The Railway Ticket to Heaven

“How do you think you are to be justified before God?” said an Irish clergyman to a man in his parish. “How, sir? By the righteousness of Christ, to be sure!” “Well, but I want you to inform me what you understand by the righteousness of Christ,” rejoined the clergyman.

The man hesitated for a moment, and then replied: “Suppose, sir, I want to go to Limerick. I go down to the railway station, and try to get into a carriage. A porter comes up to me and asks for my ticket. I am obliged to tell him I have none, and have no money to buy one.

He pushes me back, and says I must not go. A kind, rich man is standing by; he says to me, ‘ I will purchase a ticket for you.’ This he does and hands it to me. I show it to the porter, who then allows me to get into a carriage, and away I go to Limerick.

In the same way I want to go to heaven. I have no way of purchasing the title to it. Jesus sees my anxiety to go; he died to pay the debt of my sins; he gives me his righteousness; I show this to God; and as the railway ticket admitted me to the train, this gives me a title to heaven which of myself did not possess, and by my own power I could never have obtained.” Kinpness, Biblical.

Rahab—amply rewarded for preserving the life of the spies by the preservation of herself and family, Joshua 2:18. Jonathan’s kindness to David, which led to his children’s preservation, I Sam. 9:7; 21:7. The centurion’s anxiety for the welfare of his sick servant, was the cause of his own faith being confirmed.

He built the Jews a synagogue, and they interceded for him to Christ, Luke 7:2-10. The good Samaritan—an example of genuine kindness shown to a stranger, without regard to personal claim, race or religion, Luke 10:30-37. Cornelius, Acts 10:4. The barbarous people of Melita, very fully repaid for their kindness to the shipwrecked mariners, Acts 28:1-10. —Bowes.

Krnpness, Christ’s approval of. I shall never forget my own feelings when, distant once in the land of Palestine, I was ill, and knew not when I should return.

In that distant land I received a letter from my family, and in that letter it was stated that a dear friend had given a token of regard to my youngest child, then a comparative infant, and my heart swelled more with affection for that friend than had he sent a token of affection to me. It was given to the smallest of my children, the little one, and he had done it unto me; and my heart, half across the globe, swelled with affection to a friend I could not see, because he had remembered a little one.

So the great Father has his little ones scattered all over our land, in hovels, in cellars, in garrets, in abodes of affliction, and in scenes of poverty, and he sees when an act of kindness is done to one of the least of them, and in the heaven of heavens he says, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, ye have done it unto me.” —Bp. Simpson. Lire, Brevity of. We need no reed, no pole no measuring line, wherewith to take the dimensions of our days; nor any skill in arithmetic, wherewith to compute the number of them.

No; we have the standard of them at our fingers’ ends; and there is no multiplication of it; it is but one hand-breadth in all. —Henry. Lirg, Brief. And surely, if we deduct all those days of our life which we might wish unlived, and which abate the comfort of those we now live, if we reckon up only those days which God hath accepted of our lives, a life of good years will hardly be a span long; the son in this sense may outlive the father, and none climacterically old. —Browne.

LittLe Sins, Fable of. A watch, of which better things were expected, behaved badly and was taken to the watchmaker for correction. He examined it with a powerful glass, and discovered a single grain of sand. As he was about to remove it, it cried out, “Let me alone!

I am but a small thing, and take up so little room. I cannot possibly injure the watch. Twenty or thirty might do harm, but I cannot; so let me alone.”

The watchmaker replied, “You must come out, for you spoil my work; and all the more so that you are so small, and but a few people can see you.” Little sins ruin the most promising characters, and taint the best efforts. Lirt.e Sins, Growth of. “In the gardens of Hampton Court you will see many trees entirely vanquished and well nigh strangled by huge coils of ivy, which are wound about them like the snakes around the unhappy Laocoon: there is no untwisting the folds, they are too giant-like, and fast fixed, and every hour the rootlets of the climber are sucking the life out of the unhappy tree.

