J
MOVm AIRY, JfORTIl CAROLINA, THURSDAY JULY 17, 1913.
AO. 3
1
A.
li all seems to mo like &
tin hiii that the Lord should load
Tnf fro hi oim place to another as
I have sought t o follow the die
vim; cloud and fire until now I
filial myself in tin; great surging
fir.v of London; yet 1 have, been
viiprcv.nl by the fact tliat you
have much tin- same problems
here in Mt. Airy that we have in
London, the problem of in and
iinbc'it '. of death and of life.
And ax my 'mind has t n run-
n:?ig hack, and I cannot help it,
I in vp thought of the first, mt
lm n 1 preached in Mt. Airy
about fifteen people. I have
felt that 1 would like to preach
about 100 sermons thus mcrning;
but the day Ls too hot for that,
and at bust my mind has settled
down upon a text that is kindred
to the one I preached my first
.sermon from. Ii tlte first verse
first chapter of F.zekial in con
nection with the first, verse of
the :57th chapter. "The Heavens
were opened and I saw visii lis of
God The hand of the Lord
va.s nMn me and carried me ot;t
1 1 d the spirit of the Lord and set
me di-wi in the midst of the val
ley which wa.s full of bones,"
and my subject on that first, oc
casion was "The valley of dry
bones, and how to raise them."
This morning my subject i.s the
preparation which every Chris
tian needs as he enters the Val
ley of Dry Hones. There has
been .some magie power at work
durintr the past, thirty five years,
to which our dear Brother Ilay
more referred, transferring death
into life and bones into inert and
women, nsnd we would like to
know the secret of that power.
Created in the image of God,
man has become only a bone, of
Ms former self. "Can these
bones live!" asked Cod of the
l'rophet, and the Prophet refer
red the question back to Him for
answer, "Lord God thou knmv
est." I.s there ajiy way whereby
a bone cm be transformed again
into a man;? God tells how, in
this vision given us in the first
cha-ptrt of EzekiaL.At least ft vol
times the Heavens are said to
have opened; above Christ at his
Hajrtism; when he heard the di
vuk' words of the Father; above
1'eter, when on the housetop he
vvn.s taught that the Gentiles
should have the- Gospel; above
Stephen, when lie was being
martyred; above John on the Isle
of l'atmos, when lie too caught
glimpses of celestial glory, and
above Ezekiel when he stood
aanong the captives by the river
of C'hebar. "I saw visions of
God," and this vision of God was
a preparation for the vision of
bones, which Is the vision of man.
And what did he see first of all
in that vision of God? A union
of the human with the Divine.
Peculiar creature with wings,
and under each win.g a human
hand, the human hand, of course,
standing for humanity, and ki
the poetical portions of the sci
turn the wing always refers to
deity. Whenever you see that
word wih'g in the pages of the
Hible, it refers directly or im
directly to God; so "tlut the
union of the hand with the wing,
means the union id' man witli.tiod.
The hand. is under the wing; the
wing moves the hand, rather
than the hand moving the wing.
I think tlie tendency in our The-1
ology Ls to magnify man rather i
than God; much hand, little'
wing"; but when we link1 our-'
Selves with God and are willing!
that the wing should move the;
hand we are ready for the Val-j
ley of Dry Hones. If you go in-;
t the Valley of Hones to raise
them by the process of manipula-'
tion with only the hands, you
will leave broken hearted. No
hand can put life into death. If
1 had a blackboard here I'd write
on i't the figure 1 ; then 1 would
put a big nought before it, and
it is still 1 ; then I'd put 'J. :t. H0
and 1.000 noughts before it; :t
is still 1. Then I'd take th;-t
same 1 and a little nought to th'
right i f it and it is 10, two
noughts and it is 100, three
noughts and it is 1(m'n), and so
on. If jou put (!ih1 first in your
mind, in your heart, in your life,
he can Mill create sm-th;iig out
of nothing. lie can take the
very Valley of Death and ni- '
of it an Anny of Life.
