He has come only to bless them. May God help you to hear, and if you listen to Him and bring your burdens to Him He will bless you. He is able to open the ears of every one here if you let Him in. I was up here at the hotel the other night, and I had the door locked and bolted, and some one came and rapped. I shouted "Come in!" The man tried to come in, but he couldn't; I had to get up and unlock the door before he could enter. That's the way with many people to-day. They've got the door bolted and barred; but if you only open it to Him He will come in.

"If any man hear my voice and open the door I will come in and sup with him and he with Me." Now, my friends, can you hear it? Can you hear God's voice speaking through His own word? "Incline your hear and come unto Me." Just listen. You know sometimes, when you hear a man speaking whose voice you don't hear very well, and you want to hear every word the man says, you put your hand up to your ear to catch the sound clearer. Now, listen. God says, "Incline your ear and come unto Me; hear and your souls shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you." Now, is it not true? Can't you hear that loving voice speaking to you, and won't you obey that voice and let Him save you? But I can imagine some of you saying, "I can't hear anything." Take your ears to Him and He will make you hear.

Now let me take you to another course. While John and his disciples were standing, Jesus came along, and John said: "Behold the Lamb of God!" and Jesus said: “What seek ye ?" Where dwellest thou ?" he asked; to which He replied; "Come and see;" and they just obeyed Him and never left Him. My friends, if I could introduce you to Christ—could just get you to catch one glimpse of Him; if you could but see the king in all His beauty; if you could but see Him in all His loveliness, you would never forsake Him, for we "shall grow up before Him as a tender plant and as a root out of a dry ground; He hath no form nor comeliness, and when we shall see Him there is no beauty that we should desire Him." Follow Him as your Saviour. In order to appreciate Him you have to be brought to Him, but if sin has come between you and Him, I

1

It is just like telling a

cannot tell you anything about Him. blind man about the beauties of nature, the loveliness of the flowers, or of the world. That is the way, if sin stands between you and Him, and when Christians try to tell you about the beauties of Christianity they fail, but if you come and have an interview with Him you will see that you cannot help but love Him; you will see that you cannot but forsake all and follow Him. I remember once hearing of a child who was born blind. He grew up to be almost a man, when a skilful physician thought he could give the man his sight. "He was put under the doctor's treatment, and for a long time he worked, till at last he succeeded. But he wouldn't let the man see the light of the sun all at once, lest it would strike him blind. It had to be done gradually. So he put a lot of bandages upon his eyes and removed one after another until the last one was reached, and when it was taken off the young man began to see. When he saw the beauties of the world he upbraided his friends for not telling him of the beauties of nature. "Why, we tried to tell you about the beauties of the world, but we could not," they said. And so it is with us. All that we can do is to tell you to come and seecome and see the loveliness of Christ.

I can imagine some of you saying; "I am blind, I cannot see any beauty in Him. Bring your blindness to Him as you bring your deafness and He will give you sight, as He did with the blind Bartimeus-as He did with all the blind men on earth. There was never a blind man who came to Him requesting his sight whose request was not granted, and there is not a blind soul in this assembly but will be healed if you come to Him. He says that's what He came for, to give sight to the blind. If you cannot see any beauty in Him, pray to God to give you sight.

The next "Come" is in the prophesies of Isaiah. "Come now, and let us reason together," saith 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." I find a great many people say their reason stands between them and God. Now, let me say here, the religion of Jesus is a matter of revelation, not of investigation. No one ever found out Christ by reason. It is a matter of revelation. Now see what he says, "Come now" that means this afternoon-"though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow.' Now He puts a pardon in the sinner's face. "Your sins may be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow." Take the scarlet in that lady's shawl. is a fast colour. You cannot wash it out and make it white; if you tried you would only destroy the shawl. But He will make your sins white as snow, though they be as scarlet, if you come

It

to Him. Just come to Him as you are, and instead of reasoning ask him to take them away. Then He will reason it out with you. The natural man does not understand spiritual things, but when a man is born of the Spirit, then it is that the spiritual things are brought out to him. A great many people want to investigate-want to reason out the Bible from back to back, but He wants us first to take a pardon. That's God's method of reasoning. He puts a pardon in the face of the sinner. Come now." Do you think there is not reason in this? Suppose the whole plan of salvation was reasoned out to you, why death might step in before the end of the reasoning was reached. So God puts a pardon first. If you will be influenced to-day you will just bring your reason to Him, and ask Him to give you wisdom to see divine things, and He will do it. "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not, and it shall be given liberally." The idea that this reason that God hath given man should keep him from Christ.

