Puslapio vaizdai
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Jesus: "Come and rest." The world cannot take it from you; the world's crosses and trials will not tear it from you; He He will give you peace and comfort and rest if you but come. The next "come" is "come and drink and eat." You don't have to pay anything. You know it is hard for a man to get a tax on water unless when it has to be brought into the city. But this water is always without price, and salvation is like a river, flowing at the feet of every one; and all you have to do is to stoop down and drink of this living water and never die. The world cannot give you comfort-cannot give you water to satisfy your thirst, and every man and woman in this world is thirsty. That's the way our places of amusement are filled. People are constantly thirsting for something. But how are they filled with those amusements? They are as thirsty as ever. But if they drink the waters that He offers they will have a fountain in them springing up into everlasting life. I remember coming down a river with some wounded soldiers. The water was very muddy, and as we had no filters they had to drink the dirty water, which did not satisfy their thirst. I remember a Soldier saying, “O that I had a draught of water from my father's well." If you drink of the living water your soul will never thirst again. Not only does He say "Come and drink of that living water," but He says "Come and eat." In the fiftyfifth chapter of Isaiah you are invited to come and eat. You know all that the children of Israel had to do in the wilderness was just to pick up the manna and eat. They didn't have to make it. And people had just to stoop down and pick up the manna and eat, and drink from the flinty rock when the water flowed. And to-day the provision is brought to the door of your hearts. You haven't to go down to the earth for it, or to go up to the skies for it. It is here, and all you've got to do is to eat.

You know almost the last words of Christ after His resurrection, when, having a little fish, He said to his disciples "Come and dine." O, what a sweet invitation—the invitation of the Master to his disciples, "Come and dine." I invite you now to come and dine with Him; He will quench that thirst; He will satisfy your hunger, and all you've got to do is to take Him at His word.

Is there a poor thirsty one here to-day? I bid you come and drink of the fountain of living water; I bid you come and eat of the heavenly bread; yes, the bread made in heaven, the bread that angels feed on-Christ himself is the bread of life.

Now, a many people make a great mistake about accepting Christ. They think they've got something to do ; think they've

got to do some work, or that they've got to pray and wrestle before taking Him; they think it is a question of performances whether they are saved or not. Now, it is a question of simply taking what God offers you. I remember when I was out on the Pacific coast, a man took me through his house, out on his lands, and showed me his orchards, and then said: "Mr. Moody, you are a guest of mine, and I want you to feel perfectly at home; do what you like." Well, after this man said this, you don't suppose if I wanted an orange I was going under the tree to pray that it would fall into my pocket? I just went up boldly and plucked what I wanted. And so the bread of heaven is offered to us, and all we've got to do is to go boldly up and take it. This is what God wants you to do. Everything is prepared for you.

There is a class, too, who say: "But I'm afraid I'll not hold out." How many people are stumbling over this! Now, if you come boldly up to the throne you'll get all the support you need -"Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." There is a passage for you; that ought to be sufficient. And there is not a woman here to-day but can be kept, from this very day and this very hour, from evil-"For I the Lord thy God will keep you, without spot or wrinkle, and without blemish." Some of the vilest men who have ever trodden this earth have been saved with the grace of God. Some have been kept sixty or seventy years merely by the grace of God, and never wavered. "Come boldly to the throne of grace" and you will get power. That is sufficient. Won't you take Him at His word? It seems to me that it is madness not to take the gift offered us by God.

Let me call attention to another "come." My friends, the Bible is full of them, and you can't say if you don't come there have been no invitations. He says: "Come to the marriage." Now, you young ladies like marriages pretty well. Let a marriage come off in a church, and hundreds will be there; and probably next night, at the prayer meeting, there will scarcely be a dozen of you present. Now here is a marriage, and there is not a lady here whom God does not want to be present at the marriage feast. There is an invitation. And here is another come " : "Come and inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." God has got an inheritance for every one of you. The time will soon come if you accept Christ and become as His bride, when you shall hear the voice of Him saying to you: Come and inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." What a mistake it will be, my friends, if you will not hear that invitation

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given to you! There is an inheritance incorruptible in the heavens, a building not made with hands, and He wants every one to enter into this inheritance, and so it is your privilege to be present at the marriage feast and receive the inheritance if you will.

You know the first "come" in the Bible is in regard to salvation. It was given to Noah; God said, "come thou, and all thy house into the ark," not a part of them, but "all thy house. That is the first "come " in the Bible, and all through that blessed book it is repeated; and now we come to the last one. It seems as if the Bible was created by this word "come." "The spirit and the bride say come, and let him that is athirst come, and whosoever will, let him taste the water of life freely." There is our invitation, as broad as the world itself. And if God says you are to come in there, no power in heaven, or earth, or hell can stop you! He bids you come. Now bear in mind it is your sins God wants, and not your faith. You have nothing about you that He wants except your sins. People are continually trying to come to Him by their faith, by their feelings, by their tears, by their good deeds, by_their works; but you have to come to Him just as you are. There is not a woman present but can roll off every sin and leave them in this Tabernacle.

