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hearts to-night, and may you not sleep till you can look up and say: "Christ is my Savior; he is my Redeemer;" and until you can see your title clear, for one of those mansions he has gone to prepare.

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When this question was put to Saul, "Why persecutest thou me?" He supplemented it by saying, "It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks." The thought I want to call attention to is this, "It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks." You and I would not have had any compassion upon Saul, if we had been in Christ's place. We would have said, the hardship is upon the poor Christians in DamasBut the Lord saw differently. He said, "It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks." In those days, when they didn't drive their camels with whips, they had a piece of stick with a sharp piece of steel at the end called a prick, and it was applied to the animal. A lady said to me some time ago, "It is easy to sin, but it is hard to do right;" or, in other words, it is hard to serve God, and easy to serve the devil. I think you will find hundreds of people in Chicago who think this way. There is not a lie which ever came from hell so deceptive as this. It is as false as any lie the devil ever uttered. We want to drive that lie back where it came from. My friends, it is not true, God is not a hard master; he is a lenient one. What did Christ say to Saul? "It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks." There is a period at which the sinner arrives when he sees the truth of this. How many men have said to me, "Mr. Moody, the way of the transgressor is pretty hard." It is a common expression. I have been with men in court and in prison, who have said this. It is not a hard thing to serve God, if you are born of God; but, my friends, it is a hard thing to serve Satan. The way of sin grows darker and harder to a man, the longer he is in it. Before I came down, I took up a paper, and the first thing I saw was an account of a Boston man who had forged, and it closed by saying his path was a hard, flinty

one.

Now, take up any class of sinners in Chicago. We've representatives here to-night. Take the harlot. Do you think her life is an easy one? It is very short. The average one is seven years. Just look at her as she comes up to the city from the home where she has left sisters and a mother, as pure as the morning air. She came down to the city, and is now in a low brothel. Sometimes her mind goes back to the pure home where her mother prayed for her; where she used to lay down her head on that mother's bosom, and she used to press the sweet face of her child to her own. She remembers when she went to Sunday-school; remembers when her mother tried to teach her to serve God, and now she is an exile. She don't want to go home. She is full of shame. She looks into the future, and sees darkness before her. In a few short years, she dies the death of a harlot; and she is laid away in an unknown grave. All the flattery of her lovers, is hollow and false. Is her life a happy one? Ask a

harlot to-night, and she will tell you the way of the transgressor is hard; and then ask the pure and virtuous if Christ is a hard master.

Go ask that drunkard if his way is an easy one. Why, there was a man whom I knew who was an inveterate drinker. He had a wife and children. He thought he could stop whenever he felt inclined; but he went the ways of most moderate drinkers. I had not been gone more than three years; and when I returned, I found that the mother had gone down to her grave with a broken heart, and that man was the murderer of the wife of his bosom. Those children have all been taken away from him; and he is now walking up and down those streets homeless. But four years ago he had a beautiful and a happy home, with his wife and children around him. They are gone; probably he will never see them again. Perhaps he has come in here to-night. If he has, I ask him: Is not the way of the transgressor hard? Is it not hard to fight against Him? Do not go against your Maker. Don't believe the devil's lies; don't think God is a hard master. If you persist in wrong-doing, you will find out the truth of what was said to Saul, "It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks."

at us.

Look again at that rum-seller. When we talk to him he laughs He tells us there is no hell, no future; there is no retribution. I've got one man in my mind now, who ruined nearly all the sons in his neighborhood. Mothers and fathers went to him, and begged him not to sell their children liquor. He told them it was his business to sell liquor; and he was going to sell liquor to every one who came. The place was a blot upon the place, as dark as hell. But that man had a father's heart. He had a son; he didn't worship God, but he worshiped that boy. He didn't remember that whatsoever a man soweth so shall he reap. My friends, they generally reap what they sow. It may not come soon; but the retribution will come. If you ruin other men's sons, some other man will ruin yours. Bear in mind, God is a God of equity; God is a God of justice. He is not going to allow you to ruin men, and then escape yourself. If we go against his laws, we suffer. Time rolled on, and that young man became a slave to drink; and his life became such a burden to him that he put a revolver to his head and blew his brains out. The father lived a few years; but his life was as bitter as gall, and then he went down to his grave in sorrow. Ah, my friends, "It is hard to kick against the pricks." You may go out of the Tabernacle laughing at everything I say; but it is true as the God in heaven, that the day of retribution will come. It is only a question of time.

See that false-hearted libertine! The day is coming when he will reap what he is sowing. He may not be called to reap it in this world; but he will be brought up before the bar of heaven, and there the harvest will be seen. These men, who have got smooth, oily tongues, go into society and play their part, and still walk around

If a poor woman falls, she's ruled out; but these false-hearted libertines still go up and down the world. The eyes of justice may not find them out. They think themselves secure; but they are deceiving themselves. By and by, the God of heaven will summon them to give an account. They say then that God will not punish them; but the decree of heaven has gone forth, "Whatsoever a man soweth so shall he reap."

