upon, by becoming absolutely the servant of their
needs. So only shall you be independent of their
whims. There is one great figure, and it has
taken in all Christian consciousness, that again and
again this work with Christ has been asserted to be
the true service in the army of a great master, of
a great captain, who goes before us to his victory,
that it is asserted that in that captain, in the entrance
into his army, every power is set free. Do you
remember the words that a good many of us read or
heard yesterday in our churches, where Jesus was doing
one of His miracles, and it is said that a devil was
cast out, the dumb spake? Every power becomes
the man’s possession, and he uses it in his
freedom, and he fights with it with all his force,
just as soon as the devil is cast out of him.
I have tried to tell you the noblest motive in which
you should be a pure, an upright, a faithful, and
a strong man. It is not for the salvation of
your life, it is not for the salvation of yourself.
It is not for the satisfaction of your tastes.
It is that you may take your place in the great army
of God and go forward having something to do with
the work that He is doing in the world. You remember
the days of the war, and how ashamed of himself a
man felt who never touched with his finger the great
struggle in which the nation was engaged. Oh,
to go through this life and never touch with my finger
the vast work that Christ is doing, and when the cry
of triumph arises at the end to stand there, not having
done one little, unknown, unnoticed thing to bring
about that which is the true life of the man and of
the world, that is awful. And I dare to believe
that there are young men in this church this morning
who, failing to be touched by every promise of their
own salvation and every threatening of their own damnation,
will still lift themselves up and take upon them the
duty of men, and be soldiers of Jesus Christ, and
have a part in the battle, and have a part somewhere
in the victory that is sure to come. Don’t
be selfish anywhere. Don’t be selfish,
most of all, in your religion. Let yourselves
free into your religion, and be utterly unselfish.
Claim your freedom in service.
I want once more to read to you these words from the
eighth chapter of the Gospel of St.
John:
“As He spake these words, many
believed on Him. Then said Jesus to those
Jews which believed on Him, If ye continue in My word,
then are ye My disciples indeed; And ye shall
know the truth, and the truth shall make you
free. They answered Him, We be Abraham’s
seed, and were never in bondage to any man:
how sayest Thou, Ye shall be made free?
Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you,
Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
And the servant abideth not in the house for
ever: but the Son abideth ever. If the Son
therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.”