Now the question comes, What right have you to come? Why, because the King invites you. Suppose Queen Victoria had sent me an invitation to be present at Windsor at a feast given in honor of the marriage of one of her sons to a princess of Russia. I take the cars to New York, then the boat to Liverpool, then I would run down to London, where I would get a train to Windsor Castle. There is a sentry walking up and down in front of the gate. If I hadn't my invitation he would refuse me admittance; but there is not a soldier in the British army can keep me out, because I've got the Queen's invitation. But suppose the man looks at me and says: "You can't go into the presence of the Queen with those clothes; you are not fit to stand before the Queen." That is none of his business; that's hers. So the invitation comes from Him, and He wants you to come and He will clothe you in garments fit for His presence. You will be stripped of every rag of self-righteousness. and a robe of spotlessness will be put

upon you.

A great many people say, "I want to become clean before I come to Christ." Now, my friends, that is the devil's work. He tries to get people to believe that they can't come without getting rid of their sins, but as I've said, all through the scriptures He bids you come as you are. We cannot take away our sins;

come to Him and He will blot them out. A few years ago in London, there used to be a good many little children stolen to act as chimney sweeps. A child was stolen from a wealthy family, and a great reward was offered, but it couldn't be found. This child had been kidnapped. One day he was sent up a chimney and came down on the other side, and into a beautiful room. The little fellow was bewildered. A lady was sitting there, and recognized him as her son, and although the little fellow was covered with smut, she ran to him, and drew him to her bosom, and that is the way Christ will receive you. You needn't try to get rid of one particle of sin. He wants to save you as you are. "Whosoever will, let him come and drink of the waters of life freely." Will you come to-day. The spirit and the bride invite you this afternoon. Now I want to ask you what are you going to do with these ten loving invitations today-" Come and hear," "Come and see," ""Come and reason,"

"Come and rest,"

"Come and eat and drink," "Come and dine," ," "Come and find grace," "Come unto the marriage," "Come and inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the 66 world," Whosoever will, let him come." Ask God to help you to come to-day. If I were in your place I would settle this question before I left this building; I would just press up to the kingdom of God and take Him at His word. Now would you just all lift up your hearts in prayer. Let every Christian pray for every soul here to-day out of Christ. Let us now just unite in this one petition that every soul in this building may come to Christ to-day.

"A broken and a contrite heart, O God thou wilt not despise."-Psa. li., 17.

DEPTH of mercy, can there be,
Mercy still reserved for me?
Can my God His wrath forbear,
Me, the chief of sinners spare?

God is love, I do believe;
He is waiting to forgive.

I have long withstood His grace;
Long provoked Him to His face;
Would not harken to His calls;
Grieved Him by a thousand falls.

Now incline me to repent,
Let me now my sins lament;
Now my foul revolt deplore,
Weep, believe, and sin no more.

Work.

The moment "Show me thy

WANT to speak this morning about work. You know that was the key-note of the meeting when we first commenced here, and we want to have it the key-note of our message as we leave. Faith is an act of the mind, and work is the outward sign of faith. If a man has true faith in Christ he cannot help working for Christ. You cannot have fire without heat; no more can you have faith without works. "Faith without works," the apostle tells us, "is dead." It is dead, and the quicker buried the better; get it out of the way, that faith fails in works, that moment it dies. faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works." If a man has faith in Christ, he cannot help working; it is second nature to him. Those men who are trying to serve Christ without works are having a pretty hard time of it. They neither enjoy the world nor the church, and have a great deal of contempt for themselves. Now when a man gets outside of himself and goes to work for others, he is trebly blessed, he has floods of love, and peace, and joy the whole of the time. People may get to heaven without works perhaps, but as Job says, it will be by the "skin of their teeth." It'll not be an abundant entrance that will be administered unto them. And what they did do, if not with a right motive, will be swept away in that hour when God comes and tries men's faith.

Faithful Christians are those heeding Christ's words in the Gospel according to John, fifteenth chapter and fourth and fifth verses: "Abide in Me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye except ye abide in Me. I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in Me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without Me ye can do nothing." There in that chapter it says in the second verse, "and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruit." So it is abiding in Christ that bringeth forth much fruit. I think you will find in all the churches those who bring forth scarcely anything, I was going to say nothing. I don't know how you can call them Christians. Again there are others who bring

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