Yet there was a day when the ivy was a tiny aspirant, only asking a little aid in climbing; had it been denied then, the tree had never become its victim; but by degrees the humble weakling grew in strength and arrogance, and at last it assumed the mastery, and the tall tree became the prey of the creeping, insinuating destroyer.” Vice, intemperance, lust, avarice, anger, like the vines, twine about a man, extract the life from him, and leave him a wreck. LittLe Sins, Treachery of.

A vessel will sink, whether filled with heavy stones or with sand. Fine grains of sand will bury travelers in the desert. Fine flakes of snow, so light that they seem to hang in the air and scare to fall, will, if they gather over the sleepy wayfarer, extinguish life; if they drift, they will bury whole houses and their dwellers. Fine, delicate sins, as people think them, will chill the soul and take away its life. —Dr.

Pusey. LirtLe TH1necs, Damage of. A single pin fell upon a web of cloth as it was being passed over a drum. It cut a hole in the cloth with every revolution of the drum, and damaged it to the extent of three hundred dollars.

Little sins, exaggerations’ lies, dishonesty, are pins on the drum, that damage the web of character beyond computation. LittLE Tuincs, Importance of. Let us not neglect little duties—let us not allow ourselves in little faults. Whatever we may like to think, nothing is really of small importance that affects the soul.

All diseases are small at the beginning. Many a death-bed begins with a “little cold.” Nothing that can grow is large all at once—the greatest sin must have a beginning. Nothing that is great comes to perfection in a day—charSERMON ILLUSTRATIONS 119 acters and habits are all the result of little actions.

Little strokes make that ark which saved Noah. Little pins held firm that tabernacle which was the glory of Israel. We too are traveling through a wilderness —let us be like the family of Merari, and be careful not to leave the pins behind. (Numbers 4:32.) —Ryle. Lorp’s Supper, a Memorial.

The Lord’s supper comes to us like a ring plucked off from Christ’s finger, or a bracelet from his arm; or rather like his picture from his breast, delivered to us with such words as these, “As oft as you look on this, remember me.” —John Flavel. Lorp’s SuPPER, Real Presence in the. Rev. Dr.

Cumming of London, says that in the Highlands of Scotland he once met a lady of noble birth, who asked him if he believed in the “real presence.” “Certainly I do,” he said.

“I am very glad,” she replied, “but you are the first Protestant clergyman I ever met who did.” “We attach different meanings to the same words,” said Dr. Cumming. “I believe in the real presence of our Lord wherever two or three are gathered together in his name.

I cannot believe as you do about the real presence, when I consider the words ‘In remembrance of me.’ Memory has to do with the past, with an absent friend. To eat and drink in remembrance of one who is actually present before one’s eyes is an absurdity.”

A lady who accompanied her was silent; but a few months ago, Dr. Cumming received a letter from her father, saying that when his daughter went to Scotland she was on the verge of Romanism, owing to the influence of this noble friend, and that the words of Dr.

Cumming on “in remembrance of me,” were blessed by God in preventing her from becoming a Romanist, and that she was converted, and had just died rejoicing in Christ. Lorp’s SuppEr, Title in the. The Lord’s supper being an evident proof that the New Testament is in full force, (it being the cup of the New Testament in his blood, Matt. 26:28,) it tends much to our satisfaction, as the legal execution of the deed by which we hold and enjoy our estate.

So that when he saith, “Take, eat,” it is as much as if God should stand before you at the table with Christ, with all the promises in his hand; and I say, “I deliver this to thee as my deed.” —John Flavel. Meprator’s Examples. Joseph’s brethren tried to make their brother’s steward their friend, to come between him and them, Gen. 43:19-24.

Israel desiring Moses to speak for them with God, Exod. 20: 18-21. Moses standing in the breach, Ps. 106:23.

Aaron standing “between the dead and the living,” to turn away the plague, Num. 16:48; see also the design of the Levitical service, “that there be no wrath any more upon the children of Israel,” Num. 18:5. Jonathan coming between Saul, his father, and David, his friend, I Sam.