One week ago, I preached on the text, "Christ came to heal the broken-hearted." I told you, just before I came down, that I had received a letter from a broken-hearted wife. Her husband one night came in, to her surprise, and said he was a defaulter and must fly; and he went, she knew not where. He forsook her and two children. It was a pitiful letter; and the wail of that poor woman seems to ring in my ears yet. That night, up in that gallery, was a man whose heart began to beat when I told the story, thinking it was him I meant, till I came to the two children. When I got through, I found that he had taken money which did not belong to him, intending to replace it; but he failed to do so, and fled. He Said: "I have a beautiful wife and three children; but I had to leave her and come to Chicago, where I have been hiding. The Governor of the State has offered a reward for me." My friends, a week ago this poor fellow found out the truth of this text. He was in great agony. He felt as if he could not carry the burden; and he said: "Mr. Moody, I want you to pray with me. Ask God for mercy for me." And down we went on our knees. I don't know if ever I felt so deeply for a man in my life. He asked me if I thought he should go back. I told him to ask the Lord; and we prayed over it. That was Sunday evening, and I asked him to meet me on the Monday evening. He told me how hard it was to go back to that town and give himself up, and disgrace his wife and children. They would give him ten years. Monday came, and he met me, and said: "Mr. Moody, I have prayed over this matter, and I think that Christ has forgiven me; but I don't belong to myself. I must go back and give myself up. I expect to be sent to the penitentiary; but I must go." He asked me to pray for his wife and children, and he went off. He will be there now, in the hands of justice. My friends, don't say the way of the transgressor is not hard. It is hard to fight against sin; but it is a thousand times harder to die without hope. Will you not just accept Christ? Take Christ as your hope, your life, your truth.

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NAAMAN, THE LEPER.

"Go and wash in Jordan seven times." 2 KINGS 5: 10.

We have for our subject this evening, "Naaman." We are told in this chapter that we have just read, that he was a great man; but he was a leper, and that spoiled him. He was a successful man, yet he was a leper; he was a very valiant man, but he was a leper; he was a very noble man, yet he was a leper. What a blight that must have cast on his path. It must have haunted him day and night. He was a leper, and there was no physician in Syria that could help him. It was an incurable disease; and I suppose he thought he would have to go down to the grave with that loathsome disease. We read that several companies had gone down to the land of Israel, and brought down to Syria some poor captives; and among them was a little girl, who was sent to wait on Naaman's wife. I can imagine that little maid had a praying mother, who had taught her to love the Lord; and when she got down there she was not ashamed to own her religion-she was not ashamed to acknowledge her Lord. One day, while waiting on her mistress, I can think of her saying: "Would to God your husband was in Samaria. There is a prophet there who would cure him." I can imagine her looking at the girl, when she said this: "What! a man in Israel can cure my husband; you must be dreaming. Did you ever hear of a man being cured of the leprosy?" "No," the girl might have said; "but that is nothing. Why, the prophet in Samaria has cured many persons worse than your husband." And perhaps she told her about the poor woman who had such an increase of oil, and how her two boys were saved from slavery by the prophet; and how he had raised the child of that poor woman from the dead; and, "if the prophet can raise anybody from the dead, he can cure your husband." This girl must have had something about her to make those people listen to her; she must have shown her religion in her life; her life must have been consistent with her religion, to make them believe her. We read that Naaman had faith in her word; and he goes to the king and tells him what he intends to do. And the king says: "I will tell you what I will do. I will give you letters to the king of Israel; and, of course, if any cure is to be effected, the king will know how to obtain it." Like a great many men now-a-days, they think, if there is anything to be got, it is to be got from the king and not from his subjects. And so you see this man startng out to the king of Israel, with all his letters and a very long purse. I cannot find just now

how much it was; but it must have been something like $500,000. The sum was a very large one, likely. He was going to be liberal; he was not going to be small. Well, he got all his money and letters together, and started. There was no small stir as Naaman swept through the gates of Syria that day, with his escort. He reached Samaria, and sends a messenger to the king announcing his arrival. The messenger delivers the letter to the king; and the first thing he does is to open the letter, and begin to read it. I can see his brow knit, as he goes on. "What is this?" he exclaims. "What does this mean? This man means war. This Assyrian king means to have a war with me. Who ever heard of such a thing as a man cured of leprosy?" and he rent his mantle.

Everyone knew something was wrong when the king rent his mantle; and the news spread through the streets that they were on the eve of a war. The air was filled with war; everybody was talking about it. No doubt the news had gone abroad that the great general of Assyria was in the city, and he was the cause of the rumors; and by and by it reached the prophet Elisha that he (the king) had rent his mantle, and he wanted to know the cause. When he had heard what it was, he just told the king to send Naaman to him. Now you see the major-general riding up in grand style to the prophet's house. He probably lived in a small and obscure dwelling. Perhaps Naaman thought he was doing Elisha a great favor by calling on him. He had an idea that he was honoring this man, who had no influence or position. So he rides up. A messenger is sent in to announce Major-General Naaman, of Damascus. But the prophet doesn't even see him. He simply tells the servant to say to him, "Go and wash in Jordan seven times." When the messenger comes to Naaman and tells him this, he is as mad as anything. He considers it a reflection upon him-as if he hadn't kept his person clean. "Does the man mean to insinuate that I haven't kept my body clean-can't I wash myself in the waters of Damascus? We've much better water than they have here. Why, if we had the Jordan in Syria we'd look upon it as a ditch. The idea-wash in that contemptible river." He's full of rage as he can be; and he said, "Behold, I thought." That's the way with sinners; they always say, they thought. In this expression, we can see he had thought of some plan, had marked out a way for the Lord to heal him. That is the way with nearly every man and woman in Chicago. They've got a plan drawn out; and because God does not come and save them according to their plan, they don't take him. Keep this in mind: "My ways are not your ways, nor my thoughts your thoughts." If you look for him to come in that direction, he will come the other way. "My ways are not your ways." He thought-My friends, no man gets into the kingdom of God till he gives up his thoughts. God never saved a man till he gave up his own thoughts, and takes up

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