SUNDAY REAPING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XL, Issue 12213, 7 March 1903, Page 4 (Supplement)

SUNDAY REAPING.

" WOMAN," THOU ART LOOSED."

AN ADDRESS AT THE KESWICK

CONVENTION.

[BY THE REV. F. B. METER, B.A.]

Will you turn to St. Luke's Gospel, the thirteenth chapter, and from the tenth verse? Yqu will notice in that verse . that this miracle was wrought on the Sabbath Day. • The miracle therefore breathes the spirit of God's own rest, and I am quite prepared to hope and believe that in the quiet of this summer night, ■■ in the Sabbath of our Saviour's perfect rest, He may stand amongst us and introduce in that rest many weary souls whom Satan has bound as much as a man may bind his ox or his ass. • You will know why I say that. "Behold a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and she was bowed together." She was evidently a. daughter of Abraham, for the Lord says as much in the sixteenth verse : " Ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham?" She" was evidently'a believing-soul, *i for the; children of Abraham must resemble him in that. But though she was a true-born Jewess, belonging to the nation and kingdom of God, she was bowed together, to use the Lord's' very expressive metaphor. In the 15th and 16th' verses: "Ye hypocrites, doth not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering? And ought not this woman, being a daughter . of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, 10, these eighteen years, to have been loosed?" The quick eye of Jesus saw this woman in the midst of the crowd that densely thronged the synagogue. He detected the one person in that throng who was not straight, the one person whom Satan had 'bound as a man may bind his ox or his ass, 1 the one soul in the place who probably was ready for healing, j

THE" ONE SOUL THAT NEEDED Hill MOST SORELY.

Therefore it is that when Jesus, in the 12th verse, saw her, it was as though He. had no eye for anyone else but that woman. And I am here to-night, by the help of God Almighty, to bring to you in your life the revelation of eighteen years of anguish and slavery; and within the next few moments, before the hour of . eight shall strike, the burden by which you have been bound for these eighteen years shall be snapped, and you shall be led away to the river of eternal life that flows by the throne of God. For this is what the Master said: " Woman, thou art loosed."

"She could in no wise lift up herself." She Had tried. Everybody had said to her, "Why do you not straighten yourself out?" And when she had been alone in her bedroom,, when 110 ©ye was there to witness, she had often strained and stretched herself to try and be straight. But it had been that she could in, no wise lift herself up. Now you, my friends, are discerned by Christ as if there were no one else in this great throng but you and Him. He has found thee tonight,'' young girl, young fellow, Christian minister, Christian matron. I tell thee that to-night is not an occasion for hearing an address, for hearing even the opening, up of new <and fresh truth, but this is a moment; in thy life for which the last few months have been gradually preparing thee, and the Son of God in His own infinite Sabbath rest, without excitement, without noise, 1 without flurry, without anything to perturb the quiet of this hour, is standing right against thy life, and saying, in His own deep, sweet, thrilling voice: "Woman, thou art loosed." _ Before you turn from this note that word: " She could in no wise lift herself up." She could not look up to God, she could not see the blue sky, she could not see the sun or stars. It is the same Greek word as is used in the Epistle to the Hebrews, unto the uttermost. , She could not lift up herself, no, not though she tried to' do her uttermost. But " He is able to save to the uttermost," and your uttermost need is met at this minute by the uttermost salvation with which the Sou of God bends over your life. I ~ Now, what are you bound by? I will tell you. That woman is bound by an almost insatiable jealousy. She is in a perfect fever of hatred against some other woman. There may be a righteousness in it, but in her case what may have a just ground has so enfevered her passion that it has become the cause of relentless hatred, malice, and ill-will,. and she lias been bound by it. That young man who is listening to me knows that,he is bound by the habit of almost inveterate impurity. That minister is bound by the habit of unkind and uncharitable speech about some other minister. Is there one soul m this tent, except those who have known the healing touch of Christ, that is not - ' ■ ■ FETTERED, TRAMMELLED, AND BOUND , ' - TOGETHER, as though the head and the toes were by some diabolical cruelty fettered? I have seen pictures of such from Africa, I have - seen pictures in which' the heavy collar round the neck and the ankles has been bound together, and the poor creatures, like slaves, , have -crouched. And this in your lite has hindered and cramped your influence. ■ . ■

- Now, understand what we ; teach • here. Salvation has three tenses to-day. There is the past tense ; of salvation, iii which we were saved in a-single'moment of time from the- guilt .of sin. r There is the future tense 01 salvation, for we shall be saved when Jesus comes, . as the body which He : lias redeemed • from the power of corruption 'is re-married to the spirit. But. there is the present tense,\of salvation, by which Jesus Christ is • able in a moment of time, and absolutely, to set a soul free. I want you to follow me. Turn for a moment to Hebrews v. 9, to me an unexplorable verse "H&ving become ' (or been made) " perfect"for as the' Son of God He could not 1 be the . perfect deliverer unless He had passed through such > experiences as' those of - Giethsemane and Calvary—" Having," as to His power to help and "save, "been made perfect." Gethsemane was a making Him perfect, 'Gabbatha