A number of years ago as I was coming out of a daily prayer meeting in one of our Western cities, a lady came up to me and said, "I want to have you see my husband and ask him to come to Christ." She said, "I want to have you go and see him." She told me his name, and it was of a man I had heard of before. "Why," said I, "I can't go and see your husband. He is a booked infidel. I can't argue with him. He is a good deal older than I am, and it would be out of place. Then I am not much for infidel argument." "Well, Mr. Moody," she says, "that ain't what he wants. He's got enough of that. Just ask him to come to the Saviour." She urged me so hard and so strong, that I consented to go. I went to the office where the Judge was doing business, and told him what I had come for. He laughed at me. "You are very foolish," he said, and began to argue with me. I said, "I don't think it will be profitable for me to hold an argument with you. I have just one favour to ask of you, and that is, that when you are converted you will let me know." "Yes," said he, "I will do that. When I am converted, I will let you know"-with a good deal of

sarcasm.

I went off, and requests for prayer were sent here and to Fulton street, New York, and I thought the prayer there and of that wife would be answered if mine were not. A year and a half after I was in that city, and a servant came to the door and said: "There is a man in the front parlour who wishes to see you." I found the Judge there. He said: "I promised I would let you know when I was converted. ed." "Well," said I, “I'm glad to hear it!

I've been converttell me all about

it." I had heard it from other lips, but I wanted to hear it from his own. He said his wife had gone out to a meeting one night and he was home alone, and while he was sitting there by the fire he thought; "Supposing my wife is right, and my children are right suppose there is a heaven and hell, and I shall be separated from them." His first thought was: "I don't believe a word of it." The second thought came, "You believe in the God that created you, and that the God that created you is able to teach you. You believe that God can give your life." "Yes, the God that created me can give me life. I was too proud to get down on my knees by the fire, and I said, 'O God, teach me.' And as I prayed, I don't understand it, but it began to get very dark, and my heart got very heavy. I was afraid to tell my wife when she came to bed and I pretended to be asleep. She kneeled down beside that bed and I knew she was praying for me. I kept crying, "O God, save; O God, take away this burden," but it grew darker, and the load grew heavier and heavier. All the way to my office I kept crying, "O God, take away this load of guilt:" I gave my clerks a holiday, and just closed my office and locked the door. I fell down on my face: I cried in agony to the Lord, “O Lord, for Christ's sake, take away this guilt. I don't know how it was, but it began to grow very light. I said, I wonder if this isn't what they call conversion. I think I will go and ask the minister if I am not converted. I met my wife at the door and said. "My dear, I've been converted." She looked in amazement. "Oh it's a fact, I've been converted! We went into that drawing-room and knelt down by the sofa and prayed to God to bless us." The old Judge said to me, the tears trickling down his cheeks. "Mr. Moody, I've enjoyed life more in the last three months than in all the years of my life put together." If there is an infidel here-if there is a skeptical one here, ask God to give wisdom to come now. Let us reason together, and if you become acquainted with God the day will not go before you receive light from Him.

He says.

The next "Come" I want to call your attention to is a very sweet one. "Come and reason," Come and see," and now we have "Come and rest." What this world wants is rest. Every man, every woman is in pursuit of it, and how many of us have found? How many are bearing burdens about our hearts always-how many have come into this hall to-day with a great burden on their hearts? What does He say: "Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Now a great many people have an idea that they get rid of their burdens themselves, but they must come to Him if they want to be relieved. That's what Christ

came for. Come to Him. "He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows." There could not be a sweeter "Come" than this. How many mothers are bearing burdens for their children-how many because of their sins, or perhaps you have husbands who have proved unfaithful, or may be you are widows who have been without support. The future may look dark to you but hear the loving voice of the Saviour, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. There is not a soul here-I don't care what the burden may be -in this vast audience, but can lay their burden on the Lord Jesus Christ, and He will bear it for you. We can be released; we have found a resting place, and that is in the loving bosom of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is a hymn written by Dr. Andrew Bonar which can express this much better than I can. Let me read it:

I heard the voice of Jesus say:
"Come unto me and rest;

Lay down, thou weary one, lay down
Thy head upon my breast."

I came to Jesus as I was,
Weary and worn and sad;
I found in Him a resting-place,
And He has made me glad.

I heard the voice of Jesus say:
"Behold I freely give

The living water-thirsty one,
Stoop down and drink and live!"

came to Jesus and I drank
Of that life-giving stream;

My thirst was quenched, my soul revived
And now I live in Him.

I heard the voice of Jesus say:
"I am this dark world's light;
Look unto Me, thy morn shall rise,
And all thy day be bright."

I looked at Jesus and I found
In Him my Star, my Sun,

And in that light of Life I'll walk
Till travelling days are done.

He

Oh, my friends, if you want rest to-day, come to Him. stands with His arms outstretched and says: "Come to Me and rest." Does the world satisfy you? Are not the griefs of this world crushing many a heart here? Hear the voice of