Look at this vision a 1 ttle mon
closely and you will sec reason
linked with God. These peeyli-r
creatures have the face of a, 'man I
and the human face everywhere
stands for intelligence, for reaw
for mini I; but linked with, the
wing, intelligence joined with the
Divine. Reason without Gid,
upon which some men pride
thomsel ves, is intelligence wal
lowing in, the mini. Hut when
intelligence is linked with, when
the hand is joined with the wing,
yen have the divine idnal,
A; il if von go into the Valley
of Hones to raise them into life
by the reasoning process alone,
you cannot reason one bono, into
life; there Ls no re-.pou.se to your
argument in a bono. It takes
the truth fr.mm heaven to give
them life, and if you go and try
to sitVe m fit in Mount Airy or
in Loudon by jut the process of
reasoning, you'll find yoursel
disapMiinted ; but if you link
your intellect with the Holy
spirit, with God, If you are will
ing that, all your intellectual en
deavors shall be governed by the
master mind of Gd, you .re
ready for the Valley of Dry
Hones.
Then as you look, a little more
clo.sdy, you sec another
w'r.g ;,nd there ;!n face of h
lion: and th lion in Scripture
always stand lor courage; riot
courage in the face of dinger so
much. The b n"s won't hurt
you ; they may make you feel a
trifle ipiier if you walk among
them in the dusk and quiet of the
evening, but they will not harm
you. There are difficulties" in
life. ni:d it takes a courage to
met t difficulties superior to the
courage that meets danger. A
man can charge into battle realiz
ing hat the world is looking at
him. willing to be killed if neid
be; but when he steps down to
face the difficulties he some
times despairs. When Jehovah
commanded Joshua to go into
battle, to meet the Caanites and
compter the land he said "He of
Good Cheer." When lie com
manded Solomon to build the
Temple, which envolved years of
toil and seemingly unsuniiount',
able obstacles, He said, "He of
Good Courage:" ami it takes
more courage to meet the dif
ficulties of Temple Huilding than
it does to fight armies. The fact
Is, I had rather underta'ke to
turn 10,000 men into bones than
one bone, into a man. You can
destroy so much more readily
than you can build up. It is easy
to go into an Art Gallery filled
with beautiful paintings and
statuary and with a hammer de
story every tiling; but, if you go
there with chisel and pencil, you
will find difficulty in restoring
them. Now as I look back over
the past 3f years it seems to me
I can see difficulties overcome,
mountains removed by the touch
of faith, greait obstacles prayed
out of the way, worked out of
the way, waited out of way just
because yoi have linked yourself
with God.
That brings you to the thuVl
point "The Winged Patience."
There is the face of an ox, and
the ox everywhere stands for jwi
tiencc, perseverance, for courage
under the yoke, for duty in the
id ust. It is easy to mount upon
the winks of an eagle, or to run
and not grow weary ; but to
walk and not to faint Ls harder.
When you come down to the
walk and the hum-drum of life
and the dusty, duties of every
day toil, your heart Is apt to
fail von. Many a preacher
standing before a great crowd!
Mid preaching an ehxiuei.it sermoi
d( s not appear so well to hlsi
wife at home. He is swiietvmtw :
like Jonah under the gourd vine.;
despondent and aturry. We can .
Illett tile crises I! lid t!l" e!!e-'.'. II-
eii s so much more readily than
v." can the humdrum and the
loutine. Stanley sail tlu.t in.
his travels he didn't mind the ele
phants that be could bring down
with hi Kerning! on Kif'e, but
he did fear the chitrgers, miser
able little insects, that got under
the nails of the hands and feet
and killed s.-iiH- of lii.s men. The
rhigyer was beoi:i his reach, lit
tle and contemptible, yot that was
what killed them. For my part,
I had rather meet a Hciurftl tiger
or an African lion, if I had a
good rifle, than to fight Jersey
mosquitoes on a hot ninht. It
takes more courage to fight mos
quitoes and keep your patience,
than it does to fight lions. Io
you know some times mosquitoes
join the Church! I do nt know
ii The Preparation Which
as He Enters the "Valley of Dry Bones"
Sermon rc-ache ! t.v Dr. t'.xnn at First Rapilst Church,
Mount Airy, SunJaj Morning; July ijth.
