The Heart-Cry of Jesus | Page 5

or at the fireside or
by the window. It lies in the power of a single word to make the eyes
fill and the throat ache because of its association with the voice of a
queenly mother.
A MAN'S TESTIMONY.
Thus it is with Christ and HIS words. It matters not where we meet the
word, if it is Christ's we are touched and made tender. An aged man
stands in a prayer-meeting in a bare and cheerless hall, and says in
broken and faltering voice, "The dear Lord has blessedly SANCTIFIED
my heart," and like a flash the room lightens, and the whole place
seems changed and made cheery. The heart cries, "That is my Master's
word," and the entire being is attentive and interested.
JESUS' LIFE DEAR.
Yes, to the really regenerated soul everything connected with Jesus is

dear. The place of His birth, the land of His ministry, the garden of His
agony, the mount of His crucifixion, the Olivet of His ascension, all
these are illumined with a peculiar and special light. The mind dwells
lovingly on His parables, ponders deeply His sayings, lingers tenderly
over His words.
WE WELCOME THE WORD.
We will NOT therefore shrink from the Word of our Lord: "Sanctify."
It may have been stained by the slime of some unworthy life, or soiled
by the lips of men who prated about sanctification, but knew nothing of
its nature; yet, for all that, since the word is Christ's we hail its
enunciation with gladness.
CHRIST'S BURDEN.
The high-priestly prayer of Christ was distinctively for the disciples.
Indeed, He SAYS: "I pray not for the world." That is to say, the
disciples need a peculiar and special work of grace, one which must
follow, not precede, conversion, and therefore not to be received by the
world. In this prayer the loving Master revealed to His immediate
disciples, and to those of all ages and climes, the burning desire of His
heart concerning His followers. The petition ascends from His
immaculate heart like incense from a golden censer, and it has for its
tone and soul, "Sanctify them through thy truth." His soul longed for
this work to be completed quickly. During the last days of His ministry
He talked frequently of the coming Comforter. He admonished them to
"tarry" until an enduement came to them. He knew that unless they
were energized with a power, to which they were as yet strangers, their
work would be worse than futile.
HE PRAYED FOR SANCTIFICATION.
It is for the SANCTIFICATION of the disciples that Christ prayed. He
did not ask that they might fill positions of honor and trust; He knew
that there is no nobility but that of goodness. It was more important that
the early preachers should be holy men than that they should be
respected and honored. He did not pray for riches for them; He knew
too well the worthlessness of money in itself. He did not desire for
them thrones, nor culture, nor refinement, nor name.
"'Tis only noble to be good. True hearts are more than coronets, And
simple faith than Norman blood."
So Jesus prayed that these men who had for three years been His daily

and constant companions should receive an experience which should
make them INTENSELY GOOD; not "goody-goody," which is very
different, but heartily and wholly spiritual and godly.
THE MEN WE LOVE.
The men whose names are brightening as the ages fly, were not men
who were always free from prejudices and blunders. They were not
men, as a rule, from university quadrangles nor college cloisters. They
were not the wise, nor the erudite, nor the cultivated, nor the rich. They
were the good men. Brilliant men tire us; wits soon bore us with their
gilt-edged nothings, but men with clean, holy hearts, fixed convictions,
bold antipathies to sin, sympathetic natures and tender consciences
never weary us, and they bear the intimate and familiar acquaintance
which so often causes the downfall of the so-called "great" in one's
estimation.
THE PERSONAL TOUCH.
We may forget an eloquent sermon pilfered from Massillon, but we
will never forget a warm handclasp and a sympathetic word from an
humble servant in God's house. Jesus never went for the crowds--he
hunted the individual. He sat up a whole night with a questioning Rabbi;
talked an afternoon with a harlot who wanted salvation; sought out and
found the man whom they cast out of the synagogue, and saved a dying
robber on an adjacent cross. We do not reach men in great audiences
generally. We reach them by interesting ourselves in them individually;
by lending our interest to their needs; by giving them a lift when they
need it.
SANCTIFIED FISHERMEN.
Jesus with divine sagacity knew that if these untutored fishermen were