1903
Sin sets its seal upon the human face as distinctively as righteousness, says the Union Signal. An article in a New Orleans paper states the fact that experienced barkeepers can tell what a man drinks by the peculiar discoloration of his skin. There is, it appears, a livery of whisky, of brandy, beer, absinthe, each one doing its deadly work with strict individuality. In no little corner of the creation is law inoperative, whether it be the law of life or the law of sin and death.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Making Others Happy
1903
When you rise in the morning form a resolution to make the day a happy one to a fellow creature. It is easily done; a left-off garment to the man who needs it, a kind word to the sorrowful, an encouraging expression to the striving — trifles in themselves light as air — will do at least for the twenty-four hours.
And if you are young depend upon it, it will tell when you are old, and if you are old, rest assured it will send you gently and happily down the stream of time to eternity. By the most simple arithmetical sum look at the result. If you send one person, only one, happily through each day, that is 365 in the course of the year. And supposing you live forty years only after you commence that course of medicine, you have made 14,600 beings happy at all events for a time. — Sydney Smith.
When you rise in the morning form a resolution to make the day a happy one to a fellow creature. It is easily done; a left-off garment to the man who needs it, a kind word to the sorrowful, an encouraging expression to the striving — trifles in themselves light as air — will do at least for the twenty-four hours.
And if you are young depend upon it, it will tell when you are old, and if you are old, rest assured it will send you gently and happily down the stream of time to eternity. By the most simple arithmetical sum look at the result. If you send one person, only one, happily through each day, that is 365 in the course of the year. And supposing you live forty years only after you commence that course of medicine, you have made 14,600 beings happy at all events for a time. — Sydney Smith.
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Uses of The Church
1935
The Church is not a refrigerator for preserving perishable piety. It is a dynamo for charging human wills with power. The object of the church is not to tell men how to dodge difficulties, but to furnish strength and courage to meet them. The business of the church is not to furnish hammocks for the lazy; it is rather to offer well-fitting yokes for drawing life's loads. The man who does not attend any church practically votes to do away with all churches.
Why not accept the invitation and COME TO CHURCH NEXT SUNDAY?
—D. CARL YODER
The Church is not a refrigerator for preserving perishable piety. It is a dynamo for charging human wills with power. The object of the church is not to tell men how to dodge difficulties, but to furnish strength and courage to meet them. The business of the church is not to furnish hammocks for the lazy; it is rather to offer well-fitting yokes for drawing life's loads. The man who does not attend any church practically votes to do away with all churches.
Why not accept the invitation and COME TO CHURCH NEXT SUNDAY?
—D. CARL YODER
Sermonograms
1935
Adversity tries faith; prosperity tries fidelity.
The man who has a right to boast does not have to.
A beauty not explicable is dearer than the beauty which we can see the end of. — Emerson.
The reward of a thing well done is to have done it. — Emerson.
It is much wiser to steer well than to honk your horn.
It takes brains to make money; it takes character to use it right.
Church membership is not an elevator into heaven.
If you hold your religion lightly, you are sure to let it slip.
God never reveals what man can discover.
A pessimist is a person who is seasick during the entire voyage of life.
When it comes to coddling imaginary wrongs, the average person is a faithful nurse.
Even if you are too deaf to hear the preacher, the Church is still a good place for listening to God. — Holmes.
Opportunities always look bigger going than coming.
The less of it they have, the more people seem obsessed with the inclination to speak their mind.
Action unaccompanied by thought is folly, but thought unaccompanied by action is vain.
Unless we can learn the supremacy of spiritual forces, the pall bearers that have carried out dead civilizations wait at our door. — Fosdick.
Don't throw mud; you might miss your mark, and you are sure to get your hands dirty.
Hard work is the yeast that raises the dough.
The duty of the many should not be the task of the few. Many a man saves everything but his soul.
Adversity tries faith; prosperity tries fidelity.
The man who has a right to boast does not have to.
A beauty not explicable is dearer than the beauty which we can see the end of. — Emerson.
The reward of a thing well done is to have done it. — Emerson.
It is much wiser to steer well than to honk your horn.
It takes brains to make money; it takes character to use it right.