1
1
DrrXrCk Dixon,
whether you have any in Mt.
Airy with its good pure atmos
phere or not, but I have never
yet been taster of a church that
lid not have a few nio.spiitocs in
the congregation; men and wo
men who come to prayer meeting
just to bufcz and bite; who come
to the Trustees Meeting just for
a bu2z anil a bite. It's nothing
but buzz and bite, and it takes
more grace to mcH the mos
quitoes than it does to meet the
lions. Sam Jones said he never
did sympathize much with Jonah;
that he had just as lieve be swal
hAvevl by a whale as not; nTit
what bothered him was to be
bitten , arid nibbled to death by
minnows. It takes less grace to
meet the great crises and emer
gencies of life than it does to
bear the worries and petty trials
of every day duty. The jruest
picture I ever saw Is Murillo's
Kitchen Scene a great canvas,
and on that beautiful canvas a
woman cooking- dinner a most
commonplace affair but as you
gaze at that picture you see
yngel faces appear; the a litre Is
are helping the woman crok din
in er, and bye and bye as you gaze
a trifle longer, you pereive that
the woman herself Ls an angel:
she has wings. Murillo may
have meant that it is angelic to
cook a gixd dinner, but he went
deeper than that; he meant to
say that it was angelic to do
well the humble duties of the do
mestic walks of life.
An ox with wings. What
breaks the most of us -down is
doing the humdrum separaN d
from God, trying to do the wear
ing work and details f every
day without linking ourselves
with the Divine; and if the devil
ca.n. ju.st get us off from Gmt in
the kiMicii. on the farm, in the
store, be will beat us every time.
This linkinir of God with the hu
man, with the ox, with the lion,
a preparation for the Valley
of Dry Hones, for it takes cour
;ie. endurance, and humdrum
work there, "lie set nic down
in the midst of the valley which
Mas full of bones," or ruThcr he
Rets you down in the midst of a
great city with its millions of
dry bones ling about, bleaching
on the sands, ami sometimes you
feel like runnu.p away; Imt God
set vou down, ami He savs, rtIe
Vis
1 VVTFTTtt tTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT
Every Christian Needs
4 MSHH-
I.
' Il 1
t .
cf Louden , England,
brave, be a man, be an ox, be a
lion, liiihi with me, and I will
give you the victorv sooner or
later."
Then we see again the winged
astral: the face of an eagle, and
the eagle stands everywhere for
soarii.g, rising on wings above
dust, and gazing into the sun.
That's the Christian's privilege,
inul 1 am sorry for the man or
woman who never soais, who's
willing always to live with feet
on the earth. Many of us are
like the quail that just rises, flies
low, ai:d drops again into the
dust. We have to get cut of
ourselves, and the limitations of
the flesh, to come out into life
add tlie broad expanse of God's
great glory. The ox-like work
linked with the eagle's aspiration
is the Christian's privilege. The
fact & we can never tell what
is great and what Ls little. I
have learned that little is much
when God is in it.
I stood the other day under
the okl thatched cottage roof in
the Town of Taversham, King, in
which Clias. II. Spurgeou preach
ed his first sermon, and I felt
that I was on holy ground. The
young student preached his first
Minnature sermon to a little
g"oup f village folks. Some one
said "there is a man across the
read who heard him; and I said,
"I am going to see that man."
I went ever there, and found a
litth. eottagi, surrounded by
vines and floweis. and an old
man f'M years old in the midst of
the beauty, eye bright, step elas
tic, voice char, and as avc talked
he said, "Would you l;ke to
hear my favorite hymn?" and
with a sweet tone he repeattd it :
"There is a hoii.se not made by
hands eternal in the skits." I
doubt wry much whether that
old man lias evr bei-n out of the
village (1 did not ask him), for
he L uks as il he bad lived right
there among his flwvrs always.