19:4-7. Abigail intercepting the wrath of David from coming upon Nabal, I Sam. 25:14-35. Joab, by his skillful policy, restoring Absalom to his father’s favor, II Sam 14.

Blastus, the king’s chamberlain, interceding between Herod and the men of Tyre and Sidon, Acts. 12: 20; —Bowes. Meprratrion—to be Practiced. Those who would be in health do not sit still in their houses to breathe such air as may come to them, but they walk abroad and seek out rural and elevated spots that they may inhale the invigorating breezes; and thus those godly souls who would be in a vigorous spiritual state, do not merely think upon such holy doctrines as may come into their minds in the ordinary course of thought, but they give time to meditation, they walk abroad in the fields of truth, and endeavor to climb the heights of gospel promises.

It is said that Enoch walked with God: here is not an idle but an active communion. The road to bodily health is said to be a footpath, and the way to spiritual health is to exercise one’s self in holy contemplation. MELCHISEDEK—The High Priest. 1.

Appointed and called of God 2. Consecrated ‘for their sakes I sanctify (Consecrate, dedicate, set apart sanctify) myself that they also might be sanctified” (truly sanctified, made holy) Holy Faithful Offered a Sacrifice to Jehovah Made reconciliation for Sins Brought God and Man together Was able to sympathize with others Interceded for transgressors Blessed the people Both Melchisedek and Aaron were thus types of our Lord Jesus Christ as our High Priest. —Dr. W. G.

Heslop. “Gems from Genesis.” Se en Sat a ay Minister. However learned, godly, and eloquent a minister may be, he is nothing without the Holy Spirit.

The bell in the steeple may be well hung, fairly fashioned, and of the soundest metal, but it is dumb until the ringer makes it speak; and in like manner the preacher has no voice of quickening for the dead in sin, or of comfort for living saints, until the divine 122 SERMON ILLUSTRATIONS Spirit gives him a gracious pull, and bids him speak with power. Hence the need of prayer from both preacher and hearers. Minister—Need of Personal Tenderness. Speaking of the tempter requisite to the right discharge of ministerial duty, Payson said, “I never was fit to say a word to a sinner, except when I had a broken heart myself; when I was subdued and melted into penitency, and felt as though I had just received pardon to my own soul, and when my heart was full of tenderness and pity.

No anger, no anger.” MrnistEr—Self-dissatisfaction of. “Swift of foot was Hiawatha, He could shoot an arrow from him, And run forward with such fleetness That the arrow fell behind him!” Money, Rules for.

John Wesley says, “Get all you can, save all you can, give all you can. Permit me to speak of myself as freely as I would of any other man. I gain all I can without hurting my body or soul. I save all I can; not wasting anything, not a sheet of paper, nor a cup of water.

I do not lay out anything, not a shilling, unless a sacrifice for God; yet, by giving all I can, I am effectually secured from laying up treasures upon earth. Yea, and that I do this, I call upon both friends and foes to testify.” Mosers. Moses was a marvelous picture of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The points of resemblance are: He lived in a palace. He gave it up to suffer. He gave it up to suffer with the people of God. He was saved from death when a child.

He saw his own people bowed down with heavy burdens. Ct ce SERMON ILLUSTRATIONS 123 6. He became one with them to save them. 7.

He was rejected. 8. He was a lonely sufferer. 9.

He was slandered and misunderstood. 10. He was stoned. 11.

He was a prophet, a priest, and a king. 12. He died upon a mountain. 13.

He was resurrected. 14. He returned to earth again after his resurrection.

The second coming of Moses was certainly a beautiful foreshadowing of the second coming of Christ. —Dr. W. G. Heslop.

New Birtu, Alternative of the. One evening a pastor spoke to a very cultivated and moral young lady, saying, “Except a man be born again, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. And if not heaven, what then?