Church membership is not an elevator into heaven.
If you hold your religion lightly, you are sure to let it slip.
God never reveals what man can discover.
A pessimist is a person who is seasick during the entire voyage of life.
When it comes to coddling imaginary wrongs, the average person is a faithful nurse.
Even if you are too deaf to hear the preacher, the Church is still a good place for listening to God. — Holmes.
Opportunities always look bigger going than coming.
The less of it they have, the more people seem obsessed with the inclination to speak their mind.
Action unaccompanied by thought is folly, but thought unaccompanied by action is vain.
Unless we can learn the supremacy of spiritual forces, the pall bearers that have carried out dead civilizations wait at our door. — Fosdick.
Don't throw mud; you might miss your mark, and you are sure to get your hands dirty.
Hard work is the yeast that raises the dough.
The duty of the many should not be the task of the few. Many a man saves everything but his soul.
Seven Sentence Sermons
1935
Adversity is the first path to truth. — Byron.
* * *
It is the wit and policy of sin to hate those we have abused. — Davenant.
* * *
Riches that the world bestows,
She can take and I can lose:
But the treasures that are mine
Lie afar beyond her line.
—Isaac Watts.
* * *
When you put on your clothes, remember the labor of the weaver; when you eat your daily bread, think of the hardships of the husbandman. — Chinese Proverbs.
* * *
Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith. — Prov. 15:17.
* * *
Yet each man kills the thing he loves,
By each let this be heard;
Some do it with a bitter-look,
Some with a flattering word;
The coward does it with a kiss.
The brave man with a sword.
—Oscar Wilde.
* * *
The difference between coarse and refined abuse is the difference between being bruised by a club and wounded by a poisoned arrow. — Johnson.
Adversity is the first path to truth. — Byron.
* * *
It is the wit and policy of sin to hate those we have abused. — Davenant.
* * *
Riches that the world bestows,
She can take and I can lose:
But the treasures that are mine
Lie afar beyond her line.
—Isaac Watts.
* * *
When you put on your clothes, remember the labor of the weaver; when you eat your daily bread, think of the hardships of the husbandman. — Chinese Proverbs.
* * *
Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith. — Prov. 15:17.
* * *
Yet each man kills the thing he loves,
By each let this be heard;
Some do it with a bitter-look,
Some with a flattering word;
The coward does it with a kiss.
The brave man with a sword.
—Oscar Wilde.
* * *
The difference between coarse and refined abuse is the difference between being bruised by a club and wounded by a poisoned arrow. — Johnson.
Friday, February 29, 2008
They Knew Faith
1900
A teacher, wishing to impress upon the minds of her pupils the full nature of faith, took them one day to the riverside and, seeing a boat in the middle of the stream, said:
"Now, my little dears, if I were to tell you that there was a leg of mutton in that boat, would you believe me?"
"Yes."
"Well, then," she said, "that is faith."
Some time after the same children were going through an examination when the question was asked, "What is faith?" and all the class, as with one voice, shouted out, "A leg of mutton in a boat!"
A teacher, wishing to impress upon the minds of her pupils the full nature of faith, took them one day to the riverside and, seeing a boat in the middle of the stream, said:
"Now, my little dears, if I were to tell you that there was a leg of mutton in that boat, would you believe me?"
"Yes."
"Well, then," she said, "that is faith."
Some time after the same children were going through an examination when the question was asked, "What is faith?" and all the class, as with one voice, shouted out, "A leg of mutton in a boat!"
Manna a Fungus
1900
It seems that in the present day Arabs who are obliged to traverse the sandy wastes of Arabia depend to a large extent upon "angel's food" both for themselves and for their camels. The manna is in reality a fungus which is found in great quantities on the sand after rain. Of a gray color and of the size of a pea, it has a pleasant, sweet taste, and although its analysis shows that it is by no means a perfect food, it is sufficiently rich in nitrogenous matter and carbohydrates to sustain life for a long period. — Chambers' Journal.