Hut who Is the greatest. Spur
4Teon. prcachii. g to the millions
on earth, or the pixir man in the
thatched cottage, just living his
honest, faithful christian life, re
producing Jesus in the midst f
the village folks! It Ls just
possible that this old man may
get the brighter crown. "Who
knows! Then I went atid saw
the place where 8pnrgeon was
baptized, and stood on the banks
of the river, which flowed
through a meadow where butter
ciijw and daisies grow, and I
looked out upon the big expanse
of horizon of ctoiid and sky
above, then down 'it the little but
tercups and daisies. Some one
said, "there lives in thu village
a woman who was baptized with
him," and 1 said, "I will ice her,
if it takes me all day." 1 found
her in her little cottage h'ine,
82 years old, bright, cheery, hap
py. She had never been to Lon
don but once in her life. Then
f thought of the great expanse
of sky, which meant Spurgeons
influence and the little butter
cups and daisies which meant this
true .woman's life in her little
cortief, and I know that the but
tercups and daisies will Ret a
bright a crown. God say, "He
thou faithful unto death and I
will give you a crown of life."
and if yu will link yourself to
Cod just as a little buttercup or
daisy you will get the crown,
just as if you had written for
I he ages or preached for the mil
lions. And as you look a little more
closely you will notice a winged
stability. All these creature
have feet like calves' feet, and
you have to turn over to the
Prophet to understand all that
"Lord God, make" my feet like
hind's feet," and the hind's foot
i.s made for movement in hUj
pery places. The hind can pass
safely right on the edge of a
.precipice an leap from rock to
rock, move very rapidly ai.u yet
very safely; and that's what we
need; agility with stability; to
know how to stand for truth,
and to kuow how to do something
for God at the same time. You
will find that some people stand
f;r nothing' in particular. They
just want to be ou the move.
You ask them what they -believe,
und for the life of you, they
cannot say. They have the agil
ity but"uo4.,thB ability r You
sometime mSsfc sprogres;""; tirj
standing stal ; you can be m such
a nervous hurry that jou never
get anywhere. Two sail boats
were running a, race on the Jer
sey coast; the wind was very
strong, thtT waves tosed high.
One of the Captains, looking
ashore, ir.tieti! that though the
wind, was so very strong, the
tide was reallj stronger, and he
just cast anchor, and stood still,
leaving the other bout far be
hind; and thu he won the race.
What we need to know is how
to anchor iu G.xls truth, haying
the agility and also the stability
ti. stand "for God the truth of
I'UrLst.
Then as yon look you will soe
a winged fellowship. These
wings are joiiwd together, all
united. The spirit of this age is
to get together. Anything to get
together, to work together 1 Men
who don't believe in Christ at
nil are trying to work with pei
iple who bow down before Him.
1 was in Chicago preaching for
Mr. Moody during the Worlds
Coil vent ion of Religions some
years ago, when an effort was
made tot combine all the relig
ions of the world. An attempt
was made to mix paganis-m and
Christianity; descendants of the
l'rophct of Rial, believing just
what those old prophets in Kli
jah's time did; descendants f
the Jewish Sanhcdrin, who sent
Jesus Chirst to the Cross, and
they have not. changed a bit;
and side bv side with them were
the DLscinhs of Christ all mak-
ing an attemjit to join hands in ;
workjnjr together. We must get
together in Christ. There must
ile a v.nic-n of wings; a union j
w ith the Divine, and if we c.-ui- i
not get together in Christ, t ' i -re
is no use going into the Valley
of Hoin s. Win n I w ;us Pa.sf r
in HrookUsi a man came to me
and said, "We are having a
un'mn nieetii r out in tow n and
want ,ii to join Us; we n.sl
.vou; it is the greati-t union ymi
ever saw; all the denominations
in town have united, even the
Cnita riaius, and the Cniversal
ist.s and th.- Kati malls 4 have
come in"; and I said. "My
brother if vou will tell me how-
to work with a IVrtar'an without : And as I Lead it I said.
e- , i .i.ilw . i
iiit working un him l win giai-
h j"'11 jou." How can I work
with a man who makes fun of j
the cross that saves from sin!ibriiiir the music out of me bv
Hut when I meet a man who
unites with me in the service of
Jesus Christ I am moved to give
him my hand.
