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Doing Good.
“Who went about doing good.’’—Acts 10: 38.
We- have here two interesting pictures—Cornelius
and Peter. Both are men with a vision. Cornelius
is under conviction. Some think he was saved
before, and it was a vision of duty. Let that be
as it may, he had a mighty, intense longing for
light, and as a result we find him praying. What
a lesson! There is no other way to obtain light.
We may read and study and talk and plead, but
light in things Divine is obtained only by prayer.
I would have the sinner learn this lesson. I be
lieve a sinner ought to pray. I do not believe he
is saved until he does pray—pray God for light and
salvation. God will reveal the light in answer to
prayer.
His reflation to Cornelius was through messen
ger& sem io Joppa to find a teacher who would in
struct him. It has generaly been God’s plan to
reveal Himself through human instrumentality.
The other picture is that of Peter on the house
top. While the servants of Cornelius are on their
way to Joppa, Peter is in prayer and has a vision.
God is preparing him to receive the messengers
when they come. How like God’s way! He always
makes ready both ends of the line. When Philip
was sent out on the road God prepared the eunuch
to receive him. What an encouragement this ought
to be in our work. If we will only put our hand in
God’s, He will guide in the right way. The result
of Peter’s visit to Cornelius brings forth the text.
The theme of his discourse was Jesus. First, he
preached Jesus as a fulfillment of prophecy. This
was necessary. Cornelius, though a man in high
authority, needed this instruction. Then he preached
the Lordship of Jesus, the crucifixion and the resur
rection. All these were necessary. They are all
necessary to salvation. Let it be borne in mind
that no man can be saved who fails to see and
accept Jesus Christ in all of these relations. He
is the answer to prophecy. He is the Lord of all.
He is the crucified and risen Savior. To deny
either of these is to put oneself outside the pale
of salvation. Let these great facts stand. Let
them be preached, and though there may be creeds
holding out hope of salvation in some other way,
yet God is false if through any other process sal
vation can be obtained.
But essential as these are, there' is another at
tribute which Peter used with Cornelius, it seems,
for the purpose of bringing him closer to Jesus—.
His beneficence: “Who went about doing good.”
Nothing so appeals to a sinner as the kind, bene
ficent and ever-merciful character of Jesus Christ.
Look at the vast multitudes as they gaze upon Him
in amazement, as He feeds the hungry, heals the
sick and raises the dead. These things, in part, had
for their object the drawing of men close enough
to Him to appreciate the foundation principles of
His salvation.
It is not enough to declare the great doctrines of
salvation. God forbid that I should in the slightest
underestimate them or say a word against their
declaration. Over and over again the world is to
his descent, while shouts and praises continued to
a>
he reminded of Christ in His official relation and
His atoning sacrifice for. the world’s sins. But in
so doing we must remember the tactics of the Mas
ter and exemplify these great pinciples in the life
we live. We must be doers as well as testifiers.
This, perhaps, is our weakest point to-day. We are
strong in doctrine, but weak in life. We believe
all right, but fail to exemplify our belief in the
midst of a scoffing world. Going about doing good
should characterize our lives if we expect to bring
the world to appreciate His means of grace.
“But how,” some one may ask, “are we to do
it?” I wish to mention just a few practical ways
of doing good that will help the world see Christ.
Helping the Helpless.
First. By helping those who need help.
Oh, the opportunities for help—spiritual help.
The other day a young convert, a business man in
this city, sent for me to come to his place of busi
ness. When I got there he told me he wanted me
to engage with him in prayer for a man whom he
had invited there for conference with us on the
subject of religion. He was a poor, miserable drunk
ard, a man who had been a church member, a repre
sentative of one of our best Georgia families, but
by the power of strong drink he had gone down to
shame and disgrace. He had a big heart left in him,
however, and with all of his faults he still main
tained his honor. When this poor man came and
we began talking with him, it was discovered that
though fie had lived in the city of Atlanta for
twenty years, and his family had been members of
a church, that he had never been spoken to, nor
plead with in the name of Christ, by a single soul
in this city. Taking me by the hand as I left him,
he said, “I thank God that there is one Christian
in this city who has welcomed me into a better life.”