It seems that in the present day Arabs who are obliged to traverse the sandy wastes of Arabia depend to a large extent upon "angel's food" both for themselves and for their camels. The manna is in reality a fungus which is found in great quantities on the sand after rain. Of a gray color and of the size of a pea, it has a pleasant, sweet taste, and although its analysis shows that it is by no means a perfect food, it is sufficiently rich in nitrogenous matter and carbohydrates to sustain life for a long period. — Chambers' Journal.
What Should Ministers Preach?
1900
An opinion as to what ministers should teach in from The Presbyterian:
Perhaps better and larger gains from the world would follow if ministers not only expected, but taught their people to expect, conversions through the ordinary preaching of the word. We have got so much into the habit of awaiting the arrival of the evangelist or of relying upon spasmodic and special revival work that we do not either look or work for the salvation of souls in ordinary church conditions.
God is not confined to extraordinary operations. He has his regular agencies. He has promised to bless them where faith, earnestness and energy accompany them. Healthy developments in Christian activity and in religious life greatly justify God and advance his kingdom.
An opinion as to what ministers should teach in from The Presbyterian:
Perhaps better and larger gains from the world would follow if ministers not only expected, but taught their people to expect, conversions through the ordinary preaching of the word. We have got so much into the habit of awaiting the arrival of the evangelist or of relying upon spasmodic and special revival work that we do not either look or work for the salvation of souls in ordinary church conditions.
God is not confined to extraordinary operations. He has his regular agencies. He has promised to bless them where faith, earnestness and energy accompany them. Healthy developments in Christian activity and in religious life greatly justify God and advance his kingdom.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
A Heifer on Her Haunches
1918
The speaker in the evening was Dr. Leon Tucker, whose subject was "A Heifer on Her Haunches." In his address, Dr. Tucker compared wayward mankind with the heifer of the ark which was unwilling to be a sacrifice on the altar of the Lord and only by force gave itself up. Dr. Tucker emphasized the need of workers to go out "into the highways and the byways of life" in Christian teaching, and in response to a call for those who would devote their lives wholly to the work of Christ, some 150 young people pledged themselves to do so.
—Racine Journal-News, Racine, Wisconsin, Nov. 11, 1918, p. 11.
1916
A Treat Promised
Dr. Tucker to Preach at Presbyterian Church Sunday
W. Leon Tucker will be the preacher at the Presbyterian church tomorrow at both services. His subject in the morning will be "A Corrupt Leper and Two Clean Birds." His subject in the evening will be "A Heifer Upon Its Haunches." This will be the last opportunity for Tyronians to hear this wonderful Bible teacher.
—Tyrone Daily Herald, Tyrone, PA, Nov. 11, 1916, p. 2.
1917
REFORMED
Dr. W. Leon Tucker will preach to the two congregations, the Presbyterian and the Reformed, in the Presbyterian church at the morning service. In the evening he will preach to the two congregations in the Reformed church. His topic in the evening will be "A Heifer on its Haunches." This is a wonderful sermon and should be heard by everybody. The usual church offerings will be taken, at the morning service, but the offering in the evening will be for Dr. Tucker. Dr. Tucker will also give one of his lectures in the Reformed church Sunday afternoon at 2:30 o'clock.
—Daily Gazette, Xenia, Ohio, Jan. 13, 1917, p. 3.
1921
In Lima Churches Sunday
First Baptist, High and McDonald Sts, Warren L. Steeves, minister. Morning service at 10:30, subject, "A Heifer on Her Haunches."
—Lima News, Lima, Ohio, July 9, 1921, p. 4.
Note: No mention of Dr. Tucker being there. There was a book called "A Heifer on Its Haunches and Other Sermons" by Dr. Tucker, and he published numerous other books.
The speaker in the evening was Dr. Leon Tucker, whose subject was "A Heifer on Her Haunches." In his address, Dr. Tucker compared wayward mankind with the heifer of the ark which was unwilling to be a sacrifice on the altar of the Lord and only by force gave itself up. Dr. Tucker emphasized the need of workers to go out "into the highways and the byways of life" in Christian teaching, and in response to a call for those who would devote their lives wholly to the work of Christ, some 150 young people pledged themselves to do so.
—Racine Journal-News, Racine, Wisconsin, Nov. 11, 1918, p. 11.