Then as you look again you
will see a winged progr.-xs, ami
thats my last point. Winged
wheels, and the wheel is every
where the symbol of progress.
i 'ivilization goes forw ard on
wheel. Take out the wheels
and progress drops.' I came here
on wheels; J expect to go back to
London on wheels: whether I am
on the itcejHi or oji the land it
will be the wheel that, will take
me there. Tlnw wheel" so im
mense and so full of even that
they were terrible. Wheels with
in wheels, indicating cumplcie"
organiz. it'n n noon the earth; the
organization of the Church of
1 hrist for the purpo-e of going
into the Valley of Hnes to
raise them into life. Ym will
notice the spirit of ths living
enatuns was in th
W heels.
When the creatures went f 'rward
the wheels went forward. We
ri"d to link our organizations
with Gods spirit. Do great
things, make trreat plans fi r God.
for organization ; so big that
they are terrible, putting all the
eyes yen have into them, all the
wisdom you can pack into them.
Sninchow I feel that you Chris
tian pei pie. you Hapti't breth
ren have had a big vismn of
Christ, going forward in th
name of the Master. The little
organization of il") or 40 years
ag.t has grown into this larg"
work cii'dosed L'l these grante
walls; yi u have hjol a vision of
God that was great, "but there's
still a greater field. Jesus pro
nounced himself. "Son of Man."
not the son of a Jew, 'not the .son
of a Koman, nor of iui English
man, nor a German, in r an
American, but the Son of Man.
The blood of all the ages is in
his veins,'"and a heart big encugh
to take in all humanity, even un
to the uttermost parts of the
M'orld.
If I had to run the org;uiiza
tions of the Tabernacle alone I'd
wnaJi jtopjiertf! 'ia fcss-tluuL.
three" months. I think there are
over 45 organizations together,
ami all important. Too many
for one man alone to handle, but
each day I get down before God
and say. "Lord, this is Thy
work; fill the wheels and make
them n-spond to the spirit of
Piod; If there Ls a csg in it that
is not of Thy manufacture break
it to pieces; if there is one that
Whim art not in destroy it." Its
a great comfort to feel that. Just
try to run the organization your
self and you wall feel nervous
and by and by a cog will fly
out and hit a Deacon in the
eye. Don't trus t the organi
sation, but trust God and you
ran depend upon it that the or
ganization will be full of life.
I got a message from heaven
which I tried to pass on in Kal
eigh and will give to you; it
came to me that a famous viol
inist would play one night on a
jf.".(HH).00 violin". Ten thousand
people paid 2.V a head to go in
to that vast auditorium aaid hear
that celebrated mu'iscian play
r.pon the $0,000.00 violin. He
came before them with the in
strument in his haiuls: he keyed
it up and began playing. It was
so sweet it was so thrilling that
they eheend, they waved their
hands, they shrieked their aj
proval; and in the midst of all
that enthusiasm he lifted his vio
lin and smashed it to pieces ou
the b.ck of a chair. The frag
ments flew into the eyes of the
people around him; everybody
thoaeht lie
was crazy. "What
- i
sl::! we tb
i we tio. fsome s ir:cKii.
js'iui- groaned! lie too t there
; :; the olatform with the frag
m, .-its of the violin sti'l iu his
bar. J and liftii g them !,;. he
sani. indies an. i e-. n l.-men m. it
violin cost just .'f'J()t). ,'i-w I
will play tii my $.i.i(M0 vl liii;"
and the music from tie- f.YiM'iO.oO
instrument did not s':":n much
su.-tt. r th: that of the .sj.i) in
stru.n.'i.t. "."iHj (0 violins do
To 111 ike llllisie. It t ike.s a
llU.sici.lii to put tlie llULS.tr into
am! t
g"t the mi-sH' out i-t
it You have jta'ul your 2"c to
h-ar my .".. (KMhi i 1 in. Now I
.v;. ist yu to know you are lUten
iu" t. me. ii't the instrument."
Lord
.icsns. I may be ma.ie oj plain
comim n stiiff, 1 may be a sr-2.. -0
vi..lki, but t.tke me in thy h.ui.U,
l-
Continued to page 8.
iri-iw