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4 IIMI • HI || I 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,