Then there are so many opportunities for material
help. I do not speak extensively on this line, and
yet there are some things I must say. In this
department of labor thee are many opportunities
for mistakes as well as for good. There are many
people who are spongers. Atlanta is not an excep
tion to this general rule. They lie in wait like the
crowds at the feeding of the five thousand for the
loaves and fishes. We need to be very careful in
extending our material help to them. No man has
a right to be kept up by the church when he is
in vigorous opposition to it. I believe in helping
everybody that is in need. On every hand there
are hungry mouths, and naked backs,, and aching
feet, and beating and throbbing hearts that appeal
in pitiful silence, oftimes a silence more touching
and more pathetic than words can tell. These call
to us for help; and if the church would bring the
Christ of salvation to the heart of the lost and
ruined world, she must give her attention to minis
tering to the needy.
The Power of Sympathy.
Second. By sympathizing with those that need
sympathy. Jesus Himself, “a man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief,” had a heart of great sym
pathy, and failed not to express it when occasion
afforded. I have so often thought of Him standing
by the graveside of Lazarus, when Mary and Martha
were passing through that experience which only
those can appreciate who have had to turn their
backs upon a closed grave wherein lay a loved one,
dearer to them than life: Jesus, standing there,
seeing their weeping eyes and heaving breast, was
touched with a like feeling, and down His cheeks
came the tear of affectionate love and sympathy.
Oh, how it has comforted me as I have sometimes
had to pass through similar trials, to know that
Jesus was not too great to be touched with my sor
row, and not too proud to show me the spot where
The Golden Age for June 7, 1906.
Le n G . Broughton
He wept at the grave.
So the world’s great heart to-day longs for similar
expressions of Christian sympathy. Let us not for
a moment think it is a sign of weakness to “weep
with those that weep.”
It is said of Abraham Lincoln, the greatest and
biggest man that ever sat in the White House, that
during the great Civil War he went into one of the
military hospitals and found a young man, as he
thought, dying, and sat down by his bedside, and
taking the dying boy’s thin, white hand in his own,
said in a loving voice, “Well, my boy, what can I
do for you?” The boy looked up into the Presi
dent’s kindly face and said, “Won’t you Avrite to
my mother for me?” “That I will,” said the
President, and seating himself at the boy’s bedside,
wrote from dictation the letter to his mother. It
was a long letter, but the President showed no sign
of weariness. When it was finally finished he arose
and said, “I will post this as soon as I get back to
my office. Now, is there anything else I can do, my
boy?” The boy looked up pleadingly and said,
“Yes, sir, but I hate to ask it. Won’t you stay?
I want to hold your hand.” It was more than the
great heart of the man could stand. The appeal
could not be resisted.
So, turning aside from the cares of the White
House, he sat down by the boy’s side and held his
hand for two hours, until the end came; and then,
when the end did come, he stooped over the bed
and folded his thin hands over his breast, and then
burst into tears.
Oh, the opportunities -we have, all of us, in this
life, for doing good in the way of sympathizing with
those who need it. It may be that there is no chance
to visit the hospitals, and no chance to go down on
the back alley, but God Himself, if we will put
ourselves at His disposal, will open some portal
through which we may enter and tune the heart
strings of some discordant life to play the music
of heaven.
Encouragement for the Fearful.
Third. We may do good by encouraging those who
need encouragement.
My friend, Rev. Will Needham, gave me an ex
perience he had in London. A five-story hotel was
burning. Thousands of people gathered around
watching the flames. It was thought everybody was
out of the building. Finally a little child spied a
woman standing in front of the fifth story window
beckoning for help.
As soon as the discovery was made known a
thousand voices shouted it through the crowd; and
almost as quick as a flash a fireman placed a ladder
against the building, although the great structure
was now rocking* the the flames roaring.
One brave fellow volunteered to go, and up like
a squirrel he went until he reached the fourth story,
■when out from the windows came the flames in
eager search for him. He hesitated a moment and
then climbed until he reached the window where
the unfortunate girl stood. He stretched forth his
arms as if to take her. Then the building seemed
to rock with him. “What will he do?” Thousands
of anxious hearts beat fast. “Will he attempt it?”
“Can it be done?” “Oh, the pity of it.” “The
poor girl is dying.” “Will he make the effort?”
These were the expressions that came from the
excited crowd. About that time somebody con
ceived the idea of giving him a cheer. The shout
vas caught up by the thousands. The air rang
with it.
I lie flames seemed to recede, and the brave young
fellow, clasping his arms around the girl, started
his descent, while shouts and praises continued to
shower upon him, and at last when he landed his
prize Safely and gained sufficient composure to tlak,