There is but one other place, and that is hell!” She trusted in her morality and was offended. That night she dreamed that the day of judgment had come, and saw the Judge seated upon the clouds, and felt herself irresistibly drawn towards him. The words, “If not born again, not heaven; and if not heaven, hell,” rang in her ears.

She awoke in great terror and began to call on God for mercy. Her repentance was thorough, her conversion clear, and her death a few years after, triumphant.

New BirtH, Change by. To hew a block of marble from the quarry, and carve it into a noble statue—to break up a waste wilderness, and turn it into a garden of flowers—to melt a lump of iron-stone, and forge it into watch-springs all these are mighty changes. Yet they all come short of the change which every child of Adam requires; for they are merely the same thing in a new form—the same substance in a new shape. But man requires the grafting in of that which he had not before.

He needs a change as great as a resurrection from the dead. He must become a new creature. Old things must pass away, and all things must become new. He must be born again—born from above —born of God.

The natural birth is not a whit more necessary to the life of the body than is the spiritual birth to the life of the soul. —Ryle. New Birtu. Death and. Those born once, die twice —they die a temporal and an eternal death.

But those who are born twice, die only once, for over them the second death has no power. —Anon. New Birtu, Mystery of the. Rev. George Whitefield, having occasion to write to Dr.

Franklin, in a letter, dated August 17, 1752, said, “I find you grow more and more famous in the learned world. As you have made a pretty considerable progress in the mysteries of electricity, I would now humbly recommend to your diligent, unprejudiced pursuit and study, the mystery of the new birth. It is a most important, interesting study; and, when mastered, will richly answer and repay you for all your pains.

One, at whose bar we are shortly to appear, hath solemnly declared, without it we cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. You will excuse this freedom. I must have something of Christ in all my letters.” New Birtu, Need for.

It makes but little difference whether a man give up the kingdom of heaven altogether or attempt to enter it without being “born again.” In either case he continues dead in trespasses and sins. The difference is that of a corpse with all the offensive accompaniment of death upon it, and that of a dead man embalmed and his nakedness covered with goodly clothing. In the one case he lies in acknowledged lifelessness—in the other, his cadaverous form is clothed in garments, and placed in the attitude of life, so as to exclude the idea of death; but stiffened limbs, and a countenance of death-like expression in the mummy, betray its case. —Salter.

New Brrtu, Nobility of the. Our new birth makes us more honorable than our natural birth, let our birth-right dignities be what they will. The children of nobles are, by nature, the children of wrath, even as others; Omnis sanguis concolor, all blood is of one color: it is all tainted in Adam, and mingled together in his posterity. “There is no king,” saith Seneca, “which rose not from a servant; there is no servant which rose not from a king.” —Flavel.

Numerauts. The Science of Numerics. Ten. Ten is the number of completeness.

Jacob’s wages were changed ten times, which sets forth complete disappointment outside of God’s will and God’s land. No wonder he longed to get back to Canaan. Eliezer, the servant, took ten camels with him when he started from home in order to obtain a bride for Isaac.

God gave His people ten Commandments. Daniel and the three Hebrews were proved ten days and at the end of the test were ten times better than the other college boys who had been fed on pork and wine. Christ gave the parable of the ten pounds and the ten talents. The Bible refers to an instrument of ten strings.

Man has ten toes and ten fingers. The woman lost one of the ten pieces of silver thus breaking the completeness of her marriage sign and she rejoiced greatly when the completeness was restored.

Christ healed ten lepers. The dragon of Daniel and Revelation had ten horns which represent ten Kings. The TENTH or tithe is the Lord’s. Thus it is with all numerals such as 12, 40, 70, 120, 144, 500.

The Bible is inspired in its details as well as in its main facts. 126 SERMON ILLUSTRATIONS There is a Biblical Science of Numerics well worth careful study by reverent students of the Scriptures. John wrote to the seven Churches which were actual churches in Asia but which set forth the course of the entire Church age from Pentecost to the Rapture of the Saints.