1916
A Treat Promised
Dr. Tucker to Preach at Presbyterian Church Sunday
W. Leon Tucker will be the preacher at the Presbyterian church tomorrow at both services. His subject in the morning will be "A Corrupt Leper and Two Clean Birds." His subject in the evening will be "A Heifer Upon Its Haunches." This will be the last opportunity for Tyronians to hear this wonderful Bible teacher.
—Tyrone Daily Herald, Tyrone, PA, Nov. 11, 1916, p. 2.
1917
REFORMED
Dr. W. Leon Tucker will preach to the two congregations, the Presbyterian and the Reformed, in the Presbyterian church at the morning service. In the evening he will preach to the two congregations in the Reformed church. His topic in the evening will be "A Heifer on its Haunches." This is a wonderful sermon and should be heard by everybody. The usual church offerings will be taken, at the morning service, but the offering in the evening will be for Dr. Tucker. Dr. Tucker will also give one of his lectures in the Reformed church Sunday afternoon at 2:30 o'clock.
—Daily Gazette, Xenia, Ohio, Jan. 13, 1917, p. 3.
1921
In Lima Churches Sunday
First Baptist, High and McDonald Sts, Warren L. Steeves, minister. Morning service at 10:30, subject, "A Heifer on Her Haunches."
—Lima News, Lima, Ohio, July 9, 1921, p. 4.
Note: No mention of Dr. Tucker being there. There was a book called "A Heifer on Its Haunches and Other Sermons" by Dr. Tucker, and he published numerous other books.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Exploring Our Friends
1915
One day I found an exquisite clump of sweet violets hiding in the very heart of a bed of nettles! And I think this discovery gave me more pleasure than those I found in the protective company of the harmless ivy! That is what Froude tells us he found in Thomas Carlyle. That is what we should find in one another, if only we had eager, patient, and love-washed eyes.
Human life is not all nettles; to affirm it is the perverted judgment of the cynic; they who have a passion for God will find the Godlike everywhere; they will find the violets of moral loveliness even in the midst of the noisome waste. And when they have found them their fellow searchers shall hear an exultant shout and they shall come together, and in the gracious discovery there shall be a common rejoicing in the truth. — J. H. Jowett, D. D., in the Christian Herald.
One day I found an exquisite clump of sweet violets hiding in the very heart of a bed of nettles! And I think this discovery gave me more pleasure than those I found in the protective company of the harmless ivy! That is what Froude tells us he found in Thomas Carlyle. That is what we should find in one another, if only we had eager, patient, and love-washed eyes.
Human life is not all nettles; to affirm it is the perverted judgment of the cynic; they who have a passion for God will find the Godlike everywhere; they will find the violets of moral loveliness even in the midst of the noisome waste. And when they have found them their fellow searchers shall hear an exultant shout and they shall come together, and in the gracious discovery there shall be a common rejoicing in the truth. — J. H. Jowett, D. D., in the Christian Herald.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Development of Man
1911
Man does not develop in the highest sense until he comes into a conscious need of spiritual attainment, until there is a hungering and thirsting after the fruits of the spirit — gentleness, long suffering, goodness, temperance, love. — Rev. Gay Arthur Jamieson, New York.
Seed of the Church
The blood of the martyrs is the church, the giving up of life is at heart in all great movements, expiatory. — Rev. Allyn K. Foster, Baptist, Brooklyn.
Man does not develop in the highest sense until he comes into a conscious need of spiritual attainment, until there is a hungering and thirsting after the fruits of the spirit — gentleness, long suffering, goodness, temperance, love. — Rev. Gay Arthur Jamieson, New York.
Seed of the Church
The blood of the martyrs is the church, the giving up of life is at heart in all great movements, expiatory. — Rev. Allyn K. Foster, Baptist, Brooklyn.
Supremacy of the Soul
1911
Link soul with all that is worthy, with all that is true, with all that is good, with all that is noble and then when you go out into the world of nature you will be enabled to say, I have walked with God upon the hills and have seen each morn arise new, bathed in light of Paradise. — Rev. E. L. Powell, Louisville.