also and the Pnetorium, arid the <Wu the Cross, were methods of making Him * *•' 1 feet as to His mediatorial" e fe Per " '' Having beer made perfect He P fe H' tV unto all those who obeyed Him th»«,^? 9 < of eternal salvation." ' Being tnade of God a high priest after th' .' ' order of Melohizedek." Your that up till to-night you may have looked on Jesus simply as the High Priest JM House of Aaron, who deals with sin-nfW ings. but you will never be happy 0 r wrJj until you look on Jesus as the Priest' J* :- f ' the ; order, of Melchaedek in ffi ri« power. It is the risen Christ who is tu 'sA author of eternal salvation, and He it * who stands by you to-night and',saw* ' Loose him. Now, Ho• becomes that'to those who obey Him, and the mistake' of -i", your life is that you are always \ RUNNING AFTER EMOTION INSTEAD OF DAETvn TO BELIEVE 0 that religion consists not in the - emotion, and the feelings, but in the will which ohiW You do not obey Him. Now you, To® M must be brought—your soul, . bound'- witteSPll sin, must be brought to a point in which vo»SS^ : will obey. What is the Holy Spirit of (fed saying m vour deepest nature? « Distinguish! " ' I am not at all concerned about the ques tio-.is that come, because when a number of '4'- W questions come into th© soul they show that the conscience is morbid and that Satan i. worrying it. Satan always deals indefinite!* • ■■■■ with a number of things that worry suß#Jt resting doubts and questions. When God ■>' * deals with the soul He is always definite V'" and at this minute, just as on beautiful nights on the coast of France the sailors sav ; : ' they can hear the bells of Is ringing 'un § " from tho tranquil, serene depths, so as you sit and I stand here, can you not hear the ' musio of the eternal chimes of God's will' * rising up, and God's spirit defiuitelv putting His hand upon something in your life in which to-night before you go to sleep you " will have to obey Him? It is all very well to have those services in the market-place but you had better not'go there. For you it is either your bedroom or the ' hills At Northfield, in front of the great auditorium • there is a. wood, and I have been repeatedly told by ministers and others who have been to Northfield that the work of the Convention there has not been done iii the audi j torium but in th© wood. The night falls quickly there, there is very short twilight and they dismiss the audience, and I have been told more than once that scores .of people make straight across the road "or the wood. I was told that two minist. rs ' from the same city in America, in the twilight, stumbled up against each other, and one said 'to the other, "What! are you ■' f here?" "Yes, lam here for the same pur- ''' pose that I guess you are here for." •• .. '•{» Now, men and women, I will be perfectly frank with you. I think that this great convocation is in many respects the greatest, so far as the magnificence of the addresses i» concerned, that has ever been held. I do not think I ever remember having heard P such brilliant talks as we have heard from these platforms. For intellectual brilliance they have been excelling, and " I have met people coming out, saying, "Did you ever * ;•' ear anything so magnificent?" 'But, mind you this: If Keswick becomes a platform merely for the delivery of magnificent addresses her doom is sealed. We are "not , f ' here to give magnificent addresses, but to analyse the source of weakness in human souls; we are here.to compel them to FACE THE WILL OF GOD. We are here to compel men and women to go away from the boats, and from the drive " round the lake, and from the open-air service at night, and from one another. ' I greatly magnify the present system of ,t< liavng clergy houses,, and I have had great enjoyment in goitg to this and the other clergy house. But my thought of these places is that they aggregate people".' together, and that when men go from the" tent they link in each other's arms and go home,' and there is dangei of losing in social, criticism and talk, though not unkind, the point of the meeting. "The family of the house of . Levi shall go apart, and the sons of Levi , apart, and the men and women .that have husbands and wives shall go apart." " I am here to-night not because as a younger man ' iny beloved brother, Mr. We'ob-Peploe, stirred my heart simply, but because of spots which I shall never forget on those hills.: 1/ could show you the places where I built "altars and laid myself upon them, and. other places where the Divine power came down 1 upon my soul. Have you done that during this Convention? "No," you say, "I do not know that I have, but I have enjoyed the meetings wonderfully." My • brother, * you did not come here, or you ought not to have_ come here, to enjoy . the meetings; and if that is all, so far as you are concerned, the meetings have been a failure. I am not appealing to your emotions, 01 to your affec- • tions, but to the will. I have got my hand "- at this moment deep down in your soul, upon the very lowest chord in your nature, nay, the Spirit of God has got His hand there. Would you hear the answer? ' THESE IS SOMETHING TO DO. Some of you have got to pay money which you have come wrongfully by, some of,you have got to write letters of apology' to-night to men and women whom you have wronged. A clergyman told me in America—l am afraid it is not confined to America—that a revival broke .-out in his church because the leading elder , got up and said:." Pastor, I do not think there will be a revival in this . church as long as I say fair things to your _ face and mean things behind your back. •. I do not think there will be faith in this church as long as I and Brother Jones do not speak to one another 1'" And my friend told me that it took twenty minutes in the quiet for the people to steal about from on# . part of the audience to another and square, up old accounts. How long would it take us to get squared? Forgive me; I feel verj' burdened to-night about it. I have an intimation in my soul that there is something ' that we are going to miss if we let to-night pass. I cannot tell you why, but I feel that • if we let the night pass without men and women saying in their agony: "I have rr sinned, and J must put things right, and I do obey the inner voice," it may be that the whole of this Convention will lose its force; * whereas, if you and I will only surrender tonight the result will be that, through th« death aud resurrection of which our brother, has just spoken—there must be death, death to your self-oomplaoency, death 'to your pride and self-sufficiencythe result will be"SS that God will heal you of, or loose you fron* your infirmities. •> •