Love Your Enemies
The call from the great teacher to love even enemies is really a call to get acquainted with folks as they really are. — Rev. A. G. Singsen, Congregationalist, Providence.
Link soul with all that is worthy, with all that is true, with all that is good, with all that is noble and then when you go out into the world of nature you will be enabled to say, I have walked with God upon the hills and have seen each morn arise new, bathed in light of Paradise. — Rev. E. L. Powell, Louisville.
Love Your Enemies
The call from the great teacher to love even enemies is really a call to get acquainted with folks as they really are. — Rev. A. G. Singsen, Congregationalist, Providence.
Help Through Hindrance
1910
Out of the thing that is hardest, we often may get the greatest blessings. Out of the thing in your life by which you are nearly crushed, you are to have your grandest victory. Out of the thing that seems ready to conquer and destroy you, God wants to bring to you a faith that you never had before, and a revelation of his love and power that you never dreamed of. That very thing you thought a stumbling-stone, God means to make a pillow for your head, and a ladder of ascension to his very presence. — A. B. Simpson.
Unfailing Trust
What a serene and quiet life you might lead if you would leave providing to the God of providence! With a little oil in the cruse, and a handful of meal in the barrel, Elijah outlived the famine, and you will do the same. If God cares for you, why need you care too? Can you trust him for your soul, and not for your body? He has never refused to bear your burdens, he has never fainted under their weight. Come, then, soul! have done with fretful care, and leave all thy concerns in the hand of a gracious God. — C. H. Spurgeon.
Out of the thing that is hardest, we often may get the greatest blessings. Out of the thing in your life by which you are nearly crushed, you are to have your grandest victory. Out of the thing that seems ready to conquer and destroy you, God wants to bring to you a faith that you never had before, and a revelation of his love and power that you never dreamed of. That very thing you thought a stumbling-stone, God means to make a pillow for your head, and a ladder of ascension to his very presence. — A. B. Simpson.
Unfailing Trust
What a serene and quiet life you might lead if you would leave providing to the God of providence! With a little oil in the cruse, and a handful of meal in the barrel, Elijah outlived the famine, and you will do the same. If God cares for you, why need you care too? Can you trust him for your soul, and not for your body? He has never refused to bear your burdens, he has never fainted under their weight. Come, then, soul! have done with fretful care, and leave all thy concerns in the hand of a gracious God. — C. H. Spurgeon.
Pentecosts and Conversions
1910
When a revival has obtained many converts we commonly call it a Pentecost. The three thousand converts to Christianity were a result of what happened on that famous fiftieth day after the Great Passover, but they were not an essential of it; nor are Pentecosts always attended by conversions, though they are likely to be.
The narrative of that first Christian Pentecost is very simple and very wonderful. The conditions were these: A risen Christ, fully apprehended in his divine majesty, ardently loved for his marvelous gifts to men. His followers united in this understanding and love — not in a theological system, since there had been no time to form one, nor in ecclesiastical bonds, since there was happily as yet no ecclesiasticism to separate them; but they were united in love and in faith, which alone can unite men. Finally, Christ's followers, thus united, were all in one place, the physical basis of the spiritual miracle that was to follow. Those conditions being granted — and they are possible anywhere where there are Christians, If only two of them — what are the essentials of Pentecost? They are three.
First, Pentecost consisted of a sound from Heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, filling all the houses where the disciples were. What is essential in this? The sound of the wind? We can get it any day when the wind is blowing. We can imitate it any day when the wind is not blowing. The essential is that "from Heaven." The essential is the feeling of the other world, of supernatural power, of the divine moving upon the human.
The One Essential.
Second, Pentecost consisted of the mysterious light filling the room, centered in tongues of light flaming from each head. What is essential here? The actual vibrations of the ether? Surely not. Every living body, as the scientists are beginning to prove, gives out some light. What is essential is the spiritual clarity, the divine illumination, in the radiance of which men see what they have not before seen of themselves and God and God's universe.
Third, Pentecost consisted of the speaking with tongues. What is essential in this? That each heard his own language spoken from those previously one-languaged men? No, for they had heard their own language before, and would hear it again. The essential was that they heard "the wonderful works of God." It was what the disciples said that brought conviction, rather than the exceptional fact that each heard it said in his own tongue.
If these are the three Pentecost essentials, as I think they are, then we can have a Pentecost in any prayer meeting or Sunday school class or in the church on any Sunday morning, though only Christians are present, and only three or thirty of these and nowhere near three thousand. We can have a feeling of God's presence, and a clear vision of divine truth, and a free utterance of our spirits in view of God's presence and this new vision.
Same Joys Are Ours.
I am not denying the reality of the supernatural occurrences on the day of Pentecost. I believe in them wholly. I am not "spiritualizing them away." They may not occur to us in the same outward form, but I do believe that everything most precious and valuable in them occurs to us, and that the first Pentecost is a paradigm of the Pentecost that may be yours and mine today.
Nor will our Pentecost be less marvelous than Peter's and John's. To realize the presence of God is more wonderful than to hear the wind blow, though it blow from the skies of paradise. To see God's truth is more wonderful than the aura of any saint, and to speak of God's wonderful works in the English language to any set of Americans is as great a deed as to speak in a single breath all the tongues of Pentecost.
—Oelwein Daily Register, Oelwein, IA, Sept. 20, 1910, p. 3.
When a revival has obtained many converts we commonly call it a Pentecost. The three thousand converts to Christianity were a result of what happened on that famous fiftieth day after the Great Passover, but they were not an essential of it; nor are Pentecosts always attended by conversions, though they are likely to be.
The narrative of that first Christian Pentecost is very simple and very wonderful. The conditions were these: A risen Christ, fully apprehended in his divine majesty, ardently loved for his marvelous gifts to men. His followers united in this understanding and love — not in a theological system, since there had been no time to form one, nor in ecclesiastical bonds, since there was happily as yet no ecclesiasticism to separate them; but they were united in love and in faith, which alone can unite men. Finally, Christ's followers, thus united, were all in one place, the physical basis of the spiritual miracle that was to follow. Those conditions being granted — and they are possible anywhere where there are Christians, If only two of them — what are the essentials of Pentecost? They are three.
First, Pentecost consisted of a sound from Heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, filling all the houses where the disciples were. What is essential in this? The sound of the wind? We can get it any day when the wind is blowing. We can imitate it any day when the wind is not blowing. The essential is that "from Heaven." The essential is the feeling of the other world, of supernatural power, of the divine moving upon the human.
The One Essential.
Second, Pentecost consisted of the mysterious light filling the room, centered in tongues of light flaming from each head. What is essential here? The actual vibrations of the ether? Surely not. Every living body, as the scientists are beginning to prove, gives out some light. What is essential is the spiritual clarity, the divine illumination, in the radiance of which men see what they have not before seen of themselves and God and God's universe.
Third, Pentecost consisted of the speaking with tongues. What is essential in this? That each heard his own language spoken from those previously one-languaged men? No, for they had heard their own language before, and would hear it again. The essential was that they heard "the wonderful works of God." It was what the disciples said that brought conviction, rather than the exceptional fact that each heard it said in his own tongue.
If these are the three Pentecost essentials, as I think they are, then we can have a Pentecost in any prayer meeting or Sunday school class or in the church on any Sunday morning, though only Christians are present, and only three or thirty of these and nowhere near three thousand. We can have a feeling of God's presence, and a clear vision of divine truth, and a free utterance of our spirits in view of God's presence and this new vision.
Same Joys Are Ours.
I am not denying the reality of the supernatural occurrences on the day of Pentecost. I believe in them wholly. I am not "spiritualizing them away." They may not occur to us in the same outward form, but I do believe that everything most precious and valuable in them occurs to us, and that the first Pentecost is a paradigm of the Pentecost that may be yours and mine today.
Nor will our Pentecost be less marvelous than Peter's and John's. To realize the presence of God is more wonderful than to hear the wind blow, though it blow from the skies of paradise. To see God's truth is more wonderful than the aura of any saint, and to speak of God's wonderful works in the English language to any set of Americans is as great a deed as to speak in a single breath all the tongues of Pentecost.
—Oelwein Daily Register, Oelwein, IA, Sept. 20, 1910, p. 3.
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